Using the VA loan for a THIRD time

[Chris McKinley]

Hey everyone I had a question regarding the capabilities of the VA loan, mainly its limit. I have used the VA loan twice now, once for a house at roughly 153k and another for around 164k. I understand that the limit is at 417k leaving me with roughly 100k in benefits. My question is, does anyone have experience or knowledge in using the VA loan to cover just a portion of their loan? For example, if I now wanted to purchase a property for 300k, can I use the 100k in benefits I have left to attain a loan and then put a down payment on the difference? Does it require 2 separate loans? Or is it one that's split? Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance for the help!! Cheers -Chris

[Jeff Copeland]

Have your previous two loans been paid off (i.e. did you sell or refinance the properties)? Or do you still own them with VA financing in place?

If your previous VA loans are paid off, then you should have 100% of your entitlement ($417k in most markets) available for the purchase of a new primary residence.

Note than you can use your VA loan benefits for a primary residence only. In some cases (for example, say you buy a house, then get transferred a few years later and keep the original house as a rental), you can use your remaining entitlement for the purchase of a second primary residence (i.e. at your new duty station). I do not believe you can do this a third time (even doing it a second time is very tricky).

But once the loans are paid off, your entitlement resets and you can use the full VA loan benefit again for a primary residence.