Current VA guidelines, updated from one source.
What follows is VA’s own rulebook reduced to the handful of numbers that decide a file, pulled from Lendmire’s single guideline source and refreshed on this page whenever VA or the wholesale overlays move: leverage with full entitlement, the funding fee by use and down payment, the ratio guideline, and the residual-income table for this state’s VA region.
100% financing with full entitlement
With full entitlement a purchase needs 0% down at up to 100% of the appraised value; VA backs a quarter of the loan, which is what lets the lender waive the down payment. With remaining entitlement a lender may ask for a down payment on the part VA does not back.
No monthly premium, no upfront premium
Mortgage insurance does not exist on a VA loan: no monthly premium, no upfront premium, no cancellation rules to track. The calculator below shows a payment with nothing in that line, which is where VA differs from every other high-leverage program.
First use; 3.3% after first use; exempt for many disabled veterans
The funding fee is a one-time charge of 2.15% on a first-use purchase with less than five percent down and 3.3% on later uses; it drops with a larger down payment, can be financed into the loan, and is waived for the exempt groups listed below.
Residual income decides the file
VA’s debt-to-income guideline is 41%, but it is a guideline, not a ceiling: a file above it can be approved when residual income exceeds the regional table by a fifth or more, and a file under it can still fall short on residual income. The table below shows the figures for the West region.
| Loan type | Use | Down payment | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase or construction | First use | less than 5% down | 2.15% |
| Purchase or construction | First use | 5% to 9.99% down | 1.5% |
| Purchase or construction | First use | 10% or more down | 1.25% |
| Purchase or construction | After first use | less than 5% down | 3.3% |
| Purchase or construction | After first use | 5% to 9.99% down | 1.5% |
| Purchase or construction | After first use | 10% or more down | 1.25% |
| Cash-out refinance | First use | Any | 2.15% |
| Cash-out refinance | After first use | Any | 3.3% |
| IRRRL | Any | Any | 0.5% |
| Manufactured home (not permanently affixed) | Any | Any | 1% |
| Loan assumption | Any | Any | 0.5% |
| Vendee loan | Any | Any | 2.25% |
| Family size | Residual income |
|---|---|
| 1 | $491 |
| 2 | $823 |
| 3 | $990 |
| 4 | $1,117 |
| 5 | $1,158 |
| Each additional member, up to seven | + $80 |
Exempt from the funding fee: veterans receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability, those eligible for it but receiving retirement or active-duty pay instead, surviving spouses receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, service members with a pre-discharge claim rating, and active-duty service members who have received the Purple Heart. VA sets no minimum credit score; the wholesale programs behind these pages start at a 580 decision score and serve loan amounts up to $4,000,000, including loans above the conforming limit with full entitlement.
Refinances: cash-out to 100% loan-to-value after seasoning of 210 days and six payments with a net tangible benefit; rate-reduction refinances of an existing VA loan at a 0.5% fee without a VA appraisal. Current VA snapshot · updated October 1, 2026 · owner-occupied principal residences, one to four units · no VA loan limit with full entitlement · loans are assumable · no prepayment penalty · Lendmire is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Not a commitment to lend, not an offer of credit, not a quote. The figures shown are current VA program parameters and wholesale overlays that change without notice and apply only after full underwriting of the borrower, the entitlement, and the property; the wholesale credit floor and maximum loan amount are lender overlays, not VA rules. Lendmire is a mortgage broker licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages, never the lender, and is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. NMLS #2371349.
What a VA loan is — and how the file is qualified.
The difference between a VA loan and any other mortgage is who shares the risk. VA stands partly behind the lender, so the lender can lend the full value with no insurance premium and read the budget on residual income. Below, the four parts a Roseville buyer needs to understand.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s VA loan program, or the statewide guide at VA Loans in California; to request a Certificate of Eligibility, see VA.gov.
