I am currently in the US Navy and I have about 3 years until retirement.  

Don't listen to what other folks say about USAA and Navy Fed.  

Navy Fed has 3.75% with no origination fee and no points... my current lender has the same but at 4.25% and covers lending costs (about $1100).

So when you say local banks, do you mean banks like SECU or Navy Federal or PNC?

Navy FederalPen Fed TD Bank also does them too.

I paid around $2000 last year through Navy Federal.I'm not sure you're going to do much better than that rate though, so it may not be worth it unless you're looking to do a cash-out deal.

There are two interviewees who are military related, one is an active duty Navy officer and one is a Navy spouse.  

We started our paperwork with the VA through Navy Federal to get the loan transferred.My husband has been supplementing his teaching (which is PT) with remodeling since February of 2015.

I am hoping on our next deal they will come down on interest a bit.Ok, so here's what the house looked like before we bought it:So far, we have painted the exterior, all new vinyl windows, new exterior doors, new garage door and opener, installing French drains and a sump pump due to there being a bad ground water issue in the crawl space last spring, new roof, opened up the kitchen, put in a french door, replaced all the wood flooring, tiled in bathrooms, framed in laundry and mechanical, shelves in the pantry, all new interior paint, heated flooring in master bath, can lighting.

I'm originally from Montreal (hence the "Swan-See" - it's much easier to attempt my name in French) but moved out to Vancouver area back in 1992 (wow, ages ago now!).