Why so Few VA Mortgages Are Obtained by Veterans?
George Soutu, mortgage lender, read an article this past month in National Mortgage News titled“Underused VA Mortgage Program Makes Inroads” by Brian Collins. The article contain a statistic I found interesting, it stated “Of the 16.4 million active duty service members and military veterans with mortgages, less that 12% have a loan guaranteed by the
Department of Veterans Affairs.” That mean a Very Large Percentage Of Veterans Do Not Have A VA Mortgage on their home. What are Veterans missing out on when buying a home? LOTS of savings.
I should have found this surprising given VA Mortgages are a “$ 0” money down mortgage with NO PMI (private mortgage insurance), but I did not. The article tried to give a number of reasons for why so few Veterans have a VA mortgage on their home, such as:
- Fees
- Limited Seller Paid Contributions (4%)
- Requirements and limitations other loans do not have.
- Longer mortgage approval time
While all of these have some merit I do not see any of them as an obstacle for why so few Veteran Homeowners have a VA Mortgage on their home. What I do see as the main reason BY FAR for why A Very Large Percentage Of Veterans Do Not Have A VA Mortgage on their home is because of Loan Originators and Agents. Loan Originators and real estate Agents overall do a poor job of asking Borrowers/Buyers if they are a Veteran so we can make them aware of their VA Mortgage Benefit.
If you are a Loan Originator or Buyer’s Agent ask yourself two simple questions:
- Do you ask your Borrowers/Buyers consistently if they are Veterans?
- When was the last time you asked a Borrower/Buyer if they are a Veteran?
I would guess if those who are answering those questions are answering them honestly, the answers would be:
- No
- I can’t remember
If those were your answers then I would suggest you ask yourself one more question, “why not?” Then follow up the answer, by committing to asking your Borrowers/Buyers if they are Veterans on a constant basis. If each and every Loan Originator and Real Estate Agent were to make that commitment, and follow through with it, the trend it would be extremely beneficial to borrowing veterans.
Let us make A Very Large Percentage Of Veterans Who Who Do Not Have A VA Mortgage on their home change to a very large percentage of veterans who DO have a VA Mortgage on their home. This will enable more home ownership, allow Veterans to build home equity sooner, and ensure we do the right thing always for our Veterans.
Thank you George Soutu for bringing a very important lending tool to the forefront for all military past and present who are the Veterans we want to support. As a RI coastal real estate agent it is imperative to me that I do this with all my RI house hunters and I need to remind all real estate agents I work with to do the same. Let us all do our part to make VA home ownership in RI real estate a realistic dream. Why so Few VA Mortgages Are Obtained by Veterans?
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Info about the post author and guest blogger, George Soutu:
George Soutu is a mortgage Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com.
I appreciate George’s shares on mortgage information in the current real estate times with my web site readers at www.RIHouseHunt.com
Rhode Island real estate agent and licensed RI real estate agent, Ginny Lacey Gorman, helps list homes and waterfront property in Rhode Island at 401-529-7849 or email me at Ginny@RiHouseHunt.com.
