How Texas Veterans Buy Houses

By: FitzGerald | Posted: 07th January 2011

The Texas Veterans Land Board (TVLB) offers Texas Veterans a home purchase program known as the Veterans Housing Assistance Program (VHAP) to help reduce the long-term costs of financing a home. VHAP provides financing up to $325,000 toward the purchase of a home to eligible and qualified Texas veterans who intend to owner-occupy the home as their primary residence.

There are two big pieces to the puzzle: eligibility and qualification. Eligibility refers to meeting the requirements of the program based on residency status, military service, and previous TLVB payment history. Qualification refers to being able to afford the mortgage payment and therefore qualify for the loan with a lender who participates in this program.

Are you a Texas Veteran? The answer is YES if your "Home of Record" on your DD-214 is Texas and you currently reside in Texas OR you have lived in Texas for the last 12 months OR you are currently on active duty in Texas and changed your residency to Texas. The minimum military service requirement is at least 90 days of active duty and anything but a dishonorable discharge. It is also required that you have successfully repaid any previous TVLB loans and are current on any open TVLB loans.

VHAP loans must be originated in conjunction with VA, FHA, or conventional financing with a TVLB-Participating Lender and that is who determines if you qualify. It is a matter of analyzing your credit, income, debts, assets, etc. based on the requirements for the underlying mortgage program. The vast majority of the time, VHAP is used with VA financing to benefit from no down payment and no mortgage insurance. The best way to confirm you are eligible and qualified is to get pre-approved with a TVLB-Participating Lender.

The whole reason behind using the VHAP program is for potentially below-market interest rates. It is a matter of comparing to other programs at the time you are locking your interest rate. There are, however, two times in particular that this program is especially beneficial. The first is if you have a 30% or greater VA disability rating. If so, you are likely eligible for a full ˝ percent discount off of the base rate. The other special situation is for someone currently serving in the National Guard or Reserves. If, after funding your VHAP loan, you receive activation orders for the War on Terror, you may be eligible to have your interest rate reduced to ZERO during your time of activation. You can follow the latest Texas Veteran interest rates at www.texasveterans.com. Now you know how Texas Veterans buy their homesteads at potentially below-market interest rates!

Chad Bowman is a proud Marine Corps Veteran, VA Home Loan Specialist, and licensed Texas Mortgage Banker with The VA Team in Austin, Texas. The VA Team is an active TVLB-Participating Lender funding VHAP loans in every county in the State of Tex

The VA Team supports Military veterans with financing homes in Texas. For more information Texas VA Loans


The VA Team supports Military veterans with financing homes in Texas. For more information Texas VA Loans
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Tags: 12 months, debts, payment history, interest rate, mortgage payment, military service, mortgage insurance, fha, active duty, assistance program