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An earned benefit

A VA loan is built differently, and it starts with your Certificate of Eligibility

A VA loan is made by a private lender with the VA guaranty behind part of it, and what it asks for up front is different from what a conventional loan asks. There is no monthly mortgage insurance premium. If you served, the first step is a Certificate of Eligibility, which a lender can request online for you. Vandenberg Space Force Base and Camp San Luis Obispo are both inside our service area.

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The program in one box

What it is
A loan from a private lender with the VA guaranty behind part of it, from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Who it is for
Veterans, active-duty service members, some National Guard and reserve service, and some surviving spouses.
First step
A Certificate of Eligibility, which a lender can request online for you.
Loan limit
VA sets no loan limit for a veteran with full entitlement.
Monthly mortgage insurance
None.
Funding fee
A one-time VA funding fee, waived for a veteran receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability and in the other cases VA lists.
Occupancy
The home has to be the veteran's primary residence.
Appraisal and property
VA assigns the appraiser, and the property has to meet VA's Minimum Property Requirements.

Source: Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, in force since January 1, 2020. An entitlement already in use on another property changes that. All of the county's loan limits.

What this program is good at

  • What a VA loan asks for up front is different from what a conventional loan asks. Ask us what it means for your own file.
  • There is no monthly mortgage insurance premium.
  • With full entitlement there is no VA loan limit.
  • The VA funding fee is waived for a veteran receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability, and in the other cases VA lists.
  • Entitlement is not single-use. It can be restored and used again, and an existing VA loan has the IRRRL and a VA cash-out refinance behind it.

Who qualifies

What a lender weighs before this program is on the table. A lender can add rules of its own, and those rules can differ from one lender to the next.

Your service

Eligibility comes from your service record: when you served, how long, and how you were discharged. Veterans, active-duty service members, some National Guard and reserve service and some surviving spouses can all qualify. The VA decides it rather than us, and the Certificate of Eligibility is that decision in writing.

The Certificate of Eligibility

This is the document that says what entitlement you have. A lender can request it online for you from your service details, and it tells us whether you have full entitlement or whether some of it is still charged to an earlier VA loan. Everything else on this page depends on the answer, so it comes first.

Entitlement already in use

There is no VA loan limit for a veteran with full entitlement. If some of your entitlement is already committed to another VA loan, the county loan limit comes back into the calculation of the entitlement you have left. Tell us about any earlier VA loan before anything gets priced.

Occupancy

The home has to be the veteran's primary residence. It is not a program for an investment property or a vacation house. There are narrow cases where occupancy works differently, a deployment among them, so tell us your situation rather than ruling yourself out.

The property and the appraisal

VA assigns the appraiser, and the property has to meet VA's Minimum Property Requirements. That is a real review, and it can hold up a house that needs work.

How it works with us

What happens once you get in touch

The steps in order, so you can see what is coming. Nothing here is underwritten until a lender underwrites it.

  1. Find out what your entitlement is

    Call us, or start the application. A lender can request your Certificate of Eligibility online. It shows what entitlement you have.

  2. We take the file to lenders that make VA loans

    Lenders can add rules of their own above VA's, and those rules can differ from one lender to the next.

  3. Your loan officer reviews the file

    Your loan officer reads what the VA guaranty does for your file and, if you qualify, can write a pre-qualification letter.

  4. VA appraisal, underwriting and funding

    Once an offer is accepted, VA assigns the appraiser and we work the file through underwriting with you.

What people ask about this program

If yours is not here, call us. The useful answer depends on your file.

How do I get a Certificate of Eligibility for a VA loan?

A Certificate of Eligibility is the document from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that confirms your VA home loan entitlement, and it is the first step in a VA loan. A lender can request it online for you from your service details. If you do not have one yet, that is the call to make before anything else.

Is there a VA loan limit?

No. There has been no VA loan limit for a veteran with full entitlement since January 1, 2020, under the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019. If part of your entitlement is already in use on another VA loan, the county loan limit comes back into the calculation, which is why the Certificate of Eligibility has to come first.

Does a VA loan have mortgage insurance?

No. A VA loan carries no monthly mortgage insurance premium. It has a one-time VA funding fee instead, and that fee is waived for a veteran receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability and in the other cases VA lists.

Can I use a VA loan more than once?

Yes. VA entitlement can be restored and used again when VA's conditions are met, so a veteran who has used a VA loan before is not necessarily shut out of using one later. An existing VA loan also has two refinance routes of its own: the Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, known as the IRRRL, and a VA cash-out refinance.

California veterans

CalVet home loan

California's own veteran home loan, run by CalVet as a contract of purchase with the fund holding title until the contract is satisfied.

  • It is a second door, with eligibility rules of its own, to weigh beside a VA loan.
  • No monthly mortgage insurance premium, and one funding fee up front that your loan officer will put in writing rather than on a web page.
  • There is no California residency requirement, so having served from somewhere else does not shut the door on you.
More about CalVet

Government-insured

FHA loan

Government-insured, with credit score tiers HUD publishes.

  • FHA publishes its own credit floor, so you can find out where you stand before any lender's opinion enters it.
  • The 203(k) option finances a house that needs work and the work itself in one loan.
  • An FHA streamline refinance exists for a loan that is already FHA, if the loan meets FHA's conditions at the time.
More about FHA

Not government-insured

Conventional loan

A loan for solid credit and income, with private mortgage insurance that does not have to be permanent.

  • Private mortgage insurance does not have to be permanent. On a one-unit home you live in, the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, subject to its conditions and exceptions, gives you the right to ask for borrower-paid mortgage insurance to come off once the loan is paid down far enough against the home's original value, and requires it to end automatically at a later point on the loan's amortization schedule.
  • It works for a primary residence or an investment property of one to four units, and for a one-unit second home. FHA and VA are built for a home you live in; FHA allows a second home only in narrow hardship cases.
  • There is no federal credit floor on a conventional loan, and Fannie Mae's Desktop Underwriter sets no minimum score of its own: it weighs the credit with its own risk factors and returns what the file needs.
More about Conventional

Where this program fits:Buying a homeRefinancingThe county's loan limitsThe Central CoastServices

Side by side:FHA vs VAVA vs conventionalVA vs CalVet

Where it comes up in the county:San Luis ObispoSanta MariaOrcuttLompoc

Published by

California Mortgage Solutions Inc. · Company NMLS #325189

This page is general information about a loan program, not an offer of credit or a commitment to lend. What a lender will do with your file depends on the file.

Tell us about your file

Answer a few questions and your loan officer can talk you through which programs could fit your file, including when this one does not.

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No credit pull to get started. This is not a commitment to lend. Equal Housing Opportunity.