Most brokers are not ready for this type of military client
Only 13 percent of the almost 20 million eligible veterans and active duty service members in this country have ever used their VA loan benefits, according to a 2026 New Day USA A survey of more than 1,200 veterans and military personnel also showed that almost 1 in 3 received little or no information about benefits during or after their military service.
No deposit. No private mortgage insurance. Competitive rates. For veterans with a service-connected disability, the VA financing costs is waived entirely. Earned through military service, it is one of the most powerful wealth-building tools available to every American.
As real estate professionals, that number should stop us cold. Because a significant part of the reason why that percentage remains so low can be traced directly back to our industry.
I know this because it happened to me
In 2004, I bought my first home in Newport News, Virginia, as an E-5, Petty Officer Second Class, in the Navy. Young, excited and completely clueless, I trusted my agent. That was my first mistake.
He had no idea how VA Loans worked. Instead of putting me in the zero-down, fixed-rate product that I fully qualified for, he steered me toward an interest-only mortgage. My payment was $400 a month. I thought I was winning.
What he never explained is the one-year interest lock. When it was adjusted my payment almost tripled. The extra $800 a month hit our family like a blow.
The orders came in 2006. I sold just before the real estate bubble burst. My neighbors, fellow service members, saw the value of their homes drop by 50 to 60 percent. Many were stuck. Some lost everything.
I wasn’t saved by good advice. I was saved by luck. And for the next twenty years I wondered how many others weren’t.
What most agents don’t see
Military families are not a niche market with minor differences from civilian customers. They arrive at your appointment operating in a completely different financial reality, one that most real estate agents have never learned to understand.
A PCS, or permanent change of station, moving costs military families are paying thousands of dollars in unreimbursed costs per move, according to research from the Military Family Advisory Network.
Many qualify for a single-income mortgage because military spouses face an unemployment rate five to seven times the national average, caused by the relentless cycle of relocation that makes it nearly impossible to build sustainable careers.
Their pay structure adds another layer that most agents miss. BAH, or Basic Allowance for Housing, is a non-taxable income that varies by rank, dependency status and place of employment. Agents and lenders who do not understand how this affects loan qualification cannot effectively advocate for their customers through underwriting.
There is also a financial vulnerability in this community that our sector must honestly take into account. According to the Ministry of Defense Report from 2006 on predatory lending practices targeting members of the armed forces and their dependents, submitted to Congress as a basis for the Military Appropriations Actmilitary personnel are up to four times more likely to be targeted by high-interest lenders than their civilian counterparts.
During my 24 years in the Navy, where I served as both a military police officer and a senior enlisted leader, I lost count of the number of formal creditor debt letters I processed for service members under my command. I watched debt revoke security clearances and block promotions.
For this community, a bad real estate transaction isn’t just a financial setback. It can end a career.
What winning this customer’s trust actually looks like
About two years ago, I was on a trade show appointment with a veteran and his family. Before touching on price or strategy, I asked why they were selling. He said their son had been accepted to UC Berkeley. Tuition was expensive. Selling felt like their only option.
I asked one question: are you a service-connected disabled veteran? He said yes. I told him that in California, children of service-connected disabled veterans may be eligible to attend any California State University or University of California campus, where tuition and fees are fully waived, and encouraged him to verify this through the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
They started crying right there in their living room. No one had told them. Not their Veterans Service Officer (VSO). Not their lender. Not a single agent before me.
They kept their house. Their son went to UC Berkeley. That’s the difference between an agent who works with military clients and someone who actually serves them.
That kind of awareness doesn’t come from a weekend course. It comes from doing the work. Here’s where to start.
5 things every agent serving this community needs to know
1. VA loans have no limit for full credit buyers
Under the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019which took effect January 1, 2020, Congress eliminated VA loan limits for full-eligible borrowersthat meet the criteria of this law.
Most agents still believe that VA loans are capped and steer military buyers toward conventional products they don’t need. That belief costs your customers money and your credibility within a community that is constantly talking to each other.
2. The financing fee waiver is worth thousands, and most brokers never mention it
Any veteran with a service-connected disability rating is fully exempt from VA funding fees at closing. This can save a buyer thousands of dollars. If you have to look this up halfway through the transaction, your customer is already at a disadvantage.
3. The stigma of VA loans is costing your listing clients deals
Many listing agents advise sellers to avoid VA offers based on outdated myths about slow timelines and difficult appraisals. Military buyers are highly motivated, fully qualified and often pay at or above asking price. Agents who perpetuate these biases are actively working against their own sellers and turning away one of the strongest buyer pools on the market.
4. POA transactions and SCRA protections are not edge cases. They are standard
Power of attorney transactions, in which a deployed spouse signs on behalf of the service member, are common in military real estate. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, or SCRA, also provides legal and financial protections that impact active contracts and timelines. Mistakes in both areas create legal exposure. If you’ve never navigated one before, learn before you need to.
5. VA loan assumptions are one of the most powerful selling tools in a high interest rate market, and most brokers have never used them
By taking on a VA loan, a buyer, including a non-veteran, can assume the seller’s existing VA loan at the original interest rate. In a high interest rate environment, a seller with a VA loan with a low interest rate on the asset has a significant competitive advantage. Agents who know how to market and facilitate assumptions deliver real value that most of their competitors cannot provide.
The professional this community deserves
Military families are one of the most loyal, referral-driven customer bases in the real estate industry. They’re constantly moving, they’re constantly talking to each other, and when they find a professional who really understands their world, they keep sending business to that person.
But loyalty must be earned. This community has spent decades navigating a financial system that too often saw a stable paycheck before it saw a person.
Military families have learned to tell the difference between an officer who did the job and one who simply added a military specialization line to their biography. Earned expertise looks different from claimed expertise, and this community will feel the difference in the first five minutes of a conversation.
The agents who will build sustainable businesses in this market are the ones who have really prepared, who have had real training, who understand the benefits deeply enough to apply them without prompting, and who walk into every appointment knowing that this step is not a transaction for this family. It’s a mission.
That 13 percent VA loan utilization number is not a statistic. It’s a gap. And it is an invitation. The question is not whether military families deserve better. They do. The question is whether you have done the work to earn the right to serve them.
Travis Winfield is a retired 24-year Navy Command Senior Chief, founder and CEO of Military Operated Real Estate (MORE), a national network of military-affiliated real estate professionals, and author of Military money and MORE. He is a national speaker on veterans’ financial literacy and vice president of the Enlisted Leadership Foundation. More information at traviswinfield.com.
