If you have VA entitlement, it is almost always the best loan available to you — and it is routinely left on the table by people who assume it is slow, that sellers will not accept it, or that they used it up years ago. None of those have been true for a long time. Between Fort Campbell on the Kentucky line and a large veteran population across Middle Tennessee, we see VA files constantly, and the most common problem is that nobody told the borrower what they actually had.
You served on active duty and meet the service requirements
You are a National Guard or Reserve member with qualifying service
You are the surviving spouse of a service member who died in service or from a service-connected disability
You used a VA loan before and assume you cannot use it again — you usually can
You are receiving compensation for a service-connected disability, which changes the math substantially
How it works
Zero down, and no monthly mortgage insurance at all
This is the part that makes VA genuinely hard to beat, and it is worth being precise about why.
Every other low-down-payment loan charges monthly mortgage insurance. Conventional charges PMI until you hit twenty percent equity. FHA charges MIP for the life of the loan. USDA charges an annual fee for the life of the loan. VA charges nothing monthly, forever.
On a typical Middle Tennessee purchase that difference alone is worth well over a hundred dollars every month, for as long as you own the house. Over a decade it is not a rounding error, it is a car.
The funding fee, and who does not pay it
In place of monthly insurance, VA charges a one-time funding fee, almost always financed into the loan rather than paid in cash. It varies with your down payment and whether this is your first use of the benefit or a subsequent one.
Here is the part that changes everything for a lot of borrowers: the funding fee is waived entirely for veterans receiving compensation for a service-connected disability, and for surviving spouses receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation.
For an exempt borrower, VA financing has no down payment, no monthly mortgage insurance, and no funding fee. There is no other loan in the country that competes with that. If you have a disability rating and have not used your VA benefit, you should find out why not.
Entitlement is reusable, and often larger than you think
Entitlement is restored once you sell the home and the loan is paid off, and it can then be used again with no limit on the number of times.
You can also hold two VA loans at once in some situations — most commonly a permanent change of station, where you keep the first home as a rental and buy at the new duty station using remaining entitlement.
And since the removal of VA loan limits for borrowers with full entitlement, there is no cap on what you can borrow with zero down beyond what you can actually qualify for. Plenty of veterans still believe an old county limit applies to them. It usually does not.
VA loans are assumable — which is becoming a real asset
A qualified buyer can take over your VA loan at its existing rate. In an environment where rates have risen since many loans were written, that is not a footnote — it is a genuine selling point that can widen your buyer pool and support your price when you sell.
There is a caveat worth understanding. If the buyer assuming the loan is not a veteran substituting their own entitlement, yours stays tied up in that property until the loan is paid off. That is a real trade-off, and it should be a deliberate decision rather than a surprise at the closing table.
There is no VA credit score minimum
VA itself does not set one. Lenders do, and they vary widely — one may want 620, another will work considerably lower with compensating factors. VA also looks at residual income, a calculation of what is left over each month after all obligations, which is unique to the programme and sometimes carries a file that a debt-ratio-only test would decline. If you have been told your score rules out VA, that was a lender's policy, not VA's.
The details that decide it
The Certificate of Eligibility
Your Certificate of Eligibility is the document proving you have entitlement and how much. In most cases a lender can pull it electronically in minutes using your service information — you rarely need to request it yourself. If your service record is unusual, or you are a surviving spouse, it can take longer and occasionally requires paperwork. Start it early rather than at contract, because it is the one piece of a VA file with a genuinely unpredictable timeline.
VA appraisals and minimum property requirements
Like FHA, VA appraisals confirm the home is safe, structurally sound and sanitary — not just what it is worth. Similar issues surface: roof condition, exposed wiring, water intrusion, non-functioning mechanical systems, and lead paint concerns on pre-1978 homes.
VA appraisals also include a Tidewater process. If the appraiser is likely to come in below the contract price, they can notify the parties before finalising, giving a chance to submit supporting comparable sales. It is a genuinely useful protection that a lot of agents do not know exists.
If the appraisal does come in low, VA allows the buyer to walk away without penalty under the amendatory clause — a protection conventional financing does not give you.
What the seller can and cannot be asked to pay
VA limits certain fees the veteran is permitted to pay, and sellers can contribute toward closing costs up to a percentage of the sale price. In practice this means a well-structured VA offer can get a veteran into a home with genuinely minimal cash. It also means the offer needs structuring properly at the outset — which is a conversation to have with us and your agent together, before you write it.
The VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan
The IRRRL is VA's streamline refinance. Like FHA's version it typically skips the appraisal and income documentation, and it exists purely to lower your rate or move you from an adjustable to a fixed. There is a reduced funding fee, and it cannot be used to take cash out. If rates fall after you buy, this is the low-friction route to capture it. VA also offers a cash-out refinance that can go to a higher loan-to-value than most conventional options.
