A Second Home and Real Estate - Buying a Second Home with a VA Loan
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Buying a Second Home with a VA Loan

Takeaways

  • A VA loan guarantee can be used more than once.
  • Before applying to the VA, understand residence requirements for a primary residence.

Did you know?

  • The VA loan guarantee has grown to $417,000.
Use your VA benefits to get into a second home.Yes, you can buy a second home with VA loan. To do so only two criteria must be met. Your original VA loan must be paid off and the second home bought with a VA loan has to become your primary residence. The fact you can use a VA loan guarantee more than once is not widely understood. Once the original VA loan is fully paid off, or if another eligible veteran assumes your active loan and trades their available eligibility for yours, you are free to pursue a new VA loan. The VA loan guarantee has increased to $417,000, providing second home purchasers more potential money for that home.

Turn the Second Home into a Primary Residence

Making the second home a primary residence is not a difficult as it might seem. The definition of a primary residence is the home you live in most of the year. Simply put, more than six months of each year. Let’s say you would like a second home in a different area of the country. All that is required is you live there more than half of the year.

An example is a second home on the beach. You can buy that real estate with a VA loan, live there over the off season, say September to March, then move back to your previous primary residence and rent the beach second home out during the tourist season. That seven-month stretch qualifies the second home as your primary residence and lets you get away when the beach becomes crowded. And you earn some income from rentals while you enjoy your previous primary home.

When pursuing your VA loan for a second home you are simply required to move into the second home in a reasonable amount of time and have full intention of turning that second home into your primary residence.

Search for Second Homes for Sale

To search for a selection of second homes for sale, please visit lifestylehomesearch.com, or visit the website of a GMAC Real Estate Office that serves the area where you'd like to buy a second home. To learn more about buying Second Homes or Vacation Homes, explore the rest of this section, or contact a GMAC Real Estate Agent.