Hey guys, today we're going to talk about topic number five. Topic number five is my two favorite things. Number one, Real Estate, which you guys know I love. Number two is the military, which we also love at NORCHAR, and mainly because I am a veteran myself. I was in the military for 10 years, and we believe in giving back and pushing back on our veterans. Today's topic comes from Bruce in Ontario, NY. His question is, “explain veteran programs to me” (what programs are available to Veterans looking to purchase a home in Rochester, NY). Well, there is one major veteran program that everybody knows about, it's called a VA loan. 

And we know enormous amounts of information about that. Because number one, I've personally taken out VA loans in the past, they're a great mortgage to take advantage of, they call them a zero money down mortgage, but there are some fees that you have to pay. So, they're not always the best scenario for every single veteran. We have a lot of knowledge and great relationships with a few mortgage providers in Rochester, NY that can answer all of your questions about that. 

So, what is a VA Mortgage? Well, anybody that's served and has received an honorable discharge from the military is able to get a VA mortgage, and they have to bring zero money down for the deposit. Now, there still are some additional funds that are required to close, you’ll have a funding fee, and some closing costs, the big closing costs would be the taxes on the home. So, in certain areas of Rochester, the taxes are going to be higher than other areas. 

Let’s take an example of homes in Greece, NY, your tax rate is 4 to 4.2%. And if we take an area like homes for sale in Henrietta, NY, for instance, the taxes can be as low as 2.6%. This changes the amount of money that you'll need to bring it to the table and also changes your monthly payment. All of this information, we can obviously answer for you and sit down and go through in a very granular process. A couple of things to consider. Number one, there is a max amount of money that you can loan with a VA home loan in Rochester, NY. The max on a VA loan right now is about $510,000 in Monroe County, New York. 

The other thing you need to remember is we can throw some of those closing costs into the loan and ask for what's called seller's concession. So, we can roll those into the cost of the home you buy in Rochester, NY. There are certain fees that you do still have to pay. What I find is that number is usually around $3,000, that’s what you will need to still buy the home. We can go over that line item by line item and give you an exact number of what it will cost to purchase a home in Chili, NY or a home in Irondequoit, NY. So, I hope you found this helpful. Once again, if you are a veteran or you know a veteran, we would love to help you and serve you in the purchase of a Greater Rochester, NY Home Search this time and go through the whole process. Have a great day.