Now the Veteran’s Administration (VA) has added a $1500 Relocation Bonus for VA Compromise Sales at closing.  The funds must be shown on the HUD-1 provided at closing.

This announcement comes on the heels of the Treasury Department saying some military families may be eligible for HAFA approved short sales without showing a drop in income.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have also changed their guidelines to include PCS orders as a qualifying hardship making a short sales easier for military families.

With the DoD HAP Benefits running low more service members may be looking at a short sale or VA Compromise sale as an option. It’s never an easy decision to undertake a sale of a home when you are upside down on the mortgage but not everyone wants to become a landlord or face a separation from your family. However you do have options.

If you are a Ft Belvoir, Pentagon or Quantico service member with a VA loan and need assistance selling your home give an agent experienced with VA Compromise sales a call.

In addition Fannie Mae also announced a six month military forbearance program where the death or injury of a service member on active duty causes a hardship for military families with a mortgage obligation. Don’t know whether you have a Fannie Mae backed loan? Check to see if you have a Fannie Mae Loan.

In the last year I worked with Chase and USAA on a short sale and VA Compromise Sale for military families who qualified under the Fannie Mae guidelines. Just as with any short sale a military service member does have to provide documentation of a financial hardship due to a move. If you are service member faced with a short sale decision check with your lender to see what options they have to offer. If I can be of any assistance give me a call.

In case you were wondering how the HAP program originally got funding here is the history:  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocated $555 million and the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 authorized an additional $300 million for the Expanded Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP).

Per the report released by the IG office, as of February 23, 2011 the program had paid 4,825 applicants a total of $725.5 million, but had a backlog of 4,897 eligible applicants.  It doesn’t take much to do the math and see that the program will run out of money before all eligible service members will be able to settle on their homes unless additional funding is provided.

The  IG report on DoD HAP provides details on the issues that were found with the program and is open for comments until January 23, 2012.  If you are military service member eligible for DoD HAP benefits or has been denied benefits you should read the report and make comments on your experience with the program.

If you are eligible for DoD HAP benefits and own a home in the Northern Virginia area give me a call at 703-346-2213.   With the time it takes to process files you shouldn’t wait until Spring to get your home on the market.

Here are a few photos from December 11, 2011 at Arlington National Cemetery.

Morrill Woster-Founder of Wreaths Across America Project

There are very few words that can convey the emotion of being involved in the event.  In the last 5 years since I’ve been volunteering I’ve  seen the number of people who arrive early on a cold December morning go from a few hundred to a few thousand.  They include active duty military, ROTC units, boy scouts, girl scouts, church groups and individuals who take time at each grave to say thank-you.

Next year it would be nice to reach the goal of 100,000 wreaths and one day see every grave have a wreath at the holiday.  I know I’ll be there again next year.

Architect Michael Graves & Associates led a team that for over a year studied all of the principals of universal design and also looked at how to create homes that would fit the needs of a wounded soldiers family as well. Some of the features of the new homes include sliding interior doors, wider hallways, low windows, no thresholds and solid surface flooring. The spaces have been designed for flexibility and also include interior video monitoring systems.

It is estimated that over half of the US soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan will be able to continue on active duty. Having homes close to their offices, the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital and other installation services are an important part of still being of their recovery.

The Freedom Home (red house) is already occupied and the Patriot Home will be occupied in the near future. The two new homes are a prototype for 19 additional homes that will be built in the various housing villages on Fort Belvoir.

Did you buy or have a ratified contract on your home prior to July 1, 2006?

Did you leave the area before September 30, 2010 and rent your home?

Thinking of selling your Port Potomac home in 2012?

Have you heard of the Department of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program?

Since the program was approved Cindy Jones and CJ Realty Group have assisted 34 military families in the Northern Virginia area with successful sales of their homes under the guidelines of the Department of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program. Three of those have been for homeowners in the Port Potomac neighborhood in Prince William County VA.

Though most DoD HAP qualified service members have already deployed from the DC area, many of you made the decision to rent out your Port Potomac home instead of take the financial loss or undertake a short sale. With many leases expiring in the early spring now is the time to consider taking advantage of the program and selling your Port Potomac home.

We are often asked “if my home has been rented does that change my qualifications for the program.” No it does not. Unlike a short sale where an investor may be reviewed differently by a lender, a DoD HAP sale does not have those same restrictions. In fact a significant percentage of our recent HAP sales have all been for service members who left the area in 2008 & 2009.

