If you are out shopping for a new VA loan, or any other mortgage for that matter how do you know if you are getting a good deal or not? You know how you get a good deal with a mortgage by comparing apples to apples or comparing good faith estimates to good faith estimates.

The good faith estimate spells out consumer paid fees versus lender paid fees, origination fees, discount points, any third party fees, and the prepaids or escrows. Along with your good faith estimate you will want to ask for a truth in lending statement or ask about the APR or annual percentage rate.

Once you get all of these in hand you want to compare them from three different loan officers that you call to talk to about getting a loan. In order to know what you’re looking at you should have a basic understanding of some of the mortgage terms you will come across.

Let’s first talk about the APR. In mortgages, the APR is a bit tricky to understand just know that it will be higher than the interest rate that you were quoted. In the event that you’re doing a VA loan and you are looking at super low VA rates, you will also see a corresponding low APR that will be slightly higher than interest rate you were quoted.

Origination fees – origination fees are fees paid by you or the lender to your mortgage company. This is how your loan officer makes money they get paid origination fees. There are two types of origination fees consumer paid or lender paid. Your loan officer can only get paid from one of these two sources.

Discount points – discount points are fees paid to your loan officer from the lender for the interest rate that they sell you. Loan officers are given wholesale rates from their lender’s and they can either sell you wholesale rates and charge you up of the to keep the rate down or they can sell your higher rate to keep your fees down. It’s rather simple. You just need to understand that that is what is happening.

Prepaids and escrows – prepaids and escrows are the same no matter which mortgage company you use. Real estate taxes, title insurance, attorney fees, prep fees all of these fees are basically the same between any lender. Sometime these fees are negotiable depending on who you go through and sometimes are not you’ll just have to ask.

This covers some of the basic information you’ll need to shop for new VA loan or any mortgage for that matter. Just keep in mind if you have questions make sure you ask them. Your loan officer cannot answer you unless you asked the question.

Choosing the right mortgage for you, as either a Veteran or someone with a VA certificate of eligibility, takes some investigation. Of the different types of Veteran’s mortgages, there are sites for VA Fixed Rate, Adjustable Rate and VA Hybrid reviews. A look into all these types of mortgages can help you pick the right one for you. You should also check out what your loan possibilities are concerning FHA financing as well as using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for a conventional mortgage.

The VA home loan program is possibly one of the best mortgage deals on the real estate market right now. Despite that, there are some other steps you should take before buying a new home.

When getting a VA loan for any home, remember that part of the process is getting a VA appraisal. The VA appraisal has fairly rigid guidelines for the appraiser to follow and only determines whether the property meets VA standards for a mortgage and the market value of the house you wish to buy.

With respect to looking at safety issues etc. that aren’t covered by the VA appraisal, you should also think about getting an inspection of your prospective home. It is always in your interest to know the condition of the home, and what potential problems owning it might present. You could also get a roof inspection, a termite inspection, and an HVAC (heating and cooling system) inspection, as well as others. In some cases you may even have to get a potable water test if you are purchasing a home that has a well. Make sure that you speak to your real estate agent for some guidance for what types of inspections are recommended.

Most sellers will let you get your own inspector and arrange for all these types of inspections. Finding repairs that need to be performed can help you negotiate the cost of repairs into the final home price. Make sure that you have some contingencies built into your sale contract in the event that you find some problems and you can’t get them resolved with the seller.

With all home loans, not just VA loans, you as the buyer have the responsibility to get a home inspection to insure that you avoid problems in the future with your new home. Remember the saying – buyer beware.

Getting a mortgage in 2011 is still quite a challenge for many people – even the most qualified. In this post we cover some of the most common challenges you may face if you are trying to get a mortgage – even if it is a va hybrid loan. The three most common problems in 2011 for getting a mortgage are: home values (appraisals), income sources, and employment stability.

Let’s analyze each of these common problem areas.

Home Values – this topic is a major deal killer for sure in 2011, and it is one that can leave many people with an extremely sour taste in their mouth when it comes to their potential mortgage lender. Appraisals for many homes are still showing depressed values from the height of the market that occurred back in 2006. With sagging home values many homeowners around the US are finding it nearly impossible to refinance as their mortgage balance far exceeds their home’s value. With this as the case underwater homeowners are left with no option to refinance and only the option of staying put, or short selling their home, or letting their home go back to the bank in a foreclosure process.For purchase deals, the flip side of the coin is that the property valuation required by the mortgage company can often come in less than the negotiated sales price which could mean the seller declines to sell the home leaving the buyer looking for a new place.

Income – What you make as income and how you prove are one of the most carefully analyzed item on your mortgage application as you qualify for a mortgage.The key in proving income is to be able to show your last 30 days worth of pay stubs and a year to date total as well as the last 2 years of income. You also don’t want to show any gaps of unemployment – of if you do – you will want to be able to thoroughly explain why you weren’t working.

Income Sources – This is a problem for many people in today’s economy. How different income streams trip people up is that they must be established for a minimum of 2 years.What this means is that being a strong credit candidate with money in the bank for downpayment may not be enough if you are self-employed and have only been self-employed for less than 2 years. You may also have problems if you are just starting to get overtime, or you are just starting to get commission income with your new job.

To summarize, you want to make sure you have no unexplained employment gaps, and you need two years of solid employment or self-employment history, while saving as much as you can.