The VA Test Most Ohio Borrowers Have Never Heard Of, and Where Its Table Actually Lives
Program and regulatory figures verified October 10, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
This is the VA test that decides files nobody expected to be decided, and it is also a small case study in why so many sites get its numbers wrong.
What the test is
Residual income is the money left over each month after the mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, other debts and federal and state tax withholding. The VA asks whether what remains clears a threshold set by household size and by geographic region.
★ There is no conventional-loan equivalent. Conventional underwriting looks at ratios; the VA looks at a dollar amount actually left in the household. That is why a VA file can pass where a conventional file fails, and occasionally the reverse.
★ Where the table lives, exactly
The governing document is VA Pamphlet 26-7, Chapter 4, Credit Underwriting, published by the VA in its KnowVA self-service portal. That is the current authority, it is official, and it is the one to go to.
★ One practical note from building this page. A plain HTTP fetch of that URL on 2026-10-10, with a browser user-agent and again with a crawler user-agent, returned HTTP 200 and an identical AngularJS application shell in both cases; the chapter text is assembled in the browser afterwards. The VA's older WARMS document paths, where this chapter used to sit as a standalone file, now redirect into the same application.
★ Tools that execute JavaScript read it fine. Tools that do not, do not. That is only worth knowing because it explains why secondary sites quoting "the VA residual income table" so often disagree with each other and with the current chapter.
★★ Why we are not reproducing the numbers
This is a policy choice, not an access problem. Two reasons.
- ★ We do not publish underwriting tables on a marketing page. Thresholds change, regional assignments change, and a stale figure in a Key Takeaway is worse than no figure. This is a standing policy here, not an Ohio exception.
- ★★ The figure on its own does not help you. Residual income depends on utilities, maintenance, household size, the actual tax withholding on your pay and every debt on your credit report. Reading a threshold tells you nothing about whether your file clears it.
★ What we will do: run it on your actual numbers, before you are under contract, and tell you where you stand. That takes one conversation. (480) 296-6513.
★★ The Ohio angle that does matter
Ohio's housing is cheap relative to the $832,750 VA loan limit. Columbus, the dearest metro, is about 40% of it. A low payment is the single biggest lever on residual income, so Ohio files clear this test more comfortably than files in expensive states.
★★ And there is a second Ohio lever that is easy to miss: the disabled-veteran homestead reduction lowers your property-tax bill, property tax is escrowed into the payment, and the payment is what residual income is measured against. A veteran holding the reduction has a structurally lower payment and therefore more residual income. Whether you qualify.
★ So on an Ohio file the homestead exemption is not only a tax matter. It feeds the underwriting.
What we decide and what we do not
We are a lender. The VA writes the thresholds and we apply them. We are not affiliated with the VA or any government agency, we do not set these figures, and we will not guess at yours.
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555. (480) 296-6513 · mcerto@cfmtg.com.
Frequently asked questions
What is VA residual income?
It is the money left each month after the mortgage payment, taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, other debts and tax withholding. The VA requires that what remains clears a threshold set by household size and geographic region. Conventional underwriting has no equivalent test.Where does the VA publish its residual income table?
In VA Pamphlet 26-7, Chapter 4, Credit Underwriting, inside the VA's KnowVA self-service portal, which is the current authority. The older WARMS document paths now redirect into that portal. The chapter is rendered by JavaScript, so a plain HTTP fetch returns the application shell rather than the table text.Why does this site not publish the residual income figures?
As a matter of policy, not availability. The official source is VA Pamphlet 26-7, Chapter 4 on KnowVA. We do not reproduce underwriting tables on a marketing page because thresholds change and a stale one is worse than none, and because the threshold alone tells you nothing without your household size, utilities, debts and tax withholding. We run it on your actual numbers instead.Does Ohio's homestead exemption affect VA residual income?
Indirectly, yes. The disabled-veteran homestead reduction lowers the property-tax bill, property tax is escrowed into the monthly payment, and residual income is measured after that payment. A veteran holding the reduction has a structurally lower payment and so more residual income.Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about VA home loan financing, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax or financial advice. Cornerstone First Mortgage is a private lender and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. VA entitlement, funding-fee exemption and disability ratings are determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Ohio homestead exemption for disabled veterans is governed by Ohio Revised Code sections 323.151 and 323.152 and is administered by county auditors, not by Cornerstone; the statutory amounts are adjusted annually by the Ohio Tax Commissioner and the tax effect depends on local assessment and effective tax rates. Figures here carry the date we verified them against primary sources. All loans are subject to borrower, property and program qualification.