No limit, no down payment, and one fee
With full entitlement there is no VA loan limit. None. The number that constrains you is what the lender will approve and what the house appraises for, and in a county whose median home value was $369,806 at the end of July 2026, that is a wide runway.
Partial entitlement is the case that needs math. If you have a VA loan outstanding, or one that was never restored, the calculation keys off the 2026 conforming limit of $832,750, and the lender works it out from your Certificate of Eligibility. Get the COE early. It is the one document that changes the shape of the whole file.
There is no monthly mortgage insurance on a VA loan. There is a one-time funding fee, financeable into the loan:
| Situation | First use | Later use |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5% down | 2.15% | 3.3% |
| 5% to 9.99% down | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| 10% or more down | 1.25% | 1.25% |
| Cash-out refinance | 2.15% | 3.3% |
| Interest rate reduction refinance | 0.5% | 0.5% |
You pay nothing if you receive VA disability compensation, if you receive Dependency and Indemnity Compensation as a surviving spouse, or if you hold a Purple Heart. On a $309,500 house in Ridley Park with nothing down, a first-use fee of 2.15% is $6,654 rolled into the balance.
What the VA appraiser wants
VA minimum property requirements sound familiar to anyone who has been through an FHA appraisal on an old house. Safe, sound and sanitary. Remaining roof life. Working heat. Water supply and a sewage system. And on anything built before 1978, peeling paint gets repaired before closing.
Pennsylvania adds one the federal rules do not: a wood-destroying insect inspection is required on VA purchases in this state. On a hundred-year-old twin with a wood-framed porch and a basement that has seen a few wet Septembers, that inspection is a good idea whatever the loan.
The VA appraiser also sets a Notice of Value, and repairs called for on it get done before closing. Who pays is a term of the agreement of sale, which is why the loan type belongs in the offer.
Where it fits in this county
The zero-down piece changes what a buyer can reach in Delco. The county’s east side trades in the low two hundreds, and the transfer tax is 2% in most municipalities. So the cash to close on a $250,000 house in the Lansdowne postal area is mostly your customary half of the tax, plus title and prepaids. The down payment is the small part.
Boeing’s Ridley Park plant employed roughly 3,700 people as of July 2026, and Ridley Park sits in Zone 3 on the Wilmington/Newark line, 31 minutes to 30th Street on the timetable that took effect July 5, 2026. Prospect Park and Norwood are Zone 2, at 28 and 26 minutes. July 2026 sold medians in those three boroughs ran $309,500, $315,000 and $304,949.
Upper Providence Township’s 3% transfer tax and the 2.5% in Radnor, Upper Darby and the City of Chester apply the same on a VA loan as on any other. Nothing about the loan type moves the recorder’s math.
Stacking state help on top
PHFA’s Keystone Government Loan puts a VA first mortgage through the state agency with no PHFA income or purchase price caps and no first-time-buyer requirement, and it asks for a homebuyer course when the score is under 680.
K-FIT pairs with it: 5% of the lesser of the purchase price or the appraised value, no dollar cap, forgiven 10% a year over ten years, with a 660 minimum score and liquid assets capped at $50,000 after closing. Keystone Advantage is the alternative at the lesser of 4% or $6,000, 0%, repaid over ten years.
The county’s Homeownership First program can also sit on a VA loan in the municipalities it covers, since it wants a 30-year fixed first mortgage at or below market with no more than 3 points and a loan-to-value of at least 90%. A zero-down VA loan clears that bar without trying. See first-time home buyers.
Refinancing later
The Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan is the simple one: a 0.5% funding fee, 210 days plus six monthly payments of seasoning, and no new appraisal in the usual case. On an old twin, skipping the appraisal is worth more than it sounds.
A VA cash-out refinance goes to 100% of value under VA rules, though lenders commonly cap it at 90%, and the funding fee is 2.15% on a first use and 3.3% after that. Pennsylvania charges no transfer tax on a refinance, which in a 2.5% municipality is a meaningful difference from buying. More in cash-out refinance.