@Vincent E peters what you are referring to is called "Split Entitlement" and it's my favorite topic.
1. Your entitlement is tied to both the loan amount as well as the county for which you purchased the home. For example, you live in Los Angeles, CA where the county loan limit is $970,800. The VA will "guarantee" 25% of that purchase price before the entitlement is "used up." You can find your county's loan limit using this calculator.
2. You CAN purchase beyond $970,800 in this example for Los Angeles County and the entitlement will still be considered "used up." Again, you can purchase beyond that limit.
3. You can also use up "part" of your entitlement by purchasing a home in Los Angeles County. For example if you purchase a home for half ($485,400) of the county's loan limit, it will eat up 50% of your entitlement, and also leaving the other 50% remaining for future use.
You can also use your VA loan a 3rd and 4th time. Yes, you can. You will have to apply for a "1-Time Restoration," however there are a couple other steps. 1 - you need to refinance both homes into conventional or some other financial product. 2 - you need to apply for a 1-Time Restoration through your mortgage broker.
Couple things with the 1-Time Restoration: this is your ONE AND ONLY TIME in your life that you can do this. Once you request the restoration, you get zero other opportunities to pull this trick. So make sure you do this with homes that are quality investments. Also, you can repeat the "split entitlement" trick as mentioned before, however if you ever want to get any sort of VA benefit beyond these potentially 4 properties, you have to sell every single home associated with a VA loan, even the ones you refinanced.
How do you submit a 1-Time Restoration Request? Ask your broker to complete the paperwork and submit to the VA.
If you'd like to talk to a VA representative about this, call the VA's Regional Loan Center.
You can get 4 homes this way (more if you live in cheap areas) and I recommend all active duty, reservists, and veterans begin their journey this way while also saving to buy using more conventional investment properties using DSCR or conventional properties.
