VA mortgage news, policy, and borrower strategy.
Market education, policy explainers, benefit deep-dives, and reporting on the moves that actually change what veterans pay for a home.
Divorce and Your VA Loan: Using an Owelty Lien for an Equity Buyout
In Texas, an owelty lien may let one spouse keep the home and pay the other's agreed or court-ordered equity share over time. It is one option alongside selling or refinancing, and legal, title, financing, and existing-loan liability questions must each be resolved separately.
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VA Energy Efficient Mortgage 2026: How the Tiers Actually Work
The VA EEM lets veterans finance energy upgrades into a VA purchase or refinance: up to $3,000 with documented cost of improvements, and $3,000–$6,000 when the lender documents that the energy savings exceed the increase in mortgage payment. Amounts above $6,000 are evaluated case-by-case.
The VA Home Modification Grant Most Disabled Veterans Miss
The Specially Adapted Housing grant provides up to $126,526 in FY 2026 toward a VA-approved plan to acquire, construct, or adapt a suitable home. VA approves eligibility, use, and administration of the assistance.
You May Qualify for a VA Loan and Not Know It: The Surviving Spouse Benefit
Unremarried surviving spouses of certain veterans may qualify for a VA loan with no down payment, no monthly PMI, and a funding-fee exemption. Here are the eligibility paths and how to get a determination.
Zero Down on a Fourplex: The House Hack Almost No LO Pitches
VA lets you buy a duplex, triplex, or fourplex as a primary residence with zero down and no PMI. 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.
VA Loan Limits: Full Entitlement, Remaining Entitlement, and Lender Approval
Since 2020, borrowers with full entitlement have no VA county loan limit, but lender approval and property value still apply. With remaining entitlement, the county one-unit limit feeds the guaranty math — it is not a hard price cap.
VA Cash-Out to 100% LTV: The Refi No Other Loan Can Match
Conventional caps cash-out at 80%. FHA caps at 80%. VA policy allows up to 100% of appraised value, though some lenders apply their own overlay at a lower limit — ask which limit applies to your file.
VA Nontaxable Income Documentation Checklist
A practical checklist for documenting taxable and nontaxable income, expected continuance, and the questions to ask before relying on an adjusted DTI figure.
VA IRRRL vs. Cash-Out Refinance: Key Differences
Compare VA IRRRL and cash-out refinance rules, costs, underwriting, occupancy, funding fees, and tradeoffs before choosing a refinance path.
2026 VA Loan Limits Explained: What They Do and Don't Control
The 2026 FHFA one-unit conforming limit is $832,750 in most counties and up to $1,249,125 in high-cost areas. With full entitlement VA has no loan limit; with remaining entitlement the county figure feeds the guaranty math.
When Should You Lock Your VA Loan Rate?
There is no single right day to lock. Weigh closing certainty, lock length, extension costs, float-down terms, and how much payment risk you can accept.
VA Funding Fee 2026: Rates, Exemptions, and How to Pay It
Selected VA funding fee rates for purchase, cash-out, and IRRRL loans, the conditions for an exemption, and how financing the fee works. See VA's full table for other loan types.
Long-form VA loan reference
Zero down, no PMI, and a lender's obligation to help you succeed. Here's how the VA loan program actually works.
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.
How the VA funding fee changes by transaction, benefit use, and down payment—and how to compare paying it with financing it.
An ordered VA homebuying checklist from eligibility and cash planning through inspection, disclosures, and safe closing.
Identify the prior property's status, payoff, assumption, or VA loss before requesting restoration or using remaining entitlement.
Compare matched purchase assumptions, funded balances, cash to close, insurance, seller payments, and costs through the expected exit date.
Bolt Home Loans LLC is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. VA loan programs are offered by private lenders.