Danny Le's VA Loan Story

Danny Le: My VA Loan Story 

My biggest regret about the VA Home Loan is that I didn’t use it earlier. What didn't know at 18 years old while in the service, is that you can use your VA Home Loan while on active duty. I wish I would have known that as I could have been building wealth and serving my country at the same time!

I went into the Army at 18 years old and was stationed at Fort Riley, KS. I served in Operation Iraqi Freedom during 2006-2007. My time in the military was both challenging and rewarding, I would go back and do it all over again given the opportunity. Upon returning home, I was inspired to pursue my college education & I obtained a Business Economics Degree at UCLA. After college, I knew there would be a time where I wanted to buy a home and settle down. I knew about VA Loans as a potential option for me to buy a home because of my military experience, but I didn’t know where or how to get started. 

Here is the process I went through to buy my first home with a VA Loan:

1. I logged into the VA website & downloaded my Certificate of Eligibility (“COE”), which proves to a mortgage lender my eligibility for benefits. This process took 2 minutes to do. 

2. With my COE, I worked with my lender to complete their loan application & you will find it’s just the same application as a traditional loan. Also, most lenders do VA Loans so you can work with any.

3. Next, the lender requested all the necessary docs from me such as (W2s, tax returns, bank statements, the usual stuff) same as a conventional loan

4. Then, here’s the only difference in the process is where the appraisal was required to be completed by the VA and this is just to protect the Veteran to ensure the property you’re buying is in living condition (no structural issues or a roof that is about to fall down)

5. Lastly, the final loan documents were approved and signed. And days later I 

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