A VA loan is worth more in St. George, Utah than most veterans realize, and the biggest piece of it often has nothing to do with the mortgage. On a $600,000 home with nothing down, the VA funding fee is $12,900 on first use under the fee table VA lists as current in October 2026, and a veteran who receives VA disability compensation pays none of it. If that veteran is rated 100 percent disabled, Washington County's exemption of up to $535,459 of taxable value also covers the roughly $2,177 a year in property tax that the same home carries in St. George at 2026 proposed rates. VA buyers are still rare here, which matters when you write an offer: 125 of the 3,311 Washington County residential closings recorded in the MLS from January through September 2026 used VA financing, about one in 26.
VA loans in Washington County, Utah, checked October 17, 2026: no VA loan limit with full entitlement; a $832,750 county conforming limit for 2026 that matters only with partial entitlement; a funding fee of 2.15 percent on a first-use, zero-down purchase, waived for veterans receiving VA disability compensation; seller concessions capped at 4 percent of reasonable value; a wood-destroying insect report required on VA appraisals in Washington County; and a property tax exemption for disabled veterans of up to $535,459 of taxable value, applied for by September 1.
How many St. George home sales use a VA loan?
About 3.8 percent of them. The Washington County Board of Realtors MLS shows 3,311 residential closings in Washington County with a close date from January 1 through September 30, 2026, and 125 of those list VA as the sold loan type. Conventional loans closed 1,784 of them, cash buyers closed 979 and FHA closed 340, with the remainder recorded as other financing or left blank. I pulled those counts on October 17, 2026, and late-reported September sales can still nudge them up a little.
The Census Bureau counts 10,523 veterans living in Washington County in its 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey estimate, so the small VA share is not for lack of veterans. My read is that some of it is age, since many veterans who move here are retirees buying with cash from a home they sold somewhere else, and some of it is reputation, because sellers and their agents still hear old stories about slow, picky VA appraisals. That reputation is worth answering directly, and the rest of this post does it with the published rules.
What does the VA funding fee cost on a St. George home?
On a $600,000 St. George purchase with zero down, the VA funding fee is $12,900 on first use and $19,800 on any later use. VA's funding fee page, last updated October 5, 2026, sets the purchase fee at 2.15 percent of the loan for first use with less than 5 percent down, 1.5 percent with 5 percent or more down and 1.25 percent with 10 percent or more down, and at 3.3 percent for later use with less than 5 percent down. The fee applies to the loan amount, not the price, so a down payment shrinks it twice: once by lowering the rate and again by lowering the base.
Those rates have applied since April 7, 2023, and the statute that sets them, 38 U.S.C. 3729, carries this schedule for loans closed before June 9, 2034. On a purchase, the funding fee is the only cost VA allows you to finance into the loan, which is how a zero-down VA buyer ends up with a loan balance a little above the purchase price.
| Down payment on a $600,000 home | Loan amount | Fee, first use | Fee, later use | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0 (0 percent) | $600,000 | $12,900 (2.15%) | $19,800 (3.3%) | VA funding fee table, page updated Oct 5, 2026 |
| $30,000 (5 percent) | $570,000 | $8,550 (1.5%) | $8,550 (1.5%) | VA funding fee table, page updated Oct 5, 2026 |
| $60,000 (10 percent) | $540,000 | $6,750 (1.25%) | $6,750 (1.25%) | VA funding fee table, page updated Oct 5, 2026 |
| Any amount, veteran receiving VA disability compensation | Any | $0 | $0 | VA funding fee exemptions, same page |
The exemption is the line most worth checking. VA waives the fee if you receive VA compensation for a service-connected disability, if you are eligible for that compensation but receive retirement or active-duty pay instead, if you are a surviving spouse receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, if you are a service member with a proposed or memorandum rating issued before closing, or if you are on active duty and show proof of a Purple Heart on or before closing. Your Certificate of Eligibility shows whether the fee applies, and VA can refund it later if a disability award comes through with an effective date before your closing date.
VA's own explanation of the fee, the exemptions and the refund rule is on its funding fee page. Read VA's funding fee and closing costs page.
Is there a VA loan limit in Washington County, Utah?
