1. The new interest rate must be lower than your existing rate. To make it worthwhile your new interest rate should be at least 1 % lower than your existing rate.
2. Under the IRRRL program, you cannot receive cash proceeds from the refinance. This means that if your existing mortgage is $90,000 you cannot tack on $20,000 from the home's equity for a remodeling project. However, you can add up to $6,000 for energy efficiency improvements.
3. You do not need to reapply for a Certificate of Eligibility. The lender can electronically receive confirmation from the VA.
4. The VA does not require an appraisal or credit check. However, your lender might require these documents.
5. If your current mortgage is an FHA or Conventional loan, you cannot refinance through the IRRRL program.
6. You cannot combine your existing mortgage and a second mortgage under the IRRRL program.
7. You don't need to pay any upfront fees. All refinancing costs can be built into the loan.
8. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to refinance with the lender holding your existing mortgage. Any lender can provide you with an IRRRL.
9. Fees and terms vary among lenders and unfortunately some lenders prey upon Veterans. According to the VA, "Some lenders may say that VA requires certain closing costs to be charged and included in the loan. The only cost required by VA is a funding fee of one-half of one percent of the loan amount which may be paid in cash or included in the loan."

The market in 2014 is nowhere near as imperiled as it was during the housing bubble of 2006-2008. But Homebuilders may be overbuilt at the moment. Peter Schiff says, “If you remember, during the housing bubble instead of dropping prices, which would have been a sign of trouble, the builders started throwing in freebies,” Schiff explains. “Some of the developers were even throwing in brand new cars so they didn’t have to acknowledge prices were falling. Now they’re doing it all over again. Builders are loading up on incentives because they’re having a hard time selling their homes. This is really a precursor to falling prices.”

This is bad news for mortgage lenders such as Fannie Mae. They are in the business of making real estate loans and basing those off of market value. When builders offer furniture, cash rebates, and home theaters rather than dropping prices, it distorts the equity in each loan which can quickly evaporate if the home were to default. Lender have taken steps to prevent this sort of fraud prior to underwriting but the builder s will usually find ways to push the rules.

The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XLB) has been performing miserably in 2014, many think that builders pulled the trigger on too many homes based on the strong sales figures from 2013 on re-sales. But these were heavily skewed by all the investor buyers that have since evaporated from the market. In many markets demand is still strong such as Denver and Dallas. But the vast majority of markets are seeing weakness on new home sales in the second half of 2014.

2014 Homebuilder performance