The complete VA loan guide
Every number that matters — the 2026 funding fee table, who's exempt, how entitlement really works, and the Texas benefits that stack on top. I'm Rami, a 100% disabled Air Force and Army veteran and San Antonio realtor. I've used this benefit myself. Here's the whole playbook.
Do I qualify for a VA loan?
If you're currently serving, 90 continuous days of active duty qualifies you. For most post-1990 veterans, it's 24 continuous months — or the full period you were called up (minimum 90 days), with exceptions for hardship, certain discharges, and service-connected disability, which can qualify you with less time. National Guard and Reserve members qualify through 90 days of activated service or six creditable years. Surviving spouses receiving DIC are eligible too.
Your Certificate of Eligibility (COE) is the document that proves it. Three ways to get one: online at VA.gov, through your lender's direct VA system while you pre-approve (the route most of my clients take, since it happens inside a process you're doing anyway), or by mail with Form 26-1880 — which the VA itself says is the slow lane. Don't have your DD-214 handy? Start anyway; we can work with that.
Source: VA.gov eligibility requirements
The 2026 VA funding fee
The funding fee is the VA loan's one real cost — a one-time percentage of the loan that keeps the program running. These are the current purchase-loan rates on VA.gov (in effect since April 2023, confirmed current for 2026). It's also the only closing cost you're allowed to roll into the loan.
| Down payment | First use | After first use |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 5% down | 2.15% | 3.3% |
| 5% – 9.99% down | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| 10% or more down | 1.25% | 1.25% |
You may owe $0 of it
You're exempt from the entire funding fee if you receive VA disability compensation — or are eligible but drawing retirement pay instead — plus surviving spouses on DIC, active-duty Purple Heart recipients, and service members with a proposed rating before closing. And if your rating arrives after closing with a retroactive effective date, the fee is refundable. On a $300,000 first-use loan, this exemption is worth over $6,400. I verify it on every deal.
Who pays the closing costs?
The rules favor you three ways. First, the seller can pay your normal closing costs — title, appraisal, recording, prepaids — and that doesn't count against any cap. Second, true seller concessions (paying your funding fee, prepaying your taxes and insurance, funding a rate buydown) are allowed up to 4% of the home's value. Third, the VA caps your lender's flat charge at 1% of the loan and prohibits you from paying certain fees entirely — including real estate commissions and the lender's attorney fees. Temporary 2-1 rate buydowns are allowed on fixed-rate VA loans too, funded by the seller, builder, lender, or you — with the lender required to qualify you on the full post-buydown payment, so the teaser rate never buys more house than you can hold.
Sources: VA.gov funding fee & closing costs · VA temporary buydown policy
Fifteen minutes, free, with a fellow veteran. No pressure, ever.
How the VA loan process actually works
Six steps, each with a built-in protection most buyers never hear about until it saves them.
1 · Get your Certificate of Eligibility
Your COE proves your entitlement to lenders. Three ways to get it: instantly-ish online at VA.gov, through your lender's direct VA system while you're getting pre-approved (how most of my clients do it), or by mail with Form 26-1880. Currently serving? 90 continuous days qualifies you. Guard and Reserve qualify through activation time or six creditable years.
2 · Get pre-approved with a VA-savvy lender
The VA sets no minimum credit score — lenders add their own, and they vary, so one lender's no is not the VA's no. Underwriting hinges on residual income: what's left each month after your bills, by family size and region. BAH counts as qualifying income. I'll connect you with lenders who close VA loans every week, not once a quarter.
3 · Offer — with the escape clause working for you
Every VA purchase contract includes the VA's mandatory escape clause: if the home appraises below the contract price, you can walk away with your earnest money, no penalty. Sellers sign it too — it's federal regulation, not a request. Your offer is stronger than the folklore says, and I make sure the listing side knows it.
4 · The VA appraisal — with a deadline and a safety net
A VA-assigned appraiser confirms the price and checks Minimum Property Requirements — safe, structurally sound, sanitary. In Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe counties the VA requires delivery within 7 business days. If value looks short, the Tidewater process gives us 48 hours to submit supporting comps before anything is final. The appraisal is not an inspection — we still do a real one.
5 · Underwriting and clear-to-close
The lender verifies everything and the file goes to underwriting like any loan. VA and conventional purchases close on similar timelines — the VA has publicly busted the slow-VA myth with its own data. In my San Antonio deals, 30–45 days contract-to-keys is the normal window for any financed purchase, VA included.
6 · Close, move in, and file your exemptions
You'll certify intent to occupy within 60 days (active-duty rules flex for deployment — a spouse's occupancy counts). Then the last play most agents skip: filing your Texas property-tax exemptions with the appraisal district. If you're 100% rated, that filing zeroes your homestead property tax. I hand you the form at the closing table.
