VA Loan Approval

[Anonymous]

Me and my wife currently live in Virginia and have been renting for years. We just got married last month and are looking to take the next step by purchasing a home next year when our current lease runs out. We live in a relatively HCOL area and pay $3500/mo in rent. Our total income is ~$330k, and we have no debt outside of a mortgage that my wife has on a condo that she rents out in another state. We owe ~$92k left on that mortgage, but clear about $500/mo on it, so have no real desire to do anything with that. 

My wife's credit is excellent - around 800. Mine is fair - around 635. I had a bad run for a decade or so and have crawled out of it - I owe $0 on any credit cards, but have 3. I unfortunately have 2 medical bills that hit collections. I've paid them off, but I am not sure if they will cycle off or not, so I really don't know how much forward momentum I can get with my credit score for awhile. I have an auto loan that will be paid off in 2 months, which is why I didn't include it with any debt. 

We are trying to take advantage of the low interest rates, and pay as close to nothing on a down payment for the home. We are hoping for a loan in the $800k-$850k range.

Is this a pipe dream or do we look safe? If not, is there anything we should be focusing on to improve our odds? We are hoping to do this around June-September. We have a great relationship with our landlord, so we have the ability to go month-to-month at the end of our lease if needed.

Thank you!

[MauiMan85297]

I don't see a problem with your loan or the loan size as VA doesn't have a limit on a purchase as long as you have 100% eligibility (COE) left  which I'm assuming you do as you don't own anything (unless you foreclosed on a previous VA loan).  Only thing I would say is to get that score up to at least 640 but 660 would be better.  Gov't rates aren't too score sensitive like a conventional loan

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much!

[VALoanMaster]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Me and my wife currently live in Virginia and have been renting for years. We just got married last month and are looking to take the next step by purchasing a home next year when our current lease runs out. We live in a relatively HCOL area and pay $3500/mo in rent. Our total income is ~$330k, and we have no debt outside of a mortgage that my wife has on a condo that she rents out in another state. We owe ~$92k left on that mortgage, but clear about $500/mo on it, so have no real desire to do anything with that. 

My wife's credit is excellent - around 800. Mine is fair - around 635. I had a bad run for a decade or so and have crawled out of it - I owe $0 on any credit cards, but have 3. I unfortunately have 2 medical bills that hit collections. I've paid them off, but I am not sure if they will cycle off or not, so I really don't know how much forward momentum I can get with my credit score for awhile. I have an auto loan that will be paid off in 2 months, which is why I didn't include it with any debt. 

We are trying to take advantage of the low interest rates, and pay as close to nothing on a down payment for the home. We are hoping for a loan in the $800k-$850k range.

Is this a pipe dream or do we look safe? If not, is there anything we should be focusing on to improve our odds? We are hoping to do this around June-September. We have a great relationship with our landlord, so we have the ability to go month-to-month at the end of our lease if needed.

Thank you!

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Hi @Anonymous,

Based on the info you've provided, you'll be fine. In terms of improving your credit scores, here are a couple of options.

1) Have your wife add you as an authorized signer on a couple of her oldest credit cards.

2) If the collection accounts do not cycle off, call them back and ask for letter of deletion. 

Some collection agencies will tell you to dispute the account and it will drop off when they don't respond to the credit bureaus. 

[Anonymous]

If you have paid those medical bills. Dispute them through each credit buruea online using either their websites (EXPERIAN, TRANSUNION, EQUIFAX) or use EXPERIAN and credit karma. They will fall off, I promise. I just cleared all my collections and medical bills in the last 3 months and did this exact same thing. Credit received a nice boost. 

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@Anonymous wrote:

Me and my wife currently live in Virginia and have been renting for years. We just got married last month and are looking to take the next step by purchasing a home next year when our current lease runs out. We live in a relatively HCOL area and pay $3500/mo in rent. Our total income is ~$330k, and we have no debt outside of a mortgage that my wife has on a condo that she rents out in another state. We owe ~$92k left on that mortgage, but clear about $500/mo on it, so have no real desire to do anything with that. 

My wife's credit is excellent - around 800. Mine is fair - around 635. I had a bad run for a decade or so and have crawled out of it - I owe $0 on any credit cards, but have 3. I unfortunately have 2 medical bills that hit collections. I've paid them off, but I am not sure if they will cycle off or not, so I really don't know how much forward momentum I can get with my credit score for awhile. I have an auto loan that will be paid off in 2 months, which is why I didn't include it with any debt. 

We are trying to take advantage of the low interest rates, and pay as close to nothing on a down payment for the home. We are hoping for a loan in the $800k-$850k range.

Is this a pipe dream or do we look safe? If not, is there anything we should be focusing on to improve our odds? We are hoping to do this around June-September. We have a great relationship with our landlord, so we have the ability to go month-to-month at the end of our lease if needed.

Thank you!

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[Gladius]

VA loans don't require a down payment (unless you want to).