Your VA loan works the same in Fort Worth as it did at your last duty station, because it is a federal benefit. What changes is everything around it. Some Texas benefits are closed to you until you are a resident, Texas treats spouses differently from many states, and the property tax line can surprise you. Buying from another state is very doable. These are the parts I would want you to know before you pick a house off a video tour.
Start with the bad news. The Texas Veterans Land Board loans require you to be a bona fide legal resident of Texas on the date you apply. If you are still living elsewhere, ask the Land Board how that applies to you before you count on it. The Texas partial disabled veteran exemption also has a residency requirement. Homes for Texas Heroes has its own test as well: resident at enlistment, or at least a year in Texas before you apply, plus residency at application.
The VA guaranty does not care which state you came from. Your Certificate of Eligibility, your entitlement and the funding fee table are the same here. If this is a second use, I laid out how that works in using your VA loan more than once, including keeping your current house.
Federal law, 38 U.S.C. 3704(c), makes you certify at application and again at closing that you will live in the home, and it says you must move in within a reasonable time after closing. Ask your lender what they will accept for your report date, and get it in writing before you are under contract.
If you are on active duty and your service keeps you from living there, the law treats the requirement as met when your spouse occupies the home and signs the certification. A dependent child can also satisfy it, with the certification signed by your attorney-in-fact or the child's legal guardian.
Here is the catch for retirees. That exception is for active-duty status. Once you have retired, plan on living there yourself.
Under 38 CFR 36.4340, active-duty buyers provide a Leave and Earnings Statement instead of an employment verification. It generally has to be dated within 120 days, or 180 days on new construction. You will also complete VA Form 26-0592, the Counseling Checklist for Military Homebuyers. Have your orders ready too, since the report date drives the occupancy conversation.
This is the one to bring up on the first phone call. If you are within 12 months of release from active duty, the regulation requires supporting documentation, such as proof of reenlistment or a verified civilian job offer, and it lists other options. Ask your lender exactly what they want for your retirement. Do not assume projected retired pay alone will be enough.
Retirement income itself cannot be discounted just because of where it comes from. But the regulation also notes that retirement pay after 20 years may not cover the income test by itself, so a lender may look at your next job too.
The VA looks at what is left each month after the payment and obligations. Texas is in the South region of the VA's tables. For a family of four on a loan of $80,000 or more, the guideline is $1,003 a month.
That figure can drop. The regulation reduces it by at least 5 percent for active-duty members and military retirees when there is a clear indication that the borrower or spouse will keep using benefits at a nearby military base. If you plan to use NAS Fort Worth JRB, ask your lender whether they will apply it. It may not change your approval, but it costs nothing to ask.
Texas has no state income tax, which is nice for retired pay, and then it makes up a lot of the difference on your house. Do not run your budget off the listing's tax estimate. The seller's exemptions do not come with the home, and tax rates differ by parcel. Here is how that plays out in Burleson, and what a disability exemption does to the math in Tarrant County.
You may be able to close before you arrive, but do not assume it. Texas allows online notarization, and the Secretary of State says the notary must be in Texas while the signer can be anywhere. Your lender and title company still have to accept it, so ask them first. Federal law, 10 U.S.C. 1044a, also gives judge advocates and certain others notary powers for service members and others eligible for military legal assistance, which can help. If you plan to use a power of attorney, bring it up at application. That is a question for your lender and title company early, not the week of closing.
Renting for a few months while you learn the area is a fair call, and it costs you a slower start on equity. Texas Property Code Section 92.017 lets a servicemember end a lease early with written notice and a copy of orders for a permanent change of station or a deployment of 90 days or more. Timing rules apply, and it does not cover a retiree who simply changes their mind.
Texas participates in the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. According to the Texas Education Agency, it covers K-12 public school students of active-duty members, and it continues for one year after a parent retires or is medically discharged. It addresses records, immunizations, kindergarten and first-grade entry age, placement and eligibility. Call the district with the specific address before you rely on anything.
I am a REALTOR, not a lender, tax professional or attorney. Confirm your situation with your lender, the appraisal district, a veterans service officer or a tax professional.
Yes, as long as you can truthfully certify that you will live in it. Federal law requires you to move in within a reasonable time after closing, and it treats the requirement as met if you are on active duty and your spouse occupies the home. Ask your lender what timing they will accept, and get it in writing.
The Land Board requires you to be a bona fide legal resident of Texas on the date of application. If you are moving in from out of state, ask the Land Board how that applies to you before you plan around it. A VA-guaranteed loan does not carry that state residency requirement.
If you are within 12 months of release from active duty, 38 CFR 36.4340 requires supporting documentation, such as proof of reenlistment or a verified civilian job offer, among other listed items. Retirement income cannot be discounted because of its source, but it may not meet the income test alone. Ask your lender early what they need for your situation.
Moving in on orders or retiring here? Send me your report date and the part of DFW you are looking at. I will help you build the timeline and be your eyes on the houses you cannot walk yourself. Before you talk to a lender, read who never pays the funding fee.
REALTOR® · BHHS PenFed Realty Texas
I help buyers and sellers across the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex — Fort Worth, Burleson, Southlake, Crowley and Keller, and the surrounding Dallas area. I write these because they are the questions I answer on the phone every week, and most people never get a straight answer to them. If you have one I have not covered, ask me — I will probably turn it into the next post.
