VA Home Loans Explained: 0% Down, Pre-Approval & Buying Power with Brian Nelson

Brian Nelson (00:00)

I’m gonna probably contradict what I just said, which is about stability in the market. But obviously with AI and developments, we really don’t know where we’re gonna be at 10 or 15 years down the I’m going into, like you said, my third property here, just went under contract yesterday. And I just want to have a bigger safety net. who in this country doesn’t want a bigger safety net for whenever it is their time to step away? I’m very fortunate in the market that I live in right now, again, a college town, just as yourself in Austin, Texas, where there’s always going to be a need for housing in this area.

Issa Hanna (02:02)

Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Pros Show. I’m your host, Issa Hanna, and today I have Brian Nelson with Veterans Well, I’m sorry, with Veterans United Home Loans. Brian, welcome.

Brian Nelson (02:12)

Pleasure to be here. Happy, excited to talk about some real estate.

Issa Hanna (02:15)

Me too, man. It’s a pleasure to have you. you bring a knowledge of the loan facet of the real estate industry and the financing, which is the most important part, right? You can’t do anything without the capital. You’re the capital guy. for people at home wondering, okay, what does Brian actually do? what facet of the finance industry is in, can you run down what business you’re in, what you’re focused on, and what you do for the clients.

Brian Nelson (02:37)

Absolutely. Well, again, thank you for allowing me to be on your show. my specialty that I work with and is is primarily veterans. And there’s a lot of different loans out there, a lot of different products out there, but we specialize in the VA home loan here at Veterans United. And I’ve been in lending for about the last 15 or 16 years, but I primarily focused on that, specializing in that product over the last, 12 or 13 years.

When I got hired on a Veterans United, though, I wasn’t a loan officer right off the bat. I was a processor at the beginning, which is more of the clerical stuff. It’s more of the back end of things. And then I moved up to being a loan officer, and I did that for a little bit. And just like a lot of people in our business, we kind of wore a lot of different hats as we’ve developed our real estate portfolio in our careers. Veterans United at the time only had about a thousand employees. And

We knew that we were getting ready to expand and grow. And they actually hired me on to be a trainer at that point in time. for a five-year stint, I trained about 500 loan officers from 2019 to about 2024, somewhere in those range of in that area. we went from about a thousand employees to about 5,000 employees. And I trained a lot of the loan officers how to do that. And again, trying to break things down at an elementary level, pulling people off the street that

Maybe don’t know anything about loans or real estate and training them to do the job. And then we’ve plateaued out here over the last couple of years. I’ve gone back to being a loan officer for the last, couple of years or so. And it’s it’s been a great move for me. my job specifically as a loan officer is to go through this journey with these veterans or other clients. We don’t specifically work or exclusively work with veterans. we’ll go from the very beginning, just like an initial conversation, just like you and I have, we’ll go over.

your employment and income, we’ll go over your credit scores, make sure you’re gonna go there. There’s that one extra piece of criteria though with the VA loan, which is are you eligible? Are you a veteran that served enough time in service to qualify for this specific program? that’s kind of just to get us started. But just like every other loan, every other financing out there, we’ve got to document everything to a T. the first couple of weeks, if you’re a good loan officer, I should say you should do that. But

As we go through these first couple of weeks, we will start to document everything pay stubs, W 2s, again, standard mortgage documentation. But then we have to ask for the military documentation as well. And once we gather all those up, then we can really start to crunch how much buying power that individual has and go through the golden state of being pre-approved, giving people that golden ticket to go make an offer on a property. That’s the funnest part. it’s a lot of, it’s very fun part. you get the realtor treatment, you get chauffeured around a little bit.

I tell people enjoy that fun time, but we have to talk about some not fun stuff, which is payments, taxes, insurance, interest rates, all those things. it’s kind of a bringing them back down to earth conversation But again, once we find that right property, it fits the payment, then they go under contract. And then that’s when more of the processing side comes in. we’ll verify that the property’s in good shape. We’ve already verified that the borrower, the veteran’s in great shape.

And hopefully 30 days after they’ve made an offer, they sign that dotted line at the closing table saying that they’re an owner at that point in time. and then they they bought their first house or maybe second or third house if I’ve worked with them a couple of times. it’s really just going through that journey. one thing with us as a lender, I always try to, establish relationships that way those people can buy a second and third home and come back to me and rely on me as their VA guy. But that’s

the upfront process of how we go through things, but I still, talk to people, on a monthly basis or so that have financed a house with me, years and years ago. that’s kind of a high level overview of of what the daily job is here.

