I recently went through the whole process of getting a VA home loan, and let me tell ya, figuring out how to minimize or even avoid that funding fee was a little bit of an adventure. First off, I found out if you have a service-connected disability rating—even if it's like 10%—you can get exempted completely. Didn't apply to me, unfortunately, so I had to look elsewhere.
Next step was deciding whether to pay upfront or roll it into the loan. Rolling it in seemed tempting, but then you're paying interest on it for years, so I bit the bullet and paid upfront (ouch). Heard some folks refinance later to get around it, but that seemed like more hassle than it was worth.
Anyway, I'm curious if anyone else has found better tricks or workarounds... maybe something I missed?
