I had the good fortune of closing another VA home loan for a Navy family this month.  I was stoked to read that our team delivered a superb experience for them over on a Redfin Forum:

I am just going to do a cut and paste from another thread but I figured there is alot of good info I just learned thru the course of my recently closed VA loan.  I have to say I found it important to consider a good agent familiar with VA.  It was especially helpful during negotiations with REO's or "great deal" properties with multiple offers.  A good agent can calm the seller's fears that a VA loan will take forever and isn't as strong of an offer.  I had a couple of retired Marine Captains as my agents and I could speak their praises all day long. (Mike chiesl and Dan Chapman)  I also had a great mortgage broker- who was able to pull off 100% financing above the previous $417 cap.  Anyway you can read more of my recent experience below.  Good Luck!

 

 

I just got a approval on VA- the no down payment is correct but there is a 2.13% VA funding fee which can be funded into the loan (the perk with this is there is no PMI)   So over 2.5 years the fee is less than paying like $300/m PMI.   Also the seller needs to cover closing costs.  Other than that you will be caped at 417K and after that you pay 25% on the difference.  So a $450K loan - 417 = 33K and you pay 25% cash on the 33K difference so $8300 or so.  Which is still lower than conventional - most of which are wanting 10% down now.  Google says the guy I got qualified with is America's #1 mortgage broker- after a hour on the phone with this guy I would agree.  Brian knew his stuff.  Never thought we would need our VA benefits but without liquid assets it is a good choice in today's market.

 

An update to my previous post-

 

         I may have been one of the first VA loans to close without any money down since the President signed H.R. 3221, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 on July 30th.  I couldn't be happier that I was able to buy a great house here in San Diego and use the money I saved on a down payment on remodeling instead all thanks to Brian (America's #1 Mortgage Broker on Google).   VA Benefits just got that much Sweeter in California (where you are hard pressed for a house under 417K in a lot of areas) .  You now can go over the $417 K cap without paying the difference of 25%.  Under old guidelines your benefit was good for 0 down up until $417 at which point you had to come up with 25% of the difference.  So say on a 600K home you subtract 417K and then take 25% of the difference = $45,740.00 -Ouch!   But they just changed the guidelines thru the end of the year!  So any home in San Diego County, for example, under $697,500 (you can check your area cap at https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm) is eligible to pay 0 down with VA, which is great.  You can read the details of the bill at http://www.homeloans.va.gov/circulars/26_08_11.pdf .  I literally was one of the first loans to close this kind of VA loan and Brian was able to pull it off, which is no small task in today's market.  I really can't say enough good things about him and he even put me in touch with some amazing real estate agents.  If you can use your VA benefits I would suggest doing it before the end of the end of the year, when the guidelines change again.  Look this mortgage guy up and give him a call, seriously!  Cuz the closest next option is 3% with FHA and mostly 10% with Conventional.  And then a good agent can negotiate getting some of your closing costs, VA funding Fee, and even a point paid by the seller, like I did.  -But you really need to be careful with who you choose to get your mortgage.  It can be dicey with all these lenders going bust.  It would be awful to find you dream house, get thru negotiations, start a loan with the wrong person, who starts your paperwork with a bank who goes bust 3 weeks into the process and then you lose your escrow monies and the house.  So just be really choosy and go with someone who is familiar with the VA process from before the boom loan time to save yourself some money and headaches.  Now can be a great time to buy with the new rule, the foreclosure deals, and since rents are up somewhere around 13% in San Diego area-just make sure you have a good team behind you

Now...that is a testimonial worth having.