Three things trip up VA buyers on this coast, and none of them is the loan itself: a condo has to sit in a project VA has already approved, flood insurance has a waiting period your closing date can beat or run into, and the occupancy certification says something more specific than most people expect. Here is what VA and FEMA actually publish.
Key Takeaways
– The 2026 funding fee rates are the same ones set on April 7, 2023: 2.15% first use with less than 5% down, 3.3% after that.
– A VA loan can buy a condo only in a VA-approved project, and an unapproved one has to go to VA for review first.
– NFIP cover starts 30 days after purchase unless you buy it with the mortgage, and the premium has to be paid at or before closing.
– VA sets no minimum credit score. Your lender does.
What does the occupancy certification actually say?
It says you intend to live there. Federal law requires that no VA-financed purchase go ahead “unless the veteran applicant, at the time that the veteran applies for the loan, and also at the time that the loan is closed, certifies … that the veteran intends to occupy the property as the veteran’s home” (38 U.S.C. § 3704).
The timing standard is looser than the internet suggests. The statute defines occupancy as living there now, or intending “to move into the property personally within a reasonable time.” Reasonable time is the legal test, and your lender applies its own reading, so raise it early if your report date and closing date are far apart.
For a service member, the most useful provision is the one about duty status. Where a veteran “is in active-duty status … and is unable to occupy a property because of such status,” occupancy is satisfied if “the spouse of the veteran occupies or intends to occupy the property as a home and the spouse makes the certification.” On the closing form, that is a specific box, and VA adds a procedural note worth knowing before you sit down: if it is checked, “the veteran’s spouse must also sign” (VA Form 26-1820).
If you’re inbound on orders, our PCS guide to Hunter Army Airfield covers how that timeline usually runs here.
Can you buy a Tybee or Savannah condo with a VA loan?
Only in a project VA has already approved. VA’s own purchase-loan page puts the benefit plainly: you can “Buy a condo in a VA-approved project” (VA). Its lender guidance is blunter: “In order to be eligible for VA loan guaranty, a condominium or lot must be approved by VA” (VA Loan Guaranty Service).
If the building isn’t on the list, you are not automatically out, but you are on a longer road: “VA maintains a list of approved condos. If the condo is not on the list, the project must be submitted to VA for review to ensure that it complies with VA requirements” (VA Buyer’s Guide).
That review takes time a contract may not have. Ask your lender to check the project against VA’s condo report while you’re still in due diligence, before the inspection and the appraisal.
What does the funding fee cost in 2026?
The same as it did in 2023, and that is the honest headline. VA describes it as “a one-time payment that the Veteran, service member, or survivor pays on a VA-backed or VA direct home loan,” and the current rate charts carry the label “Effective April 7, 2023” on a page VA updated in September 2026 (VA).
On a purchase, the published rates are:
| Down payment | First use | After first use |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 5% | 2.15% | 3.3% |
| 5% or more | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| 10% or more | 1.25% | 1.25% |
Plenty of buyers owe nothing. VA lists five exemptions: receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability, being eligible for it while taking retirement or active-duty pay instead, receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation as a surviving spouse, holding a proposed or memorandum rating before closing, and active-duty members with evidence of a Purple Heart by closing.
One related myth, while we’re here: VA does not set a credit score floor. Its buyer’s guide says so directly, and names the number lenders use instead: “VA does NOT require a minimum credit score, but most lenders will use a credit score to help determine your interest rate. Typically, lenders may want borrowers to have a minimum credit score of 620, unless there is a large down payment.” More of these are unpicked in our post on VA loan myths.
What does VA check about the property itself?
More than people expect, and several of its checks are coastal by nature. The law is the starting point: no VA loan goes ahead “unless the property meets or exceeds minimum requirements for planning, construction, and general acceptability prescribed by the Secretary” (38 U.S.C. § 3704).
