Know before you sign.
Plain-English guides to how VA loans work, with links to the official VA and federal sources behind them.
VA Loan Basics: The Benefit You Earned, Explained
Zero down, no PMI, and a lender's obligation to help you succeed. Here's how the VA loan program actually works.
VA Certificate of Eligibility (COE): Complete 2026 Guide
What the COE is, every way to request one, the service requirements behind it, how to read your entitlement, what to do if it is denied, and how restoration works — with VA sources for each step.
The VA Funding Fee, Demystified
How the VA funding fee changes by transaction, benefit use, and down payment—and how to compare paying it with financing it.
The First-Time Veteran Homebuyer Checklist
An ordered VA homebuying checklist from eligibility and cash planning through inspection, disclosures, and safe closing.
Entitlement Restoration: Reusing Your VA Benefit
Identify the prior property's status, payoff, assumption, or VA loss before requesting restoration or using remaining entitlement.
VA vs. Conventional Loans: How to Compare the Real Cost
Compare matched purchase assumptions, funded balances, cash to close, insurance, seller payments, and costs through the expected exit date.
VA IRRRL Step by Step: Requirements, Costs, and Comparison
Check VA-to-VA fit, seasoning, statutory net benefit, 36-month recoupment, new balance, and remaining term.
Surviving Spouse, National Guard, and Reserve VA Loan Eligibility
These eligibility paths use different service records and VA determinations. Learn what can support a COE and which documents to gather.
Buying With Zero Down: How a VA Purchase Loan Works
A VA purchase may require no down payment, but entitlement, value, approval, closing costs, and prepaid expenses still shape the transaction.
VA Loan Credit Score Requirements: What VA and Lenders Review
VA sets no minimum credit score for its home-loan guaranty, but lenders may set their own thresholds and review the full credit history.
DTI Limits on a VA Loan: The 41% Guideline, Explained
The VA's 41% debt-to-income guideline isn't a hard cap. Residual income is often what actually gets your file approved.
Buying With a VA Loan After Bankruptcy
How VA guidance treats Chapter 7 timing and active or completed Chapter 13 plans, and what a lender may request.
Getting a VA Loan After Foreclosure or Short Sale
A prior foreclosure doesn't kill your VA benefit — it changes the math. Here's how to restore entitlement and get back to closing.
Buying a Home During a PCS Move
Align PCS orders, overlapping housing, VA occupancy, documents, inspections, and closing logistics without relying on a fixed countdown.
Can You Buy a Home While Deployed?
A deployed borrower may still satisfy VA occupancy, but signing authority, identity checks, title rules, and lender documentation require advance planning.
Are VA Loans Assumable? Yes—With Approval
A qualified Veteran or nonveteran may assume a VA loan, but approval, price-gap funding, liability release, and entitlement substitution need separate answers.
VA vs. FHA vs. Conventional: Compare Costs, Cash, and Insurance
Compare eligibility, feasible cash assumptions, funded balances, mortgage insurance, fees, and actual matched Loan Estimates.
Refinancing an FHA Loan Into a VA Loan
Compare an FHA loan's changing MIP phases with a fully underwritten VA cash-out refinance—even when no cash is taken.
VA Loan Investment Property Rules: Occupancy, Rentals, and Reuse
VA purchase loans are for a home the borrower intends to occupy, but eligible 2–4 unit properties and later rentals require careful occupancy and entitlement planning.
VA Disability and Military Income Gross-Up: DTI vs. Residual Income
Learn how an illustrative adjustment to verified nontaxable income can affect a DTI denominator without changing actual income or VA residual income.
VA Cash-Out to 100% LTV: The Only Loan That Lets You Pull Every Dollar
VA policy permits a cash-out refinance up to 100% of appraised value, while conventional and FHA programs generally cap lower. Some lenders apply their own overlays. Here is how the limits actually work.
VA Jumbo Loans: Zero Down, No PMI, No Cap Since 2020
The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act removed the VA loan limit for veterans with full entitlement in January 2020. Guidance predating that change still circulates, and the conforming figure is often mistaken for a cap. It isn't one.
VA Loans on 2–4 Unit Properties: Zero Down on a Duplex, Triplex, or Fourplex
VA allows purchases of 2, 3, and 4 unit properties with zero down and no PMI, as long as the veteran occupies one unit. Prospective rent from the other units may be considered for qualifying only when VA and lender underwriting requirements are satisfied — it does not count automatically.
The Stacked Play: VA Jumbo + 2–4 Unit + Zero Down
Full entitlement, a 2–4 unit primary residence, and a jumbo balance above the conforming limit — stack all three and you're looking at a seven-figure loan with no money down, tenants paying most of the mortgage, and a wealth-building position no other loan program allows.
Surviving Spouse VA Loan Eligibility: The Benefit Most Widows Don't Know They Have
An unremarried surviving spouse of a veteran who died in service or from a service-connected disability may qualify for a VA loan with possible zero-down financing subject to entitlement, value, and approval, and no monthly PMI. Qualifying surviving spouses may be funding-fee exempt, but VA must confirm that status. A VA eligibility determination is the way to find out.
How to Get a VA Certificate of Eligibility as a Surviving Spouse
The current Certificate of Eligibility sequence for surviving spouses, including separate starting steps for applicants who receive DIC and those who do not.
Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) Grant: How It Pairs With a VA Purchase Loan
The SAH grant supports VA-approved plans to acquire, construct, or adapt a home — up to $126,526 in FY 2026 per VA. It is not an unrestricted cash grant: VA approves eligibility, the use of the funds, and how the assistance is administered. Grant approval and VA loan qualification are separate processes.
How to Apply for a VA Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) Grant
VA Form 26-4555 is the SAH grant application. It is filed separately from your mortgage and processed through VA; grant approval and loan qualification are separate decisions. Here's the step-by-step.
VA Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM): Finance Solar, HVAC, and Insulation at Purchase or Refinance
The VA EEM lets veterans finance qualifying energy-efficiency improvements into a VA purchase or refinance. Up to $3,000, the cost must be supported by a bid or itemization. More than $3,000 through $6,000 requires an itemized bid or contract plus lender documentation that the added monthly payment does not exceed the estimated monthly energy savings. Underwriting, appraisal, documentation, and lender overlays may apply.
VA Loan and Divorce: Using an Owelty Lien to Buy Out Home Equity
In Texas, an owelty lien created by court order or written agreement can secure one spouse's equity payout. Paying it, and resolving liability on the existing VA loan, are separate decisions for counsel, title, the lender, and the servicer.
Owelty Lien Requirements: A Step-by-Step Guide for Divorcing Homeowners
A Texas-focused explanation of owelty liens in divorce, with a checklist of the decisions and documents to review with counsel, title, the lender, and the existing servicer.