Buying a home with your VA benefit

My husband is an Army veteran, and we've been through the VA loan process ourselves. I love helping veterans understand and use a benefit they earned through their service.

I grew up in a military family and we moved often. I know what it's like to pack up and start over somewhere new, and I know how much it means to have someone in your corner when you get there.

I've helped more than a dozen veterans and military families buy homes with their VA benefit, and it's some of the work I'm proudest of.

I grew up in a military family and moved every few years as a child, then several more times as an adult. I've bought and sold homes in two states, and my husband — an Army veteran — and I have used the VA loan ourselves. I'm a military spouse from a military family, not a veteran myself, but the moves and the VA process are mine too.

That's taught me how to learn a new area fast, what questions people forget to ask, and how unsettling the in-between can feel. I bring all of that to every veteran family I work with.

• Eligible borrowers with full entitlement can buy with no down payment.
• VA loans have no monthly mortgage insurance.
• There is a VA funding fee, which is waived for some veterans, including those receiving VA disability compensation.
• Sellers are allowed to pay a buyer's normal closing costs, plus concessions up to 4 percent of the home's value under VA rules.

For the official details, see the VA home loans page.

I write and negotiate your offer so the seller covers as much of the closing costs as the market allows. Many of my VA buyers have closed with little or nothing out of pocket, and when the seller's credits cover the costs, your own earnest money can come back to you at closing.

After more than ten years, I can usually see a delay coming — an appraisal condition, a title question, a lender document — and handle it early, often before it ever reaches you.

Every VA loan includes a VA appraisal. Along with the value, the appraiser checks that the home meets the VA's minimum property requirements — basics like safe, sound and sanitary.

I walk homes with that list in mind and flag likely issues before we write the offer, so you're not caught off guard later.