Why Now is the Best Time for A Veteran to Buy a Home

Gain some major insight from the latest Home-and-Seek Podcast brought to you by our CEO Eric Criner and seasoned real estate agent, Jim Franklin. 

July 19th  Home-and-Seek Podcast

VETERAN REAL ESTATE INSIDER INSIGHT

good morning,

everybody.

Our podcast guest,

pulled out at the last minute.

but the show must go on.

So I wanted to spend a few minutes and really talk to you about what you're gonna

think is a crazy subject.

Today is a great time to buy a house in today's market.

Yes,

today is a great time to buy a house at today's market.

And I'm gonna tell you why I'm gonna spend just a few minutes to tell you

why.

that our market is creating a unique opportunity for you as a buyer to

get the right house,

get some seller concession money,

and probably do a little bit better job on price than if you wait

because you know,

right now I know the mortgage rates are a little bit higher,

but I'm telling you,

they're gonna adjust as inflation adjusts the mortgage rates gonna come down.

And so right now what you have is fewer buyers chasing really a

smaller inventory level,

but still,

you know,

enough inventory for you to take a look and find your next potential home.

So naturally right now,

the average time of the market for a house is about 44 days.

That's about 30% longer than it was a year ago at this time.

So you got fewer buyers,

you got houses sitting on the market longer and you had this news,

you know,

that's out in the press about,

you know,

the housing market's down fewer buyers,

less house going under contract.

All that is true.

But what it does is it gets sellers really in the mindset of being a little bit more

motivated and more likely to help you out with concessions

when you go to buy your house.

So I'm I'm gonna explain what,

what that means to you.

First of all,

when you're buying a house,

there's two types of cost,

there's down payment and there's closing cost.

So if you're using a va loan,

there is no down payment,

but there's still closing costs because there is no zero money to buy a house

program.

what you talking about va loan is va you know,

guarantees a loan and you don't have to do a down payment,

but you have to still have closing cost.

What are closing costs?

That's your title fees,

your closing fees,

buying your home insurance policy for your new home,

lender fees,

all that wrapped into what we call closing costs.

The average closing cost is about 2% of the sales price.

So if you're buying a $400,000 house.

You know,

the average closing cost is gonna run about $8000.

So you got no down payment,

but you're buying that $400,000 house,

you still got a $8000 in the closing cost money.

Well,

in today's market,

what we're seeing is a lot more sellers contributing concessions or

money towards your closing cost.

Now,

they might not give it all.

And there are caps that would be a loan typically 4% is all the seller can

give.

But,

the more they give,

the less you come out of your pocket.

So that,

that that's the first thing I want you to keep in mind it motivated seller means

maybe some price reduction,

maybe some price negotiations depending on your market.

But it also means seller contributing some concession money towards your

closing costs.

It might even help with some lender fees to help pay down the rate.

So the the second thing is is that with these fewer buyers out of the

market there,

there's much less multiple offers but you got some super hot markets out there where

we're still seeing multiple offers,

especially in those sweet spot price ranges,

you know,

and and that varies by market.

So it's hard,

for me to generalize but but,

as a general rule,

there's less multiple offers.

The problem with the multiple offer is for you to compete on a va loan is that you're

actually telling the seller I will pay X amount over your asking price

or X amount of dollars over,

you know,

the highest offer that you've received.

That sounds good.

But, when that price that you said you're gonna pay comes in above appraise value,

then what happens is you've got to pay that difference in cash.

So if the appraisal comes in to 400,000 and you bid this house up to

410,000,  that $10,000 comes out of your pocket,

a lender won't finance it.

Seller is not gonna pay themselves.

So the only pocket left is yours.

so in a multiple offer scenario,

when when buyers are bidding up the offer price and they go over appraised

value that buyer pays for that out of theri pocket .

that's really,

important because um buyers don't understand that.

And on a va loan,

you know,

va is only going to guarantee that value at a certain level.

You gotta pay the difference with that.

So yes,

rates are a little bit higher right now.

Va loans run in,

you know,

low six to mid six.

That's not great.

Completely understand that,

but it's not terrible.