Issa Hanna (06:46)

I love that. And there’s so much to unpack and so much knowledge in what you just said. First of all, folks, a good loan officer, a good loan officer like Brian, he will put out fires. He will see things in your file in the initial conversation, in the initial documentation. When he hands you that pre-approval, it’s not a pre-qualification. It’s a pre-approval. It’s a golden ticket, like you said. You’re ready to go. he does his due diligence.

I also wanted to highlight and have you kind of shed some more light on a strengths you strength you told me you had. you like to go over everything that your client understands it in fine detail, which I think is super important as a former realtor. I used to do exactly the same thing when signing a contract with the client. I need to know what they’re getting into. But can you shed a little bit more light on on another reason why you would do that for a client?

Brian Nelson (07:33)

Yeah, early on in my career, and I think a lot of loan officers tend to do this, they’re trying to just like we all are, we’re trying to generate as much business as possible. And some people will just take what they’re given and say, Hey, you’re pre-approved, let me know when you’re under contract, and then just send the borrower out on a journey on their own, as opposed to walking side by side with them.

A borrower is going to feel far more confident when they make an offer on a home if they have a realtor and if they have a lender walking side by side with them. a team of three. But not every loan officer does that. And I understand, they want to try to up their business. And they may not think, hey, I need to put in a little bit more, time and effort into these calls that I’m having with these folks. yes, we went over earlier. My background is not only loan officer, but also education a little bit. And I want somebody to feel confident.

They make an offer on a property. No surprises later on down the road. And I know being a former realtor, you’re shaking your head yes, that happens far more frequently than it should. when we’re going through this process, I’ll focus more on the pre-approval stage because that’s when again things really start to get real. You’re qualified, you can make an offer on a property then, but there’s so much more that goes into it. I’ll spend, I call it my pre-approval consultation. It’ll be 45 minutes to an hour.

And you can tell in these conversations, as we progress further along in the conversation, people just start to be like a sponge and it’s information overload whenever they go into it. But it’s such great information because we’ll cover the most important thing, which is your payment. Again, we talked about the taxes, the insurance, the interest rate. for me specifically, working with veterans, because it’s 100% financing, there’s no down payment, they may have

Payment idea in their head based on what they see on Zillow, Realtor.com, whatever website they use. And I mean no disrespect by these websites, but most of the time it’s based on 20% down, or it’s a it’s a better interest rate than what they qualify for, or taxes and insurance aren’t calculated accurately. I focus on that payment because if you’re not comfortable with the payment, we need to take a step back and we need to reevaluate. That’s what you got to write a check for on the first of every month. I don’t know how many of the listeners know what writing a check means. I know that’s not really what.

What we do anymore these days, but when we make that payment on the first of every month, you gotta be comfortable with it. And again, if you’re not comfortable with that payment, then we we need to take a step back and maybe reevaluate what you’re gonna be buying. But we’ll go over those things in depth. I like to use real life examples if we can, because then we can start talking about negotiating. do you want to make an offer at 250 240? Are we asking for closing costs? Are we going over condition of property? And

When you throw all these variables together, again, I’m going through this home buying process myself for the third time, it can still be very stressful and very overwhelming. for somebody that only does this once every 10, 15, or 20 years, it’s not fresh enough in their head to go over that. I still have people that may not even be first-time home buyers. Maybe they’ve bought two or three homes before, but I say, let’s sit down and let’s really break this down. that way when you make this offer this third time, what your payment is.

what the taxes are, the insurance, and all the things that go into it. But some people will just say, here’s your pre-approval letter, go back your merry way and let me know when you need me. And I just don’t think that sets the borrower up for success later on. We used to use the term a lot, sticker shock. it used to be that whenever somebody would get under a contract, we’d send an estimate a week later. And a realtor at that point in time has already done a tour, they’ve already negotiated, they may have already gone through an inspection.

