danielstevens

I just noticed that last week was our 5 year anniversary helping people out on this forum at NBKC Bank. Time definitely flies! Helping this community in all 50 states has been a real pleasure for us these last five years! -Dan

This is a good question. I do think a good "do it yourself" first step is to find a calculator that helps you calculate the maximum mortgage based on some user input. We have a basic one here that you can take a look at our NBKC website. It's pretty conservative though in determining your maximum amount, with good credit the "debt to income ratio" can be higher than what a standard calculator like this will show you. But it's a good first step. https://www.nbkcmortgage.com/calculators/maximum_mortgage.aspx

This may sound a bit simplified and otherwise obvious, but you can also Google a lender's name you are considering with the keyword like "reviews" or "complaints" and you'll find a lot of information out there on how people view their experiences with specific lenders. BBB, Zillow.com, Lending Tree, Yelp, Google+ all have user submitted review databases on mortgage lenders. Those are used a lot more by people than the official NMLS site. For instance, Quicken Loans which is one of the biggest lenders in the country doesn't have any user experience reviews on the NMLS site, but there are countless user submitted reviews about them just a simple Google search away.

Hello - yes you can do what you are asking. But it may ultimately not be your best option. Quite often people have more eligibility than they realize and can have two VA loans at the same time. Each situation is different, as it depends on the size of the original loan, and the potential size of the new loan at your new house. But it's definitely worth looking into before you decide whether to refinance your old house or not.

Hey guys, we have been doing a lot of $0 cost VA IRRRL loans for people with where rates are right now at NBKC. And quite a few conventional refinances as well where we cover the actual costs (not rolling in the fees or anything like that). So it's definitely possible to find out there. You are all talking about the right things, there is a big difference between rolling in all the costs into a larger new loan where a lender says "no out of pocket costs" and actually having the lender cover all of your costs which is the true "no cost loan".

Hello, I'm sorry your experience didn't go as well as expected. A purchase on an existing house we can order the appraisal right away, but on the new builds it is critical to not send a VA appraiser out to the house before the builder tells us it is 95% complete. This VA rule can definitely cause stress for someone wanting to close as soon as the house is complete. We certainly don't like hearing that your loan officer was avoiding contact with you. If you'd like to speak with someone about that, or anything else, just PM me and I'll get you in touch with a senior manager.

That's a question I would need a few questions answered to be able to give a proper answer. I'll send you a PM.

We only handle the end financing (the loan that can fund when the house is all complete) here at NBKC. As far as your question about approved builders, for VA loans it isn't terribly hard to get a builder on the VA approved list if they aren't already. But it sounds like you need an earlier stage loan, those are usually best done by a bank in the local area of where you are buying. Then you can look at any lender for the end financing when the house is complete.

I think you've got a good chance that you've got something that is workable here. feel free to send me an email at dan.stevens@nbkc.com if you'd like to check further with us.

Probably the biggest variable to answer your question is the current loan size, if the loan size is so small after the 11 years of payments, any sort of fees may make it not very economical to potentially refinance. But with your current interest rate and where the market is right now, it's still worth digging a little deeper to see how the numbers pan out, it could still be a good opportunity.

Techsan - I'd definitely say it's worth checking out. It's possible you may be able to get something in the neighborhood of what ThreeHoler mentioned. It's all about what monthly savings you will get for how many fees that are incurred.

Hey everybody, I try to keep my sales pitches to a minimum on here. But I did want to inform everyone that the 10 year treasury is very low right now, which bodes well for mortgage rates. If you were on the fence considering a refinance, now would be good time you call a mortgage lender to see what may be available to you. So far the "expert" opinions that mortgage rates would be on the rise this year hasn't happened yet, and has actually dropped to the same low range where we were a full year ago. Dan

Thanks for the recommendation, Sledy! It definitely takes an experienced Loan Officer and underwriting team to handle home buyers with transitional employment situations such as you described. Particularly those who work for the Air National Guard or fly commercially it can take some extra TLC, but we have handled enough of these situations to be able to navigate those waters! I'm happy you had a great experience! Dan Stevens, NBKC Bank

The experts general consensus is that rates will move up gradually throughout 2016. However, these same experts have been predicting pretty much that exact thing every year for quite a while. I do think it's fair to assume rates won't drop significantly, but there are so many factors, that even that may not be true. As for your question on investment properties, the answer is yes. NBKC definitely originates investment properties, but only if it's not a commercial building with a lot of units. Dan

Hi everybody. I wanted to let you know National Bank Of Kansas City formally changed their name to "NBKC Bank" today. Same people are here as before, just a slightly new name! Some of our old links from years past may not work quite the same, or will be redirected, but I wanted to let you know we are still here to answer your questions like we have for years! If you want to reach out to me directly, my email is now: dan.stevens@nbkc.com. People do this pretty frequently, and I am able to answer some basic questions, and get you in touch with one of our loan officers that have helped other baseops users based on your personal situation! Our new mortgage website domain is: www.nbkcmortgage.com I hope everyone has a happy holiday season! Dan Stevens

