VA Homebuyer Plan

You do not need to apologize for using a benefit you earned

Do not let somebody who does not understand VA financing talk you out of understanding it. Understand it first, then decide whether it makes sense for you.

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What do most veterans not know about their own benefit?

Most veterans know they have a VA benefit. They do not always know what it means for their specific situation.

They have heard pieces of it. They have heard things from friends, and things from agents. Sometimes they have used it before and assume that settles what they can do now.

So the first thing is not a speech about VA loans. It is finding out what you already believe, and then checking whether what you believe is actually true for you. A lot of veterans arrive carrying assumptions before we have even talked about a house, so sometimes the first job is clearing out bad information.

The myth that a VA offer is a weaker offer

That is the big one, and it is worth saying plainly that it is wrong.

People act like the type of financing tells you whether somebody is a serious buyer. Those are not the same thing. A well prepared VA buyer, with a lender who understands the process, should not automatically be treated like the financing is a problem.

Where does it come from? Old stories. Bad experiences. Agents who are not familiar with VA financing. Somebody had one difficult VA transaction fifteen years ago and apparently we are going to repeat that story forever.

Talk it through

A lot of mortgage myths work that way. One experience becomes a rule.

When somebody pushes back

What happens when an agent is worried about VA financing?

We do not want to argue with them. We want to understand what they are worried about.

Usually there is something behind it. Maybe they had a bad experience. Maybe they think something is required that is not. Maybe they are worried about timing. Let us talk about the actual concern.

A lot of problems disappear when somebody picks up the phone and has a real conversation instead of everybody making assumptions through text messages. Sellers and listing agents sometimes assume there is automatically going to be more difficulty, more time, more problems with the property or the appraisal. You cannot make those assumptions just because the buyer is using VA financing. Look at the actual buyer, the actual transaction, and the lender handling it.

Can the benefit be used more than once?

A lot of people assume that if they have used their VA benefit before, that is the end of the story. It is not always that simple.

There are situations where the benefit may be used again. But that is an area where we want to look at your actual information rather than give you a blanket answer from a website. Let us verify what applies to you.

There are also situations where someone other than the veteran may be eligible, including certain surviving spouses. That is one of those things we do not want to guess about. Let us verify what actually applies to you instead of giving you a blanket answer that may not fit your situation.

Let us check your situation About VA loans

What this looks like in practice

I already used my VA loan, so that was it

A situation we run into is somebody who used their VA benefit before and is coming back years later thinking that was the end of it. They will say, I already used my VA loan, so I do not think I can do that again.
We do not want to guess at that, and we do not want the veteran guessing either. Let us look at the Certificate of Eligibility. Let us look at the prior loan. Let us understand what happened with that property and what entitlement is available today.
Sometimes the thing making a situation feel complicated is not the mortgage at all. It is the information somebody has collected over the years. A friend told them something. An agent told them something. Somebody involved in the first transaction explained it a certain way. And all of that has quietly become fact in their head.
What matters is the actual VA information for that veteran today. Not what somebody remembers from the last loan. Not what a neighbor did. Not what somebody thinks the rule is.

Talk through your own situation

Samantha Shelton in the Align Lending office

About Samantha

Samantha Shelton has been a licensed loan officer since May 2020 and founded Align Lending in August 2020. Before mortgages she was a stay-at-home mom raising three boys.

In her own words: "I own a mortgage brokerage in Michigan and I help people understand their options before they make one of the biggest financial decisions they are ever going to make."

Recognition includes Hall of AIME, NAMB Broker of the Year, and Woman with Vision, along with her leadership work with AIME.

Align Lending LLC, NMLS #2041154. Samantha Shelton, NMLS 1647301. Licensed in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Texas.

Read Samantha's story

Samantha and her team are amazing! They will help you through the entire process. They care about your loan experience from start to finish!

Lisa McDonough, Google review

Individual experience. Results vary.

Check it yourself

Where these rules come from

The official pages behind the rules on this page.

Questions people actually ask

If yours is not here, ask it on the call. There are no dumb questions.

I have used VA before. Does that mean I am done?

Not necessarily. Let us look at the Certificate of Eligibility, the prior loan, and what entitlement is available today. That is not something to guess at, and it is not something to let somebody else guess at either.

What should I have ready before I call?

You do not need a perfect VA folder sitting in front of you. If you have information about your service and anything from a previous VA loan, have it nearby. If you do not know where any of that is, still call. Paperwork should not be the reason somebody waits to ask a question.

Is a VA offer really harder to get accepted?

It should not be treated that way automatically. A well prepared buyer with a lender who understands the process is a strong buyer. Where resistance shows up it is usually an old story rather than anything about your transaction.

Does anybody besides the veteran qualify?

There are situations where someone other than the veteran may be eligible, including certain surviving spouses. That is one of those things we do not want to guess about. Let us verify what actually applies to you instead of giving you a blanket answer that may not fit your situation.

What do you end up explaining twice?

That VA does not automatically mean difficult. The second somebody hears VA they sometimes jump to a list of things they think will go wrong. We would rather deal with what is actually happening in this transaction.

Understand it first, then decide

What applies to you depends on your own information rather than a general rule. It is worth checking before you accept somebody else's answer.