Your Hawaii VA Home Loan Process | HAWAII Military Relocations

Active Duty or Veterans of the Armed Forces have their VA Home Loan benefits for a little or no money down loan program to purchase a Hawaii home . (provided they are within lender guidelines).

The Veteran’s Administration is not a loan company and you will still have to get preapproved for a loan from a local lender. VA guarantees the Local Lender that they will reimburse the lender a percentage should the veteran default on their loan. (not that you will right?)

The following steps are what this Real Estate Professional helps you with in order to make your Relocation to Hawaii, Real Estate Home Buying Experience and VA Loan Process a smooth process.

· Contact a Local Hawaii Lender (if you do not have one I can refer you to a few who are well qualified in the State of Hawaii) to submit your information and documents to get preapproved for your VA Home Loan. Let the Loan Officer know what you are comfortable with for monthly mortgage payments as this helps determine what price range for properties you should be looking for. The loan officer will let you and your REALTOR® know what you are preapproved for and in what price range to search for properties.

· Let your agent know what other criteria you are looking for. For example, # bedrooms, # of baths, sq. ft. interior or land, parking, single family or condo/townhouse that you desire. With your price range determined and your criteria in place your REALTOR® will have enough information to send you listings to start your Hawaii Home Search

· Get all your financial paperwork together so you are prepared when you arrive. Pack your important documents in your carry on bag including last two months bank statements, last two years W-2’s, complete month of LES’s (pay stubs) and important documents you will need to submit for your loan! (Get a list of documents you’ll need from your loan officer that you already have in place)

· Start your loan process before you get here so you will have everything in place when you submit an offer for a loan. The loan process is the lengthy and of course an important part of the transaction so it is better to be proactive in your process. You will also NEED a preapproval letter to submit with the Purchase Contract as well.

· Appointments are made by this Realtor® and off we go in search of your new home! When you decide that you would like to put in an offer we will go through the whole 12 page (plus addendums) Purchase Contract and submit it to the seller’s agent to present to the seller.

· Offer is accepted and your VA Loan Process begins! You will meet with your Loan Officer to submit any other documentation needed for your VA Loan process packet. Then it goes to Underwriting to process the initial packet and order the appraisal with a VA approved appraiser.

· The Condominium and/or Subdivision Association Documents will be ordered immediately after acceptance of the offer and in the buyer’s hands within 10-14 days after acceptance. This agent will make copies of the Budget, last three Association minutes and the Property Information form (RR105C) and submit it to the lender. They need these documents per VA Loan Guidelines and process for your loan. (these documents will show how the Association budgets their money in reserve. % of owner occupants, any pending concerns or litigation going on and so forth)

· VA Appraiser submits the appraisal report to VA and VA will issue their NOV (Notice of Value) There may or many not be conditions to fulfill (i.e. any repairs needed) and will have a value on the property as determined by the appraiser5.

· Provided your loan process goes smoothly you should have a Conditional Loan Commitment Letter within 3-4 weeks in contract. This is an approval of your loan with Conditions. Maybe you need to submit a couple of more documents or the appraisal is not in yet or the survey and termite inspection are not done yet. These are the types of conditions that will be listed on this letter.

· Within two weeks after the Conditional Loan Commitment letter is issued all the conditions should be complete for signing documents with escrow and the loan officer. Not to worry! I attend all signings with you.

In Hawaii, we do not sign at the same time as the Seller due to conflict of interest and we sign approximately four – five days before recording. After the signing, the loan officer takes the notarized and signed documents to go through processing and within 2.5 days the Lender should have funded the money for your loan to the escrow company.

When escrow receives all monies funded by the lender , then they will take the documents to the Bureau of Conveyances in Honolulu to record. The Bureau of Conveyances needs two days for recording and we usually get word between 8-10am.

At that time of recording clearance, the home is legally yours and I will have already retrieved all keys, garage door openers and documents pertaining to the house in hand.

Congratulations!

You are a new homeowner!

Remember…our relationship does not stop here. I am always here to answer any questions or concerns you may have and help you with all your real estate needs.