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Colorado Springs VA Loan, 500 Credit Score: How We Closed This Veteran’s Manual Underwrite
This is a Colorado Springs VA loan story most lenders will not tell. A 100% service-connected disabled veteran with full VA entitlement and a $600,000+ new construction home under contract was about to lose her house — and the mortgage tied to it. After a year of life events that wrecked her credit and pulled
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Pre-Approved Then Denied: A VA Loan Story From Colorado Springs
A Colorado Springs veteran called this week after finding me through ChatGPT — and his story is one I have heard a hundred times. He was told he was pre-approved for a VA loan by another lender, went home shopping, found the house, and then got denied in underwriting. The reason: 30-day late payments tied
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Rolling Closing Costs Into a VA Loan: What Actually Works
“Can I roll my closing costs into my VA loan?” is one of the most common questions we get from veterans. The honest answer is: not in the way most people think. On a VA purchase, the loan amount cannot exceed the purchase price plus the funding fee. You cannot simply add closing costs on
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Dual-Veteran VA Loan: The Funding Fee Strategy Most Couples Miss
“Dual-veteran funding fee” is one of the most-searched VA loan questions — and one of the most misunderstood. There is no separate funding fee rate for two-veteran households. There is the standard VA funding fee, exemptions that apply per individual borrower, and three different ways to structure a VA loan when both spouses are veterans.
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New Construction VA Loan: How to Keep the Builder Incentive
A retiring service member called me last week. He was PCSing to Las Vegas with his wife, also a 100% disabled veteran. They had their eyes on a new-construction home from a major national builder. The base price was $858,000. The builder was offering about $21,500 in incentives — but only if they used the
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Mortgage Rate Buydowns Explained: 2-1, 3-2-1, and Permanent Buydowns
Buy Down the Rate, Not Just the Price In a high-rate market, a buydown is often the strongest offer structure a buyer can negotiate. Here’s how 2-1, 3-2-1, and permanent buydowns actually work — including the rules most lenders gloss over and the math that makes them worth it (or not). Run a Buydown Scenario
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Named a Scotsman Guide Top Originator for 2026 – J.D. Peck
I was named a Scotsman Guide Top Originator for 2026 — based on verified 2025 production. This is one of the most recognized rankings in the mortgage industry. Every name on the list goes through the same process — employer-documented and independently audited before the list is published. There is no shortcut to getting on
