The VA Hits a Home Run for Michigan Veterans
At Ross Mortgage, we are proud to honor military service members who sacrifice their lives defending our freedom and the United States of America. To further honor their service to our country, Veterans are provided with special home financing options, including the VA Home Loan. This can be a great tool to help eligible Veterans purchase a home with 0% down.
On May 24, 2018, the Veteran’s Administration released Circular 26-18-12. This circular addresses VA financing as it relates to site condos. From the circular: “Effective immediately, site condominiums in the State of Michigan will be processed in the same manner as a single family detached residence.” For Veteran homebuyers in Michigan, this is a tremendous step forward.
Michigan is unique in that many home developments are classified as “site condos.” When a developer builds a subdivision in this fashion, the approval process with local government can be completed much more quickly and efficiently. The problem was that these developments were still legally considered condo projects. Prior to the circular, the VA had a specific approval process to follow before a VA mortgage could be approved for those types of developments. While a site condo approval through the VA is not terribly challenging, VA financing myths and stigmas made the process more difficult.
Uninformed lenders and real estate professionals often steered eligible Veterans away from site condos, because they believed that getting the project approved would be challenging or impossible. This unfair practice effectively limited the housing inventory for Veterans, making it difficult for them to use the benefits that they earned.
This is such an important change for our industry here in Michigan. Unfortunately, VA loans are too often improperly viewed as “difficult,” “cumbersome,” or “less attractive home financing,” and nothing could be further from the truth. Removing the site condo approval process goes a long way in assisting eligible Veterans to obtain the home of their choice. As industry professionals, we need to help educate our peers and colleagues on this important change. Let’s do our part to help Veterans take advantage of the benefits that they have earned.
To the families who have lost a loved one while in military service, you are always in our thoughts. To the Veterans who may be reading this, thank you for your service.
Have questions? Send us a message to learn more about this important change.
