VA Loans Can Come True in Today's Market
Posted by Leslie Eskildsen on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 10:21am.Buying an Orange County CA Home Using VA Financing
Well, after putting in offers on 23 houses in 9 months, Rachel and Alan finally made their Orange County home buying dream come true. Why did it take 23 offers and 9 months for them to finally buy a home? If you are looking for a home to buy in Orange County today - you probably already know. But read on to see if their story help you make sense of today's real estate market!
Rachel and Alan began their search last December. No real big aspirations, although they did have some pretty unwaivering requirements. (Come on guys, you know you did...) They had to have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and room for all of their toys. Like the Jeep (their third car) and the RV - I cannot tell you how many times we had to measure the clearance on the side of the house to see if the RV would fit. But, as it turns out, there were quite a few homes that could have workd - if only their offer would have been seen as competitive. Reality is, there were quite a few other folks looking for the same exact thing as Rachel and Alan. And many of them had 10% to put down. Many of them had 20%. Some had 50% down. And, yes, there were other buyers who had all cash. So Alan's VA loan qualification, which requires no down payment AND the seller to pay for some of the costs, was a pretty tough up hill battle - which they lost 22 times. After looking at at least 100 homes. I know, I was there. Trust me.
Unil the one day, A non-distressed home (meaning not an REO or a Short Sale) landed on the market. We dashed out to see it within hours and put in an offer with in minutes of seeing it. I called the listing agent immediately to give her the information regarding our offer and basically convinced her to move ahead with Rachel and Alan. It was an uphill battle, but because Rachel and Alan were willing to offer slightly over the asking price, were non-continent, pre-approved for their VA loan, and had proof of funds for their deposit, their deposit check, and they could close escrow in 30 days or sooner, it was a very compelling offer.
And they lived happily ever after - closed and moved in within minutes of when their lease expired, and then three days later they found out the baby they are expecting in January is a girl! Congratulations Rachel and Alan!
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