Partnership dispute on VA loan

[Amy L.]

Hi everyone, my friend is VA eligible and we are under contract for duplex for 850k in NY. The VA limit is 679k. Which means we need to come up with 42K (25% on the remaining 171k). My friend thinks I should pay for the 42k and closing cost (25k) because he says if it weren’t for his VA loan I wouldn’t be getting the deal. That means I’m putting about 70k in cash and while he thinks his loan eligibility is worth $135k because 20% of the VA limit 679k. I don’t understand how he quantifies that. He is very adamant that I front up all the cash to match. I’d appreciate suggestions if you are familiar with my situation.

[Mike Foster]

Hmm.. what is your intention with the property? Are you both living in one unit and renting the other? 

You could try and get creative and have the seller cover the down payment, and structure a payment plan with interest back to him/her. If they are already getting the majority of the cash up front, I don't see why they wouldn't want to finance 70k unless they still owe a lot of money on it.