Virginia Mortgage Guide

$380K median statewide, but Virginia has three distinct markets that barely resemble each other. Northern Virginia (NoVA) — Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun — averages $650K-$750K, fueled by federal government, defense contractors, and Amazon's HQ2 in Crystal City. Richmond sits around $340K and has quietly become one of the best value metros on the East Coast. Hampton Roads (Norfolk/Virginia Beach) runs $300K-$350K with military-driven demand.

The surprise is how affordable the Shenandoah Valley remains — Harrisonburg and Staunton in the $250K-$300K range with mountain views and a 2-hour drive to DC.

NoVA is a seller's market, especially in top school districts (Fairfax County, Loudoun County). Homes in McLean and Great Falls still get multiple offers first weekend. Richmond is balanced and increasingly popular with remote workers pricing out of DC. Hampton Roads tilts buyer-friendly, with inventory growing as military families rotate out.

Property taxes average 0.82% — reasonable, but Fairfax County's high home values mean you'll still owe $5K+ annually.

Virginia Housing runs the state's main programs, and they've got two worth knowing about. The HOMEownership Down Payment & Closing Cost Assistance gives you up to 2.5% of your loan amount—so on a $300K house, that's $7,500. It comes as a second mortgage at 0% interest. The catch is you have to stay in the home for 15 years or you pay it back when you sell, prorated for how long you stayed. If you make it the full 15 years, it's forgiven completely.

The better deal if you qualify is the SPARKS program. This one's for households at 80% or below the area median income—so income limits apply based on your county and household size. SPARKS gives you up to $15,000 for down payment and closing costs, and it's fully forgivable after just 5 years. You can combine it with the regular down payment assistance too, which is where it gets interesting.

Both programs require you to use Virginia Housing's first mortgage and complete a homebuyer education course. The mortgages themselves are competitive—sometimes better than conventional rates, sometimes not. You'll need to shop around.

One thing that surprises people: you don't have to be a literal first-time buyer. If you haven't owned a home in the past three years, you qualify. And veterans get even more flexibility on that rule.

The real limitation is participating lenders. Not every mortgage broker works with Virginia Housing programs, so you need to find one who does before you start house hunting. Their website has a lender search tool—start there and get specific numbers for your situation and county.

Here's the thing nobody tells you until closing day in Virginia: you're paying a grantor's tax of $0.25 per $100 of the sale price at closing. That's on top of whatever your locality adds—and places like Fairfax County tack on another $0.25 per $100, Arlington adds $0.33. So on a $400,000 house in Fairfax, you're looking at around $2,000 in transfer taxes alone. It sneaks up on people because most states either don't have it or split it differently between buyer and seller. Here it's mostly on the seller, but you need to know it exists because it affects negotiations.

Virginia also does non-judicial foreclosures. If you miss payments, there's no court process required—the lender can move fast through a trustee. You get a notice, usually 14-15 days before the sale, and that's pretty much it. No drawn-out process like you'd see in Florida or New York.

The flip side is Virginia has a decent right of rescission under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act for certain predatory lending situations, but honestly, if you're working with a legit lender it won't come up. Just know the foreclosure thing—it moves quick here compared to a lot of states, so don't let payments slide thinking you have months to figure it out.

Virginia's grantor tax catches buyers off guard because it's structured unusually. The seller pays a state grantor tax of $1 per $1,000 of sale price — but in Northern Virginia, there's an additional regional congestion tax of $0.15 per $100 that gets added on top. And while these are technically seller costs, in a competitive NoVA market, buyers sometimes absorb them as part of offer negotiations.

The real gotcha for out-of-staters: Virginia personal property tax. You'll owe annual taxes on your vehicles — typically 4-5% of assessed value. A $35,000 car costs $1,400-$1,750/year. This isn't a one-time thing; it recurs every year. Budget for it on top of your mortgage, because lenders don't factor personal property tax into your DTI ratio, but your bank account sure feels it.

Also, Virginia uses a unique "dry closing" process — funds don't transfer at the table. Expect your disbursement 1-2 days after the closing meeting, which delays key handoffs.