Today, we’re talking briefly about the importance of working with a true VA home loan specialist.

What do I mean by this?

There’s a lot of lenders out there in the country doing a whole lot of loans for mortgages if you’re going to buy a house. But if you’re utilizing a VA loan, this means you’re a veteran or an active duty service member that has the eligibility of using a VA loan.

You want to work with a VA home loan specialist.

A lender who gets it is the most important thing.

Keep in mind, VA loans represent historically less than 10% of all loans done in recent history. They represented about 10% of all loans funded.

So, a very small share of loans that are done. That means that most lenders are not necessarily very focused on VA loans.

And while the VA loan isn’t necessarily harder, the process is a little different

And if you’re not used to different, that can slow things down.

And that’s why sometimes folks have a rough or bad experience with VA loans. And that mainly comes down to because they’re not necessarily working with a VA home loan specialist.

My name is Evan Kaufman. I’m your VA loan originator. I focus on VA loans and working for military families, active duty.

That’s our primary niche that we get to work for. Now, here’s the deal when you’re working with someone who understands VA loans. They’re going to make sure a few major things are taken care of right up front. Some big things that you need to be aware of.

So, if you’re working with myself, or someone within our company, or someone else – even if it’s another lender – here are the main things you got to look out for.

Did they ask me for my Certificate of Eligibility up front or did they help me obtain it?

Like for our clients, once we get your loan application, we’re going to immediately pull your Certificate of Eligibility from the VA because we get that directly from them.

If you’re getting asked to go get that for yourself, sometimes that’s a red flag of, hey, how much business do you do with the VA if you don’t necessarily have your own portal set up, and you’re not able to pull that directly or don’t know what even a Certificate of Eligibility, otherwise referred to as a Coe, is. That can be a problem because that form is extremely important.

It’s a form that shows if you’re eligible to utilize a VA loan. Now, that’s different from qualifying for a VA loan, which we talk about in other videos.

But think of it this way: the eligibility means the VA says, hey, you are eligible to use that VA loan; we’ll go ahead and guarantee it if you qualify.

And then qualifying is working with the lender directly to make sure, hey, do I have the right income-to-debt ratio? Do I have the assets, all that necessary to make sure I can get this loan?

The other major thing you just want to make sure if you’re working with someone who deals with VA loans is that they understand that appraisal process and the importance of making sure you order that appraisal generally sooner than later and not waiting on it. And then, if there’s issues with the appraisal, knowing how to handle them.

The VA loan has a couple of very unique features to it that can be big benefits if your lender, your VA home loan specialist, understands what they’re doing.

For example, if the VA loan that you have done has the appraisal and it ends up coming back and it’s undervalued, or has some kind of issue with the appraisal. A big thing is with a VA loan is something called the Tidewater Initiative.

And this is where if the appraiser is having issues valuing the property, they’re going to reach out to the lender and ask them for some support.

Now, if you’re working with someone who doesn’t understand working with the VA loan, your VA home loan specialist – it’s not necessarily a VA home loan specialist – we’ve seen those emails just go by and they ignore them completely and then end up having an issue with the appraisal.

But if you take that information, work with your real estate agents, you can make sure that your process is a little smoother by making sure either the home meets value or you get ahead of any appraisal or funding issues right up front due to the appraisal.

The other major thing with that appraisal is that if you have an issue with it, there’s another way to escalate, and that’s something that if you’re not working with a VA home loan specialist, you might not be able to escalate those issues.

So, there’s just some nuances that you got to be aware of, and beyond that, there’s just other general requirements that you got to make sure you’re aware of with VA loans, understand how to calculate income and do a few other major things that, again, aren’t necessarily harder than other loan types, but they’re different.

And so, working with a VA home loan specialist – a lender that specially works with VA loans – they generally have that process down, making it a more smooth and enjoyable process for you in the end.

Now, personally, we’d love to be that company for you to work and help make that happen. My name again is Evan Kaufman, your VA loan originator.

However, if you’re working with anyone, and there’s a lot of good companies out there that also work heavily with VA loans that can take you through the process, but there’s also a lot of folks that say they are good at it but just aren’t quite as good as you might expect.

And that’s why we always want to ask, hey, how many VA loans do you do in a year? Is your company built for it, and not just you as a loan originator that’s doing the loan, but is your company and your processors, are they built for it as well?

Important questions to ask.

It’s 95% of our business is what we love doing.

So, if you have an opportunity or need help with anything with a VA loan, or you’re active duty moving around the country and need help just with some financing questions – be it conventional or VA – we’re here and happy to help you. Take care.