VA Secondary Entitlement (Active Duty, No PCS Orders)

[William Smithson]

Hello! I have lived in my current property in eastern NC for 4.5 years. I financed the purchase with a VA Home Loan ($267,900). I will be at Camp Lejeune for the foreseeable future, as I have just accepted three year orders. I would like to purchase a smaller home ($200,000) to downsize and start looking to sell my current property. I have been house hacking for the last 4.5 years. I have a lot of equity in my house, but do not have the liquidable cash to purchase a new property with a 25% down payment. I want to use secondary VA entitlement if possible. I am interested in purchasing the smaller house now (before selling my first house) and allowing the existing renters to continue to live there until they move out. I can put some money down, but cannot pool together 50K for a down payment. Would I be able to use secondary entitlement without having moved geographically on PCS orders. The new house I want to buy is 30 minutes away, in another county, but I will be working at the same duty station. Please let me know if there are restrictions on using secondary entitlement based on not having moved on PCS orders. I would be on the hook for a substantially smaller down payment if this was possible. Thank you for your help! Connor