VA Loans Can Open the Door to Homeownership 4 Years Sooner

When Thomas Couling, a young Air Force veteran, tried to buy his first home in the late 1970s, conventional lenders turned him away.He had recently left the military, and his $11,287 annual salary as a rookie police officer in Michigan was barely enough to support his wife and newborn child."I could not afford to buy a home with that kind of wage," he tells Realtor.com®.But a VA-backed mortgage gave him an opportunity that conventional financing couldn't. With help from his uncle, a contractor, and money borrowed from relatives to cover upfront costs, Thomas built his first home.More than three decades later, his son, Coast Guard veteran Matt Couling, would turn to the same benefit to overcome a different obstacle: He had enough income to buy a home, but not enough savings for a substantial down payment.Their experiences illustrate the findings of a new analysis from Realtor.com, which examines how Veterans Affairs loans can reduce the financial barriers to buying a home."At first glance, a 0% down VA loan costs about $20 more per month compared with a similar conforming loan requiring 10% down," explains Jiayi Xu, Realtor.com senior economist and author of the report. "But it save...