FHA and VA Buyers: What You Are Not Being Shown, and What to Do About It

There is a field on every MLS listing that you will never see on Zillow or Realtor.com. It is called Financing Available, and it may be the single most important thing about a house you are looking at.

When a seller lists a home, the seller and the listing agent decide which kinds of buyers they will consider. There are four main choices: cash, conventional, FHA, and VA. A move-in-ready home usually goes all four ways. A home that needs work may not pass an FHA or VA appraisal, so the seller and listing agent may decide not to offer it to those buyers at all.

That decision is made before you ever see the listing. And it is invisible to you.

Why this matters more to FHA and VA buyers than anyone else

FHA and VA buyers are owner-occupants. You are buying a home to live in, and the home has to meet the lender’s minimum property standards. Peeling paint, a roof near the end of its life, a missing handrail, an open permit: any of these can hold up or kill an FHA or VA loan.

All buyers want a good deal. Homes that need work are priced better than homes that are move-in ready. So the “good deals” you find online are often exactly the homes that will not pass your appraisal, and often the homes the seller has already decided not to offer to you.

Here is how that plays out. Your buyer’s agent sets up a search that matches your criteria, including your financing. What fills your inbox is retail, move-in-ready, fully priced homes. Meanwhile you are on Zillow finding houses that look like much better deals, and wondering why your agent is not sending them. If nobody explains the Financing Available field to you, it looks like your agent is holding out. They are not. The seller is.

Where FHA and VA offers stand

When a listing gets multiple offers, cash usually gets the first look, conventional second, FHA and VA after that. That is not a rule, and a strong FHA or VA offer beats a weak cash offer more often than people think. But it is the order many listing agents start from, and you should go in knowing it.

In 2021 and 2022, that order was brutal. FHA and VA buyers wrote offer after offer and lost nearly all of them. That market is over. Inventory in Tampa Bay has grown, homes sit longer, and sellers who want to close are far more willing to work with a financed buyer than they were three years ago. Today an FHA or VA buyer with a clean pre-approval and a realistic price is a buyer a seller takes seriously.

What changed in 2024, and why it helps you

Since the NAR settlement took effect in August 2024, buyers sign a written agreement with their agent before touring homes, and buyer-agent compensation is negotiated on each deal instead of being set by the listing. Two things to know:

  1. Sellers can still pay concessions. Many do. A seller can contribute toward your closing costs, your rate buydown, or your agent’s fee. FHA and VA both allow seller concessions within limits. Ask for them.
  2. Your agreement with your agent should say what you are paying and how. Read it. If you do not understand it, do not sign it until you do.

What to do

  • Get fully pre-approved before you look. Not pre-qualified. Pre-approved, with documents in the file. For a VA loan, have your Certificate of Eligibility in hand.
  • Ask your agent to check Financing Available on every home you like. If it says cash or conventional only, do not waste your energy. Move on.
  • Ask about condition up front. A good agent can tell you in two minutes whether a home will likely pass an FHA or VA appraisal. If it will not, you can still buy it, but you are looking at a renovation loan, not a standard one.
  • Stack your programs. FHA is 3.5% down. VA is zero down. Both can be combined with Florida down payment assistance in many cases. Ask.
  • Write a clean offer. Short inspection period, realistic closing date, pre-approval letter attached, lender who answers the phone. That is what makes a financed offer competitive.

I am a licensed real estate broker and a licensed mortgage loan officer. I see both sides of this on every deal: what the seller is told about your financing, and what your lender needs to get you to closing. If you are an FHA or VA buyer in Pasco, Pinellas, Hernando, or Hillsborough, call or text me and we will build the plan before you start looking.

Randal Jenkins
Broker, Florida Real Estate Partners | Loan Officer, American Mortgage Services, NMLS #2053417
727-409-4663 | RJ409home@gmail.com