Owner Financing & VA Guarantee

By Luke Arthur

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers a program that involves standing behind veterans' mortgage loans. This loan program can be attractive for active members of the military or veterans because of the favorable terms involved. If you wish to use owner financing with a VA guarantee, you will not get the entire loan guaranteed. However, owner financing could work together with a VA loan to get you a home.

The VA does not offer the loans through this program directly to borrowers. Instead, borrowers must get loans from traditional lenders that are then backed up by the VA. To get this type of loan, you must work with a lender that is part of the VA program. Individual sellers cannot be a part of this program, as they must be mortgage lenders.

If you are eligible for a normal loan from the VA, it may not provide you with any advantage to use owner financing. With VA loans, you do not have to make a down payment as long as you are within the loan limits for your county. The interest rate that you would receive from the VA is typically lower than what an individual owner would be able to offer you. This means that if you can qualify for it, a VA loan is usually more attractive than seller financing.

Jumbo loans are large mortgage loans that are above the lending limits of the VA. If you want a home that costs more than the loan limit for your county, it does not necessarily mean that you cannot use the VA program. Instead, you can make a 25 percent down payment and then get the rest of your loan guaranteed up to the jumbo loan limit. If you do not have 25 percent, you could use an owner-financing arrangement to avoid having to make a down payment. Then you could use a VA loan for the rest of your purchase.

If you cannot qualify for a loan from a traditional lender with a VA guarantee because you have bad credit, using owner financing might be an option to consider. With owner financing, you can set up a relatively short-term loan so that it will give you time to get your credit in order. Then, after you build up your credit score for a few years, you can reapply for a VA loan and refinance your other loan.

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