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Here on the scenic Kitsap County WA peninsula, we are fortunate to have a very large military community comprised of Naval Base Kitsap, including the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bangor Subase, and the Keyport Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

As such, many of the active-duty, active reserve, and retired service members buy homes here in Kitsap County WA using VA Home Loan financing. This is a very popular loan product of choice mainly because it doesn’t require that the Buyer contribute a down payment.

VA Home Loan rates are usually fairly competitive compared with conventional loan rates. The current VA Home Loan rate is hovering around 3.75% to 4% for a 30-year fixed mortgage, and at 3.0 to 3.25% for a 15-year fixed mortgage. The maximum loan limits here in Kitsap County WA are presently set at $417,000. However, if a Veteran elects to purchase a home with a sales price higher than the loan limit, a down payment is then required which is 25% of the difference between the loan amount and the sales price.

Here in Kitsap County WA, it is fairly common for the VA Buyer to ask the Seller to contribute towards paying a portion or all of their closing costs (typically up to 3% of the sales price).

One of the distinctions of using VA financing to purchase your home is the VA appraisal process. Not only does the VA appraiser analyze comparable market data to determine current valuation, but they also inspect the home to determine if any conditions need to be remedied/resolved prior to closing. These typically involve primary home systems such as electrical, plumbing, and heating, or structural issues, like roof, siding, crawlspace, or foundation. They also look for any concerns relating to safety like steps, handrails, and decks.

So even though you conduct a full home inspection and negotiate any needed repairs with the Seller, the VA appraiser may call out additional conditions that will need to be resolved prior to closing. Just understanding and knowing about the VA appraisal helps VA Buyers to anticipate potential issues or delays to the home buying process.

For more information on the VA Home Loan process, go to the Overview of the VA Home Loan Program.

The first part of the VA home buying process is to connect with a knowledgeable mortgage lender to determine your eligibility and budget price range. I highly recommend Rhonda Porter with Mortgage Masters. You can connect with her through her popular blog, The Mortgage Porter.

If you’re a 1st Time VA Home Buyer, or even a repeat VA Buyer, give me a call @ 360.440.4758 or email at KitsapAgent@gmail.com, and I would be honored to assist you in your VA Home Buying Adventure!

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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional with Keller Williams West Sound, providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, ActiveRain, and Crabbing in the Hood, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Posted in VA Financing | 1 Comment »

Tags: bangor subase, Kitsap County WA, naval base kitsap, puget sound naval shipyard, va buyers, va financing, va home loans

Let me start off by saying I am a big fan of VA financing. It’s one of the few loan products available for active-duty service members and veterans that requires little to no money up front in order to purchase a home. My first two homes were financed with VA home loans, otherwise I would have been a renter for a very long time!

It’s just that I really dislike the whole VA appraisal process. While we have many highly qualified appraisers here in Kitsap County WA, and most of them do an admirable job at determining property valuations, the whole VA appraisal process is horribly flawed.

If you follow any of my blogs, you know I’ve written on this subject many times before:

VA Appraisals and the Luck of the Draw Death of a Dream:  VA Appraisals Re-Visited

Curse of the VA Appraisal VA (Very Arbitrary) Appraisals in Kitsap County WA

Challenging VA Appraisals and Other Urban Legends

The challenge of accurately appraising a home’s current value in today’s volatile real estate market can be a difficult task to begin with. Add to that the rather nebulous and seemingly ‘subjective’ guidelines provided by the VA, and you definitely have a formula for potential frustration/stress.

With the recent sub-prime debacle, and the growing rate of short sales/foreclosures, lenders have really tightened their home loan requirements. This extremely cautious level of examination funnels down to the appraisers who are working on behalf of the Buyers and Lender to ensure that the property is worth the sales price agreed to in the purchase contract. As a result, we are beginning to experience an increasing number of appraisals that are coming in ‘under’ value, or below the mutually agreed contract sales price.

