Who knew? We treat our Vets so badly?

Two weeks ago I had no clue that Veterans have such a difficult time using that supposed benefit, the VA Loan.   But in the last two weeks, I’ve got an education.   I’ve sold one of my Energy-Wise Renovations to a Veteran.   We’ve been working with his wife all along during renovation on design and color selection etc.   Now it seems that the family is not going to qualify and I’ve found out that both the credit and appraisal process for Vets is more difficult than either conventional or FHA financing.   When I started asking my Realtor friends about this, they all said, “Yes, VA has always been difficult.   We shudder when a buyer wants to go VA.   We’ll probably spend a lot of time and then the Vet will be disqualified or the house wont appraise and we’ll have to start all over.”

It seems that my GreenEarthEquities projects will never qualify and meet the VA appraisal.    With the Wow! Package, the Done! Package and the Energy Package, these homes have all new everything and need to be priced at the top of the Comparables.    They are not for everyone.   Some people want a fixer upper.   I want to provide a nice, finished home, with everything new that wont have maintenance issues for a long time for a returning Vet.   My Realtor friends say it isn’t going to happen,  not with a VA Loan anyway.

That made me mad to hear that.   I’m a Vet.  And I enjoyed my Cal-Vet benefit purchasing my first home many years ago.    I dont remember any difficulties.    I think a lot of Americans agree with me that our Veterans should get preferential treatment…..And it seems that they are actually getting discriminatory treatment.    I have three questions which I will be getting the answers for over the next few months

1.  Is this poor treatment of our Vets system wide, or is our local situation in Central California an anomaly.   (4 out of 5 Realtors I asked rolled their eyes when I asked about VA financing and confirmed the situation described by the first friend that I asked.)  How about other areas of the country?   Are they more Vet friendly?

2.  What can be done to improve the situation for Veterans?    Who are the Advocates that work to improve things for our Veterans?

3.  Is the Congress and the Obama Administration aware that the VA is treating our Veterans so poorly?   And that the VA program has such a bad reputation in the Real Estate Community?    Will any politician stand up and be a champion for Vets?     It seems  that the VA  is a bureaucracy that could benefit from some red tape slashing and streamlining…….  (that should be politically popular these days)

Please respond if you have any good ideas or contacts.   Hopefully together we can turn the VA Loan back into a blessing instead of a curse that it has become.

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