Buy a Home With Your Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH)

Buy a Home With Your Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH)
Author: Joe Mendoza

Great news military families! You can now afford to buy in San Diego! Once upon a time back in the early 2000’s, most military families were “priced out” of the market. Meaning the VA lending limits were not enough to buy a home using the “VA No-No” program. This was hard to imagine now, but trust me, I have been a broker for nearly 12 years and it was absolutely insane how unaffordable San Diego was a short decade ago.

The Veteran's Administration (VA) loans were established by Congress in 1944 as a special program to reward veterans for the service they provide to the country, especially during times of war.

VA loans typically offer "0" down payment, reduced or zero closing costs, and interest rates that are usually comparable to, or lower than, conventional rates. This gives veterans, who are eligible, a better chance of buying a home than non veterans. In other words, you can get away with virtually $0 out of pocket and own a home.

Veterans, active duty or reserve troops, and certain surviving spouses of veterans may be eligible for VA loan financing. All honorably discharged veterans who served during times of war such as World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and for certain dates during the Iraq Wars, are also eligible.

Is it really that simple? Yes it is! Every month on your Leave and Earnings Statement or your pay, you are rewarded a very special item called a “BAH”. The Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is based on geographic duty location, pay grade, and dependency status. The intent of BAH is to provide uniformed service members accurate and equitable housing compensation based on housing costs in local civilian housing markets, and is payable when government quarters are not provided.

I’ve helped many families who normally thought they couldn’t afford to buy a home because of “myths” they believed like: their fixed income, lack of savings, bad credit, and were quite surprised when I shared the great news that they can buy. I encourage all VA families to take advantage of this program, the abundant supply of REOs, short-sale, and new home inventory here in San Diego and Riverside Counties because I promise you it won’t be too long where once again prices will be up, rates will skyrocket, and as history ALWAYS repeats itself, many homes will be unaffordable, especially in San Diego.

To take advantage of this tremendous program today consult your local lender and favorite realtor.

About the author. Joe Mendoza is an active local real estate broker and serves the San Diego and Temecula marketplace. He’s been recognized as a Top 1% Producer in the nation, nationwide and local news, and “Who’s Who In Real Estate”.