Real Estate Representation for Veterans and Active Military
Thank you for your service. Whether you are still in uniform at the Pentagon, Fort Belvoir, Joint Base Andrews, Fort Meade, Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall or Quantico, or you separated years ago and stayed in the region, the same benefit follows you — along with a few rules no civilian buyer has to think about.
If you searched for an agent who works with VA loans in Maryland or Northern Virginia, a military discount for veterans buying a home, whether your VA loan is assumable, or how to PCS into the DMV without stranding your entitlement — that is what this page covers. The discount is right below. Everything under it is the short version of what actually matters.
Our Thanks, Applied at Settlement
Veterans, active‑duty service members, National Guard and Reserve, and surviving spouses. A DD‑214, current orders or a military ID is all the documentation required.
The amount is being finalised. Ask for the current figure when we speak and I will put it in writing before you sign anything.
Programs That Actually Apply
The five that decide most transactions. Each is administered by a named agency and can be verified independently.
Where a Military Transaction Diverges
Five places a VA-backed transaction behaves differently from the one your civilian neighbour is running.
The Numbers, and What This Market Does With Them
Entitlement is what binds, not the county limit. With full entitlement there is no VA loan limit at all; underwriting is the ceiling. Limits only bite when entitlement is already committed to a house at a prior duty station — then it is the county conforming limit times 25 per cent, less what is used. That matters more here than almost anywhere: Montgomery and Prince George’s, Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria and the District all sit at the 2026 high‑cost ceiling of $1,249,125 rather than the $832,750 national baseline.
Two doors get missed. A VA loan is assumable at a 0.5 per cent fee, so a note below current pricing is a term worth marketing rather than a footnote. And an honorably discharged veteran who has not used the exemption before can take Maryland Mortgage Program first‑time buyer pricing without being a first‑time buyer, under a carve‑out from the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008.
In practice, this market runs on orders. A meaningful share of both sides of any transaction here are moving because they were told to. On the buy side that means an underwritten file and a settlement date matching the seller’s own timeline are often worth more than a few thousand dollars on price. On the sell side it means your buyer pool cannot afford a deal to fall apart. We will help you weigh the practical trade‑offs — commute, housing type, financing and timing — and leave the choice of where to live exactly where it belongs, with you.
What We Handle Differently
Everything above is what we know. This is what it does for you.
VA financing is accounted for before the offer is written, not explained after a problem appears.
- Coordinate the offer with your lender and your entitlement
- Structure timing around orders and PCS constraints
- Weigh appraisal and condition exposure before you commit
- Flag an assumption when it changes the economics
- Build terms around the seller’s priorities, not price alone
A VA loan on your property can become part of the marketing strategy rather than something to pay off at closing.
- Establish whether your loan is meaningfully assumable
- Position a below‑market rate as a term of the sale
- Protect your entitlement through an assumption
- Plan settlement around orders and your onward move
- Judge offers on net outcome, not headline price
- VA funding fee rates, in effect since 7 April 2023
- VA loan limits and entitlement
- FHFA 2026 conforming loan limit values
- Maryland property tax exemption for disabled veterans
- Code of Virginia 58.1-3219.5
- Maryland Mortgage Program, veteran exemption
Last reviewed 6 August 2026. Program terms change — confirm eligibility with the administering agency and your lender.
Questions We Are Asked
Is my VA loan assumable, and does that actually help me sell?
It is assumable, at a 0.5 per cent funding fee. Whether it helps depends on the spread between your rate and current pricing, and on the buyer having enough cash to cover the gap between your remaining balance and the sale price, because that difference is not financed by the assumption. One caution: if the buyer is not a veteran substituting their own entitlement, yours stays committed to that loan until it is paid off, which can limit what you buy next.
Do I have to pay the VA funding fee?
Not if you are exempt. The exemption covers anyone receiving compensation for a service-connected disability, anyone eligible for that compensation but drawing retirement or active-duty pay instead, surviving spouses receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, borrowers with a pre-discharge memorandum rating, and Purple Heart recipients who evidence it on or before closing. If you are exempt and it is not reflected on your file, correct it before settlement rather than seeking a refund afterwards.
What happens if the VA appraisal comes in below the contract price?
Before the number is final, the Tidewater process gives the appraiser a window to consider additional comparable sales, which is where a well-prepared package from your agent does real work. Once the value is issued, a Reconsideration of Value is the formal route to challenge it. If the value holds, the options are the usual ones: renegotiate the price, bring the difference in cash, or exercise the escape clause. The VA does not permit you to borrow above the appraised value.
I have PCS orders. Can my spouse close and move in without me?
A spouse can satisfy the occupancy requirement while you are deployed or still at your losing installation. The VA treats sixty days from closing as a reasonable time to occupy, and situations outside that window are workable but change what your lender needs documented in the file. Raise it with the lender at application rather than at the closing table, because it affects paperwork rather than eligibility.
Who Else We Work With
Where to go next.
Whichever side of the move you are on, start here.
Talk It Through Before You Commit
Have orders, a Certificate of Eligibility, or a property you are weighing? Send your timeline and what you are trying to accomplish. I will look at the financing, the timing and the local transaction issues that matter, and tell you honestly what I would do next.