The guaranty replaces the down payment
VA backs a quarter of the loan for a borrower with full entitlement, which gives the lender the same protection a sizable down payment would. That is why a Roseville purchase can close with nothing down and no mortgage insurance, and why there is no VA loan limit when entitlement is full: the backing scales with the loan.
Eligibility, entitlement, and the COE
Eligibility comes from service: a minimum period of active duty, a qualifying period in the National Guard or Reserve, or status as an eligible surviving spouse, with a character of discharge VA accepts. VA confirms it on the Certificate of Eligibility, which a Roseville buyer can request online, through the lender, or by mail.
The funding fee, and who is exempt
What the funding fee buys is the absence of mortgage insurance. On a Roseville purchase the fee is paid once, usually financed, while an FHA or conventional borrower at the same leverage pays a premium every month for years; the comparison usually favors VA unless the fee tier is high and the loan is short-lived, and an exempt veteran pays no fee at all.
Residual income over ratios
Residual income depends on where the home is and how many people live in it: the tables differ by region, and the figure rises with each family member. The snapshot shows the regional table for California, and the calculator estimates a rough residual from the income, the payment, and the debts you enter for a Roseville scenario.
Change any of it in the calculator below: the Roseville price, a down payment if you want one, the fee tier, the term, the rate, and the escrows. VA supplies the fee table, the ratio guideline, and the residual-income figures; the payment is simply what those produce.
Where Roseville’s veterans and service members buy — and how VA fits.
Start with the market, then the file. These Roseville figures from the Census set the backdrop for a VA purchase: who owns, what homes are worth on the latest estimate, and what households earn, which together decide what a nothing-down loan and its payment look like locally.
These are context figures, not underwriting inputs. Two veterans with identical entitlement can see different files here: one buying at the median clears the residual-income table with room, another stretching above it needs the ratio justified. The market sets the spread.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Distinct Roseville neighborhoods, distinct VA files.
Six Roseville submarkets, six versions of the same program: the cards below describe the housing stock, the price range, and the VA question that comes up most often in each.
Service members and the occupancy rule
A service member buying within commuting range of an installation uses the benefit as designed: no down payment, an occupancy certification with allowances for deployment, and the option to keep the home as a rental on the next set of orders without refinancing. Roseville is home to about 156K people and sits within the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA area.
Two-to-four-unit homes
The small multi-unit Roseville purchase is where VA’s leverage goes furthest: no down payment on two to four units, the buyer living in one, and the documented rent from the others helping the ratios and the residual income. Roughly 40,697 Roseville households own their homes on the latest Census estimate — 69% of all households, the pool a VA purchase joins.
Established close-in neighborhoods
Condition carries weight in Roseville’s established neighborhoods. The appraisal lists what VA wants fixed, the contract decides who fixes it, and the Notice of Value is issued once the value and the condition are settled. On a home at Roseville’s median value, a VA purchase with full entitlement needs no down payment at all — the funding fee on the full $661,400 is the program’s cost, and it can be financed.
Higher-value homes
An expensive Roseville purchase is a VA jumbo when entitlement is full: the guaranty scales with the loan, VA requires no down payment if the price does not exceed the appraised value, and the conventional jumbo comparison turns on the large down payment the conventional loan requires. Median household income in Roseville sits near $119,288 on the latest Census estimate.
Condominiums and townhomes
Close-in Roseville condominiums suit the benefit well: nothing down, no insurance line, and a project review that runs through VA’s approved-project list. The dues go into the residual-income math, and the appraisal covers the project along with the unit. About 31% of Roseville’s households rent — roughly 18,426 renter households on the latest Census estimate.
Newer infill and recent construction
On recent construction in Roseville the appraisal rarely raises findings and the arithmetic is the issue: does residual income clear VA’s table once the funding fee is financed into a larger loan, and does the certificate show full entitlement at that amount. The median owner-occupied home value in Roseville runs near $661,400 on the latest Census estimate.
