Buying a home in school

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Charlie0318

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As an HPSP student in medical school do we have access to the same loans for buying a home through the army as active duty? And if so who do we speak to get details?

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As an HPSP student in medical school do we have access to the same loans for buying a home through the army as active duty? And if so who do we speak to get details?


I think you are referring to a VA loan. HPSP guys are not eligible for a VA loan, assuming you are not prior military. To qualify for a VA loan you need to have served 90 days of active duty (normally 180 but we are considered in war time).

Im not sure but I think an HSPS person could refinance or get a VA loan after two years of school because you will have served 90 days of total active duty. I have not read anything that says the days have to be 90 consecutive days.

http://www.valoanrequirements.net/

Plenty of other sources out there.

As far as who do you go to, you can fill out an application online yourself or you can just apply for one through your lender/mortgage company/Realtor. All the official info you could need:

http://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/
 
How about the overall wisdom of buying a house while in school? I was planning on using part of the 20k bonus to put a nice down payment on a home. Houses are cheap where we are moving (Kirksville, MO) and most rentals in the size we need are 3X the mortgage.

I have never bought ahome before and although I have done alot of preliminary research, I've reached the point where I don't know enough to know what I don't know. Elequent.

Should I do it?
 
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Yeah, well my wife and I decided to rent for the first year to get a feel for the area and because we didn't want to rush into anything. But after the first semester our rental got foreclosure notice and while we can't get forced out before our lease is up it did open our eyes that we could save $1,000 a month with a morgage vs our rent. That coupled with the fact that the mortgage will be so low that worst case scenario we could still afford it in residency ontop of living somewhere else it seems like the best idea for us :)
 
How about the overall wisdom of buying a house while in school? I was planning on using part of the 20k bonus to put a nice down payment on a home. Houses are cheap where we are moving (Kirksville, MO) and most rentals in the size we need are 3X the mortgage.

I have never bought ahome before and although I have done alot of preliminary research, I've reached the point where I don't know enough to know what I don't know. Elequent.

Should I do it?

I'm in the same boat and as Charlie, my wife and I have decided to purchase a house when we move. Our thoughts are we can either sell it when we leave or rent it. Our reasoning, say we rent at 1,000 a month. After 4 years we are out 48,000, If we buy (around the same rent price) we are not expecting to take a 48,000 hit on the price of a house, we feel the housing market is at a low and if we are smart (looking into housing market trends and buying smart) we may take a small hit or a small gain on the house when we decide to sell it in a few years therefore we end up ahead of the game no matter which way things work out, make a little money or take like a 10k hit on the house which still puts us 38k ahead if we would have rented.

The only thing I would bring to mind is the 20k bonus. Others have told me its taxed at 17% leaving 16,600. But you get it in 9k,9k,2k increments. BUT you get the first 9k shortly after school starts but then get the other checks on your anniversary start date, meaning you don't see the other 9k for a year and then the other 2k for another year. This is what my recruiter told me. ( I have since been perusing SDN and other google searches and found that some get their checks in a 3-4 month span, Im a tad confused now on when you get these)

If you want a few more pointers about getting mortgage ready PM me and we can get down to some finer details.
 
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BUT you get the first 9k shortly after school starts but then get the other checks on your anniversary start date, meaning you don't see the other 9k for a year and then the other 2k for another year. This is what my recruiter told me.

Dont know where he/she got his info...but I got all of my bonus (14,000 after taxes) within 6 weeks...
 
Interesting enough this seems to be the consensus with other SDN posters and other Google searches for the same thing.

I got mine in three payments the second week of school.

Don't know. The Army finance people seem to do things at their own time, in their own way, and with their own justification. What was the ironclad procedure for me may be different for you.
 
Well I just got a pre-approval on a house and now Im scratching my head trying to make sure things work out.

So the mortgage company had to use my income, the HPSP stipend, for the approval and could not use my wife's since she does not have a contract saying she is going to make XXX.XXX with Y company, since we are moving out of state.

Im curious as to how the HPSP stipend works for creditors looking at income. When talking with the mortgage company they said stipends can't be accepted but I persisted in finding out that non-taxable type 'educational' stipends cant be used as income but the HPSP is taxed, documented ect. It took the guy an hour to get back but they gave me the pre-approval to go out and buy a house so Im guessing its ok.

