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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, Kristen and Jayvan Spence discuss the ins and outs of VA loans, focusing on how veterans can leverage these loans to achieve homeownership. Jayvan shares his personal experiences and insights on navigating the VA loan process, the importance of credit repair, and the resources available for first-time homebuyers. The conversation also touches on the role of technology and AI in the home buying process, as well as practical advice for veterans looking to invest in real estate.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Jayvan Spence (00:00)
You’ll see you see them already you’re getting the advertisement you’re getting the marketing you’re starting to see them come into This is the time and it’s the best time to buy this is it You’re at the you’re at the bottom and if you can work in this difficult time now and figure it out You’re gonna be ahead in each investment as you keep moving forward because of that 25 % that the banks getting and the zero down of keeping your money in your pocketsaving for your you know as an entrepreneur this is leverage this is equity so if you can grab this you are going to be able to start that business instead of that semi job semi retirement semi I’m self-employed push that a lot of people try to get into ⁓ you can get that equity behind you make that first purchase and then
when you’re do that entrepreneurs. And there is navigators out there. I know I’m one, ⁓ so look for us.
Kristen (02:38)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Jayvan Spence, who is a speaker and a coach out of Gainesfield, Florida. We’re going to talk a lot about VA loans today. So I’m excited to get into it. Thanks for being here, Jayvan.Jayvan Spence (02:49)
Thank you.Kristen (02:51)
So let’s get a little into your experience. You you yourself have ⁓ your own personal history with using VA loans to really have success in real estate. So let’s talk about that a little bit.Jayvan Spence (03:03)
Yes ma’am. Well, zero down VA loans is a particular type of loan. It doesn’t take any money down. There is pitfalls though, so you really need to know how to navigate it. ⁓ You first have to get your letter of eligibility. ⁓That is required to work with a bank. Without that, you will get another pitch. You’ll get an FDA loan, and they’ll pitch you how you have to save for your deposit. And usually it sends you home with a plan to ask somebody for money. So to avoid that, you want to get into it about 18 months to a year before and get your letter of eligibility. If you don’t know how to do that, you can look…
to the link that will be provided on this and get with us. ⁓
As a first time homebuyer, there is first time homebuyer programs like in Gainesville, it’s called SHIP. SHIP is a program that explains the process to you of being a homebuyer and then goes over credit repair. A lot of relationships do not discuss their credit openly and honestly when they first are together. It’s kind of that hidden jewel of not sharing because nobody wants
to talk about bad credit until it’s time to get there and you do your co-application you find out one of you guys are not good or both of you guys are not good and you can work on and restore your credit inside of the first time homebuyer program so it is usually the best route even if it’s not your first time home that you can still get into those and go through that side of the program to be educated and understand what’s coming at you when you do sit down with the bank
The third pitfall is ⁓ know your financial institution. You don’t just go to your bank
because they don’t have to know and carry somebody that can actually do a zero down home loan. And you’re now in that same discussion about getting a down deposit or savings, ⁓ closing costs, all these things that you’ve missed. So you’ll letter of eligibility before you even start.
considering getting a home ⁓ First time home buyers can help clean up your credit report when you finish first time home buyers You’re getting a certificate that says you’re a qualified buyer You’re not now a realtor is excited to work with you because you they know you’ve done the work To be where you’re at now and they can trust that somebody’s already verified that for you now They can get you and spend some time getting you to the right bank ⁓
The picking the right financial institution, they have to know how to do the zero down home loan. It’s usually one of the bigger ones, like Countrywide in Gainesville, that has that ability. But it’s hard to get out of those.
full explained go home ask your parents for ten thousand dollar pitches that they give because they’re sharp and they know you’re desperate to get this home and they want to push the ball just as bad as you and it doesn’t matter to them which loan you get as long as you’re approved they’re going to go ahead and underwrite that and you’re in that ⁓ but
There’s also a second time you can use your VA home loan for people that already use their VA home loan. You can get a second home and there’s a process for that. Even a third home, if you’re very savvy ⁓ and that can be partnerships or friends collectively ⁓ or multi-units. ⁓
There is a lot of things to look at because right now I feel we’re one of the top qualified homeowners. Home investment assets for this year is to go ahead and learn how to use your zero down VA home loan.
Kristen (08:09)
Absolutely, I feel like it’s such a great ⁓ resource for people who have served to kind of build some equity and get in the game. And that’s great that you say you can get a second and a third. ⁓ What does that process look like getting that second home, that third home to kind of start your portfolio off?Jayvan Spence (08:26)
Yeah, it’s getting really to look back at your credit, making sure you have that up to date, and then going usually back to the same bank and return back into shopping once you ⁓ say you’re going into the process again.Kristen (08:31)
Yeah.Absolutely. And what about somebody who might have not have had the time to build credit? Maybe they served when they were very young and now they’re trying to build that, or maybe they have bad credit. What are some of your tips and tricks for that?
