“Why are people taking advantage of our veterans?”

Veterans are being charged more

“There are a couple of holes in the market – one of which Brian is capitalizing on, which is the VA market,” Flora said during a telephone interview. “If you were to look at the margins for the average VA loan versus a conventional loan, the VA loans are generally quite a bit higher in margin because there’s less competition, fewer people are approaching them. The companies that are doing a lot of business in the sector just generally market to them and charge quite a bit more.”

There’s something of a dirty secret in the VA loan space, he suggested: “One of the niches we feel needs to be talked about is there are a lot of companies out there, not just Sunnyhill, that can actually offer better loans to veterans than companies that have the word ‘veteran’ in it,” Flora said. “I come from a military family, my father’s a West Point grad. So it’s ingrained in me to take care of our veterans, people who serve our country, and I run into clients all the time who tell me ‘this is the quote I got’ and I look at it and it’s a half a percentage higher in interest rate. I just think: ‘Why are people taking advantage of our veterans?’”

He described the segment as comprising borrowers with the same aspirations and dreams of achieving homeownership: “Veterans come out of the service,” Flora said. “they wait to buy a home and start a family and they want to put trust in somebody that will take care of them. We want more companies to take care of our veterans, not just us. If they’re not going to do it, we’re going to try our best to do it.”

They’re off to a running start. Since making the pivot to focus on the VA market, Cooke now does from 25-30 VA loans a month, he said. About half of his business now comprises VA loans, he added.

A Memorial Day epiphany

Appropriately, it was on the most solemn of holidays meant to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defending their country when Cooke realized what his focus should be, he said. “I made the decision three months ago, maybe – it was Memorial Day – to switch all my resources to go all-in on veterans,” he said. “That was the gap that I saw. I often come across other loan estimates that are a percent higher than what we’re writing loans at.”