Military and veteran buyers
Using your VA benefit in New York.
West Point, Stewart, and the Hudson Valley move a lot of families on short notice. Here is how the VA loan actually works, what the funding fee costs, and which New York property tax exemptions you can claim once you own.
The benefit
What the VA loan gives you.
A VA-guaranteed loan is the reason many service members buy sooner than they expected. There is no required down payment and no monthly mortgage insurance, which is exactly the pressure most first purchases break under.
Your starting point is the Certificate of Eligibility. Your lender can usually pull it electronically in minutes, and it tells both of you how much entitlement you have available. With full entitlement there is no VA loan limit on what you can borrow without a down payment; the county conforming limit only comes back into the conversation when your entitlement is reduced because another VA loan is still outstanding.
The loan is for a home you will live in, not a rental you never move into. That occupancy requirement is the rule people get tripped up on when orders change mid-purchase, so tell us early if a PCS is in play.
Funding fee
What the one-time fee costs.
The VA funding fee replaces mortgage insurance. It can be paid at closing or rolled into the loan. Rates below are the current VA-published rates for Veterans, active-duty service members, and National Guard and Reserve members buying a home.
2.15%
First use, less than 5% down
1.5%
First use, 5% or more down
1.25%
First use, 10% or more down
3.3%
After first use, less than 5% down
Fee exemptions
You may owe no funding fee at all.
Per VA, you will not pay the funding fee if any of these is true:
- You receive VA compensation for a service-connected disability.
- You are eligible to receive VA compensation for a service-connected disability but receive retirement or active-duty pay instead.
- You receive Dependency and Indemnity Compensation as the surviving spouse of a Veteran.
- You are a service member who received a proposed or memorandum rating before the loan closing date confirming eligibility for compensation from a pre-discharge claim.
- You are active duty and, on or before closing, provide evidence you received a Purple Heart.
- If VA compensation is later awarded with an effective date retroactive to before your closing, you may be eligible for a refund of the fee.
Appraisal and condition
The VA appraisal is not a home inspection.
VA orders its own appraisal to establish reasonable value and to confirm the home meets VA's Minimum Property Requirements: safe, structurally sound, and sanitary. It protects the loan, not you, which is why we still recommend a private inspection on top of it.
In older Hudson Valley housing stock, the items that most often need attention before a VA closing are peeling paint, roof condition, well and septic function, and unsafe stairs or railings. Knowing that going in changes which houses we spend a Saturday on.
VA contracts include the escape clause, which lets you step back without losing your deposit if the appraised value comes in below the purchase price. That is real protection worth understanding before you write an offer above asking.
New York property tax
The exemption most veterans never file for.
New York's alternative veterans exemption reduces the assessed value of a veteran-owned primary residence: 15% for service during a designated time of war, an additional 10% for service in a combat zone (including expeditionary medal recipients), and an additional reduction equal to half your service-connected disability rating. Each taxing jurisdiction sets maximum dollar limits on those percentages, and each county, city, town, village, and school district chooses whether to offer them.
You apply with Form RP-458-a through your local assessor, and the deadline is your community's taxable status date, which in most towns is March 1. There are also a Cold War veterans exemption (Form RP-458-b) and an eligible funds exemption (Form RP-458).
Recent legislation also created a new exemption for veterans the VA considers permanently and totally disabled as a result of military service, applying to assessment rolls with taxable status dates on or after October 1, 2026.
None of this is automatic. Nobody mails it to you. Ask your assessor what your town has adopted and file before the deadline.
Reusing the benefit
It is not a one-time card.
Entitlement can be restored after you sell and pay off the VA loan, and remaining entitlement can be used toward another purchase while a prior VA loan is still open. That second path is where the county loan limit becomes the math you need a lender to run before you write an offer.
Funding fee rates go up for uses after the first, unless you are exempt, so if you are on your second or third VA purchase we build that number into the offer from the start rather than finding it at closing.
Keep reading
Other guides
Financing
Tour with your number already settled.
A pre-approval tells you what you can actually spend before you fall for a house, so you are comparing real options instead of guessing.
It also changes how your offer reads. Listing agents and sellers treat a buyer with a letter in hand as someone who can close, and in a competitive room that credibility often matters as much as the price.
Jeffrey is a licensed mortgage professional and can turn a pre-approval around the same day. There is no cost to get one.
Same day turnaround
Get Your Same Day Pre-Approval Now
Start your application with Jeffrey and know your numbers before your next showing.
Get Your Same Day Pre-Approval NowGet in touch
Let's talk about your next move.
Buying, selling, or just wondering about timing? Send a note and Jeffrey will get back to you himself.
1177 6th Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10036
(845) 713-3938
jeffreymorrisseyrealtor@gmail.com
Programs, limits, and legal requirements change. Confirm current terms with the agency or your attorney before you rely on anything here. Sources: VA: funding fee and closing costs · VA News: who pays the funding fee and who is exempt · VA Home Loan Guaranty Buyer's Guide · NYS Tax & Finance: alternative veterans exemption · NYS Tax & Finance Publication 1093: veterans exemptions · FHFA 2026 conforming loan limit values