I guess the next thing would be to compare the VA loan vs. the conventional loan
* Interest rates
* Points/funding fees
Is it your experience that VA loans generally have lower interest rates?
I would think that San Diego, being a military town, would have many veterans buying using VA loans.[/quote]
I have never participated in a VA sale, brian, but only on sales of VA properties taken back and managed by them. As I recall, the VA fixed rate lagged a little behind the conventional fixed rate. Their fixed rate used to be not as quick to move as conv but I don’t know about today.
In the seventies through about ’91, there were a lot of veteran’s here using them but I think what happened is the VA’s loan ceiling did not move up fast enough to keep up with the prices of homes around here so the program sort of sank into oblivion. Then, with the advent of NINA loans, sub-prime and interest-only products, the VA raised their lending limit into the stratosphere (I don’t know what it is now but it is probably higher than 99% of veterans can afford). Honestly, you’d have to ask a loan agent that puts borrowers in them, but with all the mortgage products out there to choose from and the extra fees tacked onto a VA loan, I really don’t see where (in the SD market) it would benefit a borrower to use this program over a conventional program. Especially if they were placing offers in a multiple-offer environment. I think the VA buyer would fall down to the bottom of the pack there.
Just because a loan program is backed by the VA doesn’t mean it is the best loan for a particular active or retired servicemember.
Since your friend has the $$ for a downpayment, he would have to crunch all the numbers on different mortgage programs and compare the payments and cost of borrowing. Also you said he wants to pay $300K for a condo which is out of state. Unless that condo is located in a high-cost area which is NOT FALLING in price right now, that may be too much $$ to spend for a condo. You might want to encourage him to look at some recent sold comps in the same or a nearby complex to the one that he is purchasing in and subtract at least 10% from that before he makes an offer. Just my .02.
