[quote=bearishgurl]Akula, I have a few questions for you.
Why did your first agent show you a bunch of properties you were not interested in? In this day and age, we have the internet with multiple color photos. Why didn’t you just TELL HER which properties you were interested in seeing in person and ask her to check first if the seller would accept VA financing?[/quote]
Fair question. She was trying to find us what we were looking for and we did spend a lot of time looking online prior to going out and looking at houses in person. Truthfully, it is difficult to get the flavor of a house from just the pictures and sometimes houses 10 feet from the next house and you could not tell that from the pictures. Often, it was what the pictures did not show that was a dealbreaker. Usually when we went to a house it was the first time that the agent had seen the house so she was unable to give us anything other than what we had already seen online.
[quote]You state here that you have been making VA offers. Are you submitting them with an earnest money check? Do your offers specify you are putting down a percentage of the purchase price or borrowing 100% of it? Do your offers specify the seller assist with your closing costs?[/quote]
I don’t think we ever stated explicitly that they were VA offers, at least in the initial stages. We really don’t need to use a VA loan and have been playing around with the numbers. Depending on the length of time we plan to stay there it can be a slight advantage or a wash. Every offer was submitted with an earnest money check for 5K. We will be putting down between 5-10% in cash. We could do more but based on the number soup of VA vs non-VA, Mortgage insurance vs. no PMI, PITI calcs, points etc. it doesn’t do us a lot of good to go the full 20%. We have asked for closing assistance on the first offer but we have been turned down every single time. No biggie as it is not a dealbreaker for us.
[quote]What is your price range? In the four offers you made, were they all in the same immediate area/zip code? This would explain the “cronyism” among local agents you describe here.[/quote]
We wanted under 600K but have gone up a little over 700K to get what we want. Not all in the same ZIP but close. We are looking in Fairfax/Mantua area.
[quote]From your post, I’m unclear why seller “A” would not register and file his/her “septic cert” if that’s all it took to fix the title and issue title ins to you. (I am aware this also has to be done in several counties in the state of CO.)[/quote]
He listed the house for sale as a four bedroom. It was registered with the county as a septic system supporting a 3 bedroom. The septic cert reflected it as being a 3 bedroom. I can only guess that he did not want to submit the official paperwork that might prove that he had misrepresented the house. He has never submitted the paperwork and has been in breach of contract since the second closing date because of that. I am in possession of numerous e-mails advising him that he needed to submit the paperwork and also have a copy of the paperwork that was sent to him from the county. I think he just wanted us to break the contract of our own volition, forfeit the earnest money and allow him to sell the house to someone else for more money.
[quote]If you are currently active-duty military, isn’t there an abundance of military housing there to choose from?[/quote]
Yes, I am active duty but no, there is a limited amount of housing available. For my rank the wait for available housing is over 2 years. Also, I plan to retire at the end of the tour so we wanted to buy a house and put down roots.
[quote]And, just out of curiosity, how far of a daily commute would you and/or your spouse (if applic) have to make from the houses you placed offers on and lost? Were there any closer-in more desirable places you liked better? Or was the fact you were using VA financing hampering your choices of area and sellers?[/quote]
Daily commute would be about 35 minutes if there are no accidents/road closures, etc. This area balances our desires the best: Great schools(Woodson school pyramid), Great neighborhood, access to 495, commute distance, distance to Ft. Belvoir among others. I don’t think VA financing has been an impediment to our search.
[quote]The reason I asked you the last group of questions is because a buyer using VA financing would not have as large of a choice of properties, sellers and/or areas to choose from in SD County, CA, as would conventional buyers making offers indicating they were putting down a 20% downpayment. In other words, using VA financing could prove to be a detriment when making offers in the more desirable areas.
What I’m trying to state here is that a VA offer is not considered as strong of an offer as a conventional offer, even if both buyers are “pre-approved” for a mtg. If you HAVE a 20% downpayment, why not use conventional financing (which has far less closing costs than VA financing)? It’s also far less headache for the seller. This would strengthen your position and give you more housing choices.
Just because you have a Certificate of Eligibility from the VA doesn’t mean it is the best financing to use. It all depends on WHERE you are buying and HOW LONG you plan on owning the property.[/quote]
Roger, copy all. Nobody has mentioned it as being an issue and our realtor knows that we are not locked into using a VA loan. It would, as I mentioned earlier, not be a dealbreaker for us to use conventional.
I hope I have answered your questions adequately. Really, it was just kind of cathartic to get my recent frustration off my chest.