When we could have been proactive and we could have addressed those items up front. to me, I’m more about being proactive, being very thorough. there are some people that get scared off from buying a home because they see a payment and they don’t want to go through with it. And that’s okay. Because again, I’d rather you address it up front than realize I’ve gone through this whole process and I realize that I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. being very thorough, going through the ABCs of the pre-approval.

you know, going over some negotiation tactics as well without really stepping on the realtor’s toes because, that’s their their lane and I don’t want to speak over them, but just letting them know that, hey, you’ve got some options with how you want to negotiate this.

Issa Hanna (11:17)

100%. And and everything you said as far as the buying side of real estate is just golden. A good realtor and a good LO is going to take so much buying stress off you. They’re going to make you a buying expert by the time you’re done. As somebody who’s done over 250 first time home buyers as a realtor represented 250 first time home buyers, I can tell you, when your realtor understands your financing, they’re going to be able to negotiate a better deal.

They’ll have your payment worked out before you even walk into the house. They’ll tell you this is how much your monthly payment. When you when you have a realtor that can work in tandem with with a good L you’ve got a dream team and your home buying process is just gonna be that much smoother. so man, golden knowledge are dropping on the viewers today. I’m loving it, Brian.

Brian Nelson (12:02)

Absolutely. Be thorough.

Issa Hanna (12:44)

Yeah, and and why wouldn’t you? about your history, you told me. and and it makes sense with how many people you’ve trained for Veterans United is your dad was a loan officer. you grew up hearing the terminology, knowing about guidelines, knowing about, what products fit, what what works best for the client, all that. And then also your mother was a teacher. you you’ve got that background to where you can project, you can tell people.

in your own words and clearly get through exactly what you’re trying to say to them and how to educate them. And I love that. and then we did touch on the VA loans and and them being a great program with 100% financing for for veterans. I want to lean into rewind the clock right? We all got that hey I stumbled into real estate or I got into real estate store. I realized I can make some money and

And here I am a bunch of years later, an expert. let me get your origin story. How how did young Brian get involved?

Brian Nelson (13:35)

Yeah. going back into what you just touched on, which is my dad being a loan officer. I think I knew about Dave Ramsey before the internet was ever even a thing. My dad would come home and say, This guy’s got some great points, and he does. but it was at that point, at that age, when you’re 15, 18, growing up, you’re just thinking it’s in one ear and out the other. But I grew up in that atmosphere, and he always talked about credit and capacity.

Capacity and the C’s of lending and all those things. And it was not a field that I ever wanted to go into, just to be completely honest. It was not a picture where I saw myself doing that. my dad’s situation was different because he was an in-person loan officer at a small community bank. He was there for a long time, where I’m as primarily an internet lender. And out of the 500 deals that I’ve closed, I think I’ve only met maybe a half a dozen face-to-face. it’s different in that capacity, but

it was not a a line of work that I saw myself going into. I actually wanted to go be a teacher. I wanted to get into it. My mom did it for a while. And I’ve just got a lot I’ve got a very big passion for watching people gather information and a light goes off in their head. Like, okay, this is starting to make sense to me more. that’s where I get a lot of fulfillment.

probably like a lot of kids coming out of college, I didn’t have a lot of direction. I went into college, took some time going through there, took more than the allotted four years to go through college. But I was working at a grocery store afterwards, at that point in time. And I was just looking for something more stable. And, as far as financing goes, there are very few things that hold more stability than if you’re in financing. my dad did the dad thing and he’s like, I know a guy.

Who’s working at this bank that I went to banking school with back in the 80s? And he said he can get you as a bank teller on full time. And I’m thinking, that’s great. I’ve got a nine to five, I’ve got a steady paycheck. I’ll start off doing that. I started off just as a basic teller at a bank. And I did that for about six months. And I got promoted to a processor. And then I started doing loan documentation and the back end of the loan and stuff like that. that developed, but then you can see the income potential. And again, the security that goes along with this line of work.

that was at a small town bank that I worked at before at that point in time. And then Veterans United, like I said, was growing at this point in time. They were at a the University, or excuse me, they were in Columbia, Missouri, where the University of Missouri is located. I was moving to a bigger city. I was moving to a good opportunity and I haven’t left ever since then. it this company that I work for is a fantastic company. They treat us very, very well here. And, that along with my background that I have with my dad and with my mom, it was just a great fit.

That’s how I’ve ended up at Veterans United and I anticipate that I’ll be here for several more years.

