San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis

property may not meet VA guidelines

I just went over this with a mortgage broker to find out what programs would cover various levels of disrepair in a property. As has been the case for many years VA is the more strict of the two programs. She said right now that is even more so the case.Don't take this as a set answer however it always makes sense to ask around. FHA has its requirements which are as much bureaucratic hoops to jump through, IMO, as they are about quality control but some quality control is there. Even FHA 203k will not allow for serious problems like cracked slabs.

When I used my VA in 1995, I was allowed to buy a fixer, with no repairs in escrow, that FHA would have never allowed. It is important to keep in touch with a good mortgage broker or a least ask your loan originator about these trends before writing offers.In case anyone doesn't know, you can give the lender the MLS number and some descriptions of the defects and ask them what it would take to make it through a possible escrow.You can also use your real estate agent to help find a match of loan to property. People waste a lot of time and emotion with loan/ property mismatches sometimes.

Yeah, just skip the place, it will have issues.

Thanks everyone. I was under the impression that the FHA and VA requirements were virtually identical. If there are significant requirements that would explain it ... could've been worded better in the listing description though.

Like sdr said the restrictions are different. Also I have seen two different FHA appraisers come up with two varying required repairs for the same property.

Other than the usual obscure HUD policy letters I've found precious little authoritative information on FHA and VA repair requirements, let alone on the differences between the two. Anyone got any linkage to any sites where these differences are documented?

http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/pam26_7.html

Chapter 12 is most important VA calls its requirements MPR's Minimum Property Requirements. They are very similar to FHA which can be found by searching General Acceptability requirement in

4105.2 and 4905.1 at HUDclips.http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/index.cfm

Basically these requirements are noted at the appraisal level with the underwriter having primary responsibility. Right now FHA is not hard, it is being promoted everywhere. VA is probably tougher but talk to your loan originator.

I see this old thread got linkage from another blog:

http://sandiegohomeblog.com/2009/09/03/f...

and indirectly through bubbleinfo.com.

I'm seeing fewer "No VA" listings these days. Maybe listing agents and sellers are losing their anti-VA bias. Maybe they just want more and higher offers to use as negotiating tools with the preferred cash and conventional buyers. I mean, who cares what the terms of an offer are if you're just using it to screw the one guy with an escalation clause :)