Benefits
Buying Your First Home
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VA helps veterans purchase homes. |
Links You Can Use
Information on VA
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Public Law 108-454, the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2004, increased the maximum VA home loan guaranty to 25 percent of the Freddie Mac conforming loan amount for a single family residence. It also annually indexed the maximum amount of VA’s home loan guaranty for construction or purchase of a home to the Freddie Mac limit. In 2005, the maximum amount for a home loan guaranteed by VA is expected to raise from $240,000 to $333,700. This law reinstated VA-guarantees for adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) through fiscal year 2008 and extends the Native American Home Loan program through December 31, 2008. VA loan guaranties are made to servicemembers, veterans, eligible reservists and unmarried surviving spouses, often permitting the purchaser to obtain a competitive interest rate without a down payment. A VA loan guaranty may be used to buy a home, build a home, repair, alter or improve a home, refinance a loan, or make certain improvements to the existing home. Seriously disabled veterans also get help making their homes architecturally accessible. Adaptive Housing Grants Public Law 109-233 made several significant changes to the Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) benefits by allowing eligible veterans to receive up to three SAH grants. The Law authorizes the VA to provide SAH assistance to veterans temporarily residing in a home owned by a family member. Under this program, veterans eligible for a SAH grant would be permitted to use up to $14,000 and those veterans eligible for an SAH grant would be permitted to use up to $2,000 of maximum grant amounts. Click on the link to find out additional information about SAH assistance available from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Lease Terminations Under Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) Public Law 108-454 clarifies that dependents as well as servicemembers are covered by SCRA’s residential and motor vehicle lease termination provisions on joint leases. The law does not change existing language in SCRA, but simply makes clear that when a servicemember terminates a lease due to mobilization or change of duty station, any spouse or dependent who is a co-signer is similarly released from further obligation to the lease. Public Law 108-454 also provided that SCRA’s lease termination provisions apply when the servicemember residing in a state outside the continental United States receives permanent change of station orders to any location outside that state, for example, from Hawaii or Alaska to the 48 contiguous states or a foreign country. |
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