VA Loans

[Muscle2002]

We closed last week with NB of KC. Our agent, Greg Mealman (913-383-6452), was by far the most helpful participant during the process; moreso than our realtor. The negative points (lender credit), no loan origination charges, and rate of 3.25% are what drew us to KC. However, Greg's professionalism and willingness to answer our questions no matter how trivial no matter the time of day are what would lead us to go with KC again. Our realtor seemed concerned that we didn't go with a local lender (shocked), but no one else could offer the numbers KC did. Additionally, there was concern about closing in time when using a non-local bank, but Greg and KC delivered.

KC runs a tight ship and Greg's work was outstanding.

[slackline]

Anybody used these guys for buying a rental property? Just curious.

[Muscle2002]

Anybody used these guys for buying a rental property? Just curious.

We nearly used them to refinance our rental house, but decided to stay with our current bank on that property simply due to convenience. The numbers were nearly identical.

[RescueRandy]

Anybody used these guys for buying a rental property? Just curious.

We used them to refi on our rental property in Tucson. Everything that everybody's said about their experience with a home buy is true with our rental refi.

[BONE WSO]

Rental refi rate was slightly higher at 3.375 vs 3.25 for owner occupied

[F16Deuce]

Dave Devine has been a touchdown for my VA loan, I highly recommend him. The process was painless. Interest rates are slowly creeping up....

[matmacwc]

So I got a letter in the mail telling me that my VA loan has been tagged for inclusion in a VA IRRRL program. It quoted a reduced interest rate to 3.25 (currently at 3.75) with an APR of 3.59. I plan on being here for a LONG time, but is .50% worth it?

Or is this a scam.

[Danny Noonin]

So I got a letter in the mail telling me that my VA loan has been tagged for inclusion in a VA IRRRL program. It quoted a reduced interest rate to 3.25 (currently at 3.75) with an APR of 3.59. I plan on being here for a LONG time, but is .50% worth it?

Or is this a scam.

Probably not, but you have to do the math for yourself based on your own numbers. That's a pretty good spread between rate and APR, so there are some costs associated with that loan. You'd have to figure out what they are, how you'd pay for them (are they paid at closing or rolled into the loan), the opportunity cost for not having that money (the closing costs/fees) to invest elsewhere, and how many years would it take you to break even considering your monthly payment savings vs your costs. Then make the call whether its worth fronting the money and/or extending your loan to save approx $33 per $100K in loan you have.

Edit: if you decide you might want to do that, definitely shop around! Different lenders will have far different costs for that rate.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Danny Noonin

[jstarsshag]

I just closed on a VA Re Fi under that IRRRL program. 3.25 with $6800 paid toward closing costs from the leander... by the time it's all said and done, I will have reduced my rate by .5% and paid nothing to do it. I'd pass if I had to pay closing costs but because it was a freebe this deal was a no brainer. To re-attack Danny's comment, shop around apparently there is free money layin' around the guberment.

[MCO]

Just closed on a home with a VA loan from Amy Paterson at NBOKC at 3.25%. Had a few issues come up with the house near the end but they put my file to the front and worked to make sure we closed basically on time. I would recommend their services to anyone asking about where to get a loan. I was in a state of moving and crashing at a friends apartment, but they made getting forms to them signed as easy as possible with my limited resources and my 2 weeks of leave to get married thrown in there right at the end. Answered all my questions almost immediately. Great customer service and super nice people. 2 thumbs up.

Edited June 27, 2013 by MCO

[F16Deuce]

Just closed with Dave Devine last week on my house, pretty quick turn around at less than 4 weeks from offer acceptance to close. Excellent customer service. I highly recommend Dave and NBOKC.

[danielstevens]

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

[RescueRandy]

I just closed my second transaction with Dave Devine on 22 July. The first was a refi on our place in Tucson and now a place for us to live in Florida. Both experiences were excellent. In regards to Daniel Stevens' comment above, we did experience a rate hike and reduced lender's assistance due to the more competitive market over the last 6 weeks or so. In spite of the more challenging lending environment, Dave did an outstanding job communicating with us on the ins and outs of the process as well as how he thought the market was looking in regards to interest rates.

I would highly recommend Dave and the NBofKC team if you're in the market for a VA loan or a VA streamline refi. Happy hunting!

[DUNBAR]

I closed in mid-Jul with Dave Devine. Another satisfied customer. It is becoming inconceivable to me that anyone would ever again use USAA for a mortgage. I spent 5 minutes on the phone with them trying to make sense of their good faith estimate and it was appalling. Additionally, if you are skeptical of the opinions of us beer-swilling Neanderthals here at baseops.net, you can check out the reviews for National Bank of Kansas City at numerous other websites (Lending Tree, etc). Very impressive organization.