Each Roseville submarket has its own property story, and the VA appraisal is where that story is told. The property requirements, the occupancy rule, and the residual-income test are the constants.
Four ways Roseville veterans put the VA benefit to work.
Roseville veterans use VA for a handful of reasons that repeat, from the purchase with nothing down to the rate-reduction refinance of an existing VA loan, and the cards below take up the ones that come up most.
Take cash out of a home with equity
Cash-out on VA is a full refinance of the first mortgage at the leverage in the snapshot, after the later of the seasoning period or the required payments, with the funding fee at the cash-out tier. A Roseville owner weighs it against a home equity line, which keeps the existing first mortgage in place.
Buy a first home with nothing down
For a first purchase in Roseville, VA pairs no down payment with no mortgage insurance and a residual-income test that reads the whole household budget; the file closes on the certificate, the appraisal, the income, and the funding fee tier.
Refinance an existing VA loan
A Roseville homeowner with an existing VA loan can refinance through VA’s rate-reduction refinance loan, known as the IRRRL or streamline: a small funding fee, no VA appraisal, limited documentation, and a net tangible benefit required. The lender checks the loan’s payment history.
Buy above the conforming limit
The VA jumbo is the program’s quiet strength in Roseville: no down payment and no mortgage insurance on a loan above the conforming limit, qualified on residual income like any other VA file, with a credit floor set by the wholesale overlay rather than by VA.
Estimate the VA payment on a Roseville price before requesting a quote.
This is what a nothing-down Roseville purchase costs each month: the funding fee for the use and down payment you choose, the total loan amortized at the benchmark rate, the escrows added, and the ratio and a rough residual income measured against VA’s guideline and table. Edit any field; the rate shown is the weekly Freddie Mac average and not a quote.
Roseville VA payment estimate
Price starts from a Roseville value, with no down payment; fields update as you type.
Editable benchmark: 7.28% as of October 1, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not a VA loan quote.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $660,000 price near Roseville’s median owner-occupied home value, no down payment with full entitlement, a first-use funding fee financed into the loan, a thirty-year term at the current Freddie Mac benchmark, property taxes and insurance estimated for California (U.S. Census Bureau). Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a Loan Estimate, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The rate field carries the weekly Freddie Mac thirty-year conventional benchmark, a market reference and not a VA loan quote; your rate is set by the lender at lock. The funding fee follows VA’s published table for the use and down payment entered; the residual-income figure is VA’s guideline for the region and family size, and the rough residual shown subtracts only the housing payment and the debts entered, while VA also deducts taxes, maintenance and utilities. Taxes, insurance and dues are editable estimates; closing costs are not included. Licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages. Lendmire is not affiliated with or acting on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Same veteran, three very different closings.
The alternatives put VA’s cost in perspective: FHA charges a premium every month, conventional charges one until equity arrives, VA charges a fee once. The comparison below is written for a Roseville buyer weighing all three.
VA, FHA, or conventional.
The program’s strengths are the down payment, the insurance, and the residual-income test; its cost is the funding fee. A Roseville veteran with full entitlement usually pays less each month on VA than on FHA at the same price, and the conventional comparison turns on the down payment and the fee tier.
FHA asks for a small minimum investment, accepts a forgiving decision score, and charges an upfront premium plus an annual premium that lasts for the term at full leverage. For a Roseville buyer without VA eligibility it is the nearest substitute; with eligibility it is the costlier route. See Lendmire’s FHA loan program.
Conventional is the comparison for a veteran with savings: with twenty percent down there is no mortgage insurance and no funding fee, and the payment can beat VA with a financed fee. Below that down payment, VA usually wins for a Roseville buyer. See Lendmire’s conventional loan program.
VA for the eligible buyer who wants no down payment and no mortgage insurance; FHA for the buyer without eligibility who needs the small investment and the forgiving score; conventional for the buyer with twenty percent down or a strong score who wants cancellable insurance.
What to prepare for a Roseville scenario review.
