Real Estate has a lot of moving parts. Different styles of homes, different types of loans, different wants and needs from buyers and sellers and on, and on. In recent history a VA loan has been considered a difficult loan to fund on the purchase (or sale) of a home. The basic reason for this is simple, it’s a government backed loan only available to veterans of our armed forces. It’s a major benefit to those who serve or have served. But they come with red tape- as many different loan programs do.
The VA Loan in the past has been required to clear both section 1 (active infestation) AND section 2 (conducive conditions) clearance at close of escrow as a loan funding condition. For background conventional loans typically do not require any WDO clearance. The idea behind the closing requirements of the VA Program are in theory great- clear the property of dry rot and any other wood destroying organism (termite, beetles etc.) in order to place the vet in a great home as well as protect the lender from more findings in the future- essentially a clean start for the home (dry rot and termite infestation are preventable with home maintenance- but also common in the Sacramento area). Given the requirements of VA loan program, you can probably see that when there are multiple offers a VA offer can quickly be moved to the bottom of the list, as it is easy to see that the process of getting the loan funded can or will require more than that of a conventional loan.
The best “trick” that we have identified for streamlining the process is as follows: When dealing with a VA Loan the appraiser can have a lot of influence when it comes to what needs to be repaired. With that said, our advice is to have the appraisal done before the inspections. By doing this, we will know immediately what findings will be the most important to the loan funding. Additional findings are always disclosed, however when looking to get loan funded the less hoops to jump through the better.
Here at NAHS we love to see our vets become homeowners. We love that the VA Loan program exists. And we also love the WDO repair opportunities that they often present us. With all that said- We want to see more of it. We hope that this little tip can help!!!