In addition to determining value, VA appraisers are also tasked with identifying any major structural defects or safety issues. Unfortunately, all too many times, the definition of what constitutes a structural defect or safety issue is somewhat vague or subjective. The VA guidelines don’t provide the appraiser with any substantive definitions as to what constitutes a safety hazard or the specific requirements that must be met in order to correct them. And to compound the problem, these items are normally called out as a ‘condition’ for funding, meaning that they must be resolved/corrected prior to closing.

I’ve endured a few transactions where so-called ‘conditions’ were imposed and they ended up killing the deal. Granted, if the roof has a big hole in it or the foundation is crumbling, such issues should be addressed and resolved prior to closing.

Unfortunately, common sense doesn’t always rule the day where VA appraisals are concerned. If a window sill has chipped paint (a purely cosmetic issue) and it’s the middle of January, wouldn’t  it make more sense to paint it later in the Spring or Summer when it isn’t raining? It doesn’t matter when it comes to VA financing. If the condition can’t be remedied before closing, the transaction won’t be funded. Period.

Decks are one of those home features that typically garners a lot of scrutiny. Is it structurally sound? Does it have adequate railings? But what if the deck is only 12 inches above ground level? Are railings necessary? The VA guidelines won’t tell you. It’s completely up to the respective appraiser and what their personal interpretation/definition of a potential safety hazard is.

As real estate professionals, we work very hard and diligently to ensure that the entire transaction goes as smoothly as possible for our clients. Unfortunately, elements like the VA appraisal are outside our ability to control. All we can do is prepare our clients for the frustrating uncertainties that may occur, and deal with them as best we can.

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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, ActiveRain, Everyday CK, and Crabbing in the Hood, or you can e-mail him:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Posted in Real Estate Bites | 1 Comment »

Tags: bangor subase, deal killers, naval base kitsap, va appraisals, va appraisers, va financing, va home loans, va mortgages

As a licensed real estate professional here on the beautiful Kitsap Peninsula in scenic Washington State, I have the privilege of serving a very large military community, comprised primarily of active-duty US Navy personnel  and their dependents stationed at Naval Base Kitsap.

Given that fact, many of the Buyers and Sellers I represent are party to transactions  that involve VA Financing. As a Navy veteran myself, and former submarine sailor, I have firsthand experience with the benefits of using a VA home loan. Our first two homes were purchased using VA Financing. It’s one of the few ‘Zero-Down‘ loan products still available in today’s lending market.

I take my roles and responsibilities as an agent very seriously, especially as it relates to representing my clients best interests. It’s not about me, or what’s in it for me, but what is best for my clients and helping them successfully achieve their home buying or selling goals.

One my tasks in a real estate transaction  is anticipating any potential problems or pitfalls, and ensuring the entire process goes smoothly. This skill is acquired through an intimate understanding of the real estate business, maintaining clear lines of communication, and many years of experience as an agent.

Unfortunately, regardless of how hard I may try, there are times when certain circumstances are beyond my ability to influence or control. Such can be the case with VA Financing, and, in particular, VA Appraisals.

Many times, VA Home Buyers are under the false assumption that once the home/pest inspection is completed and associated repairs are negotiated with the Sellers, that things will progress rather smoothly until closing. However, even after you conduct the home inspection, the VA Appraiser may find additional problems (or ‘conditions’) that will need to resolved/repaired before the loan can be funded.

Case in point:   In one of my recent VA transactions, my Sellers had a large cedar deck off the back of their house. At its highest point, the deck was 24 inches above ground level. The deck did not have any railings or handrails.

In our area, VA Appraisers use the WA State Building Code to determine allowable deck height before railings need to be installed. If a deck is 30 inches or more above ground level, then railings are required. Based on this, I counseled my Sellers not to install the railings.

After the Buyer’s Home Inspection was completed, the VA Appraiser conducted his analysis. The home came in at value, and there were NO conditions. Or so we thought…..

A week or so after the appraisal, some ‘salary-justifying’ bureaucrat in the VA Regional Office in Denver disapproved the appraisal, citing a health/safety issue. The VA Appraiser was told to amend the appraisal and insert a condition that now required for railings to be installed on the deck.