Gather these before a Roseville review: ordinary mortgage documents plus the proof of service that opens the file.
This is a general preparation guide, not a universal checklist. The selected lender may request additional information based on the transaction, the property, entitlement, and the income picture. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.
Local details that can change the loan.
The percentages tell only part of the story. What a Roseville VA loan actually becomes depends on the certificate, the appraisal, and the credit report, and these are the details that move it.
Use these checks to keep the Roseville file clean and fundable.
Three things to settle before a Roseville review: what the certificate says about entitlement, which funding fee tier applies, and whether the property has any VA question attached.
- Confirm the entitlement: the COE states the entitlement available; full entitlement carries no loan limit.
- Know the fee: the fee can be financed, paid at closing, or paid by the seller.
- Plan the units: rental income from the other units counts within VA’s rules.
Full or remaining entitlement
Two veterans, two COEs, two different loans: one with full entitlement buys above the conforming limit with nothing down, the other with an earlier loan still open brings a down payment on the uncovered portion. A Roseville loan officer reads the certificate before anything is sized.
The funding fee tier and the exemptions
A subsequent use costs more than a first use, and five or ten percent down lowers either tier; the exemption removes the fee entirely. A Roseville veteran with a pending disability claim should raise it early, because a rating granted before closing waives the fee and one granted after can bring a refund.
Two- to four-unit homes and rental income
VA finances owner-occupied homes of up to four units with nothing down and has its own rules for counting rent from the other units: landlord experience or reserves, and a share of the documented rent rather than all of it. A Roseville buyer who occupies one unit qualifies on the combined picture.
Credit, seasoning, and the prior VA loan
Each credit event (a bankruptcy, a foreclosure, a short sale) is seasoned from a specific date, which the lender confirms from the discharge or transfer documents. A Roseville buyer should gather those dates and documents before the review, because they decide whether the file can be written now or later, and whether entitlement is full or partly in use.
Occupancy and the reasonable-time rule
Second homes and rentals are not VA purchases. A Roseville buyer who will never live in the home cannot use the benefit for it, but a service member whose spouse will occupy it during a deployment can, and a veteran may later move out and keep the home as a rental without refinancing.
From a Roseville Certificate of Eligibility to keys in hand.
Underneath, the Roseville process is any mortgage process; on top sit VA’s checks: the certificate, the property requirements, the project approval where it applies, and the residual-income test. Each step below says what happens and what the buyer does.
COE and pre-approval
A Roseville pre-approval is a sizing exercise: the certificate, the income, the family size, the funding fee tier, and the price. The loan officer confirms eligibility and entitlement against the program rules and puts the pre-approval in writing for the offer.
Contract and appraisal
With the contract signed, the lender requests a VA-assigned appraiser, who values the Roseville home and checks it against VA’s property requirements; the Notice of Value is issued on the report. Seller concessions are checked against VA’s cap, and any condominium project approval is confirmed.
Underwriting
Underwriting on a Roseville VA file reads the whole picture: the entitlement on the certificate, the housing payment history, the seasoning of any derogatory event, and the residual income after VA’s deductions for taxes and upkeep. Conditions are issued, documented, and cleared before the approval is final.
Closing
Closing is where the fee becomes real: financed into the total loan or paid at the table, with the seller’s concessions applied and the fees a veteran may not pay removed from the sheet. The Roseville buyer takes the keys and VA backs the lender.
A brokerage that puts the benefit to work.
The case for a brokerage on a VA loan is candor with numbers: VA beside conventional on the same inputs, the fee tier stated outright, the entitlement checked first, and the terms in writing.
Three programs, one set of numbers
The comparison printed on this page is run for real on every Roseville file: VA with the fee financed beside FHA with its premiums beside conventional with private insurance, and the written terms follow from whichever column serves the veteran.
The fee and the entitlement explained before the offer
A Roseville veteran should never discover at the closing table that the fee was the subsequent-use tier or that entitlement was partly in use. The loan officer reads the certificate aloud, so to speak: the tier, the leverage, and the conventional alternative on the same numbers.
