VA home Loan info? HELP!

[zam70]

Anyone know much about these?

I am selling my house and the people who have made the offer we accepted are going with a VA loan.

What I'm most curious about, is the VA assessment. After a long drawn out wait (3 weeks!), the assessor is supposed to come by Monday morning and I'm curious about what they are looking for.
The whole deal (the selling of this house and the purchase of our new one) hinges on this guys assessment and I am nervous as hell! If the house is approved EVERYTHING is done...

Did I mention the closing is 12 days away?!?!?! My biggest worry is if they find something they don't like, I might not have enough time to correct/fix it...it's a good house I'm selling, I just don't know what to look out for...

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks
Scott

 

[Lee_Burough]

Scott,

Your anxiety is pretty normal. Just take each step as it comes....Then make the best decision you can, given the facts as they present themselves. I've bought and sold a dozen houses and that anxiety is always there.

Any deal can fall through. But, you can overcome most any problem if you have a good buyer who is committed to the deal.

If you're using a realtor, they can keep up on all the issues for you and take some of the pressure off you.

The appraiser isn't usually a problem....The appraised value usually always comes in at or above the selling price. The house inspection is where the surprises come into the equation, IF the buyer hires one to look at the house. HTH

Best Regards,

leeb

 

[RobsIron]

Hey Scott, A VA loan works pretty much like an FHA loan except it is guaranteed by the Government. The requirements are a little "stricter" than usual. For instance like wood repair and there are certain things they don't want the buyer to pay at the closing.

This close to the closing you should all ready have your WDO(wood destroying organism) report and the buyer should have had the home inspection results by now. If those are done you should know where you stand as far as repairs.
Usually the seller is responsible for 1% of the sales price for wood repairs and have an agreed amount for other repairs like HVAC or Sprinkler syst. etc.

Leave your house on the market until the closing. You may get some backup contracts in case this one happens to fall thru. HTH.

 

[zam70]

Thanks guys -

Everything is done (inspections, credit approvals, etc...) on both houses (the house I'm buying and my current house that I'm selling) with the exception of this damn slow to come VA assessment.

From what I understand, the VA assessment is more like another inspection, not just another "home value assessment". They are looking to see if the house "qualifys", what ever that means. It's the "qualify" part I'm concerned about and no one seems to know or won't tell.

It's a good house and I have alot of confidence in it...I've put alot of work in it and the fact that we got the offer (a good one) 2 days after it went on the market and from the first people to look at it gives me some confidence (they wrote the offer on site)...The buyers are stoked about the whole deal as well and Pissed the VA has taken this long.

The whole problem is, the purchase of my new house hinges on the sale of this one and I want NOTHING to stop our deal...(did I mention my new house is a restored victorian/traditional and has a 5+ car garage?!).

My offer on the new house is a contingent offer so I've been a total wreck for the last 3 weeks waiting on this damn VA thing to finish...if all goes well with this last VA thing, everything is a GO and my wife and I have our 'dream" house (her: a big old traditional house, Me: a big ole traditional garage)

I hate waiting/relying on other people...

 

[Fakeyankee]

You'll be alright !!
I bought my house with a VA loan 10 years ago. At the time the house was in shambles, a real wreck !! The only thing the agent wanted was hand rails for the front steps since there were non, and some old tires removed from the property. I too was in a rush to close the deal. I nailed 2x4's to the house and planted them in the ground, about 15 min. worth of work. The agent said that was good enough !! Now my house is worth 10 times the price I paid for it. Anyway, don't get all nerved up !! If the veteran wants the house as bad as you want to sell it, It will all work out. No big deal. Relax dude, have a few beers and get ready to move into your new home !!!
Darrell.

 

[Lee_Burough]

One house I bought through the VA had the Appraiser (VA approved of course) too interested in water drainage around the back of the house and a live oak tree that was too close to the house for safety. The drainage got worked out and I signed a waiver for the tree (it was 250 years old and the best tree within a mile, I wasn't moving it for anybody).

Most of the things a VA appraiser is going to be focusing on are health and safety issues, pluse some structural things: Things that bring value to the house. You're prolly OK. If he finds a problem, find a solution

leeb

 

[XLR8]

I am a mortgage underwriter and am not familiar to the term "assesment". On a VA loan the appraisal is done by a VA approved and assigned appraiser and the appraisal can be underwritten and approved by either a mortgage companies VA approved LAPP underwriter who will issue a Notice Of Value or VA itself who will issue a Certificate of Reasonable Value. The inspection items that a VA apprasier is looking for are things that could affect a homeowner's healt or saftey i.e. missing hand rails on steps, missing electrical switch covers, or peeling paint if the home was built prior to 1978, or something that could affect the integrity of the property i.e. a leaking roof or cracked foundation. I also believe a termite inspection is required for your area. The majority of appraisals have no conditions if the house has had resonable upkeep. And although buying and selling a home can be one of the more stressful things for a person to do, try not to lose too much sleep over it.