Jayvan Spence (08:58)
Yeah, so the ⁓ the first time home buyers goes into that it’s really you have to get your credit report Printed out or go to annualreports.com Look at all three your credit reports, and then you can dispute them right there And see what comes back or if you’re trying to do a fast so you call them and you make payment plans So if you have a thirty thousand dollar boat debt You want to make three payments?These things do drop off with a payment plan in place if so if you’re in contact With your bad credit and you’re making minimal payments It can drop off of your credit report allowing for a good credit Check when you do go into the financial institution, so there’s work to be done the smaller ones you can pay off There is a system where you pay one at a time until you get back to good credit
But yeah, it’s is finding out how much you can save
To pay forward to getting your credit restored and taking those steps is really is really what makes good credit and Just disputing those credits annually ⁓ Can give you different results also in Gainesville? have financial fitness which is a fixed income ⁓ Approach to savings where they match you so you would only have to Get half of that paid up and get matched
Now they have a max so it ain’t you have to figure out ⁓
how much they’re going to pay up to but to have that matched is a benefit. It’s a course where you go every week and you’ll slowly learn about the budgeting of financial fitness to make savings investments into your own what you want to buy, to buy into things.
Kristen (11:39)
Definitely. Well, that’s awesome. Can you talk about your own experience through this and kind of how you found some success?Jayvan Spence (11:47)
Yeah, so like I said, you can ⁓ get into this 18 months to a year out ⁓ into a program. You can give us a call if you need to. We’re digital navigators, which can help with low tech people. ⁓What what you do is you take that journey? So if you start that year and half to a year out You can look at inventory because it’s going to take you some time to learn your neighborhoods and your areas that you don’t want to live in By shopping the drive around before you get with a realtor. That’s going to give you most usually have time to give you up to three Properties to look at they’re not
You’re not just gonna look at all the inventory So if you can narrow down to the neighborhoods you want to live in look at the home associations Look at the taxes look at the dues You can start to kind of guide yourself around the city to better understand which what is the values? The parade of homes if you go to a parade of homes You can see the whole display of all the new homes that are built and the builders will walk you through the new features
that make the value in the homes, know, the crown molding, the higher roofing, the water tanks, the, I mean, they go through everything with you as far as features so you can kind of understand what you’re looking for. The hardwood floor, how there’s more value in those homes than tile or the plastics. ⁓
and just enjoy the entire journey and look at your credit early. ⁓
just slowly eat the elephant one bite at a time. It’s not a fast process. It’s better to really get educated on how to approach it. ⁓ And a good realtor has that design too in their sales model. It’s a full sales, so they can give you the, that’s another reason to give us a call, because the digital assets is what we work with. So you can put guides, you can put templates before you go into housing meets.
You can write even questions of for for that or What’s beautiful about a realtor is they’ll go out and look at it first They already walked most of these properties to ⁓ get rid of those ⁓ Inventory that’s not work gonna work for you because they have you’ve gave them your checklist and they listen and can navigate you into what you’re looking for
Kristen (14:36)
Amazing. Well, it sounds like you guys do great work. So you work with people who might not be digitally inclined. How are you kind of helping them navigate?Jayvan Spence (14:44)
So I recruit ⁓ BA graduates, so I have a high level of skill set. And then we’re going for skill bridge from the military. And ⁓ I’ve worked 20 years in professional development coaching.So we’re adding that as the higher benefit is that you get to work with professional development coaching. That’s one-on-one call once a week. That’s a team meeting. ⁓
and then a rally on Thursdays. But the students are the engine. So I’m trying to build a cohort approach to innovation and making them a high level concierge tier service ⁓ to partner with healthcare, telehealth, and to partner with reading and literacy, and to partner with ⁓ claim increase. I’m doing a whole spectrum of system improvements because AI is here.
we have to integrate it.
Kristen (16:28)
Yeah, absolutely. mean, I’m sure ⁓ learning AI is really a valuable skill set. So I’m sure that’s amazing what you guys are able to do. ⁓ As you know, people are buying their homes and kind of as you did using the VA loans, how did you go about finding the right service providers, finding the right contractors, the right, you know, anybody, how did you go about that?Jayvan Spence (16:52)
Yeah, so ⁓ without that expert, is like a… ⁓or a treasure hunt. can be hits or miss and information you get. So it takes some time to develop. That’s why I gave it a year and a year and a half. I…
Kristen (17:06)
Mm-hmm.Jayvan Spence (17:19)
always went with programs so I did go to the homebuyer program and it really broke down by sections each of the things needed through the process. ⁓ And then me telling my partner, my fiance, that ⁓ we have to have these things. She was able to talk to the realtor and find, because she’s a waitress, and find that in our… ⁓where the Florida Gators Club meets at and they gave us the right realtor. I knew it was gonna be a bigger bank and then you have to ⁓ make sure that person’s at work that day and ⁓ it took us two days to make that happen. ⁓ And then we finally got to the right person ⁓ and I paid nothing. They paid my home inspections, they paid my closing cost.
