Can a veteran buy a Sacramento home with $0 down?

Why the VA loan is the strongest tool in your toolbox

The Department of Veterans Affairs guarantees a portion of the loan. That guaranty lets lenders offer terms that would be impossible on a conventional loan:

• $0 down for veterans with full entitlement. No down payment required at all on most primary residence purchases.
• No monthly mortgage insurance. Conventional and FHA both charge ongoing mortgage insurance. VA does not. Over a 30-year loan, this saves tens of thousands of dollars.
• Competitive interest rates. VA loans typically price at or below conventional rates because the government guaranty reduces lender risk.
• Up to 4 percent in seller-paid closing costs. Many eligible Sacramento veterans close on a home with zero out of pocket once seller credits are factored in.
• Funding fee can be waived for veterans with a service-connected disability rating.

Sacramento home prices and VA loan limits in 2026

Veterans with full entitlement face no VA loan limit. You can buy at the price the lender qualifies you for. For Sacramento County in 2026, that opens up most of the local market: single-family homes, townhouses, and approved condos in Sacramento, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Roseville (and other Placer County cities), Elk Grove, and the surrounding metro.

Veterans using Tier 2 entitlement (because they already have an active VA loan) are subject to the county conforming loan limit. We run the math through the VA 2nd Use Entitlement Calculator on the site to show whether any down payment will be required and how much.

Buying with $0 down AND zero out of pocket

The $0-down part is easy: VA loans require no down payment for full-entitlement borrowers. The harder question is closing costs, which can run $8,000 to $14,000 on a typical Sacramento purchase.

Two strategies usually solve it:

1. Seller credit: negotiate 3 to 4 percent in seller-paid closing costs. On a $550,000 home, that is $16,500 to $22,000 toward your closing costs and prepaids.
2. Lender credit + rate adjustment: trade a slightly higher rate for lender-paid closing costs. Makes sense for short-horizon borrowers.

Combined correctly, qualified Sacramento veterans regularly close on a home with effectively zero cash out of pocket.

Common Sacramento VA scenarios we close

First-time veteran buyer in Antelope or Foothill Farms: single-family home, $0 down, seller-credit closing costs, total cash to close near zero.

Move-up veteran trading a Folsom townhouse for a single-family: uses Tier 2 entitlement, may need a small down payment if the purchase price exceeds county limit, keeps the original VA loan as a rental property.

Surviving spouse purchase: spouses of veterans who died from service-connected causes or in the line of duty are often eligible for the VA benefit. We help confirm entitlement and structure the purchase.

Disabled veteran: funding fee waived, often paired with property tax exemptions in California. The combined monthly savings can be significant.