The loan you already earned.

The VA benefit is the reason this program exists. Eligible veterans, service members and surviving spouses can use it to buy a primary residence, and what it means for your file depends on your entitlement. Eligibility is determined by the Department of Veterans Affairs, so the first job on a VA file is finding out exactly where you stand.

Royal Mortgage is glad to run these files, and glad to explain any part of the program you want explained again.

Royal Mortgage LLC is a private company. It is not the Department of Veterans Affairs, and it is not endorsed by the VA or by any government agency. Eligibility, entitlement and any funding-fee exemption are determined by the VA.

What makes it different

Six things that shape a VA file.

Your entitlement

The VA benefit is the reason this program exists. What it means for your file depends on your entitlement, and we will walk you through it.

A one-time funding fee

Most VA files carry a fee paid to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA decides who is exempt from it, and we explain it before it reaches your figures.

Prepayment

Pay it down or pay it off on your own schedule.

A reusable benefit

It is not once in a lifetime. Entitlement can be restored after a sale, and in some cases used on a second property at the same time.

Assumable

A qualified buyer can take over the loan and its rate. In a higher-rate market that is a genuine asset attached to your house.

Its own streamline refinance

The interest rate reduction refinance loan, or IRRRL, lowers a rate on an existing VA loan with much less documentation.

Who this is for, and who it is not

Worth checking even if you assume you are not eligible.

Service

Veterans, active-duty service members, and members of the National Guard and Reserve who meet the service requirements for the era in which they served.

Surviving spouses

Certain surviving spouses of service members are eligible, including for the funding fee exemption. If that might be you, it is worth asking us to check.

Where VA does not fit

An investment property or a pure second home — this is a live-in benefit
A house that cannot meet the property condition standards without repairs first
A file where the entitlement is fully committed to a home you still own, until it is restored

The funding fee

The one cost people are surprised by, said up front.

Most VA loans carry a one-time funding fee paid to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is what keeps the program running for the next borrower who earns it.

The amount depends on the type of loan, whether it is your first use of the benefit, and how much you put down. A down payment reduces it.
It can usually be financed into the loan rather than paid in cash — which means it is borrowed, and you pay interest on it like the rest of the balance.
Veterans receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability are generally exempt from the funding fee, as are certain surviving spouses. The VA makes that determination. If it applies to you and a previous lender charged it, it may be refundable — ask us and we will chase it.

What to have ready

Two documents are VA-specific. The rest is what any file needs.

Your DD-214, or a statement of service if you are currently serving, in case the certificate needs it
Your VA award letter, if you receive compensation for a service-connected disability
What you know about your entitlement — whether you have used the benefit, and whether you still own that home
Recent income documentation, and statements for the accounts your funds come from
A government photo ID, and your authorization to pull credit
Nothing else on day one. We ask for documents when the file needs them, not all at once

How a VA file runs

Two extra steps, both of them ours to handle.

Certificate of eligibility The COE proves your entitlement. In most cases we can pull it electronically; occasionally it needs a DD-214 or a statement of service. Either way it is our job, not your errand.
Entitlement, and what is left of it If you have used the benefit before and still own that home, you may have partial entitlement remaining. That changes the down payment math — it usually does not end the conversation.
The VA appraisal VA appraisals include minimum property requirements, which are condition standards meant to protect the buyer. Knowing them before you write an offer stops a surprise three weeks in.
Underwriting Residual income is a real VA test and one of the reasons the program performs so well. A Royal Mortgage underwriter reviews and signs.
Closing With the usual Royal cadence: documents early, updates on a schedule.

The honest trade-off

A strong loan is still a loan. Here is where it asks something back.

The funding fee is real. Most files carry it. Financing it keeps cash in your pocket at closing and adds the fee to what you are borrowing.
The appraisal has conditions attached. Minimum property requirements exist to protect you, and they can stop a fixer-upper three weeks in. We read them before you write the offer, not after.
Equity on day one comes from what you put down. If you have to sell early, that matters.
Entitlement is finite. Using it and keeping the house ties part of it up, which changes the math on the next one.
It is a live-in benefit. A rental is a different loan, and we will say so rather than bend this one.

VA next to a conventional or FHA loan

The same buyer, three different sets of rules.

Down paymentDetermined by your entitlement, which the VA sets
One-time funding feeOn most files. The VA decides exemptions
OccupancyA home you will live in
The appraisalMinimum property requirements apply
Later onAssumable, and the IRRRL is its own streamline

How FHA compares →

The one door

Use what you earned.

One application, one place. We will pull the certificate of eligibility for you.

Start my application

Any question on this page can go straight to Royal Ai. The gold bubble in the corner takes questions in plain words.

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