Grant Moon on VA loans and the challenges facing veterans

Today’s HousingWire Daily features a crossover with the Housing News podcast, where HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler interviews Grant Moon, the chief revenue officer at Volly and the founder of Home Captain. 

During the interview, Moon discusses some of the misconceptions about VA loans and shares some of the challenges that veterans regularly encounter during the home-buying process. 

Here is a small preview of the interview, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

Sarah Wheeler: What are some of the challenges veterans face when trying to access the VA benefit?

Grant Moon: Through happenstance, I sold two different homes in the past eight months and due to the heat of the market, they both had multiple bids and offer scenarios. When looking at the types of offers that were coming in and also being in the business, I was aware that we’re in a historically low inventory environment and instinctively knew that any offers showing up with a pre-qual that is VA was likely being pushed aside. I think it’s just the nature of the beast right now. There’s a lot of things to unpack. You have the listing agent that has a fiduciary responsibility to their client, in terms of getting them the best and strongest offer, and in my opinion, you also have an agent community that may have some misconceptions around VA loans.

When you’re looking at an environment where you have more buyers or real estate agents than you actually have homes for sale, people become choosy, right? So really, we’re looking at a scenario where the demand exceeds the supply, which has largely driven up prices, and a low-interest rate environment that is resulting in multiple offer scenarios. So, if you take all of those things it creates an environment where homeowners and real estate agents are being incredibly picky. And by virtue of them being incredibly picky, they’re probably tapping into some myths they’ve come across over their years in the industry, and that ultimately, in my opinion, is harmful. From my perspective, I think whatever can be done to educate agents and sellers will be the most impactful, as I believe veterans should have a shot at the American dream as well.

HousingWire Daily examines the most compelling articles reported across HW Media. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsrooms that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Elissa Branch. If you have a pitch or an inquiry relating to podcasts, you can reach our team at alloyd@housingwire.com.