It's better than sometimes we've seen in the last 20 years,

but it's not as good as it was two years ago.

So our mindset is a little bit around that 3 to 3.5% we were seeing a few years ago.

Well,

it's not there right now for a whole lot of reasons that are beyond the scope of this.

but the good thing is that rates move with the market.

So the rates are gonna come back down.

Once we get inflation under control,

we stop spending so much money at federal level and we get inflation under

control and we,

as consumers stop spending so much money,

you're gonna see rates start to adjust back down.

My personal guess is that they're probably gonna adjust down about,

you know,

the low to mid four.

Ok?

When that happens,

if you're using the VA Loan,

you can refinance your house.

It's called an interest rate reduction loan.

They're very easy to do no qualifications.

and no appraisal and the fees are very low.

But what that allows you to do is just reduce your rate on your loan.

So you can reduce that rate as the market comes back down.

You can get out of that 6.5% get,

get back in that 4.5% loan.

So I will tell you that in today's market,

there's fewer buyers chasing the inventory,

there's less multiple offers,

there's more seller concession.

All that means is money in your pocket or money you don't have to spend.

So I would argue at a $400,000 house,

the difference between 4.5 and 6.5% is about $500 a month,

even if you spend that extra $500 a month and you get your house now

and take advantage or avoid those expenses.

We just talked about and let's say you have to ride that out for 18 months until the

rates come back down again.

I've got no crystal ball when they're gonna come back down,

but it's fairly short term.

I would suspect so.

So when you do that and then you refinance,

I think now is the perfect time to buy,

you're avoiding those expenses.

You know,

you're getting some concession money and you're getting most importantly the house you

want and,

and you're getting all that now and you're not sitting in a rental and you're,

you're not sitting here for a year,

year and a half where prices continue to go up in a lot of the markets.

So take advantage of that.

and just watch this video and think about what I talked about because now really is a good time to

buy if you got questions or you're not sure what you qualified for.

Get a hold of us at the veterans real estate benefits network dre network dot com.

That's www.VREBnetwork.com

Get a hold of us.

we'll have one of our lenders that really understand veterans.

Understand VA loans

You run you through a prequalification,

tell you what your house payment is gonna look like.

Talk to you a little bit more about what we just talked to you about here but,

but take advantage of this opportunity because I will tell you that when rates get back down to

4.5% which they will,

every single buyer sitting on the fence is gonna come out.

And what you're gonna see is a,

a repeat of 2021 where the housing market was on fire.

Everyone's out there trying to buy a house.

The inventories are gonna be low and,

and multiple offers are gonna ensue and sellers are gonna sit back and enjoy the ride and they're not gonna

give you a penny in concept.

So think about all that if you got any questions,

get in touch with us,

www.VREBnetwork.com.

And, we work every day to thank veterans.

The average reward check coming from our program is $2000.

That's not a small check.

And so if you're a veteran spouse is a veteran,

you know,

then we reward you with check afterwards.

We also help non non veteran home buyers and sellers as well.

So get in touch with Veterans Real Estate Benefits (VREB) program  www.vrebnetwork.com .

Have a great day.

 

 

 

VREB Network is a BBB Accredited Business

We Proudly Hold an A+ Consumer Rating

Earn up to $7500 in membership rewards when you are active, retired or have previously served in the military. (Non-Veterans can earn a one year home warranty for a home sale that exceeds $250K. Veterans must join our free Veterans Real Estate Benefits Program. Restrictions apply and vary by state. Our Network Lenders and Agents pay a marketing fee to participate in program. VREB program benefit is only available with the purchase and/or sale of your home through the use of a program-introduced real estate agent. The actual amount you receive is based on the purchase and/or sale price of your home. The program award may be reduced in certain transactions with reduced agent commissions (including many new construction, For Sale by Owner). Your assigned agent can help you identify any transactions where the award would be reduced. All real estate commissions are negotiable. Other terms and conditions may apply. This is not a solicitation if you are already represented by a real estate broker. Program terms and conditions are subject to change at any time without notice. Additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply and will be provided in your VREB Membership Agreement.
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