TOPEKA (KSNT) – A Topeka veteran is left without a home after a local homeowners association denied his VA loan after originally giving him approval.
Stan Simmons decide to put his home on the market 2 months ago.
Looking to help ease the expense of purchasing a home, Simmons applied for a Veterans Affairs loan.
When it was approved Simmons thought moving into the Pheasant Run community would give him a fresh start. But it has now turned into a nightmare.
“Then we went to get the financing arranged and found out that the Homeowners Association in Pheasant Hills does not accept VA loans,” said Stan Simmons.
Simmons was told by his realtor Monday that the Homeowners Association does not accept any type of government loan.
“The original MLS sheet we ran off they listed VA, FHA, conventional and cash,” Simmons said.
But looking at a copy of the multiple listing service today VA and FHA loan options were no longer there.
“It’s pretty discriminatory that they will accept any other loan except a government loan,” said Simmons.
Simmons will now move into his sister’s basement because he has no place to go.
KSNT News reached out the Veterans Affairs home loan program to see if they can help Simmons and received this statement…
“The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) home loan benefit allows a Veteran to purchase a home, often with little to no down payment. A VA home loan is financed by a private lender, such as a bank or mortgage company, of the Veteran’s choosing. VA guarantees a portion of the loan which may provide the Veteran with more favorable terms. The St. Paul VA Regional Office would be more than happy to speak to Mr. Simmons and discuss various options he may have available utilizing the VA home loan benefit.”
“For someone to say they aren’t accepting that, to me that’s not acceptable,” Simmons says.
KSNT News received a statement from Pheasant Run Homeowner Association saying…
“We are a Home Owners Association. We do not approve loans. At Pheasant Run we do require approval of the buyer, to ensure that the buyer is the occupant, as we do not allow rentals. We do not get involved with the buyers credit worthiness. For a brief period we were FHA qualified. The annual renewal of that qualification is a huge effort, and in the 4 years I have been associated with the Board, there was only 1 FHA request. I personally do not know of any condominium associations in our price range that are FHA qualified. I would suggest talking to a realtor. They could tell you which communities are FHA and VA qualified. As we are not a loan company, we do not know what is required to be “VA qualified”, and we have never been asked to submit paper work to obtain that qualification. I am a veteran and we have several veterans within the community. And we welcome more! But we are not a loan approval authority. If a veteran is denied approval of a VA loan to buy a property within our community he/she should be asking the loan company why. We are not the answer to that question.”
Simmons must be out of his home by April 11th.