A VA loan can be one of the best things a home has going for it. A buyer who takes it over keeps the loan as it stands, and listings around Tucson that offer one tend to say so plainly. If yours is one of them, a few decisions are worth making before the listing goes live.
Say it in the listing, carefully
Buyers search for assumable loans, and our VA loan assumption guide lists every home in the MLS whose description says its VA loan can be assumed. Say that the loan is assumable and that the buyer must qualify with the servicer. Be careful with figures: an interest rate or payment in an advertisement can bring federal lending-advertising rules with it, so ask your agent how to word it.
Decide who you will accept
Any buyer who qualifies with the servicer can assume a VA loan, veteran or not. What differs is your entitlement, the part of the loan VA guarantees. If the buyer is an eligible veteran with at least as much entitlement as you used, and will live in the home, they can substitute theirs for yours, and VA restores yours so you can use it again.
If the buyer is not a veteran, or does not substitute, your entitlement stays tied to the loan until it is paid in full. If the buyer later defaults and VA pays a claim, that loss must be repaid before your entitlement can be restored.
Accepting a non-veteran buyer is not a mistake. Doing it without knowing what it does to your entitlement can be.
So decide on purpose. If you expect to use a VA loan again soon, a buyer who substitutes may suit you better; if you won't, a non-veteran buyer may be fine. Since 2024 the servicer must give you VA Form 26-10291, the Assumption Entitlement Acknowledgment, as soon as an application comes in, and you sign it before closing.
Get released from liability
When the buyer takes on full liability and the servicer approves the assumption, you can be released from personal liability to VA. The request is on VA Form 26-6381, the same form used for the assumption approval. Make the release part of the deal and keep the approval letter.
Clear what the loan owes
A COVID-era VA partial claim must be repaid in full when the home changes hands. VA started a new partial claim program in June 2026; if your loan has a claim from it, ask the servicer how an assumption affects it before you sign a contract. Ask for your current balance early, too: the buyer pays you the price less that balance.
Plan the timeline
A servicer with VA's automatic authority must decide within 45 days of a complete package, and it may not add requirements of its own, such as a minimum credit score. If it denies the buyer, either of you can appeal to VA within 30 days. Give the contract room for that; an assumption usually takes longer than a sale with a new loan.
What the buyer will pay
VA caps the buyer's costs: a processing fee of up to $300 plus the credit report, up to $463 more in Arizona, and a 0.5% funding fee in cash unless the buyer is exempt. You may pay the brokerage commissions. The buyer pays your equity in cash or with a second loan, which VA has allowed since August 2024.
A checklist before you list
- Ask your servicer whether your loan can be assumed, and for its assumption package
- Get your current balance and any partial-claim payoff
- Decide whether you will accept a buyer who does not substitute entitlement
- Read VA Form 26-10291 before you sign a contract
- Ask for release of liability on VA Form 26-6381
- Allow time in the contract for the servicer's review
- In Arizona, both spouses sign to sell
Buyers asking the same questions from the other side will find them in Can a Non-Veteran Assume a VA Loan?. For how many homes around Tucson offer an assumable loan, see Assumable Homes in Tucson, by the Numbers.
