danielstevens

Hello all, since it's getting close to the spring buying season (although it's anything but feeling like spring in Kansas City lately!) I wanted to drop a note here. If anyone has any fresh questions on buying a home with a VA loan, feel free to post here or you can email me at dstevens@nbofkc.com. If you are looking to get pre-qualified, etc, that usually is a good first step. It's been a pleasure talking to many of you over the last couple years since this thread started, I hope to continue to be of value for your group!

Ecugringo - one of the best ways to find out is to see if a lender can pull a "Certificate of Eligibility" through the VA online portal. If you get that, you know you are in. If you don't, a good lender can try and work with the VA to make sure you are getting credit for all of your service time. For instance, if you were deployed in Iraq/Afghanistan even for a short time you are very likely eligible. PM me if you would like someone here at NBKC to work with you and check it out. Dan Stevens

Hello all, It's been a couple months since I chimed in. We're closing in on about 100 loans closed for base ops users since we started advertising here, and wanted to thank you all again for that support. I did want to give an update on the current rate environment. As you may have heard in the news the last couple months, the bond market has been pretty rough causing mortgage rates to rise from their all-time lows. However, for most of the VA loans we are currently originating the rates are in the 3.75 to 4.25% APR range (depends on the actual day as it does fluctuate, and specific loan conditions). And also on a positive note, we have seen a resurgence in people buying new homes. At our office, we're up about 30% in volume in purchase compared to this time last year. Let me know if anyone has any questions. My email is dstevens@nbofkc.com, or you can reach me directly at 913-383-6442. Just mention you found us on baseops! Dan Stevens

I thought I'd chime in on this specific discussion involving National Bank of Kansas City. Right now all of our government loans (VA and FHA, USDA) are all sold to what we refer to as an investor. These are primarily Wells Fargo, CitiMortgage and US Bank. In the last few months we did start retaining some servicing on our conventional loans. We are moving to be able to retain some servicing for government loans later this year. I'll post another message when that officially happens as I see there is interest in this. I did want to mention one other thing, some people we talk to believe you can only have one VA loan at a time. While this is true sometimes, it's definitely not all the time. I won't get into the calculations on how to figure that out as it is a little confusing. But if you fall in this category, feel free to contact me and I can get your scenario looked at to see if a 2nd active VA loan is possible. I can be reached at dstevens@nbofkc.com.

Hi everybody, I wanted to post my direct phone line on here in case you preferred to reach us that way. I've been getting several PM's with VA related questions, but I know sometimes a phone conversation is preferred. These days I'm not the person that will complete the mortgage loan for you, but I can answer general questions, and then if it makes sense for you I can put you in contact with one of our loan officers assigned to the base ops channel! Here's my number: 913-383-6442 Here's my email: dstevens@nbofkc.com

matmacwc - based on what you said, there is a good possibility we could help you. Our dominant VA 30 year fixed rate we are helping people with is 3.25% right now, with a lot of fees paid for, so it definitely could be worth digging a little deeper for you. Send me a PM when you have some time, and we can talk about specifics in your situation! Dan

I haven't jumped on the board for a while. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the continued questions. I do enjoy seeing the success stories where we can help people. We've been involved with this forum for about 10 or 11 months now. And we've closed 30 loans from baseops members during that time, and I look forward to building upon that number!

Bryan - I haven't heard of anyone doing the 80/20 loan combo in the last few years. I'm willing to bet one day it'll come back in some form, but there isn't anything I've seen indicating it will be mainstream again anytime soon.

Abmwaldo - in a general sense that is correct about the rental properties limitations. The only exception I can think of to that rule is if it currently has a VA loan tied to that property. The VA IRRL can still work if it's currently a rental property. But if it's a non-VA loan right now it's a lot harder to get done with less than 20% equity. Thanks Baseops for bringing this topic back up. I haven't been here in a while either, with rates where they are this summer we've had the best summer ever in helping people refinance. We expect to fund well over 800 loans in August which will be a record for us, and over half are VA loans. But rates are still low. The most common APR we're setting people up with these days is around 3.25% on a 30 year fixed VA loan. Oftentimes that is with no discount points. Obviously, the financial markets can change quickly, but we've been fortunate the last couple months with it being pretty steady. Feel free to PM me if you'd like me to look up a personalized quote for you, or if you have any other questions I might be able to help you with! thanks, Dan.

Hi everyone, It's been a while since I posted, and I thought I'd thank everyone for their interest the last 5 months we've been involved here. Dave Devine wanted me to mention that a common misconception when people first inquire is the fees. We are often able to structure loans so there really is no closing costs to the borrower, and we pick up all the costs (including the VA funding fee) in exchange for a slightly higher rate. That way there is no "recoup period" that needs to be factored in on whether it makes sense to refinance. Thanks again everybody!

Dave wanted me to tell you all thank you for the great words. We have had a great time meeting a lot of you these last few months. We enjoy being involved with your group, and look forward to a good continued relationship with Baseops. This forum has been a great way to tell people who we are, and have a good discussion on available options. If any of you are members of similar forums/organizations that may be a good match for what we do, please let me know! Dan

Thanks all of you for the great comments. I'm excited it worked out as well as it did for you! If any of you know someone that may be a benefit in the same way, just PM me and I can answer those questions, or put you in contact with Amy, Dave and Greg who I have set everyone else up with so far from the baseops community!

