VA Loan Rental Property Requirements
Qualifying military veterans and servicemembers are entitled to use the VA loan benefit to purchase a home, as long as they meet the fundamental VA and mortgage lender requirements.
If you are a qualifying military veteran and servicemember, you might be considering using your VA loan to purchase an investment or rental property. While you cannot purchase an investment property with a VA loan, you can eventually rent out a home or multi-unit property, and we’ll explain how in the rest of this article.
VA Loan Primary Residence Requirements
The VA loan benefit was designed to help qualifying servicemembers and veterans purchase livable, safe, homes. It was not designed to support real estate investors. This means that the VA loan benefit comes with an occupancy requirement that you live in the property you purchase with your VA loan.
When you purchase a home using your VA loan benefit, you are required to move into it within 60 days of closing, unless you get an extension from the VA. You are also required to live in the home for at least 12 months. Some VA home loan agreements may vary, but most require you to live in the home for 12 months.
VA Loans and Renting Requirements
While you can only use your VA loan benefit to purchase a primary residence home, you are still legally able to eventually rent this home out after you have met all of the terms of the VA’s occupancy requirement.
This means after 12 months of using your home as your primary residence, you absolutely can rent it out. The VA does not require you to live in this house forever.
VA Loan Entitlement
It is important to remember that if you purchase a home with a VA loan and then rent it out, you will no longer have full VA loan entitlement if you want to purchase another home using your VA loan benefit. You most likely will have a remaining entitlement that you can use to purchase a second home, but your remaining entitlement is subject to loan limits and may not cover the full amount of the home you are trying to purchase. If this is the case, you will be expected to make a down payment to make up the difference.
VA Loan Multi-Unit Purchase
Another way to purchase a rental property with a VA loan is to purchase a multi-unit property. Using your VA loan benefit, you can purchase a multi-unit property of up to 4 units. The VA occupancy requirement stipulates you must live in this property as your primary residence for up to 12 months, which means you will have to live in one of the units. But you can immediately rent out the other units upon purchasing the property.
Contact a VA-Approved Lender
Are you interested in using your VA loan to purchase a multi-unit property? VeteransLoans.com is a VA-approved lender that specializes in VA loans. Call 1 (888) 232-1428 to speak with a loan specialist today and determine your VA loan eligibility.