I think there is some middle ground between these two viewpoints. Just wanted to remind everyone that the VA funding fee percentage is a sliding scale as you add down payment. Throw that in there, along with VA's variable formula max loan amount (see my last post), the VA funding fee exemption for service related disabilities, as well as that quite frequently the interest rates are cheaper on the loan itself on VA loans (often around 0.5% spread between the two on 30 year fixed) it really pays to spend time to look at each individual situation uniquely. I'm sure you guys would do that already, but I certainly know it can be tricky to keep track of all the moving parts when comparing the two loan programs strengths. For reference this is the official VA funding fee matrix for anyone wanting to look: http://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/documents/docs/funding_fee_table.pdf

Just wanted to reinforce that the max loan size limits being quoted above is when 100% financing is involved. You can always go higher than that as you begin to put a down payment. A good rule of thumb is "Sales Price minus County Max Limit X 25% = Down Payment" So $500k sales price in a $417k county limit needs only a down payment of $20,750. This assumes the veteran doesn't have any other existing VA loans that reduce the amount of eligibility. As you can see with my "simple" explanation, this can get quite confusing to understand. if you have a scenario that you'd like us to check for you, just send me an email (dstevens@nbofkc.com ) or PM me! Dan

It's difficult to give a quote without much info as it can vary somewhat based on a few factors. If you PM me your rough loan balance and state you are in I can get back to you pretty quick though.

Hello again! Just wanted to let everyone know the 10 year treasury yield dropped to 2.20% this morning, edging rates back to roughly where they were in late May. A couple week's ago Greece caused a panic and rates edged down, but that was only for a short time. It's never easy to predict how long a dip will last, but thought i'd let you all know in case you were in the market. Make sure to ask your lender where rates are for them (or you can reach out to me if you'd like NBKC to get you a current quote!) You can always reach me at dstevens@nbofkc.com. Thanks! Dan

Hey everybody! (shameless plug alert!) While every situation is a little different, i can say that it's pretty rare that we are higher rates than other VA lenders. With Greece going a little nuts over the weekend, that trickles down to us having a strong day on our market for interest rates. Feel free to look through this thread if you'd like to see what other baseops community members think of NBKC. If you'd like for us to get a specific quote for you can PM me or reach out to me directly at dstevens@nbofkc.com. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Dan Stevens

I wanted to post a quick note since the traditional moving season is right around the corner. And I know this community has their share of people that are transitioning to work for commercial airlines. If you are a new hire with the airlines and are having a hard time finding a lender, send me a PM. We have a loan officer on staff who has helped many borrowers in this situation (husband is retired from the A/F and is a fairly recent new hire with a major airline). She understands how commercial airline pilots are paid and how to verify your new income.

Hello everyone, I haven't posted in a while. You may have seen the recent 10 year treasury yields dip down quite a bit in the last week. That is a big driver in mortgage interest rates, which have also dipped. We have seen a spike in VA refinance applications in the last week as a result. They aren't that far off to where we saw in certain parts of 2012/2013. Feel free to send me a PM if you'd like a quote! Dan Stevens National Bank of Kansas City

I can't comment on others individual experiences, but with the amount of equity you mentioned, a VA cash out refinance may be something to look at. Most lenders can go up to 90% of the appraised value. That could net you about 30K in cash out based on those rough numbers. There are drawbacks to that route though, as the VA funding fee (if applicable) would need to be paid again, which may make it not cost effective in your situation. But probably worth at least exploring. Dan

The VA doesn't have any home equity loan programs specifically, but they do have a program where you can get up to $6000 added on top of the regular loan amount if there are energy efficient improvements to the house being made. This can be done when you are purchasing the house or refinancing. The VA put together this power point presentation on the topic here: http://www.benefits.va.gov/rodenver/training/energy_efficient_mortgages.pps

In the last week I had two people ask about how they can tell if they are eligible for a 2nd VA loan (while the first one has not been paid off). I thought I'd quick post about that, since other people may be thinking about the same thing. The quick answer is you MAY be eligible for a 2nd VA loan while your first is still active. The fool proof way of finding out is to get a copy of your current "Certificate of Eligibility". On there it will tell you how much of your eligibility you have remaining. And using that number, a VA lender can calculate the range of loan size (if any) that you can get while that loan still exists. Quite often, people are surprised at the amount of VA loan they can still obtain. If you have trouble obtaining your current Certificate of Eligibility any qualified VA lender can help you obtain that (including NBKC). Some of the less experienced VA lenders are not aware that you can sometimes have two simultaneous VA loans, so be careful if you are told a flat no.