Hello again! For those of you who are new to XINNIX or to our blog, my name is Casey Cunningham, and I’m the Founder and CEO here at XINNIX. Today’s piece is the third and final installment of our November series, Mastering the VA Loan: Serving the Dream of Homeownership to Those Who Serve Our Country. In this series, we have shared a number of tools and tips to help you grow more confident in presenting the VA Loan, and – in turn – become better-equipped to serve our active-duty and veteran military personnel and their families. If you haven’t yet read the first and second installments of the series, I encourage you to do so before diving in to today’s post.
Know Your Market
There are many people who are eligible for the VA loan program who aren’t taking advantage of it because they don’t have a full understanding of the benefits available to them. Those who do know about the VA program believe that military-specific lenders like USAA and Navy Federal Credit Union are their only options. While these are both great options, they are certainly not the only ones. Loan officers operating in a military-heavy market (near military bases) should capitalize on this underserved market. Even if you don’t operate in a military-heavy market, there are still referral sources available to help you market to those eligible for the VA loan program. Local VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) groups are a great place to start. Reach out to these groups to see if you can sponsor one of their meetings and speak to them about home financing options available to them. VA hospitals are another great place to market to the military audience. In addition to these brick-and-mortar resources, there are also veteran and military resource hotlines and 1-800 numbers you can reach out to if you’re interested in helping veterans. Most of these organizations have a list of vendors in the area who offer services specific to active-duty military, reserve members, veterans and their families.
Thank you for joining us over the past three weeks of this series. I hope you’ve found this information to be helpful in your journey to become the best mortgage professional you can be. Don’t let a lack of knowledge and understanding keep you from presenting such a great program that supports those who protect our freedoms. Just as it is the military’s duty to serve our country, your highest duty as a loan officer is to serve your military customers well. The first step to that is being a subject matter expert on the VA loan program your company offers. Now that you’re on your way to becoming that SME, it’s time to get out there and serve!