Advanced Investing with VA Loan - What is the Reality?

[Bryan O.]

This is the actual text regarding the VA Entitlement Restoration:

"VA Pamphlet 26-7, Revised
Chapter 2: Veteran's Eligibility and Entitlement
Section 6. Restoration of Previously Used Entitlement
Sub b. Special Restoration Cases
In addition to the basic restoration criteria outlined above, a veteran may obtain restoration of the entitlement used on a prior VA loan under any of the following circumstances:
• the prior VA loan has been paid in full and the veteran has made application for a refinance loan to be secured by the same property which secured the prior VA loan. This includes refinancing situations in which the prior loan will be paid off at closing from a VA refinancing loan on the same property,
OR
• the prior VA loan has been paid in full, but the veteran has not disposed of the property securing the loan. The veteran may obtain restoration of the entitlement used on the prior loan in order to purchase a different property, one time only. Once such restoration is effected, the veteran’s COE will indicate the one-time restoration. It will also advise that any future restoration will require disposal of all property obtained with a VA loan."

From reading the first bullet, it sounds like as long as the VA loan has been refinanced out you can reclaim your entitlement and move on to the next purchase. Great! Reading the second bullet seems to indicate that as soon as you try to reclaim benefit from a property you had a VA loan on and paid off you trigger this one-time restoration and set yourself up for failure.

Does anyone have FIRST-HAND understanding of leveraging their VA loan as a product to continue investing? I am focusing here on complete entitlement restoration, not using the remaining entitlement.