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The "Hidden" VA Home Loan Perk

By
Mortgage and Lending with www.OneTimeClose.com
VA loans don’t just offer competitive terms and borrower-friendly options—there are other advantages to buying a home with a VA home loan that your first time home buyer might not realize.

Even in the best of times, many home buyers, veterans and active duty military members included, wake up one morning and decide that they are paying too much every month and not saving enough. The combined weight of a car payment, credit card bills, utilities, insurance and a VA mortgage doesn’t leave enough room for saving up for the future. What’s the first place many homeowners look to when it comes to cutting costs? Monthly mortgage payments.

Refinancing a home loan has always been an attractive option to some, but in current economic conditions it’s even more attractive.

VA borrowers have one major advantage over their neighbors who have conventional loans; a VA loan product known as IRRRL, the Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loan.

Also known as a VA-to-VA loan or a Streamline Refinance loan, the IRRL offers borrowers several options, including a “no money out” feature that includes all the costs of the loan into the loan itself.

Like VA loans themselves, no lender is required to offer an IRRRL, but those who do must be VA approved. Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing loans require no Certificate of Eligibility. The borrower can use the certificate from the original mortgage to qualify for the IRRRL.

There are other advantages to this type of refinancing, which we’ll cover in the next blog post, but one important factor in these VA-to-VA refinancing loans is the rule that the borrower must NOT receive any money from the loan. Those who wish to refinance a VA loan to cash in on the house’s value are looking in the wrong place when it comes to an IRRRL. Home equity loans are a completely different type of product and should not be confused with the VA-to-VA loan or IRRRL.

Comments (3)

German Panzica
Centerline Homes - Vero Beach, FL

Great post.  Never heard of the IRRRL.  What a great option for our veterans. 

Jul 06, 2010 03:43 AM
Ritu Desai 703-625-4949
Samson Properties - Chantilly, VA
Northern Virginia,Washington DC & Maryland Realtor

Good information. Similar to FHA program VA offer for their veterans.

Jul 06, 2010 04:21 AM
Stephanie Stringer
First Choice Loan Services NMLS#210764 - San Antonio, TX
Mortgage Loan Originator

Bruce,  You are such a VA expert.  I do very few VA loans a year and lean more towards conventional and FHA.  However, you bring a great point about the IRRRl.   Easy too for both the client and the loan officer.

Jul 06, 2010 04:49 AM