Yes, you can definitely get more than one VA loan, but this largely depends on your circumstances.

Residual Entitlement – You can obtain more than one VA loan if you still have money left from your entitlement and it’s sufficient in allowing you to purchase another home. For first-time VA loan takers, an entitlement represents the amount of money that the government is willing to guarantee in behalf of the VA loan taker.

The maximum value of entitlement that a veteran can hope of receiving is around $36,000 although it’s possible that the applying VA loan taker can get more than that depending on the total amount of their loan and the appraisal of the property. Most lenders will loan you up to 4 times the amount of your entitlement for a maximum loan of $417,000.

* Loans amounting to less than $45,000 – Individuals who have obtained loans within this range can expect 50% entitlement from the government
* Loans amounting from $45,001 to $56,250 – Individuals who have obtained loans within this range can expect approximately 40 to 50% entitlement from the government
* Loans amounting from $56,251 to $144,000 – Individuals who have obtained loans within this range can expect approximately 40% entitlement from the government
* Loans amounting over $144,000 – Individuals who have obtained loans within this range can expect approximately 25% entitlement from the government

Substitution of Entitlement (SOE) – If you don’t have any entitlement left, you can try finding another eligible military individual willing to assume your responsibilities for your current VA loan.

In this case, the military individual who’s about to assume your loan must first prove that they have adequate entitlement left to cover the balance of your VA loan. The assuming military individual must also be willing to certify that they will be using the house you’re selling as their permanent residence. If they are willing and able to comply with these requirements, both of you can now file for substitution of entitlement.

Once your request has been granted, you can then apply to the necessary authorities for the restoration of your entitlement. Once restored, you can then apply for your second VA loan.

Selling of Property – To qualify for a subsequent VA loan, you can sell the property that you’ve purchased using the money obtained from your VA loan. After selling the property, you must then settle your remaining obligation with the VA department. Only when your original VA loan has been repaid in full are you allowed to take another VA loan.

Even if you’ve already sold the property to someone else, this doesn’t mean that the new owner of the house is now liable for payment of your VA loan. Until your obligations haven’t been fully settled, your current VA loan will continue to stand and you won’t be able to take a subsequent VA loan.

Restoration of Entitlement – The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs will award their VA loan holders a chance to have their entitlement restored once and only once as long as the VA loan they had originally borrowed had been paid in full and secondly, that the house they had purchased using their previous VA loan had not been sold off.

Release of Liability – When you sell off a property, depending on your agreement with your buyer, you may still be held liable for your present VA loan. As such, you may have to wait for a certain period of time until you can fully pay off your previous loan and take a subsequent one.

On the other hand, you can always have someone take over your responsibility for you. Depending on the date you’ve been awarded with the VA loan, you may not even have to contact the VA department to inform them of your intentions of transferring your responsibilities to another individual.

For those who have obtained a VA loan after March 1, 1988, however, they will first have to prove that the person assuming payments of their original loan are qualified according to VA guidelines before their entitlement can be restored and they can apply for another VA loan.

In most cases, an individual must make do with simply one VA loan. If you have the chance to take a subsequent VA loan, be sure that you use this opportunity wisely.