Hi everybody, I just wanted to say thanks for everyone's interest in what I've been talking about. In the last month we've heard from about a dozen of you, and several we were able to help out. There will always be situations where we can't help everyone, but we certainly don't mind trying to see what we can do! Just wanted to show my appreciation for reaching out! Dan

Hello, I just wanted to let everyone know we added a video with a brief explanation of the VA Streamline Refinance to our VA page. You can see it here https://www.nbkcmortgage.com/information_center/loan_products/va_home_loans/va_streamline_refinance_loan.aspx

MattS - Thanks for the info. I'm guessing you went to them directly, as about a year ago or more they changed their requirements for banks that do business with them making the only way outside lenders like us to get it done is with an appraisal. That does bring up a good point though, that if you have a loan with BofA, and an appraisal is likely to mess things up, that giving them a call definitely can't hurt if you are in the market for a VA IRRL.

We have had some good referrals from your network over the last year or so, and I appreciate that a lot. I did want to give everyone an update with some of the inquiries we are receiving this last week. There is a lot of interest in the VA streamline refinance, for obvious reasons, as rates are currently in the 3.75% to 3.80% APR at present. One big question we are getting is whether an appraisal is needed. I thought I'd explain that to everyone here. The short answer is "maybe", which I know doesn't help much! The long answer is that the VA doesn't require it, but sometimes the existing lender will put an extra requirement that an appraisal check is needed. For instance, Bank of America is one existing lender that is strict in this area. However, Wells Fargo, Citimortgage, US Bank are all pretty flexible on not requiring an appraisal (sometimes USAA loans are actually serviced by US Bank which does make them eligible for not needing an appraisal). Fortunately, a lot of people fall in that second category. However, I know what people really care about is where they personally fall! But even if an appraisal is required, they are really just making sure the house isn't considered "upside down". So to sort of summarize the lengthy explanation. If you think you are "upside down" then we can really only help you on the VA IRRL if you are fortunate enough to have an existing lender that is flexible (like the ones I listed above). If anyone has specific questions on this, please let me know - and PM is fine too!

Whitman - You have it correct on the funding fee schedule. And I agree with your statement about putting 20% down being better in the long run. If a borrower does have 20% down the only way a VA loan would be superior is if they were exempt from the VA's funding fee. That only occurs if the VA has granted a service related disability to that veteran. Of course, if 20% down payment is not in the cards, the VA option becomes a very competetive alternative to the FHA loan.

Thanks everyone for the replies, I'll do the best I can to reply in this format with as much info as possible. I know you all don't need or want a heavy sales pitch, so i'll try to avoid that. The most popular loan program we help people with on at present is the VA 30 year fixed loan. While every loan situation is different, the dominant interest rate people are getting on a VA 30 year fixed is 3.75% at present. Rates have been in this range for the last couple of months. One never knows for sure how long they'll last, but that's what we've been able to do recently. On a 200K refinance loan that would create an APR in the range of 3.80%. To speak to our competitiveness, every place that originates VA loans has different fee structures to get the same rate. One thing you'll find with us is there aren't any fees payable to the bank on any VA loan. There will be 3rd party costs such as title insurance, VA funding fee if that is applicable. If anyone would like me to get a specific quote for you, you can PM me if you'd like. I did want to answer the specific questions too. Daynightindicator - the VA IRRL definitely sounds like a good option for you to explore. You can often structure a VA IRRL so the bank absorbs all the closing costs for you so you don't have to significantly raise your loan balance. As far as your second question about a 2nd VA loan existing at the same time, I would answer that as a "maybe". The VA gives a pool of eligibility that each existing loan takes up a portion, or all, of. It really depends on loan amounts for both loans you are looking at having at the same time. The calculation for this is somewhat complicated, but I'd be happy to help get you an answer to your specific situation if you would like to do a follow up post with the loan amount ranges for your loans. (or PM me) Wraith - I'm not sure exactly what you are referencing with USAA. But we do have options where the bank can absorb all the closing costs for you so it's truly a no cost loan. (not just rolled into the loan) We aren't able to go beyond just paying all the closing costs and give cash on top of that. nsplayr - Sorry about that very late checkup on our part! Let me know if there is anything else I can answer for any of you! Thanks again for your replies.

Hello all, My name is Dan Stevens, I'm a sales manager at National Bank of Kansas City's mortgage division. You may have noticed a new advertisement for National Bank of Kansas City this week in the forum. I just wanted to introduce us to you all by posting a short note. Over the last couple years, we've received several referrals from members in your group so we thought it would be good to help sponsor this forum and make it easy for anyone to contact us. If you have any questions about VA loans or our bank, feel free to reach out to me via this forum. you can also reach us at baseops.nbofkc.com Interest rates are at the lowest point I've ever seen, this especially helps people with existing VA loans looking to refinance. Thanks, Dan