VA Loans in Virginia

Last reviewed September 21, 2026

What is a VA loan, in plain English?

A VA loan is a regular mortgage from a regular lender, with the Department of Veterans Affairs guaranteeing part of it. That guaranty is why the terms are better than anything else on the market.

• No down payment with full entitlement, financing 100 percent of the purchase price.
• No monthly mortgage insurance, ever. That is the line that usually makes a VA payment cheaper than FHA or low-down conventional at the same price.
• A one-time funding fee, 2.15 percent on a first use with nothing down, financeable, and waived completely if you receive VA compensation.
• Residual income underwriting, which looks at the dollars left in your budget rather than only at a ratio.
• Reusable entitlement and an assumable loan. In a state where people PCS every few years, both of these matter more than anywhere else.

What does a VA loan actually get you in Virginia?

It gets you into a market where the down payment is usually the only thing standing between a military family and a house. Virginia’s statewide median sale price was $435,000 in July 2026, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier, according to Virginia REALTORS. On that number a 5 percent conventional down payment is $21,750 plus monthly mortgage insurance. The VA version is zero and none.

Virginia is really three markets. Northern Virginia prices like a coastal metro and has the high loan limits to match. Hampton Roads is the densest VA lending market in the country, full of buyers who are on their second or third use of the benefit. Richmond, Roanoke, the Valley and Southwest Virginia are well inside the baseline limit, where zero down does the most work.

Is there a VA loan limit in Virginia?

Only if you are on partial entitlement. With full entitlement VA sets no maximum loan amount, and your lender caps you on income, credit and appraised value. The county conforming limit is the input to the guaranty calculation when you already have a VA loan outstanding or had a prior VA loss.

Virginia has the widest spread of any state I lend in: 18 counties and independent cities sit above the 2026 baseline, almost all of them in the Washington metro.

Source: FHFA, Conforming Loan Limit Values for 2026, full county list. Checked September 21, 2026.

The practical version: a veteran with partial entitlement buying in Loudoun County has roughly 50 percent more guaranty room than the same veteran buying in Chesapeake. If you are keeping a house in Hampton Roads and buying in Northern Virginia on orders, that difference is often what decides whether you need a down payment at all. Here is how two VA loans at the same time actually works.

Do disabled veterans get a property tax break in Virginia?

Yes, and Virginia’s is one of the strongest in the country. There is no dollar cap and no income test.

Here is the mortgage part nobody explains. A full exemption removes the property tax line from your monthly payment, which can be $300 to $600 a month in Northern Virginia. That changes what you qualify for, but only if the lender will use it. Most underwriters want the exemption already approved by the locality before they will qualify you without taxes, and your commissioner of the revenue may take weeks. Plan on the full bill, and treat the reduction as upside unless the approval is already in hand. The Virginia walkthrough has the filing detail by locality.

What if you are buying near Norfolk, Quantico or Langley?

Then you are in the normal case for this state. Virginia holds Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval complex in the world, along with Naval Air Station Oceana, Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Fort Gregg-Adams, Fort Barfoot, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren and the Pentagon.

• PCS orders support occupancy intent. You can buy before you physically report, as long as you are moving into the home. Start the preapproval before house hunting, not after.
• BAH counts as qualifying income when documented and expected to continue. In Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia that is often what makes the payment work.
• Think about the exit before you buy. Your VA loan is assumable by a qualified buyer, and in a high-rate market that is a genuine selling advantage when the next orders come.

Why does residual income matter more than your debt ratio?

Because residual income is what decides close files. It is the money left each month after the mortgage, taxes, insurance, HOA dues, debts, estimated income tax and a maintenance figure based on the size of the house. Virginia sits in VA’s South region.

VA Pamphlet 26-7, Chapter 4, Table 10 (loan amounts of $80,000 and above) and Table 11 (regions). Add $80 for each family member above five, up to seven.

One Virginia specific: if you are keeping a home here and buying another, the departing residence is usually where the deal is won or lost, not the entitlement.

What will the VA appraiser catch in a Virginia house?

The VA appraisal is a value opinion plus a minimum property requirements review. It is not a home inspection and never replaces one. What comes back most often in Virginia:

• A wood-destroying insect report. Virginia is on VA’s list of states where wood-destroying insect information is required statewide, so the termite inspection is not optional and active infestation or damage has to be addressed.
• Peeling paint on pre-1978 houses, which is everywhere in Richmond, Norfolk, Petersburg and the older Northern Virginia neighborhoods.
• Private wells and septic systems across the rural counties, with distance requirements and recorded agreements where a well is shared.
• Crawl space moisture and rot, which is the single most common Hampton Roads finding.
• Condo project approval in Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax, where much of the affordable inventory is attached housing.