Issa Hanna (15:58)

I love it. And yeah, when you find good company to be with, somebody that treats their LOs good, somebody treats their realtors good, you don’t have to leave. They they pay you well, they give you the right support. kudos to Veterans United because I do hear great things about You’re not the first to tell me about them. shout out to you guys for being a great company. And

Brian Nelson (16:16)

Absolutely.

Issa Hanna (16:17)

now let’s shift into you’re not just a loan officer.

You’re quietly building a portfolio and you just went under contract on your third property. what made you want to shift and start investing for yourself?

Brian Nelson (16:29)

I’m gonna probably contradict what I just said, which is about stability in the market. But obviously with AI and developments, we really don’t know where we’re gonna be at 10 or 15 years down the road. this is more of another avenue of retirement for me. I’m I’m going into, like you said, my third property here, just went under contract yesterday. And I just want to have a bigger safety net. who in this country doesn’t want a bigger safety net for whenever it is their time to step away?

I’m very fortunate in the market that I live in right now, again, a college town, just as yourself in Austin, Texas, where there’s always going to be a need for housing in this area.

I’ve had the opportunity to slowly grow in development. I actually wanted to build this faster than what my plan has intended, but it’s just been a really tough market out there, these last few years. I finally got a good opportunity on a property, these last week or so, and we were able to lock it up under contract.

It’s it’s been something that I again, I want to grow and develop. I don’t necessarily need the cash flow necessarily. It’s nice to have if you can make the numbers work. But for me, it’s ultimately acquiring real estate, which is arguably and debatably the best long term retirement investment that you can have. It’s not going in the opposite direction. that way, if I don’t if I don’t want to work till I’m sixty two or sixty-five, then I’ve got something that I can fall back on.

I’m anxious to see where this goes over the next five to ten years. as AI develops and my nine to five job changes maybe I shift more towards being a full-time rental. I’ve got a full-time rental. I’m planning on doing the Airbnb game here coming up shortly. it’s not new territory, but it’s a different animal that I’m approaching and tackling, with going through these properties.

Issa Hanna (17:57)

100%. it has its own set of problems. Your background in the loans prepares you so well to shift into investing because you can underwrite. You can make the numbers work. You can you can appraise almost, you can find your comps, could know what the market rent’s going for in your area, you can project things because the numbers, and that is huge. When somebody’s a good speculator, when somebody’s a good underwriter.

They are the best investors. I don’t doubt in five years you’re gonna be one of the top guys in your town. I could just see it with the knowledge you’re bringing to the game, Brian.

Brian Nelson (18:28)

That’s the goal. Yeah, that’s the goal.

Issa Hanna (18:31)

Definitely Yeah, exactly. And I and I know a lot of lenders what I’m sorry, a lot of investors are sitting on the sidelines with with the prices fluctuating, with the interest rates, with all that stuff. one thing I always say on the show, when you’re I when you’re underwriting.

If it makes dollars, it makes sense. you don’t have to force it on, you don’t have to put your foot into a a pair of shoes that are too small, right? Eventually you be patient, you’re gonna find it. And that’s what that’s exactly what you did, which you don’t see with a lot of investors just getting in the game. that’s why I told you in five years I can already see you doing such huge things because you’re already dodging some bullets that people don’t dodge usually,

I want to pick your brain just now and get your advice for our younger guys, right? have people that watch this, they’re new investors or they’re new LOs or they’re new realtors. and our game thrives. the most successful people have a great network and they have great business relationships. if you had to explain to a new guy, the first thing you would tell them about establishing and growing their network, what would you tell them?

Brian Nelson (19:27)

If it’s real estate specific, think about your resale. Before you’ve even made an offer on a property, you’ve got to think about the resale. And my dad actually, he had owned some properties, growing up as well. And I think he had gotten into some bad properties that were not going to be lucrative for him long term. But also, I say that with a grain of salt because maybe a long term rental is not what your game plan is. and

that’s kind of my thing. It depends on what goals that you have. For me, knowing that it’s another form of retirement or another safety net later on in my life down the road. This house that I just went under contract on, I actually do have some hesitations about the resale of it. But because my plan isn’t to sell it for probably 15 or 20 years, I can get more risky in something like that. Obviously, if I maintain it and, make sure it’s in a good neighborhood and things like that. But

