To Sell to Gen-Y, You Have to Meet Them Online

To find a good lender with expertise in VA loans, I'd start with the VA regional loan centers ( http://www.homeloans.va.gov/rlcweb.htm). Each of the regional loan centers has a Web site as well as a bricks-and-mortar office, and is set up to help veterans, active duty personnel, Reserve members and National Guard personnel with financing a home.

When shopping for a good lender, it helps to start with a couple of reputable lenders in your area. You should check in with a local bank or savings and loan in your area, particularly if they are active residential lenders who work often with VA loans. You should also contact a mortgage broker in your area and a national mortgage lender.

Ask each of the lenders to quote you the VA rate, and then ask them to tell you what fees they charge in connection with the loan. While VA loans have higher fees than conventional loans, you want to make sure the lender you approach does not add any additional fees to the transaction. If they do add additional fees, then you want to be able to compare the various lenders on equal footing.

If the lender is a good lender for conventional loans and they have experience with VA loans, you should be okay. The key is to make sure that that lender has done enough VA loans to get the deal done, but just because you find a lender that does only VA loans does not mean that the lender will be a good lender.

As far as your equity line is concerned, you should be able to obtain a VA loan to refinance both your loans. Unfortunately, whether the lender will be able to "streamline" your application may depend on your particular circumstances.

While VA loans have not been affected the same way as the rest of the mortgage market by the credit crunch, my impression is that your application for a VA loan will require full documentation.

You may be able to get a streamlined loan, but I don't know if your circumstances or even the general real estate market in your area would affect your ability to obtain a VA loan with limited documentation, particularly when you are paying off the equity line you have and increasing the amount you want to borrow.

Your best bet is to sit down with a lender with extensive experience with VA loans and go over these issues.

How has the residential market been in Albany, N.Y., over the past year or two? I have an investment property there (three-unit), and I am trying to get an idea how badly I will get hit if I try to sell, or if I will escape the worst of the housing slump. Do you know of any reports or studies that would be helpful?

It's difficult to know how any particular real estate market is doing. You can look at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight home price index, which indicates that housing in New York state fell just over 4 percent in value in the past year. Or, you can look at the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which are based on 20 top housing markets (not including Albany), and which indicate that home prices are down roughly 15 to 16 percent from their high.

None of these tell you what's going on in a neighborhood. And, when it comes to real estate, the old mantra of "location, location, location" remains valid. It's all about what's going on down the block and in your back yard.

If you're thinking about selling your investment property, you should invite three top neighborhood agents in to do a comparative marketing analysis of the property. This analysis is an agent's calling card. He or she will walk through your property, go back to the office and pull up the comparable sales of similar properties in the neighborhood. Then the agent will come back with a marketing plan and a suggested list price. You'll be able to see the research: what has sold in your neighborhood, when it sold, and for how much.