Hi everyone,
I’m looking for guidance on using a VA loan to purchase a second home and want to understand if my situation is realistic or truly a dead end. I bought my first home in October 2025 using a VA loan. I currently live there and rent out the extra rooms. The rental income from those rooms just about covers my mortgage payment. If I were to move out and rent my room as well, the property would fully cover the mortgage and utilities.
I’m now looking at buying a second home about 2 miles away. The purchase price would be roughly the same as my first home. I’ll be honest, I barely qualified for the first house and had a high DTI at the time.
I spoke with my lender today, and he said:
- I still have remaining VA entitlement to purchase a second home
- However, he believes no underwriter would approve it
- His concern is that underwriting would assume I plan to rent out the second home as well, making it an investment property rather than a primary residence
The thing is, I do not plan to rent out the second home. My grandmother will be moving in with me. She has had multiple knee surgeries and is a heart patient, so she needs a home that’s easier to live in long term. The second house has more bedrooms and bathrooms on the main level, which is significantly safer and more practical for her medical needs. I would move into the second home and keep the first home as a rental.
My lender mentioned that to use a VA loan again, I’d need a “valid reason” for making the second house my new primary residence, but still said he doesn’t think underwriting would approve it regardless. He also mentioned that using my remaining VA benefits for home remodeling or improvements on my current property would be much more likely to get approved, rather than purchasing a second home.
My questions:
- Has anyone successfully used a VA loan for a second primary residence in a similar situation?
- Would caring for an elderly family member with medical needs qualify as a legitimate reason to move?
- Is this truly an underwriting hard stop, or should I get a second opinion from another VA experienced lender?
I’m trying to do everything by the book and want to understand whether this is genuinely not possible. Any insight or personal experiences would be really appreciated!
Trying to buy second home as primary residence with a VA loan
byu/createdforsat inMilitaryFinance
Posted by createdforsat
2 Comments
You have to live in your house until Oct 2026 anyway. 1 year primary residence requirement.
There’s nothing stopping you from caring for family in your current home.
You’d also need rental income for a year for most underwriters to consider that as income. Therefore, you don’t have enough money/DTI.
BL: Not possible.
The underwriter will rightfully assume you bought that first house with the intention of renting it out. Short of accusing you of fraud by misrepresentation by occupancy, they will just make the decision to not approve your new loan application.
Maybe with a letter of explanation you could convince an underwriter that you genuinely intended to occupy the previous home as your primary residence for at least a year, and the reason you need to buy the new home is because of your ailing grandmother, but that’s a coin flip at very best.
FYI – you will need signed lease agreements for the departure residence. With VA loans, you don’t get credit for the income, but the income can be used to offset the payment. So if you owe $3,000 per month for the total payment, and your rental income on signed leases is $3,400, your entire mortgage payment will be cleared rom your debt to income ratio. If your payment is $3,000 and your rental income is $2,500, you will be assigned a $500/month liability for that mortgage. Utilities don’t play into this, but HOA dues will, if applicable.