Kristen (18:17)
Wow.Jayvan Spence (18:18)
I just stood there while the lawyers and ⁓ everyone signed everything. I signed my little pieces and was able to move into the house ⁓ with minimal resistance.Kristen (18:36)
That’s amazing. Yeah, there’s so many resources that people don’t really know about. So that’s amazing how you’re able to navigate that even down to you know, appraisals and realtors and finding the right people. It must be kind of challenging to navigate that.Jayvan Spence (18:37)
Yeah.Yeah.
Yeah, that’s another piece with the zero down VA home loan is that’s a requirement. So they have a higher standard for the housing transaction that they’re going to underline for you to make sure you get to the good inventory. So my first, our first, my God, we’ve got to have this house. ⁓ We called the parents and we’re on conference call and we’re saying how this is the one and they came racing to it. Just look at and
check it off for us, it literally was a whole front with termites.
Just got patched up with new wood and we’re we’re we’re friggin set. This is it We’re close to the parents. We’re in this thing. And um, yeah, so there is bad inventory out there and it sells just as fast as the other stuff So if you’re running around for price and you think you found the sweet spot Yeah, you see you found the sweet spot. It might not be the sweet spot and that’s where the the VA home loan really has that Powerful piece is that they’re putting 25 % down
Kristen (19:27)
Ugh.Bye. ⁓
Jayvan Spence (19:54)
into the into the financiers Hands at the same time of the zero down to you and that home inspection They really are thorough and they’re really serious though They’ll say no look for another piece of inventory and keep that realtor ⁓ Moving if it’s not the right Pete and the right not the right not going to meet inspection specsKristen (20:20)
Yeah. Well, that’s amazing. That’s amazing to know that that’s in place because that probably helps a lot of people out. ⁓ So, you you’ve been able to really develop a program that helps veterans in a lot of different ways, connect them to a lot of different industries. ⁓ What would be a piece of advice that you wish you kind of learned when you were going through it that you can share with people? I know you shared some of the pitfalls, but is there one specific one that really got you when you were going through it?Jayvan Spence (20:48)
⁓ well…We have AI coming in so get with get with the people that are in AI AI is one ceiling It’s called top and when you have that you’re getting the education at the same time you’re going through the process I’m using it for my I might a hundred percent claim now. I just got my phone last year the Verizon s 25 with Gemini and by upgrading I
able to ⁓ patch into my master’s degree from 100 % disabled. So it’s an accommodation for me. That’s the difference between everybody else in the market is that I’m using it as I’m impaired. Everything’s recorded. Everything’s ⁓ synthesized for me. But it’s a different level. And if you’re not able to get that ⁓ and operate it at a professional level, then you need to be looking
for these programs that you can get into early and get that AI education of it’s doing it can do so many things in your life. mean I did a diet plan and took pictures of the diet food and came out with healthy food for my age. I mean it’s a full package of it. ⁓ Other than that just start early 18 months to one year
start
early, find someone that can help. If it’s a digital navigator, give us a call. ⁓ There is a path. That’s same for international students coming into town. There’s a path. There’s a safe path of onboarding and transitioning that is coming out of this chaotic time of
Kristen (22:22)
Yeah.Jayvan Spence (22:46)
of the economy and all these restrictions are starting to loosen up and you can really follow that in ⁓ and catch these trends of early technology, ⁓ early navigators, early… ⁓Kristen (22:53)
Mm-hmm.Jayvan Spence (23:05)
see you see them already you’re getting the advertisement you’re getting the marketing you’re starting to see them come into This is the time and it’s the best time to buy this is it You’re at the you’re at the bottom and if you can work in this difficult time now and figure it out You’re gonna be ahead in each investment as you keep moving forward because of that 25 % that the banks getting and the zero down of keeping your money in your pocketsaving for your you know as an entrepreneur this is leverage this is equity so if you can grab this you are going to be able to start that business instead of that semi job semi retirement semi I’m self-employed push that a lot of people try to get into ⁓ you can get that equity behind you make that first purchase and then
when you’re do that entrepreneurs. And there is navigators out there. I know I’m one, ⁓ so look for us.
Kristen (24:13)
Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Jayvan. Tell everyone where to find you and how to work with you.Jayvan Spence (24:17)
It’s Jayvan spence it’s ⁓ sorry. It’s www.vetvictories.info So it’s V E T V I C T O R I E S dot info I N F oKristen (24:28)
Amazing.Well, thank you, Jayvan. I think people learned a lot from this. And I mean, this is really great work you’re doing for veterans. So I think, you you’re helping a lot of people and changing a lot of lives.
Jayvan Spence (24:47)
Yes, ma’am. Thank you.Kristen (24:50)
Awesome, well thank you everybody for listening. Hope you learned a lot, a lot of good takeaways here. Definitely check out Jayvan, definitely check out Vet Victories, and we will see you back next time. Bye.