No, not if you have your full entitlement. VA's loan limits page says a veteran whose Certificate of Eligibility shows the full $36,000 basic entitlement has no loan limit, as long as the veteran can afford the loan and the appraisal supports the price. In plain terms that usually means you have never used the benefit, or you paid off an earlier VA loan and sold that home.
The county number matters when part of your entitlement is still tied up, usually because you kept a house bought with an earlier VA loan. For 2026 the Federal Housing Finance Agency set Washington County's one-unit conforming limit at $832,750, the national baseline, and VA uses that figure to work out how much entitlement you have left: 25 percent of $832,750 is $208,187.50, minus the entitlement your existing loan uses. Say a veteran still has $50,000 of entitlement tied to a home in another state. That leaves $158,187.50, and four times that, $632,750, is roughly the most a lender will usually lend here with no down payment. A $600,000 St. George home still fits, and above that number the veteran can still buy with a down payment that covers the gap.
FHFA publishes the full county table for 2026. See FHFA's conforming loan limit data.
What can a seller pay for a VA buyer in St. George?
A seller can pay all of a VA buyer's normal closing costs, and VA caps only the extras, which it calls seller concessions, at 4 percent of the home's reasonable value. VA's funding fee page says it does not limit credits for a loan's closing costs, but concessions such as paying the VA funding fee, paying off a buyer's debts or prepaying hazard insurance count toward the 4 percent. On a $600,000 St. George home that ceiling is $24,000 of concessions, on top of whatever ordinary closing costs the seller agrees to cover.
VA also limits what the veteran can be charged. Under 38 CFR 36.4313, a lender may charge a flat origination fee of no more than 1 percent of the loan in place of the many small processing charges a conventional borrower often sees, and the regulation lists the items a veteran may pay, such as the appraisal, recording fees, the credit report, title insurance, the survey and prepaid taxes and insurance.
On the Utah side, Washington County's published recorder and treasurer fee schedules carry no transfer tax, and recording has been a flat $45 per document since May 6, 2026. My closing cost calculator runs the title, escrow and recording figures for any price, and it works the same way for a VA purchase. Open the St. George closing cost calculator.
Does a VA appraisal in St. George need a termite inspection?
Yes. VA's list of local appraisal requirements, last updated July 11, 2025, says wood-destroying insect information is required in only six Utah counties: Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, San Juan and Washington. That puts every St. George, Hurricane, Washington City and Ivins VA purchase on the list, while a VA purchase in Salt Lake or Utah County does not carry the same requirement. Plan for the report early, because it is one more document the appraisal file needs before the loan can close.
The appraisal itself has a set fee. VA's appraisal fee and timeliness table, effective May 1, 2026, sets a single-family appraisal in Washington County at $700 with a seven business day turnaround, and it bars rush fees and late fees from being charged to the veteran.
A VA appraisal also checks the house against VA's minimum property requirements, which deal with whether the home is safe, sound and sanitary. I could not get the current text of that chapter of the VA lenders handbook to load for this post, so I am not going to paraphrase it. What I can say is that I found no VA rule that treats stucco or a desert-style home differently from any other house, and the stories you hear about that are not something VA publishes.
VA posts the local requirements by state. Read VA's local appraisal requirements.
How much property tax do disabled veterans pay in Washington County, Utah?
A veteran rated 100 percent disabled pays no property tax on the home's value in most of the St. George market. The Washington County Auditor's property tax relief page says the exemption reaches up to $535,459 of taxable value, scaled by the disability rating, with no exemption below a 10 percent rating, and it applies to the primary home the veteran owns and lives in on September 1. The Utah State Tax Commission states the same $535,459 figure in Publication 36, revised September 2026, which it still marks as a draft pending a public meeting, so watch for that ceiling to move with the 2027 numbers.
Here is what that does in St. George. Utah taxes a primary residence on 55 percent of its market value, so a $600,000 home has a taxable value of $330,000, and at St. George's 2026 proposed rate of 0.6596 percent that is about $2,177 a year. A 100 percent rating exempts up to $535,459 of taxable value, which covers all $330,000. A 100 percent rated veteran would not reach the ceiling until the home's market value passed about $973,600.