Sorry now to my question. Do you get a 'pay stub' for your HPSP stipend? From reading on the forums it looks like HPSP guys dont have access to the mypay system so what do you get to show what taxes where taken out and how much you get with the HPSP stipend? (Actually looks like end of April 2011 HPSP guys will have access to my pay, according to the FAQ in mods)

Also they call it a stipend but is it in a different class of 'stipend', like I was hinting above, meaning this stipend can be used as "income" in the realm of credit ect?
 
Well I just got a pre-approval on a house and now Im scratching my head trying to make sure things work out.

So the mortgage company had to use my income, the HPSP stipend, for the approval and could not use my wife's since she does not have a contract saying she is going to make XXX.XXX with Y company, since we are moving out of state.

Im curious as to how the HPSP stipend works for creditors looking at income. When talking with the mortgage company they said stipends can't be accepted but I persisted in finding out that non-taxable type 'educational' stipends cant be used as income but the HPSP is taxed, documented ect. It took the guy an hour to get back but they gave me the pre-approval to go out and buy a house so Im guessing its ok.

Sorry now to my question. Do you get a 'pay stub' for your HPSP stipend? From reading on the forums it looks like HPSP guys dont have access to the mypay system so what do you get to show what taxes where taken out and how much you get with the HPSP stipend? (Actually looks like end of April 2011 HPSP guys will have access to my pay, according to the FAQ in mods)

Also they call it a stipend but is it in a different class of 'stipend', like I was hinting above, meaning this stipend can be used as "income" in the realm of credit ect?

Yes, you get a paystub. The "stipend" is only a stipend as far as the military is concerned. It's taxed income and is a paycheck to the rest of the world. I would treat it as a paycheck for everything.

You get a LES (Leave and Earnings Statement) every paycheck period. And I'll believe what MODS says about pay when I see it. Note how the current procedure for reimbursements refers you to the online CDW worksheet... which hasn't existed in the two years that I've been in HPSP. :rolleyes:
 
Well I just got a pre-approval on a house and now Im scratching my head trying to make sure things work out.

So the mortgage company had to use my income, the HPSP stipend, for the approval and could not use my wife's since she does not have a contract saying she is going to make XXX.XXX with Y company, since we are moving out of state.

Im curious as to how the HPSP stipend works for creditors looking at income. When talking with the mortgage company they said stipends can't be accepted but I persisted in finding out that non-taxable type 'educational' stipends cant be used as income but the HPSP is taxed, documented ect. It took the guy an hour to get back but they gave me the pre-approval to go out and buy a house so Im guessing its ok.

Sorry now to my question. Do you get a 'pay stub' for your HPSP stipend? From reading on the forums it looks like HPSP guys dont have access to the mypay system so what do you get to show what taxes where taken out and how much you get with the HPSP stipend? (Actually looks like end of April 2011 HPSP guys will have access to my pay, according to the FAQ in mods)

Also they call it a stipend but is it in a different class of 'stipend', like I was hinting above, meaning this stipend can be used as "income" in the realm of credit ect?

Don't assume that pre-approval = loan approval; continue to get documentation on this. The last thing you want is to have a home picked out and 2 weeks away from closing only to find that some underwriter isn't satisfied with your income ratio or something. Your mypay LES may not be adequate. I needed to get a signed commander's letter from AFIT (=MODS) stating my annual HPSP income, which is 'stipend' + annual ADT money. FYI just call it reserve officer pay instead of stipend to avoid confusion.
 
Don't assume that pre-approval = loan approval; continue to get documentation on this. The last thing you want is to have a home picked out and 2 weeks away from closing only to find that some underwriter isn't satisfied with your income ratio or something. Your mypay LES may not be adequate. I needed to get a signed commander's letter from AFIT (=MODS) stating my annual HPSP income, which is 'stipend' + annual ADT money. FYI just call it reserve officer pay instead of stipend to avoid confusion.

Completely understand. We have a pre approval note but I know they will want all the documentation once we go to settlement, hence the curiosity about everything. Will definitely refer to it as reserve pay from now on.

Mucho Appreciated!
 
I'm buying a home in Kirksville, MO for next year and I was just approved for my FHA loan through US Bank. They were really good with working with me and understanding exactly what the HPSP program is. I'm sure not ass US Banks are the same, so take this example for what you will.
 
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