VA Real Estate Specialist- VA Home Loan Eligibility

 

The VA Home Loan is one of the best loans out there. My clients have used the VA Loan to purchase numerous homes over the years and because our team has helped so many active duty and veterans in Dallas, we can recommend you one of our preferred lenders that specialize in VA Home Loans in DFW. We work side by side securing your new home or condo. Some great things about the VA Loan is that you are not required to put any money down when purchasing and we can ask the seller to pay for your closing costs when you buy your new home. Essentially no money out of pocket for you. There is also no PMI, Private Mortgage Insurance, on a VA Loan which can save you several hundred dollars per month. 

​

Through dedicated service to our country, military service members and veterans qualify for a range of benefits earned through their service. Chief among those benefits is an opportunity to take part in the VA Loan program.

While the VA Loan is designed specifically for those who served, there are a handful of requirements. In order to qualify for a VA Loan there are specific service conditions each borrower must meet.

​

You must have suitable credit, sufficient income, and a valid Certificate of Eligibility (COE) to be eligible for a VA-guaranteed home loan. The home must be for your own personal occupancy. The eligibility requirements to obtain a COE are listed below for Service members and Veterans, spouses, and other eligible beneficiaries.

​

VA home loans can be used to:

• Buy a home, a condominium unit in a VA-approved project

• Build a home

• Simultaneously purchase and improve a home

• Improve a home by installing energy-related features or making energy efficient improvements

• Buy a manufactured home and/or lot.

​

​

Eligibility Requirements for VA Home Loans

Service members and Veterans

To obtain a COE, you must have been discharged under conditions other than dishonorable and meet the service requirements below:

​

​

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

*If you do not meet the minimum service requirements, you may still be eligible if you were discharged due to (1) hardship, (2) the convenience of the government, (3) reduction-in-force, (4) certain medical conditions, or (5) a service-connected disability.

​

Spouses

The spouse of a Veteran can also apply for home loan eligibility under one of the following conditions:

• Un-remarried spouse of a Veteran who died while in service or from a service connected disability, or

• Spouse of a Service member missing in action or a prisoner of war

• Surviving spouse who remarries on or after attaining age 57, and on or after December 16, 2003
  (Note: a surviving spouse who remarried before December 16, 2003, and on or after attaining age 57, must have applied no later than December 15, 2004, to establish home loan eligibility. VA must deny applications from surviving spouses who remarried before December 6, 2003 that are received after December 15, 2004.)

• Surviving Spouses of certain totally disabled veterans whose disability may not have been the cause of death 

​

Other Eligible Beneficiaries

You may also apply for eligibility if you fall into one of the following categories:

• Certain U.S. citizens who served in the armed forces of a government allied with the United States in World War II

• Individuals with service as members in certain organizations, such as Public Health Service officers, cadets at the United States Military, Air Force, or Coast Guard Academy, midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy, officers of National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, merchant seaman with World War II service, and others

​

Restoration of Entitlement

Veterans can have previously-used entitlement "restored" to purchase another home with a VA loan if:

• The property purchased with the prior VA loan has been sold and the loan paid in full, or

• A qualified Veteran-transferee (buyer) agrees to assume the VA loan and substitute his or her entitlement for the same amount of entitlement originally used by the Veteran seller. The entitlement may also be restored one time only if the Veteran has repaid the prior VA loan in full, but has not disposed of the property purchased with the prior VA loan. Remaining entitlement and restoration of entitlement can be requested through the VA Eligibility Center by completing VA Form 26-1880.