🎓 VA Loans for MBAs: Musings for Veteran Homebuyers in Transition

🎯 What are we trying to do here?

This article is aimed at high-upside transitioning Vets who may also experience significant life volatility. Many of them are current or future MBAs, let’s call them CAVU Vets (Ceiling High, Visibility Undetermined), with extremely high potential but an unclear post-MBA path.

CAVU's face a perfect storm of potential and uncertainty: rapidly changing income, unclear geography, and ambitious long-term goals. VA Loans are powerful tools but using them at the wrong time or on a short term/poorly timed home can box you out of smarter moves later. Consider this: For most, if not all lenders, VA loans are more profitable than other loan types they offer. If you ask for one, they're almost always going to get you one and not worry about whether it's best for you. 

This piece is here to help you:

• Decide if you should buy a home now or wait

• Choose the right loan product (VA vs FHA vs Conventional)

• Think long-term about your VA entitlement as an asset, not just a coupon

📚 Why VA Loans Get Complicated for CAVUs

You’re not just switching jobs. You’re reshaping your life.

You're often leaving stable but capped military incomes for uncertain, but high-upside paths. Many of you already own a property (often via VA Loan) in the $300K-$600K range, and many of you think you should hold and rent it at all costs, especially if you’re locked into a low rate. That means your VA entitlement is often partially or fully tied up.

And that sweet spot in Lemore, Hood, or Bumluck Palms? It may not be the flex you think it is. Especially if you haven't “done the math” and are holding on to an asset because the rate of the debt is low. 

Here’s what you’re really up against:

• Future location is a mystery

• Most MBAs and new vets move at least once, often twice, within 2-4 years

• 83% of veterans leave their first civilian job within 12 months

• Income jumps fast, but not always in ways that help you qualify

• You might start at $100K, but jump to $200K+ with bonuses and equity within 2-3 years

• Lenders generally can’t count those bonuses or RSUs until you have a 2-year history, unless there are unique guarantees

•  You might be locking in too early

• Buying now with a VA Loan on a $500K-$800K place might feel right, But if you want a $1.5M home in 3 years and your VA entitlement is tied up, good luck coming up with 25% down

• Even if you can, VA likely has better terms (lower rate, no PMI, easier qualification terms, easier refi's) that you will miss and which provide far more value on larger loans. 

So don’t just ask if you can buy. Ask:

• Should I?

• When?

• What loan product?

• What other big life events could compete with my time, capital, and mental well being?

⚖️ Which Loan Product Works Best for CAVUs?

Purpose: To explore smarter ways to buy (or wait) while preserving flexibility.

Option 1: Renting - It isn't even a loan, but it saves cash in the short run and provides amazing flexibility

• Underrated.

• You maintain total optionality, preserve your VA entitlement, and keep life simple while your income, location, and potential family situation solidify.

• You get to focus fully on family, career, school, and network, without the friction of managing a mortgage, home maintenance, or critically a surprise move (moves are 3X harder when having to sell, have the potential to lose money, and your new employer does NOT care)

• Especially valuable for folks pre-family, where many of the traditional advantages of owning - i.e. schools, roots, neighbors, stability - don’t matter. Renting gives you access to many hoods you can test or might not ever be able to buy in

Option 2: FHA Loans

• Great alternative to VA if you want to buy but preserve your VA entitlement

• Rates nearly match VA, the downside to payment is the PMI costs of FHA loans (both up front and monthly thereafter usually add $100-220/mo for $300-700k loans)

• Low down payment, flexible DTI rules, and usable on 1-2 units (3-4 units technically allowed but not practical when rates > 5%); they DO have lower spend limits, so if you want to spend more than 10% over county limits ($524k in most counties) they aren't always an option.

• Common myth: “FHA is only for first-time buyers”. Not true - you can use it multiple times, even hold multiple at once!

Option 3: VA Loans (Now instead of Later)

• Smart if you're in a stable geo and plan to stay put > 3-4 years

• Not ideal if your next home will be your long-term or ‘forever’ home, especially if you expect to make more income in the future and buy at a higher price point. The only exception might be if you’re extremely eager to own a home now and are okay with dealing with a sales contingency (needing to sell your current home before buying the next one) when upgrading later

If you’re house-hacking or buying in a stable, affordable market, FHA generally beats Conventional due to flexibility and lower down payments, especially if you’re putting <10% down. Keep your money in the market; none of you reading this are likely over 45yo and want to have cash locked into an asset that grows at 2-4%).

Your VA Loan is not some random small discount or benefit, it's a High Leverage Asset — use it like one!

Wealthy individuals often choose not to put 20% down on a home unless it's for a strategic reason. Instead, they usually borrow as much as lenders allow and invest their available cash elsewhere where it may earn a higher return. In fact, about half of JPMorgan’s Private Client loan products don’t require substantial down payments or equity to be tied up. You’ll want to seriously consider whether putting a large sum into a down payment is the best move for you.

🧠 CAVU Specific VA Loan Nuances

1. Offer Letter Lending (Buying near graduation or during Skillbridge/transition but pre-job start)

VA allows you to qualify based on a job offer before starting work, if done right.

