FHA loan requirements in Virginia: who it’s for and what it costs

FHA is the loan I reach for when the goal is getting you to the closing table with the credit, debts and savings you have today. It takes lower scores and higher debt ratios than conventional, and you pay for that in mortgage insurance. Here are the FHA loan requirements in Virginia as of November 2026, what the loan really costs, and how to get out of it later. (If you searched “FHA loan requirements VA” meaning Virginia, you’re in the right place; the VA loan for veterans is a separate program.)

FHA loan requirements in Virginia at a glance

What credit score do you need for an FHA loan?

HUD’s lines are simple. A score of 580 or higher qualifies for maximum financing, which means the 3.5% minimum down payment. From 500 to 579, the loan is capped at 90% of the value, so you put at least 10% down. Below 500, FHA isn’t available. HUD restated those thresholds in October 2026, when it said FHA will accept two newer credit score models alongside the classic one for case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2027. The minimums don’t change.

Why 10% down at 500? Skin in the game. With 10% of your own money in the house, you’ll do everything in your power not to default, because you can’t afford to lose it.

The program floor and the price are two different things, though. This is what I see on rate sheets, by middle score:

Those are tendencies from my rate sheets, not rules, and they move. The point is that a score in the 500s or low 600s is still lendable; it just costs more, and every tier up saves you money. Credit can be fixed over time.

FHA down payment requirements

The minimum down payment on FHA is 3.5% of the price, which HUD calls the minimum required investment: $10,500 on a $300,000 home and $14,000 on a $400,000 home. With a score from 500 to 579, it’s 10%.

The 3.5% can come from your savings or from a gift. FHA accepts gifts from a family member, an employer or labor union, a charity, a government homeownership program, or a close friend with a documented interest in you. You and the donor both sign and date the gift letter, and cash the donor kept at home doesn’t count. The paper trail lenders need is on my gift funds page.

What can’t cover the 3.5% is a seller credit. The seller can pay up to 6% of the price toward your closing costs, prepaids and points, just not the down payment. A credit from the lender for taking a slightly higher rate doesn’t count toward that 6%. So the closing costs can come from your cash, from the rate, or from the seller, and usually from some mix of the three.

Because a government homeownership program is an approved gift source, down payment assistance can help cover the 3.5% too. Virginia Housing’s grants and second mortgages have their own income and price limits, and they’re on my Virginia first-time buyer programs page.

FHA mortgage insurance: what it costs in 2026

FHA’s version of PMI is called MIP, the mortgage insurance premium: same idea, a few letters flipped around. It comes in two pieces, and neither one depends on your credit score.

• The upfront premium: 1.75% of the base loan, usually added to the loan.
• The annual premium: a percentage of the loan, paid monthly, set by your down payment and your loan term. It’s recomputed each year on the lower balance.

Those rates apply to base loans up to $726,200, which covers every one-unit FHA loan in the Richmond area, since the limit here is $707,250. Here’s what that looks like on a typical purchase.

The federal rules that let you cancel PMI at 80% and 78% of the original value don’t apply to FHA. With less than 10% down, the only ways out of the annual premium are a refinance or a sale. How PMI and MIP compare, and how removal works on each, is on my mortgage insurance page.

FHA loan limits for Richmond, Virginia in 2026

Every Richmond-area locality has the same 2026 FHA limits: Richmond city; Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover, Powhatan, Goochland, New Kent, Prince George and Dinwiddie counties; and the cities of Petersburg, Colonial Heights and Hopewell. HUD sets the one-unit limit at 115% of the area’s median sale price of $615,000.

Nationally, the 2026 one-unit limit runs from a floor of $541,287 to a ceiling of $1,249,125, so outside the Richmond area check the county. The 2027 FHA limits had not been announced as of early November 2026; they usually follow in December. Above the limit, you’re looking at conventional, which goes to the 2026 conforming limit of $832,750 for one unit here.

Debt-to-income: where FHA gives you room

FHA allows a higher debt-to-income ratio than conventional, and that’s one of the big benefits of FHA. Student loans, a car payment and a couple of credit cards can squeeze you out of conventional and still fit on FHA.