At lower ratings the exemption scales down. A 50 percent rating works out to about $267,730 of exempt taxable value, which by my arithmetic leaves about $62,270 taxable on that same $600,000 home and a bill near $411. The Auditor computes the exact figure from your rating letter, so treat my number as a ballpark. First-time applicants need their DD214 and the VA letter showing the rating, the county lists September 1 as the annual application deadline, and the exemption also extends to an unmarried surviving spouse or minor orphans. If a veteran died in the line of duty, the surviving spouse or minor orphan gets 100 percent of the property's value exempt.
The exemption is separate from the loan, so a veteran who buys with cash or a conventional loan still qualifies. My property tax calculator shows the bill before the exemption for 13 Washington County locations. Open the Southern Utah property tax calculator. Read the Washington County Auditor's property tax relief page.
Can I use a VA loan on a second home or a winter home in St. George?
No, not on a home you will not live in. Under 38 U.S.C. 3704(c), the veteran has to certify at closing that they intend to occupy the property as their home, and the statute defines that as living there personally or moving in within a reasonable time after the loan closes. The statute gives no day count, so ask your lender how it applies the rule before you plan a move date.
There is one exception that matters for military families. If a veteran on active duty cannot live in the home because of that duty, the occupancy rule is met when a spouse occupies it and signs the certification, or when a dependent child will live there and the child's guardian or the veteran's attorney-in-fact certifies it. A snowbird who keeps a primary home elsewhere and wants a winter place in St. George is a different case, and that purchase usually belongs on a conventional loan.
Where the VA benefit is worth the most here
Nearly 30 percent of this year's Washington County closings were cash, and that is the real competition a VA offer faces. My view is that a VA offer wins more often than its reputation suggests when it is written to remove the seller's worries: a clean pre-approval, the termite report ordered on day one, an appraisal contingency the seller can read without a lawyer, and closing costs requested as a dollar figure rather than a percentage. A VA buyer who is fee-exempt and asks for less in concessions is a strong buyer on paper, and the listing agent should hear that plainly.
The benefit also stacks with local programs. Utah Housing Corporation runs first-mortgage programs that can be paired with VA financing, and I covered their income limits and price caps for Washington County in a separate post. Read my St. George first-time home buyer programs post.
For current prices and inventory by city, my monthly Washington County market report has the latest figures. See the St. George market summary. Browse St. George homes for sale.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a VA loan limit in Washington County, Utah in 2026?
No, not for a veteran with full entitlement, because VA applies no loan limit when the full entitlement is available. The 2026 Washington County conforming limit of $832,750 matters only when part of your entitlement is still tied to an existing VA loan, and even then it sets the zero-down threshold, not a hard cap.
Do VA loans require a termite inspection in St. George, Utah?
Yes. VA requires wood-destroying insect information on VA appraisals in Washington County, one of six Utah counties on its list along with Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane and San Juan.
Can the seller pay my VA funding fee?
Yes. A seller can pay the funding fee, but VA counts it as a seller concession, and concessions are capped at 4 percent of the home's reasonable value. Ordinary closing costs paid by the seller do not count toward that cap.
Do disabled veterans pay property tax in Washington County, Utah?
It depends on the rating. Veterans rated at least 10 percent disabled can exempt part of their primary home's taxable value, up to $535,459 at a 100 percent rating, and on most St. George homes a 100 percent rating covers the entire taxable value. Apply with the Washington County Auditor by September 1.
How soon do I have to move into a home bought with a VA loan?
Within a reasonable time after closing, under 38 U.S.C. 3704(c). The statute sets no specific number of days, so confirm your lender's standard before you choose a move date, and know that a spouse can satisfy occupancy when an active-duty veteran cannot.
Thinking about using your VA benefit in St. George?
I have sold real estate in St. George for 13 years, and I would rather a veteran know the funding fee, the termite report and the tax exemption before the first showing than learn them at the closing table. If you want help pricing a home, writing a VA offer that holds up against cash, or reading the numbers on a specific house, I am glad to walk through it with you.
Call me at 435-200-5508. You can also send me a message on my contact page. Open the contact form.