Entitlement: use it, reuse it, stack it
Your entitlement is the amount the VA guarantees to your lender — and since 2020, veterans with full entitlement have no loan limit at all. These are the four moves that flow from it.
Use it again after selling
Sell the home and pay off the loan, and your full entitlement restores for the next purchase. This benefit is reusable for life — not a one-shot voucher.
Hold two VA loans at once
Kept your last house as a rental after PCSing? Remaining entitlement can back a second $0-down VA loan on your new primary residence. It's entitlement math, and I run it with your lender before you plan around it.
The one-time restoration
Paid the loan off but kept the home? There's a one-time option to restore your entitlement anyway — a lever for veterans who own their house free and clear and want to buy again with VA.
Your loan is assumable
A qualified buyer can take over your VA loan at its existing rate — a genuine selling advantage when rates are high. One caution from the VA itself: if a non-veteran assumes without substituting entitlement, yours stays tied up until the loan is paid off. Be selective.
VA loans on new construction
Yes, your VA loan works on a home that doesn't exist yet — and around San Antonio, where builders compete hard for buyers, it's often the strongest play. Three things to know: the builder must hold a VA builder ID (major builders here have closed VA deals many times; I confirm it before you sign), the home must carry either a one-year VA builder's warranty or a ten-year insured protection plan, and the escape clause protects new-construction contracts too. Builder incentives — rate buydowns, closing-cost credits — pair beautifully with $0 down, and the builder's on-site agent works for the builder, not you.
The Texas stack: benefits on top of your VA loan
Texas layers state benefits over the federal ones — and in Bexar County, home to roughly 156,000 veterans and the JBSA installations, using them is routine, not exotic.
| VA disability rating | Texas property tax exemption |
|---|---|
| 10% – 29% | $5,000 off assessed value |
| 30% – 49% | $7,500 off assessed value |
| 50% – 69% | $10,000 off assessed value |
| 70% – 99% | $12,000 off assessed value |
| 100% or Individual Unemployability | Entire homestead value — you pay $0 |
The Texas Vet (VLB) rate discount
The Texas Veterans Land Board offers below-market fixed rates through participating lenders — riding on top of your VA, FHA, or conventional loan, not replacing it. A 30%+ disability rating earns a further rate discount. Rates reset weekly, and the home must be your Texas primary residence for at least three years.
File once, save every year
The exemptions aren't automatic — you file Form 50-114 with your county appraisal district (Bexar Appraisal District for San Antonio). Texas' general homestead exemption stacks on top for everyone. I hand every veteran client the paperwork at closing, because a benefit you don't file is a benefit you don't have.
Four VA loan myths, busted
Every one of these has cost a veteran a house. Every one is contradicted by the VA's own published policy.
“You can only use a VA loan once.”
It's reusable for life. Sell and pay off the loan and your entitlement restores. Another veteran can assume your loan and substitute entitlement. You can even hold two VA loans at once with remaining entitlement — the PCS rent-and-buy play.
“VA loans take forever to close.”
The VA itself published data busting this — VA and conventional purchases close on similar timelines. San Antonio-area VA appraisals are due in 7 business days by rule, faster than the Texas statewide standard.
“Sellers should fear VA offers.”
VA buyers can put down strong earnest money, sellers' normal closing-cost help isn't even counted as a concession, Tidewater gives price support conventional buyers don't get, and the buyer can choose to cover an appraisal gap in cash.
“VA loans cost more.”
$0 down with full entitlement, no monthly mortgage insurance ever, lender fees capped at a flat 1%, several fees you're prohibited from paying at all, and no prepayment penalty. Disability compensation recipients skip the funding fee too.
Rami was outstanding throughout the entire home-buying/selling process!! He was knowledgeable, responsive, and always available to answer questions when they came up. His expertise and attention to detail made everything smooth and stress-free. I truly appreciated his professionalism and dedication to getting the deals. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a trustworthy realtor!!
Rami is really clear and straightforward about the entire process. He was extremely patient and answered all of my questions thoroughly. He's connected to all of the best communities no matter what part of town you want to be in, found me incentives I didn't even know I'd be qualified for. The entire move-in process was really smooth and he was by my side the entire way. Even after moving in, he reached out to make sure everything is going well.
Rami was a very professional realtor and tough negotiator while searching for our home in San Antonio. He worked our price down by 8 grand and even convinced them to throw in a fridge. We are a military couple navigating the buying process all the way from Maryland, and he had no problem bridging the distance for us. He even picked up the keys for us after closing since we weren't in town yet. You can't go wrong with this realtor!
VA loan questions, answered
Tap a question to see the answer.
You earned this benefit. Let's use all of it.
Funding fee exemption, entitlement math, Texas tax exemptions, builder incentives — the difference between using a VA loan and using it well is thousands of dollars. Free consult, zero pressure, fellow veteran.