Probably the best way we as real estate agents can honor our veterans is not to attend a parade once a year. Or worse, shop the Veteran's Day sales and ignore the reason for the holiday.
The best thing we could do is give extra consideration to VA buyers when we represent the seller. I know that VA loans come with some baggage. My lenders tell me that currently in our market, the seller must pay the escrow fee and termite inspection fee for the VA buyer.
In my mind, that's not a lot of sacrifice for the seller to make when we consider the sacrifice our VA buyer has made for our country.
I know appraisals are another concern with VA financing. Every transaction I've had in the last few year with VA financing, the home as appraised at or above the agreed upon purchase price. That's more than I can say for my FHA and even conventional transactions.
I recently blogged that we lost out on a bid with my VA buyer when both offers were equal in terms. The seller chose the FHA offer because he said the FHA buyer had "more skin in the game." Huh? That doesn't even make sense. The VA loan would have been at 100% while the FHA buyer was putting 3.5% down, but what difference does that make to the seller? I'm still shaking my head at that. And still looking for a home for my buyer, a nurse and a veteran, who deserves better!
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