Licensed, consumer-purpose, in writing
Lendmire carries the license for the state the Roseville home is in, delivers the disclosures a consumer mortgage requires, and commits the terms to paper. The program figures on this page are read from one guideline source built on VA’s published rules.
Trusted by veterans & families alike.
Roseville VA loan FAQs
Plain answers to the questions Roseville veterans ask most about VA loans, in the order they usually ask them.
What is a VA loan, and who is it for?
A VA loan is a mortgage from a private lender with a partial guaranty from the Department of Veterans Affairs: VA backs a share of the loan, and in exchange the program allows no down payment with full entitlement, no monthly mortgage insurance, a residual-income test, and a cap on the fees a veteran can be charged. It is for veterans, service members, National Guard and Reserve members, and eligible surviving spouses buying a principal residence in Roseville.
Who is eligible for a VA loan in Roseville?
Service decides it: a minimum period of active duty, a qualifying period in the Guard or Reserve, or eligible surviving-spouse status, with a character of discharge VA accepts. A Roseville buyer unsure of the answer can request the certificate from VA.gov or have the lender pull it.
How do I get a Certificate of Eligibility?
Most Roseville buyers let the lender pull it: with a DD-214 or a statement of service, the lender can often obtain the certificate from VA’s system during the first conversation. VA.gov issues it online as well, and VA Form 26-1880 by mail is the slowest route.
What is the VA funding fee, and do I have to pay it?
The funding fee is a share of the loan paid once, with the amount set by VA’s table in the snapshot; it is waived for several groups and refundable when a disability rating is granted retroactively. On a typical Roseville purchase it is financed, so it raises the balance rather than the cash to close.
Is there a VA loan limit in Roseville?
There is no VA loan limit for a veteran with full entitlement; the lender’s own maximum loan amount, shown in the snapshot, is the practical ceiling. A Roseville buyer with remaining entitlement should ask a loan officer how the county figure affects the file.
Do I need a down payment for a VA loan?
Not with full entitlement when the home appraises at or above the price: the guaranty replaces the down payment and the lender finances the full value. A down payment becomes part of the file when entitlement is partial, when the price exceeds the appraised value, or when a buyer chooses one to lower the funding fee tier.
Does a VA loan have mortgage insurance?
VA loans carry no mortgage insurance, which is why the calculator above shows nothing in that line. The funding fee, financed or paid at closing, is what the borrower pays for the guaranty instead.
What credit score do I need for a VA loan?
There is no VA minimum, and the snapshot shows where the wholesale programs begin. A Roseville buyer below that floor should ask a loan officer what the file needs, because VA’s own rules weigh the payment history and residual income, not a score alone.
Do I have to live in the home to use a VA loan?
Yes. VA loans are for principal residences: the veteran certifies an intent to occupy within a reasonable time after closing, and a loan officer can explain how that timing applies to you. A spouse can satisfy the requirement for a service member who is deployed or stationed elsewhere, and a veteran may later move out and keep the home as a rental.
What happens after my Roseville offer is accepted?
Appraisal first, then underwriting, then conditions, then closing. The VA appraiser values the home and checks the property requirements; the underwriter reads the certificate, the credit, the income, and the residual income; the fee is financed or paid at closing unless the borrower is exempt, and the payment has no mortgage insurance.
Buy in Roseville with nothing down and no mortgage insurance.
A Roseville VA purchase starts with three questions: eligibility, the fee, and the price. Lendmire answers them, compares the programs, and writes up the one that fits.
This guide covers Roseville — for the statewide guidelines, markets, and scenarios, see VA Loans in California, part of Lendmire’s VA loan program.
Nearby markets in California: Rocklin · Citrus Heights · Lincoln · Folsom · Rancho Cordova · Sacramento · West Sacramento · Woodland
Related programs: Conventional Loans · FHA Loans · Jumbo Loans