Send me the address before you write the offer on a condo. VA maintains its own approved project list, and Fannie Mae approval does not carry over. I check it the same day.

What do Virginia closing costs actually look like?

Virginia is a settlement state. A title company or a real estate attorney can conduct the closing, and under Virginia’s settlement agent rules you get to choose. The line items that move your cash to close:

• State recordation tax of 25 cents per $100 of value on the deed, customarily paid by the buyer, plus local recordation taxes.
• The grantor tax, customarily paid by the seller, plus regional transportation add-ons in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
• The VA 1 percent lender fee ceiling, which caps lender-side charges no matter what they are called.
• Seller concessions of up to 4 percent of the reasonable value, which is separate from a seller simply paying customary closing costs. In a slower Virginia market this is the most underused tool on the table.

What if credit, a bankruptcy or a foreclosure is the real problem?

Then know this first: VA sets no minimum credit score. Lenders set their own floors and they vary a lot, which is why the same borrower gets a no from one and a yes from another.

Where to go next, depending on what is actually on the report:

• Bad credit VA loans in Virginia for what a 500, 550, 580 or 620 score actually does to a Virginia file.
• Manual underwriting in Virginia when an automated system returns a Refer, which is where most low-score files get approved.
• VA loans after a bankruptcy in Virginia and after a foreclosure in Virginia for the seasoning dates and re-established credit.
• VA renovation loans in Virginia if the house itself is the problem.
• The Virginia disabled veteran property tax exemption with the county filing detail.

If another lender denied you, bring me the exact wording. A score overlay, a documentation gap and a genuine eligibility problem are three different problems and only one of them means waiting.

Are there Virginia programs you can pair with a VA loan?

Virginia Housing runs state first-time buyer programs that can be paired with VA financing. Eligibility is set by household income and sales price limits that vary by area, and the Northern Virginia limits are much higher than the rest of the state.

My honest take: on a VA loan the zero down payment is already the biggest subsidy available, so a state layer on top mostly adds income caps, education requirements and paperwork to a loan that already asks you for nothing down. In most Virginia contracts I write, a seller concession toward closing costs does more for your cash at the table, with less red tape. I will price both side by side and tell you when the plain VA loan wins.

What if the Virginia house you want needs work?

Then you have three options: the seller repairs before closing, you close and repair after with VA renovation financing, or a short list of weather-delayed exterior items goes into a repair escrow.

Virginia’s older housing stock makes this a live option far more often than buyers expect, especially in Richmond and the older Hampton Roads neighborhoods where the price is right and the systems are 60 years old. The Virginia renovation page carries the as-completed value math and the current lender overlays with dates.

Virginia VA loan questions I get every week

How long does a VA purchase take to close in Virginia?

Thirty to 45 days is normal. Appraisal repairs, septic paperwork and condo project review are what stretch it.

I used my VA loan on a house in Virginia Beach. Can I buy again on orders?

Usually yes, on remaining entitlement, and often with nothing down. It has to be calculated before you write an offer, and the departing home’s rental treatment matters as much as the entitlement.

Is my VA loan really assumable?

Yes, by a qualified buyer with lender and VA approval. In Hampton Roads that is a real selling point, but it also ties up your entitlement until the assumer substitutes theirs, so get advice before agreeing to it.

Does the 100 percent exemption help me qualify?

Once the locality approves it, yes, because it removes the tax line from the payment underwriting uses. Before approval, most lenders will qualify you on the full bill.

Can VA disability income be used to qualify?

Yes. It is stable, documented and tax-free, it can be grossed up, and it removes the funding fee.

Which parts of Virginia do you work in?

All of it, from Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg through Richmond, Hampton Roads, Charlottesville, Roanoke and Southwest Virginia.

How do you start a Virginia VA loan with me?

Take the quiz. It is 30 seconds, it is not a credit pull, and it gives me enough to say something useful instead of something generic. I answer these myself.

If you want the national picture first, how the benefit works from application to closing, funding fee tiers and entitlement, start with my complete VA loan guide.

Carlos Scarpero, Mortgage Loan Originator, NMLS #1674385 | Edge Home Finance, LLC, NMLS #891464 | Licensed to originate VA loans in Virginia | 937-572-3713 | Equal Housing Opportunity. Nothing on this page is tax or legal advice, and nothing here is a commitment to lend.