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Decision guide · VA purchase · San Antonio area

Making a VA offer at San Antonio-area values

A VA offer has three moving parts a seller notices: the price, what the buyer asks the seller to cover, and the appraisal. VA caps one of them, the lender caps another, and the third is the buyer's call. The real tension is between asking the seller for help with costs and keeping the offer clean enough to win. This guide lays out the rules that decide how much room there is.

General information only, not advice on a particular offer and not a loan quote. Sources and dates are listed at the end.

Where values sit, without sale prices

This site does not print sale prices. The nearest public yardstick is the appraisal roll. Guadalupe Central Appraisal District's 2026 certified totals give a mean market value for Category A single-family accounts of $280,791 for the Guadalupe part of Schertz and $334,411 for Cibolo. A mean is pulled up or down by unusual properties, and an appraised value is not what a seller will accept. Use it to know which end of the market a listing sits in, not to set a number.

The loan side has more room than these values. In 2026 the one-unit conforming loan limit is $832,750 in Bexar, Guadalupe, and Comal counties. VA uses that county figure only when a buyer's entitlement is partly in use. A buyer with full entitlement has no VA loan limit, though the lender still decides what the buyer can afford.

Means: Guadalupe CAD 2026 certified totals, Supplement 28, checked 2026-10-04. Limits: FHFA 2026 conforming loan limits, county file checked 2026-10-04. Entitlement: VA entitlement and limits, checked 2026-10-04.

The funding fee decides the first dollar figure

VA funding fee for purchase loans, effective April 7, 2023, as a share of the loan amount
Down paymentFirst useAfter first use
Less than 5%2.15%3.3%
5% or more1.5%1.5%
10% or more1.25%1.25%

On a $300,000 illustration, first use: no money down means a 2.15% fee, $6,450. Putting $15,000 down (5%) drops it to 1.5% of $285,000, or $4,275. Putting $30,000 down (10%) makes it 1.25% of $270,000, or $3,375. The fee can be rolled into the loan. On a purchase, it is the only cost that can be. Everything else is paid at closing, by the buyer or by the seller.

Some buyers pay no fee at all. VA lists people receiving compensation for a service-connected disability, surviving spouses receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, service members with a qualifying pre-discharge rating before closing, and active-duty members who show a Purple Heart on or before closing.

Source: VA funding fee and closing costs, updated 2026-09-22, checked 2026-10-04.

What you can ask the seller to pay

VA lets buyer and seller negotiate who pays a long list of closing items: the loan origination fee, discount points, the VA appraisal fee, the credit report, title insurance, recording fees, hazard insurance and real estate taxes, and the real estate professional's commission and fees. VA does not limit a seller's credits toward normal closing costs.

It does cap seller's concessions at 4% of the home's reasonable value, the figure on the VA Notice of Value. VA defines concessions as anything of value added to the deal at no extra cost to the buyer, and its examples include paying the buyer's funding fee, paying off a buyer's debt, and prepaying hazard insurance. On a home valued at $300,000, that cap is $12,000.

Source: VA funding fee and closing costs, checked 2026-10-04.

The appraisal sets the ceiling

The largest VA loan on a property is the appraised value or the purchase price, whichever is lower. Say the contract is $300,000 and the appraisal comes in at $290,000. With no money down, the loan base stops at $290,000. The 2.15% fee on that is $6,235, for a loan of $296,235. The $10,000 gap does not go away. The buyer pays it in cash, the seller lowers the price, or they meet somewhere between. The concession cap also moves with the lower value, to $11,600.

Loan ceiling: VA entitlement and limits, updated 2025-08-12, checked 2026-10-04.

The tradeoff

Every dollar asked of the seller is a dollar the seller weighs against another offer. A buyer with little cash may need help with closing costs, and VA allows a lot of it. A buyer with savings can ask for less and offer to cover part of a low appraisal, which makes the offer look stronger but uses money that could have stayed in reserve for the next move. Neither is the right answer for everyone. The rules above set the outer edges.

Rate moves change the payment, not the price

Freddie Mac's 30-year average was 7.28% for the week of October 1, 2026, up from 7.03% a week earlier and 6.34% a year earlier. That is a national average for conventional loans, used here only to show sensitivity. On a $306,450 loan (the $300,000 example with the fee financed), principal and interest come to about $2,045 a month at 7.03% and about $2,097 at 7.28%. A quarter point moved the payment by roughly $52.

Lenders set the rate, points, and their own fees. VA does not set a minimum credit score, but some lenders do, which is a reason VA tells buyers to contact more than one lender. Under federal rules a lender must send a Loan Estimate within three business days of an application, on a standard form that makes side-by-side comparison possible. The Closing Disclosure must arrive at least three business days before closing.

Rates: Freddie Mac PMMS, 2026-10-01, checked 2026-10-04. Lender role and credit score: VA.gov, checked 2026-10-04. Forms: CFPB, Loan Estimate, reviewed 2024-08-09, and CFPB, Closing Disclosure, reviewed 2023-05-02, both checked 2026-10-04.

What changes the answer

Sources and dates