Zero down, and no ceiling
With full entitlement there is no VA loan limit. The county figures that used to cap these loans stopped applying to full-entitlement borrowers, so the ceiling is whatever the lender will underwrite and the appraisal supports. In a county whose median sale ran $538,000 in July 2026, that matters more than it did ten years ago.
Partial entitlement is the exception. If another VA loan is still open, or one ended in a way that did not restore the benefit, the guaranty gets calculated off the $832,750 conforming figure and a down payment can come back into the picture. Ask for a Certificate of Eligibility early, because it settles the question in a day.
There is no monthly mortgage insurance on a VA loan at any down payment, which is the quiet advantage over every other zero-down route.
The funding fee
There is no monthly mortgage insurance. The VA charges a one-time funding fee, financed into the loan if you want it there.
| Down payment | First use | Later use |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5% | 2.15% | 3.3% |
| 5% to 9.99% | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| 10% or more | 1.25% | 1.25% |
A cash-out refinance is 2.15% on first use and 3.3% after; an Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan is 0.5%. Veterans receiving compensation for a service-connected disability, surviving spouses receiving dependency and indemnity compensation, and Purple Heart recipients on active duty pay none of it.
Picked up day and night, calls recorded. No credit pull, no application.
Your service, the town you're looking in, and whether you've used the benefit before. A licensed Pennsylvania lender who does VA loans calls you back. Worth a call, any hour.
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What the appraiser wants to see
VA appraisals check the value and also check the house against the minimum property requirements. Safe, sound and sanitary. A roof with remaining life. Working heat. A safe and continuing supply of water, and a working sewer or septic system. Pre-1978 peeling paint corrected. In Pennsylvania the VA also requires a termite inspection, which in a county full of 1950s houses on crawl spaces is a sensible ask.
Repairs come out of the Agreement of Sale, so the loan type belongs in the offer. A seller who has agreed to nothing and then meets a VA appraiser’s repair list in week three is a seller who gets difficult.
Warminster, the water, and the appraisal
The Naval Air Warfare Center covered 840 acres of Warminster Township and Ivyland until it closed on September 30, 1996. The Johnsville centrifuge there trained the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts; the runway is Warminster Community Park now, and the centrifuge building is a museum. Ivyland and the streets around the old fence line grew up with it.
It also left a groundwater problem, and this is where it touches an appraisal. Warminster’s public water reached 350 parts per trillion of PFOA and 1,100 parts per trillion of PFOS before the authority pulled its wells in 2016, bought treated water from North Wales Water Authority, and fitted carbon and ion-exchange treatment. EPA’s 2024 standard is 4 parts per trillion for each. Warrington took three wells offline in 2014 for the same reason and now runs its wells through carbon with quarterly non-detect results.
Public water is tested and reported, so ask the seller for the current consumer confidence report. On a private well, in Warminster, Warrington, Ivyland or the Horsham edge, pay for the test yourself before the appraisal. A VA appraiser is required to see a safe water supply, and a surprise on that front three days before settlement helps nobody.
The county’s $10,000, bent for veterans
Bucks County’s first-time buyer program lends up to $10,000 at 0%, deferred until you sell, transfer title, refinance for additional debt or move out. Two of its rules read differently for VA buyers: loan-to-value can reach 103% where every other borrower stops at 100%, and the requirement to bring 3% of the purchase price from your own funds does not apply.
The rest holds. The purchase-price cap is $392,000, debt-to-income runs 33% housing and 41% total, escrow is required, and one borrower needs six months of Bucks residency or a year working in the county — a test active military are excused from. Housing counseling through Bucks County Housing Group happens before closing.
Refinancing later
Two routes, both with a 210-day wait plus six monthly payments on the current loan. The IRRRL, or streamline, carries a 0.5% funding fee, usually skips the appraisal and exists to lower the rate or move an adjustable loan to a fixed one. A cash-out refinance can reach 100% of value under the VA’s own rules, though most lenders stop at 90%, and it comes with the higher funding fee. Neither one owes Pennsylvania transfer tax, since a mortgage is not a taxable document in this state.