Financing Your Owner Occupied Investment Property With A VA Loan

Financing Your Owner Occupied Investment Property With A VA Loan

Lender · Rochester, NY · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes

here are some guidelines to assist you......

For VA home loan purposes, a veteran is a person who has served or is currently serving on active duty in the United States Military or Coast Guard and who was discharged or released from active duty under conditions other than dishonorable. Un-remarried surviving spouses of an eligible service member who died as a result of service or service-related injuries may also be eligible.

ELIGIBLE PROPERTY TYPES

1 – 4-unit single family detached homes

PUDs

Townhouses

Condominiums—per VA guidelines

INCOME

In order to be considered for approval of a VA home loan, income stability is a mandatory requirement

Veterans recently separated from the service must have a minimum 2 year work history in the same line of work that he/she did in the service. The veteran should be in his/her most recent job for at least 12 months.

W-2s for the last two years

Signed Federal tax returns for the past 2 years for self-employed borrowers and rental income/loss

MAXIMUM FINANCED PROPERTIES

The maximum number of financed properties that the borrower(s) can have is four (4). However, the borrower must still have remaining VA eligibility for a VA loan.

GIFTS

A gift letter, source of funds and evidence of transfer of gift funds is required.

MAXIMUM LTV

100% for Purchase transactions
90% for Refinance transactions
100% for IRRRL Refinance transactions

MINIMUM CREDIT SCORE

For loan amounts </= $417,000, the minimum FICO score required is 600. For loan amounts > $417,000, the minimum FICO score required is 700.

MINIMUM LOAN AMOUNT

There is no minimum loan amount.

OCCUPANCY

Owner-occupied, primary residences are allowed. Second homes or investment properties are not allowed.

RESERVE REQUIREMENTS
If the loan amount is $417,000 or less and the borrower is not qualified with rental income, there are no requirements for cash reserves. If the borrower uses rental income to qualify or if the loan amount is greater than $417,000, six (6) months of reserves must be documented.

SELLER CONCESSIONS

Seller concessions include, but are not limited to, the following:

Payment of the buyer's VA funding fee

Prepayment of the buyer’s property taxes and insurance

Gifts such as a television set or microwave oven

Payment of extra points to provide permanent interest rate buydowns

Provision of escrowed funds to provide temporary interest rate buydowns,

Payoff of credit balances or judgments on behalf of the buyer

Seller concessions do not include payment of the buyer’s closing costs or payment of points as appropriate to the market.

Any seller concession or combination of concessions which exceeds 4% of the established reasonable value of the property is considered excessive, and unacceptable for VA guaranteed loans.

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Hanford, CA · Member since 2013 · 5k+ posts · 1k+ votes
11y

Awesome advice

Don't forget you can buy more than one property you just can't exceed your entitle for the 0% down. Anything above your entitlement amount is 25% Love the va loan.

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  • Hanford, CA · Member since 2013 · 5k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11y

    Awesome advice

    Don't forget you can buy more than one property you just can't exceed your entitle for the 0% down. Anything above your entitlement amount is 25% Love the va loan.

  • Information Systems and Cyber Security Manager – US ARMY · Augusta, GA · Member since 2015 · 128 posts · 30 votes
    11y

    Great recap of info. This is for sure the way I'm going to get started. Already looking at banks and trying to secure pre-approval. Thank you!

  • Lender · Rochester, NY · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11y

    @Elizabeth Colegrove

    Absolutely! I have clients that have taken advantage of this and many Veterans are not aware this exists.

  • Investor · WI OH · Member since 2015 · 113 posts · 36 votes
    10y

    Any disqualifiers related to the credit scores or just the scores? Specifically, if there is a foreclosure or short sale on the credit history does that alter the score requirements? 

  • Mike CumbieBusiness Member
    REALTOR® · Brockport, NY · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    10y

    Yup love the VA loan, got my primary residence and refinance that way. I didn't see no PMI on your explanation though, is that still valid?

    That was huge for me, the VA says "We back it so you can't charge him PMI on a 0 down house". Worked real nice, plus the other concessions. They do require a bit more work but overall I would happily recommend it.

  • Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2015 · 25 posts · 5 votes
    10y

    @Elizabeth Colegrove - I'm a veteran but a little confused by your comment:

    "Don't forget you can buy more than one property you just can't exceed your entitle for the 0% down. Anything above your entitlement amount is 25% Love the va loan."

    Let's say I bought my first property for $200K with 0% down and now want to buy my second property. - Does that mean as long as the second property is $217k or less, I still don't have to put anything down? Meaning if the second property were $225k, I would have to come to the table with 25% (Both properties totally over $417k)?

    thanks and hopefully that makes sense

  • Investor · Woodbridge, VA · Member since 2015 · 476 posts · 197 votes
    10y

    @Kyle Patrick No. the way it works is you have to cover 25% of anything over and above your entitlement. In your example you would only have to come up with 25% of the difference between 417K (your entitlement) and 425K (your total purchase price).

    basically 25% of that 8K (or 2K) if that makes sense.

  • Investor · Washington, DC · Member since 2015 · 25 posts · 5 votes
    10y

    @Kevin Harrison - that makes more sense... thanks

  • Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 98 posts · 48 votes
    10y

    Seller carry may be an option for the 25% limit overage. Very very rare case. 

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