The VA home loan is the strongest purchase benefit in American housing, and most veterans buying a home already know it exists. So this page spends its space on the two things veterans routinely lose money on instead.
The first is that nobody should pay to file a VA claim. Accredited service officers, including the ones the State of Nevada employs, do it at no charge, and charging a fee to prepare an initial claim is prohibited. Companies that market claim assistance for a percentage of an eventual award are a problem the VA warns about in its own words.
The second is that the adaptation grants exist. They are grants rather than loans, they are among the largest sums available anywhere in housing assistance, and a great many eligible veterans have never heard of them because the loan benefit gets all the attention.
Federal · Loan
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
A VA guarantee that lets a lender write a mortgage with no down payment and no monthly mortgage insurance, which is the strongest purchase benefit any of these programs carries.
Who it is for: Eligible veterans, service members, National Guard and Reserve members, and some surviving spouses. Eligibility is proved with a Certificate of Eligibility from the VA.
va.gov · (877) 827-3702
Federal · Grant or discount
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Grants to buy, build or modify a home so a veteran with a qualifying service-connected disability can live in it independently, paid as a grant rather than a loan.
Who it is for: Veterans and service members with specific service-connected disabilities. Which grant applies turns on the disability, and the VA decides that, not the builder.
va.gov · (877) 827-3702
Nevada · Free advice
Nevada Department of Veterans Services
The state department's housing page, covering the state's own veteran housing programs and the officers who help file for the federal ones.
Who it is for: Nevada veterans. A state veterans service officer files a VA claim for you at no charge, which is worth knowing before paying anyone to do it.
A question that comes up often and gets answered wrongly: yes, state down payment assistance can generally sit on top of a VA loan, and Nevada's programs have variants aimed at veterans specifically.
Whether it is worth doing is a different question, and it turns on the fact that a VA loan needs no down payment in the first place. What assistance can still do is cover closing costs, which are real and which the seller may not be paying. So the comparison to ask a lender for is the VA loan on its own against the VA loan with the assistance attached, priced on the same day, since the assistance is usually funded by a slightly higher rate.
The funding fee is the other number to check before comparing anything. A qualifying service-connected disability rating waives it entirely, which changes the arithmetic more than most assistance programs do.
Nevada · Grant or discount
Nevada Housing Division
Nevada's own homebuyer program: a fixed rate first mortgage from a participating lender with down payment and closing cost help attached to it.
Who it is for: Buyers within the program's income and credit limits, buying a primary residence in Nevada. It has variants aimed at veterans, teachers and other groups, and not all of them require you to be a first-time buyer.
In Nevada: The state program most Clark County buyers mean when they ask about a Nevada grant. You reach it through a participating lender, never by applying to the state directly.
Nevada · Grant or discount
Nevada Rural Housing
Down payment and closing cost assistance attached to a fixed rate first mortgage, run by Nevada's rural housing authority.
Who it is for: Buyers inside the areas the authority serves and within its income limits. It carries no first-time buyer requirement.
In Nevada: Its territory is Nevada outside the largest urban cores, so it is the counterpart to Home Is Possible rather than a competitor for the same buyer.
Federal · Free advice
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Free one-on-one counseling on buying, renting, falling behind on a payment and repairing credit, from an agency HUD has approved and funded to give it.
Who it is for: Anyone. There is no income test to be counseled, and an agency that asks you to pay for the counseling itself is not one of these.
In Nevada: Several approved agencies operate in the Las Vegas valley. The search takes a ZIP code and returns the ones nearest, with what each is approved to advise on.
hud.gov · (800) 569-4287
Federal · Repairs
USDA Rural Development
Loans to low income owners to repair or modernize a home, and grants to older low income owners specifically to remove health and safety hazards.
Who it is for: Owner-occupants in eligible rural areas under the very low income limit for their county. The grant half is restricted by age; the loan half is not.
In Nevada: Outside the Las Vegas valley, which sits beyond USDA's eligible area, and available across much of rural Nevada.
The Nevada Department of Veterans Services employs the officers who file federal claims at no charge, and its housing page is the route to the state's own veteran housing programs. Nevada also runs veteran variants of Home Is Possible, so the state buying program and the VA loan are not alternatives to each other.
Elsewhere on the site: getting a mortgage in Nevada covers the loan process, the disability page covers the accessibility funding that is not service-connected, and the payment calculator will show the monthly figure with taxes, insurance and HOA dues in it, which is where a no-down-payment loan surprises people.
Two things, and both are large. There is no down payment requirement, and there is no monthly mortgage insurance, which is the cost that makes an FHA loan expensive to hold for years. In exchange there is a one-time funding fee, set by service category, down payment and whether the benefit has been used before, and waived entirely for veterans with a qualifying disability rating.
Yes. It is not a one-time benefit. Entitlement can be restored after a loan is paid off, and in some circumstances a veteran can hold two VA loans at once using remaining entitlement. The funding fee is usually higher on a subsequent use, unless it is waived.
Grants, not loans, to buy, build or modify a home so a veteran with certain service-connected disabilities can live in it independently. Which grant applies turns on the specific disability, and the VA makes that determination. They are among the largest sums available anywhere in housing assistance, and many eligible veterans never hear of them.
No, and you should not. Accredited veterans service officers, including those employed by the state, file claims at no charge, and so do the major veterans organizations. Charging a fee to prepare an initial claim is prohibited, and companies that market claim help for a percentage are a recurring problem the VA warns about directly.
It can, in the veteran's favor. A qualifying service-connected disability rating waives the funding fee entirely, which is a significant sum on a typical purchase. VA disability compensation also counts as income for qualifying, and it is not taxed, which some lenders gross up when calculating the ratios.
Some can. Surviving spouses of veterans who died in service or from a service-connected disability may be eligible, and eligibility is established the same way as for a veteran, with a Certificate of Eligibility from the VA.
Buying
The loan programs, the down payment help that attaches to them, and who counts as a first-time buyer.
See the programs
Renting
Vouchers, subsidized apartments, the waiting lists, and what you can apply to today.
See the programs
Disability
Accessible housing, modification funding, saving without losing benefits, and the accommodations you can require.
See the programs
Seniors
Subsidized apartments, repair and energy help, and the programs that make staying put affordable.
See the programs