The next question is “do I need to come back to Port Potomac to deal with the paperwork?” No you don’t. The paperwork you need to submit to the regional office in Savannah GA can be found on line at the USACE website and the paperwork for listing your home can all be completely electronically. In the last 2 years we have completed 12 DoD HAP transactions where we never had the pleasure of meeting the families we assisted face to face. We’ve worked cooperatively in assisting the tenants with the showings of the home and their check out of the property when the sale is completed.

If you are a service member who qualifies for the DoD HAP program and have a home to sell in the Port Potomac neighborhood give Cindy Jones a call at 703-346-2213. Let’s talk about the current status of the program and how you can take advantage of the program to sell your Port Potomac home.

Some families on Veterans Day will head to the shopping mall.

Some familes on Veterans Day will spend a quiet moment remembering a lost loved one.

But everyone on Veterans Day should stop for a moment and say THANK YOU to the men and women who stand tall to support our right to choose how we spend the day.

For a military family with PCS orders in a turbulent real estate market the options of what to do with an underwater home can be stressful. For the family of this home in the Southbridge neighborhood of Dumfries VA they discovered they were eligible for the Department of Defense of Homeowners Assistance Program (DoD HAP.)

Today they went to closing and to make the sale even better was they buyer was also active duty military stationed at Fort Belvoir. Since the DoD HAP program was funded in the fall of 2009 I’ve had the good fortunate to assist 33 Northern Virginia military families with the sale of their homes using DoD HAP benefits. Each family had purchased their homes prior to July 1, 2006 and meet the other qualifications for the program including PCS orders prior to September 30, 2010.

The DoD HAP program has assisted thousands of military families across the country by providing benefits that cover the difference between the balance of their mortgage and the current market value of their home. The DoD HAP program has two separate tracks of eligibility. The “government acquisition” benefits are designed for families who financed 100% of their purchase. The second track “augmented sale” helps families who made significant down payments on their homes.

If you are a military family who owns a home in the Northern Virginia area and were stationed at Fort Belvoir, the Pentagon, Quantico or any of the Military District of Washington installations drop me an email at cindy@cjrealtygroup.com or you can give us a call at 703-346-2213. Let our experience in helping families like your through the DoD HAP process work for you.  A number of the families we have assisted have already left the Northern Virginia area and we are able to handle your DoD HAP transaction 100% electronically.

The first change is the reduction of the VA Funding Fee.  This is great news for anyone, active duty, retired or a military survivor who is eligible to use VA Loan Benefits in Northern Virginia.  The funding fee for a first time user has been reduced from 2.15% to 1.40%.   If you were purchasing a $400,000 home prior to this change your funding fee would have been $8600.  With the change your funding fee will now by $5600.  Sweet!   If you are a repeat VA home buyer the fee has been reduced from 3.3% to 2.8%

The second  change is the reduction in the maximum limit for FHA Loans for Northern Virginia.  Unfortunately the FHA has reduced the upper loan level limits for Northern Virginia from $729,750 to $625,000.  It’s hard to say whether this will have a significant impact on buyers in the area.  Searching the MLS  showed a total of 46 sales with FHA loans versus 1089 listings sold with conventional financing ( January 1, 2011 to October 1, 2011 sales per MRIS data).  Not a significant percentage of total sales.

If you have just started your Northern Virginia home search check with your mortgage professional to discuss  if the VA Funding Fee or FHA Loan Limits impact your financing options.  If you need a recommendation for a local lender give me a call and I’ll be glad to share a few recommendations of lenders to meet with.  If you aren’t currently represented by a Realtor® and are searching for a new home in Northern Virginia including Alexandria, Fairfax or Prince William Counties let me know if I can be of assistance to you.

Though a VA Compromise sale is similar to a short sale, the lender can file a claim with VA for the difference between the proceeds and the payoff amount, after the transaction closes.  This makes it easier for them to approve the sale since the loan is guaranteed by the VA.  Fortunately the lender had a negotiator specifically assigned to work with military families and the new buyer was also using a VA loan from the same lender.

After putting together the package of information required by the lender, the home in the River Oaks neighborhood in Prince William County went on the market.  The property generated multiple offers and was under contract in 10 days.  It took a bit of prodding with the lender but after getting connected to their VA loan servicer specialist the process smoothed out and the property settled in August 2011.

Though it is never easy to have to deal with the loss of value of a home fortunately for active duty military, veterans and qualifying spouses with a VA loan there is an option.  If you are a military family in Northern Virginia and are upside down on your mortgage give Cindy Jones and CJ Realty Group a call at 703-346-2213 to talk about your options.  We have a proven record of success with DoD HAP sales and VA Compromise sales.  Let’s talk and see how we can help you make your transition to a new duty station a smooth one.