1st Advantage Mortgage is a licensed mortgage broker and lender in Charlotte, NC. A VA first time home buyer loan is open to any eligible veteran or service member buying a primary residence, and as a mortgage lender and broker we compare VA pricing across wholesale lenders on every file.
You do not have to be a first-time buyer, and being one costs you nothing
The VA program has no first-time buyer requirement and no first-time buyer penalty. Eligibility comes from service, not from whether you have owned before. What is true is that a first purchase is where the VA benefit is worth the most, because full entitlement usually means no down payment and no loan limit.
Why a VA loan usually beats a first-time buyer program
- No down payment with full entitlement, where most first-time buyer programs still want 3% to 3.5%
- No monthly mortgage insurance at all, which FHA and low-down conventional both carry
- The VA sets no minimum credit score, and we work with veterans with scores as low as 500 on a case-by-case basis, subject to lender guidelines
- A funding fee that is reduced for first use and waived entirely for veterans receiving VA disability compensation
- Limits on what closing costs a veteran can be charged
- A reusable benefit, so the entitlement is there again on the next house
The comparison worth running is VA against FHA and against low-down conventional, on your file, side by side. On most first purchases the absence of monthly mortgage insurance is the line that decides it.
What you need to get started
Your Certificate of Eligibility, which we can pull for you in most cases, recent pay stubs and W-2s or tax returns, bank statements, and for active duty a statement of service. If you are using disability compensation to claim the funding fee exemption, the award letter goes in the file too.
Buying your first home in the Charlotte metro on a VA loan
We work with veterans and active service members across Mecklenburg, Gaston, Union, Cabarrus, Iredell and Lincoln counties in North Carolina, and York and Lancaster counties in South Carolina. Condo purchases need the project to be on the VA approved list, so we check that before you write an offer rather than after, because getting a project approved afterward takes longer than most contracts allow.
Most purchase loans close in 21 to 30 days from contract. If your buyer agent has been told a VA offer is weak, that is usually about the appraisal rather than the financing, and a verified pre-approval plus a call from your loan officer to the listing agent closes most of that gap.
Down payment assistance and a VA loan
You can usually combine NC Home Advantage or South Carolina Housing assistance with VA financing, although with zero down already available the more common use is covering closing costs rather than a down payment. We run it both ways so you can see whether the assistance is worth its own conditions.