The catch is the automated approval. FHA files run through automated underwriting, and the answer comes back as an “Accept” or a “Refer.” A Refer isn’t a denial. It means the file gets underwritten by hand, under firmer ratio limits. If you get one, your next question should be, “Tyler, what could I do to not have a manual?” The usual levers:

• Move up a credit tier.
• Add verified reserves, such as a retirement account.
• Pay down or pay off a debt that’s being counted.
• Take off a co-borrower whose credit is dragging the file down.

Junk in equals junk out. The system only knows what the application tells it, so the file has to be accurate before any of those levers help.

What happens if your FHA loan is suspended in underwriting

A suspension means the underwriter needs more before making a decision. It’s not a denial, but it is a warning, and there’s often more than one concern in it. This is how I work one:

Most suspensions are solvable, but not by one good letter. The bigger picture of conditions and conditional approval is on my underwriting page.

Can you count rent from the home you’re leaving?

Sometimes, and FHA’s rule is stricter than most people expect. Under HUD’s handbook, FHA has several conditions for counting rent from a home you’re moving out of, including a move of more than 100 miles, a lease of at least a year with proof of the deposit or first month’s rent, and an appraisal showing the market rent and at least 25% equity. When the rent does count, FHA takes 75% of the lower of the appraiser’s market rent or the lease rent and subtracts the old home’s full payment. A positive result is added to your income, and a negative one counts as a debt.

Ask for the current conditions before you plan around it, because if the rent can’t count, you qualify carrying both payments on your income alone. That’s why I run a plan like this past the underwriter before you’re under contract. Whether to keep the old house as a rental at all is on my rent out your house page.

Can someone take over your FHA loan?

Yes. FHA loans are assumable, and so are VA loans. A buyer who takes over your loan keeps your rate and balance, which is worth a lot when that rate is far below current rates.

It’s not automatic. The buyer gets a full credit review by an FHA underwriter, to the same standard as a new loan, has to live in the home, and has to cover the gap between the price and your loan balance, usually in cash. FHA caps the servicer’s processing fee at $1,800. In my experience the assumption department can also hold the buyer to its own minimum score, won’t bend on a technicality, and takes 90 to 120 days, so the first step is asking the servicer for its requirements in writing. If you’re the seller, get a written release of liability as part of the assumption. A notice that the borrower changed doesn’t take you off the note.

FHA condos: the building has to be approved too

On a condo, FHA approves the building, not just you. The project can already be on HUD’s approved list, the lender can take it through a full project review, or a single unit can be approved on its own. Single-unit approval has its own tests, including at least half the units owner-occupied, a cap on how many FHA loans the project already carries, and no more than 15% of units behind on their association bills. In my files it has also been off the table while the developer still controls the HOA, which is common in new construction with phases still being built. That leaves the full review, and most of its paperwork has to come from the developer and the HOA.

In one of my files, it took about two months just to get the package to HUD, with about $1,500 of review costs already spent. What I’ve learned:

• Start the condo questionnaire first. It’s the slowest piece.
• Put the HOA’s full legal name on the application.
• Ask when the developer hands the HOA to the owners. If that date is close, single-unit approval may open up and beat the full review.
• Plan a longer rate lock than you would for a house.
• If the file has to move, the approval belongs to the project, and the FHA case number and appraisal can transfer to another FHA lender.

What makes a condo project lendable at all is on my condo page.

When to refinance out of an FHA loan

There are two refinance moves, and they solve different problems. If rates drop, an FHA streamline refinance can lower your rate with no appraisal, as long as at least 210 days and six payments have passed and your rate plus the annual premium drops at least half a point on a fixed-to-fixed refinance; the details are on my FHA streamline page. To end the mortgage insurance itself, you refinance into a conventional loan once you have at least 20% equity, and in my pricing it gets noticeably better again near 25%.

For a buyer who put about 10% down, my usual plan is to streamline if the rate drops, let the value build, and look at conventional again in a couple of years. Two details matter when you decide. The upfront premium is gone once you leave FHA, since HUD credits part of it back only on a refinance into another FHA loan within three years. And if you put 10% or more down, the annual premium ends after 11 years on its own. The math on when conventional overtakes FHA is on my FHA vs conventional page.

FHA isn’t the bad-credit loan, and it isn’t a trap. It’s a door, priced for the people it lets in. Know what the insurance costs, know your way out, and it does its job.