VA vs. Conventional with 5% down
For an eligible veteran this comparison is usually lopsided, but it is worth seeing why rather than taking it on faith.
VA
Conventional 5% down
Down payment
$0
5% of price
Monthly mortgage insurance
None
PMI until 20% equity
Upfront cost
Funding fee, financed (or $0 if exempt)
None
Credit minimum
No VA minimum; lender sets it
~620
Loan limit
None with full entitlement
Conforming limit applies
Assumable
Yes
No
Low appraisal
Can walk away without penalty
Depends on contract
Reusable
Yes — entitlement restores
n/a
If you have entitlement, VA wins on nearly every axis. Conventional becomes worth considering when you are putting down twenty percent or more, or in a competitive offer where the seller is nervous about the VA appraisal — and even then it is worth running both.
What people get wrong
Assuming the benefit was used up
Entitlement is restored after you sell and pay off the loan, and can be used repeatedly. Plenty of veterans buy their second home with conventional financing believing VA was a one-time thing.
Not knowing the funding fee is waived with a disability rating
For an exempt veteran this is zero down, no mortgage insurance and no funding fee. It is the best loan in the country and it goes unused constantly.
Believing an old county loan limit still applies
VA loan limits were removed for borrowers with full entitlement. If someone told you your zero-down purchase was capped at a county figure, that guidance is out of date.
Taking a lender's credit floor as VA's
VA sets no minimum score. Lenders do, and they differ substantially. A decline at one lender says nothing about your eligibility for the programme.
Letting an agent talk you out of a VA offer
The idea that VA offers are weak is outdated and mostly reflects agents who have not written one recently. A properly underwritten VA pre-approval closes as reliably as anything else.
VA loans around Fort Campbell and Middle Tennessee
Fort Campbell sits on the Tennessee–Kentucky line, and its housing markets — Clarksville on the Tennessee side, Oak Grove and Hopkinsville on the Kentucky side — move on PCS cycles rather than the ordinary calendar. That has practical consequences: timelines are tight, orders arrive with dates attached, and assumable VA financing is a genuine advantage when you sell into the next rotation. Tyler is licensed in both Tennessee and Kentucky, so a move across that state line does not mean changing lenders halfway through. More broadly, Middle Tennessee carries a large veteran population well beyond the installation, and Nashville's VA medical presence anchors a lot of it. If you are relocating on orders, tell us the report date first — most of the sequencing works backwards from that.
The honest part
VA appraisals include minimum property requirements, so a home in rough condition can require repairs before closing — the same friction FHA has, and in a hot market some sellers will take a different offer to avoid it. Because there is no down payment you begin with no equity, which matters if there is any real chance you sell within two or three years; between the funding fee and selling costs you could be underwater on a short hold. And assumability, while valuable, ties up your entitlement if a non-veteran assumes the loan. VA is an outstanding long-hold loan. It is a mediocre short-hold one.
Common questions
Do I need a down payment for a VA loan?
No. With full entitlement it is one hundred percent financing with no monthly mortgage insurance.
Can I use my VA loan benefit more than once?
Yes. Entitlement is restored after you sell and pay off the loan, and in some situations — such as a PCS move — you can hold two VA loans at the same time.
Is the VA funding fee waived for disabled veterans?
Yes. Veterans receiving compensation for a service-connected disability are exempt entirely, as are surviving spouses receiving DIC. That makes VA the cheapest financing available to those borrowers by a wide margin.
What credit score do I need for a VA loan?
VA sets no minimum. Each lender sets its own, and they vary widely. VA also weighs residual income, which sometimes carries a file that a debt-ratio test alone would decline.
Is there a VA loan limit?
Not for borrowers with full entitlement. County loan limits were removed, so zero-down purchase amounts are governed by what you qualify for rather than a cap.
Can someone take over my VA loan when I sell?
Yes, VA loans are assumable by a qualified buyer at the existing rate. Be aware that unless the buyer is a veteran substituting their own entitlement, yours stays tied to that property until the loan is paid off.
What is an IRRRL?
The VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan — a streamline refinance that typically skips the appraisal and income documentation and exists to lower your rate or move you to a fixed rate. It cannot be used to take cash out.
Can I use a VA loan for an investment property?
Not directly — VA is for primary residences. But you can buy a two-to-four unit property, live in one unit, and rent the others. And a home you bought with VA can become a rental later when you move.
VA Loans near you
Tyler McCain is based in Lebanon, TN and works across the Nashville metro.
That depends on your numbers, your goals, and the options available to you. Tell us
about your situation and we will compare the programs that may fit — including if the
answer turns out to be a different one entirely.
