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Buying A Home With Military Benefits

Imagine being halfway through college without cracking a textbook. Need a mentor? About 250,000 are standing by to help in your job search. Buying a home? How does no down payment sound? These are examples of the billions of dollars in military benefits available to service members and veterans. However, these extraordinary benefits often go unused or overlooked.

A new book called “The Military Advantage: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Military & Veterans Benefits” (Simon & Schuster, $20) could help the 30 million men and women who served unlock those benefits and make the most of their military experience.

The guide is full of insider tips, little-known benefits and shortcuts. It addresses the ins and outs of the system, identifying what can be claimed-or lost if left unclaimed. It offers tips like these:

GI Bill and Scholarships


• You may have up to $50,000 in educational funding just waiting to be used.

• Military experience can count toward college credits-you may be only a few credits shy of an associate’s degree.

• There are $300 million in scholarships for military members, spouses and children; in some cases these cover full tuition.

VA Home Loans

A VA home loan offers advantages not associated with other types of loans. They include:

• Upper limit of $417,000 with no down payment required in most cases.

• No monthly mortgage insurance premium.

• Veterans with disabilities may have their loan fees waived.

• Veterans with permanent and total service-connected disabilities may be eligible for a grant up to $50,000 to adapt a house to meet their disability needs.

Careers

The book explains career services available to veterans, including:

• A nationwide, free mentoring service to quickly network with 250,000 other service members, veterans and spouses.

• Where to find online tools to translate your military skills to civilian terms to find jobs related to your military specialty.

• Tips on hot careers. Keep your security clearance active-civilian workers with clearance earn 24 percent more than their counterparts and there’s never been a greater demand in classified programs.

• How to flag your resume for military-friendly employers.

How To Calculate Home Mortgage Costs

If you are thinking about selling, buying or possibly refinancing your home, you’ve probably been doing a little research into mortgage rates. It is important to not only find a home in your price range, but also to obtain a loan that matches your budget. Mortgage rates vary in different parts of the country, even within a single state. The mortgage game can be a frustrating, stressful and exhausting experience. But there is something out there to help make the process of researching rates and payments a little easier for you, and it’s free!

Have you ever heard of a mortgage calculator? It’s a handy, little, online device to give you some assistance in the plight to figuring out what your mortgage payments will be. The mortgage calculator bases its estimations on percentage rates, the loan amount you are receiving, and the area where you live or hope to live. They’re simple to use and can give you a pretty accurate idea of what to expect in terms of what you will be paying out each month.

There are several websites that offer the free mortgage calculator service. One excellent online resource is Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. Their website has an electronic mortgage calculator that not only gives you an estimation of your monthly payment based on rates and loan amounts, but offers a total of six different ways to make this determination. Based on how you would like to pay your loan, you can calculate what the payment will be based on points, percentage rates and length of the loan. You can alter any of those numbers to get different estimations and ultimately, a really good idea of what to expect in terms of financing options. By utilizing the Monthly Payment calculator, you can enter information about your property such as value, taxes and insurance requirements to receive an even more accurate estimation of what your payment might be.

Take advantage of mortgage calculators. They are a free and easy way to get a good idea of what you can expect to pay for your new home or business property. Getting this information in advance might be one way to cut down on the stress of trying to figure out the best way to finance, and give you a little peace of mind knowing, up front, what you can or cannot afford to pay.

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