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Updated over 6 years ago on . Most recent reply
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Lose your VA loan ??
Good Evening,
I was wondering if you could ever Lose your VA loan.
Meaning ,
say you have been out of the Military for 10+ ears and have never used it ............. Do you have to use it by a certain number of years ?
Also please,
How does the " Buying Power " with a VA loan work ?
I have heard that you can purchase up to 4 homes with the loan ( Having lived in each home for 1 years time minimum , before you go on to buy the Second one , the third one , and the fourth one ) ?
Thanks so much for the help
Most Popular Reply
Hi Michael,
To my understanding, as long as you are an honorably discharged veteran with the minimum amount of service, the VA Loan can be used forever. I currently have a VA LOAN on my property.
Here are some things to think about,
1. A VA Loan adds a "VA funding fee" which is a percentage of your purchase price that gets added on to the back of your mortgage. I believe mine was somewhere around $5,000 or somewhere around 2%. It ends up being a much better deal than having to pay PMI as $5,000 over 30 years comes out to less than $20 a month.
2. Consider #1 if you plan on doing a flip. I feel as though a VA Loan is better for buy and holds. Why add $5,000 onto a loan that you're trying to cash out in less than a year anyway? Sometimes it's better just to put cash down (some circumstances).
3. A huge problem I had with VA Loans are appraisals. At least in Maryland, there's very little inventory for a large amount of buyers. That tends to drive prices up and you need to make CERTAIN that an appraiser will come back with the right numbers considering you won't be putting anything down.
Either way, I think a VA Loan is a genius way to start house hacking. You can get into a property for 0$ down and have a tenant(s) pay your mortgage. The cash flow from what you previously paid in rent (that you're not paying now) for 0$ down is a no brainer.
Hope that helps, good luck.