VA publishes those requirements as itemized topics, and the list it reprinted in the Federal Register includes Special Flood Hazard Area, Coastal Barrier Resources System, Individual Water Supply, Individual Sewage Disposal, Shared Wells, and Wood Destroying Insects, Fungus and Dry Rot (Department of Veterans Affairs, 88 FR 85863). Anyone who has bought an older cottage near the marsh can see why each is on the list.
What the appraisal is not is an inspection. The certification you sign at closing states it in capitals: “I AM AWARE THAT VA DOES NOT WARRANT THE CONDITION OR VALUE OF THE PROPERTY” (VA Form 26-1820). VA’s own advice is to hire your own: “VA highly recommends that you get a third-party to conduct a thorough inspection of the home. This is in addition to the appraisal. Your appraisal does not take the place of an inspection.”
How does flood insurance work on a VA purchase here?
If the building sits in a high-risk flood zone, it isn’t optional. FEMA states that “Homes and businesses in high-risk flood areas with mortgages from government-backed lenders are required to have flood insurance” (FEMA).
The timing is where money is won or lost. A new NFIP policy normally “will go into effect 30 days after your date of purchase,” but FEMA lists an exception that fits a purchase exactly: “There is no wait if you buy flood insurance while making, increasing, extending or renewing a mortgage” (FloodSmart).
Read the regulation behind that exception before you rely on it, because it has a condition. Coverage is effective at closing only where “the written request for the coverage is received by the NFIP and the flood insurance policy is applied for and the presentment of payment of premium is made at or prior to the loan closing” (44 CFR § 61.11). Applied for and paid, at or before closing. Leave it to the afternoon of the settlement and the 30-day clock is what you get.
Two more things. NFIP caps residential cover: “Building policies cover up to $250,000 of flood damage and contents policies cover up to $100,000.” And what your lender demands is not a coverage recommendation, since “Lenders typically require only the amount of the loan (up to the NFIP maximum)” (NFIP). On Tybee, the gap between the loan balance and the cost to rebuild is the number to watch. Our Tybee Island buying guide covers elevation and flood.
Can you rent the place out later?
Careful here, because this is where a lot of bad advice circulates. What VA publishes is about the purchase: the loan is for a home “you’re buying with the loan” to live in, and where a veteran takes a later VA loan while keeping an earlier one, “the subsequent home must become your residence” (VA Buyer’s Guide).
So the certification is about intent to occupy at the time of the loan, and a property bought as a vacation rental is not what it covers. What happens years later is a question for your lender and your own adviser, and anyone stating a confident rule should be able to show you where VA says it.
If short-term rental income is central to the plan on Tybee, the binding constraints are the city’s, not VA’s, and they’re changing: see the Tybee Island community page for the current city links.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to move in within 60 days of closing a VA loan?
The statute says you must move in “within a reasonable time” after the loan closes, not a fixed number of days. Lenders apply their own reading of reasonable, so if your report date is months out, raise it with your lender before you go under contract rather than after.
Can my spouse satisfy VA occupancy while I’m deployed?
Yes, in the situation the law describes. Where a veteran on active duty cannot occupy the home because of that status, occupancy is satisfied if the spouse occupies or intends to occupy and makes the certification. On the closing form that is a specific checkbox, and the spouse has to sign it too.
How do I know if a condo is VA-approved?
Ask your lender to check the project against VA’s condo report before you’re deep into a contract. VA maintains the list, and a project that is not on it must be submitted to VA for review, which adds time. Approval is a condition of the guaranty, not a formality.
When does flood insurance start if I buy it at closing?
At closing, provided the policy is applied for and the premium is paid at or before the loan closes. Otherwise the standard 30-day waiting period applies. NFIP caps residential building cover at $250,000 and contents at $100,000.
Getting it in the right order
Most of this friction disappears in the right sequence: condo approval before the offer gets serious, the flood quote and NFIP application before closing week, and an inspection alongside the appraisal rather than instead of it. Our step-by-step Georgia VA loan guide lays out the loan order itself.
We’re an Army veteran-led team and most of our closings are VA purchases. If you want the coastal specifics checked against a particular address, get in touch and we’ll work the list with you and your lender.