VA Jumbo Loans: The 7 Questions Veterans Should Ask Before Buying a High-Priced Home
For years, many Veterans heard some version of the same advice:
"VA loans are great, but they aren't really designed for expensive homes."
That statement is outdated.
Today, an eligible Veteran with full VA home loan entitlement isn't subject to a VA county loan limit. That means a qualified Veteran could potentially purchase a $900,000, $1 million, $1.5 million or even higher-priced primary residence without making a down payment simply because of the home's price.
But there is an important distinction:
No VA loan limit does not mean unlimited borrowing power.
And that is exactly why Who a Veteran Works With Matters.
I'm Jim Yarrington, Sr Loan Officer and Veteran's Mortgage Advisor with First State Bank. Let's look at seven of the most important questions Veterans should ask when considering a high-balance or "jumbo" VA loan.
1. Is There Really No Maximum VA Loan Amount?
For Veterans with full entitlement, VA does not impose a county loan limit.
That change became effective January 1, 2020, following the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019.
VA explains that a Veteran with full entitlement does not have a VA loan limit, provided the borrower can afford the loan and the appraisal supports the property's value.
That's an incredibly important distinction.
VA isn't saying:
"You can borrow whatever you want."
VA is essentially saying:
Your VA benefit itself isn't imposing the traditional county loan-limit ceiling when you have full entitlement.
You must still qualify for the mortgage.
2. Can I Really Buy a $1 Million Home With Zero Down?
Potentially, yes.
A Veteran with full entitlement who qualifies for the loan could potentially purchase a $1 million home with no down payment.
The same concept can apply to a home costing more than $1 million.
There isn't a magical line where a VA loan suddenly stops working simply because the purchase price has seven digits.
This is particularly important in markets where a million-dollar home may not necessarily be considered an extraordinary luxury property.
Think about areas of:
California
Hawaii
Washington
Colorado
Virginia
Maryland
Florida
and other higher-cost housing markets.
For Veterans and active-duty service members living in these areas, VA financing can be an incredibly powerful home-buying benefit.
3. Does "Zero Down" Mean I Need No Money at Closing?
No.
This is an important distinction.
A zero-down VA loan means the financing may not require a traditional down payment.
There can still be expenses associated with purchasing a home, including allowable closing costs, prepaid expenses, homeowners insurance, taxes and other transaction-related costs.
There is also the VA funding fee unless the Veteran qualifies for an exemption.
Depending upon how the transaction is structured, seller concessions, lender credits and other strategies may help with certain costs.
The goal isn't simply:
"How little money can I put down?"
The better question is:
"How should we structure this transaction based upon my overall financial goals?"
4. What If I've Used My VA Loan Before?
Now we get into one of the areas where VA expertise becomes especially important.
A Veteran can use the VA home loan benefit more than once.
But there is a significant difference between having full entitlement and having remaining entitlement.
If you've previously used your VA benefit and the entitlement hasn't been fully restored, county loan limits can once again become relevant when determining the VA guaranty available for another purchase.
That does not automatically mean you can't purchase another home using VA financing.
It means someone needs to calculate the entitlement correctly.
This is one of the first things I want to determine before discussing a high-balance VA purchase.
Let's pull the Certificate of Eligibility and determine exactly what entitlement is available.
5. Is It Harder to Qualify for a Jumbo VA Loan?
The underlying VA underwriting principles remain extremely important regardless of whether you're borrowing $400,000 or $1.4 million.
VA underwriting looks beyond simply a credit score and debt-to-income ratio.
One of the most important components is residual income.
Residual income essentially asks:
After the mortgage payment, taxes, debts and other obligations are accounted for, how much income does the Veteran's household have remaining to cover normal living expenses?
VA's underwriting guidance also discusses additional analysis when the debt-to-income ratio exceeds 41%.
That is one reason experienced VA underwriting matters.
The question isn't simply:
"What's your DTI?"
We need to understand the complete financial picture.
6. Does the VA Allow Jumbo Loans Even If My Lender Doesn't?
This may be the most overlooked question in VA lending.
VA establishes the program guidelines.
But individual lenders can have their own credit, loan amount, pricing and underwriting requirements.
These are often referred to as lender overlays.
A lender could potentially have restrictions on a loan that VA itself might otherwise permit.
That is particularly important with very large VA loan amounts.
So when someone tells a Veteran:
"VA won't allow that."
My next question is:
Is that actually a VA guideline, or is it that particular lender's guideline?
There can be a very big difference.
7. Are Veterans Actually Using VA Loans for Expensive Homes?
Absolutely.
VA reported that in fiscal year 2025 it guaranteed 528,340 loans totaling approximately $206.1 billion.
Purchase loans alone totaled 323,832 loans and approximately $129.0 billion.
The average FY2025 VA purchase loan was approximately $398,416.
But some expensive housing markets are dramatically higher.
California, for example, recorded 26,657 VA-guaranteed loans totaling approximately $16.22 billion in FY2025.
That represents an average guaranteed loan amount of approximately $608,000 across all VA loan types reported for the state.
Hawaii was even higher, with approximately $1.95 billion across 2,651 VA-guaranteed loans, averaging roughly $736,000.
These numbers don't tell us exactly how many were "jumbo" VA loans because VA's public state report doesn't separately classify them that way.
But they clearly demonstrate something important:
VA financing is being used extensively in some of America's most expensive housing markets.
The Million-Dollar Question
If you're an eligible Veteran considering an $800,000, $1 million, $1.5 million or higher-priced home, don't automatically assume you need conventional jumbo financing or a massive down payment.
Instead, let's answer four questions first:
Do you have full VA entitlement?
What does your Certificate of Eligibility show?
What purchase price does your income and residual income support?
Does the lender you're working with have overlays affecting the transaction?
Once we know those answers, we can build the strategy.
The VA home loan benefit was earned through service.
My job as a Veteran's Mortgage Advisor is to help Veterans understand how to use that benefit intelligently.
Because when the transaction becomes larger and more complicated:
Who a Veteran Works With Matters.
Jim Yarrington
Senior Mortgage Loan Officer
First State Bank Mortgage
NMLS #454680
👉 Apply online
📞 Call or text: 913-915-1855
All loans subject to approval. Equal Housing Lender.