The VA home loan, explained plainly.

Frank is a welcoming, experienced local resource who helps lenders compete for your business and provides personal guidance throughout the process. The areas where that guidance matters most:

• Eligibility and entitlement. Understanding whether you are eligible, how much entitlement remains if you have used the benefit before, and how to use the benefit again after a move or a sale.
• Seller-paid concessions. Exploring what a seller can pay toward your costs, including eligible debt payoff strategies when the program permits them, so the offer is structured well from the start.
• VA streamline refinances. Evaluating a VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (IRRRL), also called a streamline refinance, on cost, recoupment and whether it actually improves your position.
• Homeownership and longer-term goals. Understanding how responsible use of the VA benefit can support homeownership and longer-term wealth-building goals, with the whole financial picture in view.

The sections below explain each part of the program in plain English, with the VA's own rules as the source.

Minimum service requirements depend on when and how you served; VA publishes the current rules on its eligibility page (opens in a new tab). Surviving spouses of service members who died in service or from a service-connected disability may also qualify, as may spouses of those missing in action or prisoners of war.

The COE shows your entitlement status and whether you are exempt from the funding fee. If the lender's electronic request does not return a COE, you can request one through VA.gov (opens in a new tab) or with VA Form 26-1880. Having the COE in hand before you shop avoids a late surprise about remaining entitlement.

Since 2020, borrowers with full entitlement have no loan limit; VA guarantees 25% of whatever loan amount you qualify for. You have full entitlement if you have never used the benefit, or if your prior VA loan was paid off and the home sold, or you repaid a prior claim in full.

With partial entitlement (for example, you still own a home with a VA loan), the county conforming limit comes back into play: VA's maximum guaranty is 25% of the county limit minus the entitlement already in use, and a down payment covers any shortfall. Our VA entitlement calculator does this math for Kitsap and Bonner counties.

How it relates to entitlement. VA does not lend the money; it guarantees part of the loan, and lenders generally want that guaranty (plus any down payment) to cover 25% of the loan amount.

• Full entitlement (you have never used the benefit, or a prior VA loan was paid off and the home sold, or a prior claim was repaid): there is no VA loan limit. VA's guaranty covers 25% of whatever you qualify for, so no down payment is required by VA, even above the conforming limit.
• Partial entitlement (for example, you still own a home with an active VA loan): Some of your VA benefit is already being used. The amount you have left depends on the loan limit in the county where you're buying and how much benefit is tied to your previous loan. You can still qualify for a VA jumbo loan, but a down payment may be needed if your remaining benefit doesn't cover the lender's requirements.

When a down payment may be required.

• You have partial entitlement and want to buy above the amount your remaining VA benefit supports with no down payment. Using round numbers: An $800,000 county loan limit with $25,000 of entitlement already in use leaves enough VA backing to purchase up to $700,000 with no down payment. For a $900,000 home, the typical down payment would be $50,000, which is 25% of the $200,000 difference. This assumes the home appraises for the purchase price and excludes closing costs and any VA funding fee.
• The purchase price is higher than the VA appraised value. The difference is paid in cash on any VA loan, jumbo or not.
• The lender's own rules for larger VA loans. Some lenders cap VA loan amounts, ask for a down payment above a certain loan size even with full entitlement, or look for higher credit scores and cash reserves. These requirements vary from lender to lender, which is one reason comparing wholesale lenders matters on a VA jumbo.
• You choose to put money down. A down payment of 5% or more also lowers the VA funding fee, which on a jumbo loan is charged on a larger balance.

The VA entitlement calculator runs the partial-entitlement math with the current Kitsap and Bonner County limits, and Frank can confirm your remaining entitlement from your COE before you shop. Education only; every loan is subject to the lender's approval.

Exemptions include veterans receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability (or who would be but for retirement pay), eligible surviving spouses receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, and active-duty Purple Heart recipients. The exemption shows on the COE; if a disability rating is pending at closing, a refund may be available once it is granted.

Down payments of 5% or 10% reduce the fee. Current tables are on VA.gov (opens in a new tab). The fee is included in the APR, so compare VA and conventional offers on total cost, not just rate.

VA uses a 41% debt-to-income benchmark, but a borrower above 41% can still be approved when residual income exceeds the guideline by 20% or more. Everyone in the household counts toward family size, including a spouse not on the loan and children. Lenders apply a maintenance-and-utilities estimate based on the home's square footage, so a larger home changes the result.

Check your numbers with the VA residual income calculator. It is an estimate; the underwriter's figures control.

The distinction matters when you negotiate:

• Normal closing costs and points (origination, title, appraisal, recording) do not count toward the 4%.
• Concessions are anything of value beyond normal costs. A seller-paid 2-1 or 1-0 buydown is treated as a concession.

Temporary buydowns lower the payment for the first year or two using escrowed funds, but VA lenders underwrite you at the full note rate. Compare a seller-paid buydown against a permanent rate reduction with the buydown calculator, and watch the seller-paid buydowns video below.

The IRRRL funding fee is 0.5% and can be financed. For a fixed-to-fixed refinance the new rate must be at least 0.5% lower; for an ARM-to-fixed, at least 2% lower under current rules. The loan must be seasoned (at least 210 days from the first payment and six payments made).

Our VA IRRRL guide and the refinance calculator (VA IRRRL mode) apply the 36-month recoupment and rate tests and phrase the result as "likely passes" or "likely does not pass"; Frank confirms with the lender.

In a higher-rate market, assuming a seller's low-rate VA loan can be valuable, but the "equity gap" is often large. A veteran buyer who substitutes their own entitlement releases the seller's; a non-veteran buyer leaves the seller's entitlement tied up until the loan is paid off.

Our VA assumptions and equity gap guide and the assumption calculator size the gap and the blended payment.

VA appraisals have a reputation for being strict; in practice most issues are modest repairs the seller agrees to. The Tidewater step gives the agent a chance to supply additional comparable sales before a low value is finalized, which is a protection conventional loans do not have. If the Notice of Value still comes in low, you can renegotiate, pay the difference, or walk away under the VA escape clause.

Rural homes on wells and septic in Bonner or Kitsap County need water testing and minimum separation distances; shared wells need recorded agreements.

Owner-occupied small multi-family properties in Bremerton, Port Orchard and Spokane let a VA buyer offset part of the payment with rent. The appraiser reports market rents, the lender usually counts only part of the projected rent, and VA guidance points to reserves when a borrower without a landlord history relies on rental income.

For incoming service members, lenders can pre-approve on PCS orders and a Leave and Earnings Statement before you arrive. BAH is non-taxable income that many lenders gross up for qualifying. VA expects occupancy within about 60 days, and a spouse can satisfy it during a deployment.

The most common Kitsap scenario is reusing the benefit: a sailor who bought in Silverdale years ago, kept the home as a rental after a transfer, and now wants to buy again on return. That is a partial-entitlement purchase, and the county limit math above applies. See the Kitsap County VA guide and the Silverdale and Bremerton pages for local detail. This is education, not a claim of specialty; every file is underwritten by the lender.