You’ll need:

• A non-contingent, signed, dated offer letter

• Clear start date and full compensation package disclosed

• Proof any contingencies - like background or degree conferral - are met (or if not, minor)

Timing of closing to work start date:

• VA doesn’t have a hard 60-day rule (from purchase to job start)

• Lenders can vary but generally accept start dates 90-180 days out if you’ve got 1-4 months of reserves to cover the mortgage during that gap

2. Buying Before Starting the MBA

Some folks try to house hack near school. It’s possible - but risky.

You’ll need:

• A working spouse/co-borrower with real income

• Likely sizable VA Disability income

• VA Disability counts towards DTI, AND is grossed up 25% since it’s untaxed!

• A lot of reserves to cover the gap between income and mortgage payment during school if you don't meet the income minimums

GI Bill + VR&E stipends? Sorry, not eligible income.

TL;DR: Unless your spouse is a baller, don’t do this. You’re buying less house, with more risk, in the lowest-income phase of your adult life.

3. Preserving Entitlement and Buying Later

Many CAVUs wait to use their VA Loan until 2-3 years post-grad. Smart move.

Why?

• You’ll likely move again soon after graduation

• You’ll be able to afford (and qualify for) a more expensive home

• You can avoid draining cash for a down payment

• Also: the fewer distractions during your first job out of school, the better. Don’t spend your ramp-up year managing a boiler install.

4. Buying in the middle of a military transition, in a different market

Many service members want to take advantage of their extra time and income during their last year of service, and buy a home wherever they are moving upon separation. This is harder than it might seem.

• Lenders often DO check on your orders, when you'll separate, and ask about your intentions, often making you put them in writing. If you do NOT have a job/income lined up post separation, this could force you to lie — don't do that.

• If you are relocating from your current duty station once you're out, the lender is going to ask why, and what you'll do there for income. This makes it even harder.

• You don't have clarity on VA rating, or often an income profile until after you separate.

Overall, buying in your final year of the military is harder than it seems, and should be done with some pragmatism and awareness of the challenges you might run into during the process. Also, don't get too obsessed with owning at this stage in your life; the flexibility of not having a new home can be a superpower.

If you MUST buy in your final year or two of service, generally moving your spouse to the location early is a good reason, and if you’re a ways out from ETS or resignation, you just need to consider how much the mortgage - and your rent to live in Duty Station - costs, as most loan types will consider rent AND mortgage (since family will be paying both) in your DTI. We have helped a lot of folks do this, but it’s tricky.

🔧 Real Paths We See CAVUs Take

1. “Off-Campus Cathy”

• Buys a single-family with roommates - but it’s far from campus

• Thinks building $10K in equity per year is better than living near future billionaire classmates and building those relations (certainly wasn’t for this author who made that mistake)

• Hopefully didn't use just 30% of her VA loan power to 'buy something she could qualify for"

• Had to cut corners to qualify without local income

2. Hamstrung Harry

• Bought a $250K condo with VA in 2020 at 2.5%

• Thinks he’s a genius - but now his next VA Loan can't buy as much home as he wants and can afford

• Will now overpay $12K/year in interest on a $1M home using a Conventional loan he put $250k down on.

Return on Equity note: How to consider whether to hold a loan with a low rate as a rental:

ROE = (Cash Flow/yr + Mortgage Paydown/yr) / Equity after a Sale; 

If this number is under 5-6%, it's likely time to sell (especially if you can save capital gains because you lived there). Rate ≠ ROI.

3. Miles Maximillionaire

• AF vet turned commercial pilot after graduating from HBS

• Used VA while active, refi’d it to Conventional, then used VA again for $1.5M 4-flat

• Rents cover mortgagel; Equity builds; Boston appreciates.

• Next stop: refinance, upscale, or just chill

• Worried mostly about how to spend his time outside the 12 total hours a month he plans to fly once he gets seniority

4. “New Money Mikey”

• Has no idea where he’ll be in 2 years. Took a consulting job, but PRETTY sure he’s going to hate consulting

• Just knows a lot of classmates are buying sexy condos, wants one himself

• Feels like $250k a year in joint income is life changing money

• The fact they will probably move in 2 years is a “future” problem; Unsure where costs of a wedding and kids get covered in years 1-3; Just enamored with having a low-stress sweet condo

• Probably should rent from a 2022 grad who is overpaying for their condo, saving $1500+ a month which covers that wedding and daycare thereafter

• Condo’s are not typically a good investment, so the whole “I’ll rent it after I buy and stack equity” plan is subject to the whims and the evils of an HOA.

✋ Final Thoughts

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer here, and any lender pretending otherwise is doing you a disservice. You are probably awesome at your “day job” but getting a mortgage is a MAJOR financial decision that creates material capital loss risk if hold times are too short. Your lender should therefore be prodding at your situation, timelines, goals, and priorities to ensure they care about your VA Loan value as much as you do. 

You need someone who’ll run your numbers and your life situation. Someone who’ll say “hold off”, or “FHA now, VA later”, or “refi and reuse your VA once rates drop.”

These 2–3 year periods of change and transition aren’t just professionally challenging, they also require careful financial planning and strategic borrowing decisions.

Need help getting there?

Talk to a trusted financial planner, friends who’ve been through it before, or experienced lenders who either understand the journey firsthand or approach loan decisions from a first-principles perspective. Do it not just to determine which loan is right, but more importantly, if and when borrowing makes sense.