VA loan, what oes it mean to SELLER? (closing, fees, house)

[Michelle Morris]

What are the additional costs to the seller when the buyer wants to use a VA loan? Are appraisals more difficult?

[Gretchen B]

What does it mean for the seller? It means he's got his house SOLD! Congratulations!

There are certain closing/loan costs in a VA loan which the buyer is not allowed to pay for. Talk with a mortgage lender you trust (not necessarily the lender the buyer will be using), and have them give you a break out of all the seller-paid loan expenses. Also talk with an escrow officer (if your state uses title companies for closing) and they can also fill you in.

Again, congratulations on a sale!

Almost forgot, there are appraisers that are approved to do VA loans. I did not think the appraisal was any more stringent that usual. There are guidelines that they will follow and will do a basic home inspection. The only downside that I noted is just that it may take longer to close if there's not a VA appraiser available immediately.

[Michelle Morris]

Thanks for your quick response, Gretchen!

[Silverfall]

In Oregon the closing costs work out to about $1,000 that the seller has to pay for the VA loan. I imagine that it is different from state to state.

Also, once the VA appraisal is in, it is in. Meaning that there are no seconds, etc. So if it doesn't appraise, you can't "appraiser shop."

[TimtheGuy]

Unless it is a first time homebuyer bond program, the buyer can actually cover the "forbidden" closing costs on his own as well either through premium pricing (paying say an eighth higher in rate) or buy paying a small discount point (like 0.5%).

The VA buyer can't pay a closing fee or junk fees like processing, underwriting, application fee....which as Silver mentions above come to about $1k