[Warrior]

I'll throw my 2 cents in as well: I got a quote from nbokc when I bought my house last summer and it was competitive and the customer service was first rate. I ended up going with a local credit union whose terms blew away everyone else's.

Mostly wanted to add that USAA's mortgage service is terrible. I use them for almost everything else but I won't be getting another mortgage from them. (Had a USAA mortgage on my last house).

[ColoradoAviator]

My wife and I closed on our first house last week with Amy Paterson from NBOKC. Her customer service was fantastic! We locked in a 3.65 percent, 30-year-fixed VA rate back in June. As first-time home buyers we had plenty of questions and Amy always took the time to explain everything. We bought a new house that was under construction and dealt with our fair share of headaches including slipping the closing date a week. Amy was fantastic throughout the entire process. Our realtor said that Amy was by far the best out-of-town lender she had ever dealt with and was better than most of the local lenders. We would use Amy and NBOKC again in a heartbeat.

[ecugringo]

How do you find out if you qualify for a VA loan? I was a reservist, still in the IRR, but I have no idea if I qualify or not.

[danielstevens]

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

[duece123]

Just closed with Dave Davine. First time home buyer. Made it super easy and even worked with me on his day off to ensure our closing went smooth. The majority of his business is mil and airline pilots. People spread his name for a reason. Great experience!

[backseatdriver]

One more shout out for Dave Devine. Streamline refi on a house in FL - Dave beat every other offer I had received with nothing out of pocket and very minimal closing costs rolled into the loan. Dropped my payment by $300 a month. Very fast turnaround from first phone call to closing (less than a month), extremely courteous and excellent communication throughout.

My only complaint is I wish I had called him six months ago when rates were even lower!

Highly recommended.

[BigLoc]

At the recommendation of this thread, my wife and I chose to use Amy Paterson of NBOKC for our VA loan. She got us a great rate (3.75%) and even went above and beyond after our deal hit a snag just prior to closing. My realtor was not excited about the prospect of working with a non-local lender, but Amy proved to be a first-rate professional. We never had to wait very long to get an answer from her and she also made sure I was included when she needed to notify my realtor. This was my 3rd purchase and it was by far the smoothest I've experienced. I will definitely seek them out for any financing/refinancing needs in the future.

I don't post much here, but since this thread led me to use them, I wanted to make sure that I passed along more good press about them to anyone that is looking to buy.

[GoAround]

I don't post much here...

Lol, don't you mean you've never posted BigLoc aka Amy?

[BigLoc]

I read the posts on here all the time but rarely have anything to contribute. I can't login from work, which is when I do most of my surfing. I'm not Amy. I'm sure if anybody cares, they can do an IP check. Just wanted to add to the thread.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[JS]

Dave Ramsey had a short piece on VA loans not that long ago. He rates them as #3 out of the three types - conventional, FHA, and then VA, in that order.

His logic was (and I actually agree with him here) is that:

1. They are setting you up to do something you should not do - putting down no down payment and thus taking on 20% more debt than you would if you had a conventional on a home that was 20% less expensive. More debt is bad, according to Dave. And in this case, I sort of agree with him, because you will be paying interest on that extra 20% of debt for 30 years.

2. They charge very high origination fees and closing costs - by far the highest of the three major types of loan.

3. They don't offer better rates.

Although I have criticized him on here in the past, I think his main point in his anti-debt rants are that we should strive to live beneath our means. He hates the VA loan because it enables us to live at, or slightly beyond our means with regards to the amount of home that we can afford to consume.

I am not casting stones - I took out a loan with 100% equity on my first home (traditional, with a higher rate to compensate for the lack of 20% down), but when I refinanced, I pulled a ton of money out of savings to get my 20% equity and thus avoid PMI, higher rates, VA origination fees, or whatever other ways they want to hide the penalty fees of not having 20% down.

Remember - don't judge a home loan by the monthly payment or by whether or not the bank is doing you a "favor" by rolling the closing costs into the loan for you. Those are still real costs - thousands of dollars more, in the case of the VA loan origination fees - that you have to pay back, dollar for dollar (plus interest). So it is actually a great disservice to roll the extra fees and closing costs into the loan/monthly payment, because you wind up paying even more at the end.

My strategy was to get the 20% down and then shop hard for the lowest closing costs. Monthly payment was low on my list of priorities because I know it is just a manipulation tool for them to try and get you to live beyond your means and buy more house than you can afford.

[HossHarris]

Buying a 20% cheaper home does not magically put money in your bank account with which to make a down payment.