When we attempted to gain some clarification on the ruling, we received a very rude and abrupt response.

“If you want the loan to fund, install the railings, PERIOD!”

I wondered to myself – “At what point/height does a deck become a safety concern? Two inches above the ground? 10 inches? 30 inches?”

You would think the VA would use some kind of uniform standard to make consistent determinations in such instances.

Unfortunately, in this instance, the determination was simply the personal, subjective opinion of someone stuck in a cubicle in Denver as to what constitutes a safety/health issue.

Luckily, we moved on from there, and the transaction finally closed. But not before a lot of unwarranted stress and delays were added to the process.

Not all VA transactions are problematic, like this one. VA Home Loans are still one of the best lending products available for veterans and active-duty personnel. Still, it’s important for Buyers and Sellers to be aware of such potential difficulties.

Got any VA Loan or Appraisal horror stories? Feel free to share. The more consumers are aware of such things, the better prepared they’ll be!

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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, ActiveRain, Crabbing in the Hood, Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Posted in Mortgage Bites | 2 Comments »

Tags: Kitsap County WA real estate, naval base kitsap, va appraisals, va appraisers, va financing, va home loans, va transactions

“And you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

John 8:32

Okay, so the topic of VA appraisals here in Kitsap County WA isn’t on quite the same level playing field as Biblical Truth, but the principle is still the same.

One of my marketing catch phrases is ‘providing knowledgeable empowerment’ for my clients. By that, I mean, one of my primary goals is helping to better educate my clients through my years of experience, training, and education as a real estate professional, so as a result, they are more empowered to make intelligent and prudent decisions regarding buying or selling real estate.

As an advocate for my clients, it is my responsibility to educate and inform my clients about the entire real estate transaction process, from start to finish. One of the reasons for doing so is to better prepare them for any potential pitfalls, delays, or challenges that may occur. As much as we may try to achieve a smooth and timely closing, there is always the possibility for a problem to occur that is outside of our ability to control.

Such is the case with VA appraisals.

Here in WA State, most residential real estate contracts require a formal home inspection contingency process. The Buyer contracts with a professional inspector who conducts a full complete home and pest inspection. From the results, the Buyer then petitions the Sellers to repair or remedy any issues of concern. Once the Sellers agree to the terms, the contract then moves along through the ‘Pending’ status onto closing.  Usually all that remains is for the Buyer’s loan documents to be sent to the Escrow company.

It is at this point that many people get a false sense of hope/assurance that nothing can go wrong, especially in a VA Loan transaction. One thing I always tell my clients is that nothing is a done deal until your Underwriter ‘funds’ the loan, and the County records the deed. Once those two things happen, you can let your hair down and celebrate. But until then, there is always the chance that something can go sideways, however slight.

In almost every residential real estate transaction, your lender will order up an appraisal of the property to determine that its valuation is closely aligned to the agreed contract sales price.

However, in a VA transaction, the appraiser many times does more than simply determine market valuation. They can also identify potential safety hazards, structural concerns, or other defects, and make them ‘conditions for funding.’ This means that these issues must be resolved/corrected prior to closing. Some of these items may have already been uncovered and negotiated during the inspection. Still others may be in addition to what was handled during the inspection process.

While there is no doubt some standardized procedure to conducting VA appraisals, it’s always interesting (frustrating) to note how each appraiser can vary in their findings. One appraiser will come in at value with no conditions, while another appraiser will call out a long laundry list of ‘conditions for funding.’ At times there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the process.

Unfortunately, there are times when the ‘conditions for funding’ cannot be easily resolved, and the deal falls apart. But in many instances, with both Buyers, Sellers, and agents working together, a remedy can be achieved to satisfy the appraiser’s conditions.

Just knowing that the potential for these kinds of issues exist helps to eliminate any last minute surprises, and can mentally prepare Buyers for the possibility.

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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com and Crabbing in the Hood, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Tags: bangor subase, Kitsap County WA real estate, naval base kitsap, Silverdale WA Real Estate, va appraisals, va appraisers, va loan