Does a VA loan require a home inspection?
By Kyle Melvin · NMLS #1486450 · REV Mortgage ·
Short answer
No. VA requires an appraisal, which establishes value and checks the Minimum Property Requirements — safety, structural soundness and sanitation. It does not require a home inspection, and the appraisal is not a substitute for one: the appraiser is not testing the furnace, opening the electrical panel or walking the roof. Get an inspection; the appraisal is for the lender and VA, and the inspection is for you.
The appraisal and the inspection answer different questions. The appraisal answers: what is this house worth, and does it meet VA's floor for safety and soundness? The inspection answers: what is actually wrong with this house, and what will it cost? A house can pass the MPRs with a furnace on its last winter and a water heater rusting through — neither is an MPR failure until it fails.
What VA does require, under Chapter 12 of the VA Lenders Handbook, is specific: a wood-destroying insect inspection in states where it applies (most of the South and the coasts), a water quality test on a private well, and a septic evaluation where one is indicated. The appraisal page covers what the appraiser flags and how conditions are handled.
The inspection is your contingency. On a PCS timeline it can be scheduled during house-hunting leave or right after, with the report delivered remotely; the house-hunting leave page sequences it. Skipping it to make an offer more competitive is a decision to make with open eyes, and the base guides on this site — Fort Hood's clay foundations, Norfolk's crawlspaces — describe the housing stock problems that only an inspection finds.
Questions people also ask
- What does the VA appraiser check that a conventional one doesn't?
- The Minimum Property Requirements: visible safety hazards, peeling paint on pre-1978 homes, roof condition, working mechanical systems, water and sewer, wood-destroying insects where required, and access. It is a visual review against a checklist, not a diagnostic inspection.
- What inspections does VA actually require?
- A wood-destroying insect inspection in most of the country, a water test on a private well, and a septic evaluation in most cases. Beyond those, VA relies on the appraiser's observations.
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