For for me, just trying to give advice, and this is just even for my basic buyers that I have now from the loan officer side, you’ve got to think about the resale of this. The home may check off a lot of boxes, and that’s great, but that one box that’s not checked, why isn’t it checked? Is it a bad neighborhood? Is the driveway at a 45 degree incline where you’re gonna have people that are not gonna wanna purchase it? Is it a two-story home in an older community, where it’s it maybe some retired folks that don’t handle stair stairs very well?

all those little things go into what is this property gonna look like if I sell it in fifteen or twenty years, as opposed this property that I this is personally what I’m speaking about. This property that I just went under contract on, it is my primary residence that I’m moving into because I’m getting higher square footage, I’m getting an extra bathroom, there’s a lot of boxes it checks off. But I do have hesitations about what its resale is gonna look like 15 or 20 years down the road. it’s probably not the best investment that I have, but because I’ve got

other properties and I’ve got other safety nets, I can get more aggressive on this property, and still have a little bit of a safety net just in case it doesn’t appreciate in value, in case the value just stays consistent, year after year. I don’t anticipate that’s gonna happen, but, I’ve got some safety nets to fall back into as well.

Issa Hanna (21:19)

I love that. true finance guy, very conservative in in the way you’re looking at it. you always do have to have an exit strategy. for people at home, if you’re ever pitching like a huge hedge fund or whatever, they’re gonna ask you for something called an investment memorandum. In that investment memorandum, you’re to have at least one exit strategy, if not multiple exit strategies out of the investment. I love that you’re

You’re you’re thinking cash flow, you’re thinking equity, and you’re also thinking, okay, if things don’t work out, what’s the best exit strategy? And and these are the makings and the words of a great investor where I see some great, great things in your future, Brian. And now I want to give you the floor if if people wanted to get a hold of you, and and use your services because you are such a knowledgeable O and and you do care about your clients and you do want to explain to them what they’re signing and

And what they’re getting into, where could they reach you at?

Brian Nelson (22:08)

Absolutely. Well, I’ve got my Veterans United homepage, veteransunited.com/briannelson. There’s my homepage. It goes over all my previous veteran testimonials as well. that way you can kind of see how I conduct business. it’s got my personal information on there as well. But like a lot of realtors, what we try to do at Veterans United is we try to market ourselves like crazy. and there’s a lot of loan officers out there. I would just say look me up on my webpage. I do make myself available. I operate on

what I call the realtor schedule, which is I don’t work a nine to five, but I’m on call 12 hours a day pretty much. feel free to give me a call. It doesn’t have to be about veterans specifically. We do offer conventional 3% down payment programs, which is a very minimal down payment for a conventional. Now the criteria to get there is quite extensive, but if you’re not looking to buy 12 or 24 months down the road, it’s never too early to get you pre-approved and start to carve out what this journey looks like.

Some people’s home journey is 60 days. Some people’s home journey is two years, five years plus. it’s never too early to reach out and see where you’re at for pre-approval and buying power. I will say we just want a soft credit check as well. don’t feel like you’re obligated to do a hard credit check. If you’ve really been monitoring your credit and you don’t want to ding your points, we can still get you what you’re looking for by looking through that. feel free to give me a call, reach out.

we do specialize in VA loans, but we offer FHA programs, we offer conventional loans as well. But if you just want to talk real estate, if you just want to talk numbers, just want to bounce something off me, I’d love to chat with you folks.

Issa Hanna (23:32)

Guys, make sure to contact Brian because as somebody who’s done a lot of buyer deals, who has a finance history, who’s been in the game for a long time, just speaking to Brian, I can tell you right now, this is a great loan officer, somebody great to have in your corner to realtors in in Brian’s market. I don’t know what you guys are doing, not working with this guy. This guy’s gonna make you look so good. make sure you guys contact him.

reach out, even if it’s just for a question. He’s so nice, he’ll answer your questions for you, even. Brian, thank you so much for coming on the show. It was a true honor to host you.

Brian Nelson (24:05)

Absolutely. It’s it’s been my pleasure.

Issa Hanna (24:07)

Thank you. And and to our viewers at home, if you enjoyed my conversation with Brian and want to see more like it, make sure to hit like and subscribe. I talk to people every day that can bring us different knowledge on every aspect of the real estate industry. Until next time. The Real Estate Pros are out.