Buying a Home With a VA Loan

This article is general information, not legal, tax, or lending advice. VA loan rules, fees, and policies change, and only the VA and your lender can decide your eligibility, so please confirm what applies to you with a VA-approved lender. I am a real estate professional, and my part is the search, the contract, and keeping your timeline on track.

Entitlement is the amount the VA will guarantee to your lender, and it decides how much you can borrow with no down payment. The VA says that if you have full entitlement, you do not have a VA loan limit, as long as you can afford the loan and the appraisal supports the price. Your lender still has to approve you based on your income, debts, and credit.

Your COE shows basic entitlement of $36,000 when you have full entitlement, and for loans over $144,000 the VA adds bonus entitlement, generally 25 percent of the loan amount. If you have already used part of your entitlement, you have remaining entitlement instead, and then your county's loan limit comes into the math. Your lender runs those numbers before we look at houses, so we search in the right price range from day one.

Federal law requires a VA borrower to certify that they intend to live in the home and to move in within a reasonable time after closing. Permanent change of station orders make that tricky, and the law accounts for it: if you are on active duty and cannot occupy the home because of your duty status, your spouse living there satisfies the requirement, and a dependent child can satisfy it through a certification by your attorney-in-fact or the child's legal guardian. Your lender tells you exactly how they apply the timing.

PCS moves also come with a report date that does not move. I work backward from it, walk homes for you when you cannot be here, and set up live video tours when you want to see a room in real time. We sign a written buyer agreement before any touring, in person or by video, as the National Association of REALTORS has required of MLS participants since August 17, 2024. When you cannot attend closing, ask your lender and closing attorney early about a power of attorney or remote signing, because each of them has their own rules.

VA rules generally kept veterans from paying real estate broker charges, which mattered once offers of buyer agent pay came off MLS listings in August 2024. VA Circular 26-24-14, effective August 10, 2024, created a temporary exception that lets veterans pay reasonable and customary buyer-broker charges in markets where buyer agent pay can no longer be set through the MLS or paid through the listing broker, as long as those charges are not added to the loan amount and the lender counts them when checking that you have enough cash to close. A seller can still pay your agent, and the VA does not count that payment as a seller concession. The circular stays in place until the VA rescinds it, so your lender confirms it is still current when you buy.

I talk with your lender early, so your offer reflects what a VA loan actually requires and the listing side understands it. I explain the North Carolina and South Carolina contracts line by line, since I am licensed in both, and I keep the inspection, the VA appraisal, and the closing attorney moving toward your date. If this is your first purchase, my page for first-time buyers covers the basics, and the full buying process shows every step. When you have orders or a timeline, call me and we will build the plan around it.