On September 16, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate for the first time since 2023 and signaled it may not be done. The next day, Freddie Mac's weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed at 6.95% — the highest reading since January 2025, and well above the 6.26% average from a year earlier.
That's why this question is suddenly everywhere.
Somewhere in the Charleston area there's a seller sitting on a VA loan at 2.75% that they locked in 2021. And somewhere there's a buyer staring at a 7% quote wondering if there's any way to get that seller's rate instead of their own.
The short answer is yes. You do not have to be a veteran to assume a VA loan. But the rate is only half the story, and the other half is where most of these deals fall apart.
Why this matters more in Charleston than almost anywhere
Joint Base Charleston supports a population of roughly 90,000 people when you count active duty, reservists, retirees, and civilian personnel. There are only about 1,150 homes on the base itself. Everyone else lives out in the tri-county — Goose Creek, Summerville, Moncks Corner, Hanahan, North Charleston, Ladson, Cane Bay, Nexton.
Add Charleston County's large concentration of military retirees and veterans, and you get a housing market where VA loans are woven into a big share of neighborhoods. Many of those loans were written between 2020 and 2022, when rates were at or near historic lows.
In a 7% world, every one of those loans is a potential asset sitting inside a house. Most sellers don't realize it, and most buyers never ask.
Which loans can be assumed
Three loan types are generally assumable: VA, FHA, and USDA.
Conventional loans — the majority of mortgages — are effectively not assumable because they contain a due-on-sale clause requiring the loan to be paid off when the property changes hands. If the seller has a conventional loan, this conversation ends there.
So the first question on any house you like is simple: what kind of loan does the seller have? The listing agent can usually find out, and some sellers are now advertising it directly.
How a VA assumption works
Anyone who qualifies can assume. A buyer does not need military service or VA eligibility. You apply with the seller's loan servicer, and they underwrite you on credit, income, debt-to-income ratio, and VA residual income standards. Many servicers look for a credit score around 620 or higher, though that's a servicer overlay rather than a VA rule.
You must live in the home. VA assumptions keep the owner-occupancy requirement. This is not a path to a low-rate investment property.
The fees are modest. The VA funding fee on an assumption is 0.5% of the remaining loan balance — dramatically less than the funding fee on a new VA purchase loan. Veterans who are exempt from the regular funding fee (for example, those receiving VA disability compensation) are generally exempt here too. Servicer processing fees on VA assumptions are capped at a few hundred dollars.
It takes longer than a normal closing. VA guidance issued in late 2023 directs servicers to process complete assumption applications within 45 days. In practice, reported timelines range from about 45 days to well past 90, and some run longer than 120. The servicer controls the pace, not the buyer, the seller, or the agents.
How an FHA assumption is different
FHA assumptions work similarly — the buyer qualifies with the servicer and takes over the existing rate and balance — with two important differences.
First, FHA caps the assumption fee at $1,800, though many servicers charge less.
Second, the mortgage insurance comes with the loan. If the original borrower put down less than 10%, FHA's annual mortgage insurance premium generally runs for the life of the loan, and you inherit it. That can easily add over a hundred dollars a month. It doesn't necessarily kill the deal, but it needs to be in your comparison. VA loans have no monthly mortgage insurance, which is part of why VA assumptions tend to pencil better.
Let's do the math on a real Charleston number
Here's a hypothetical built around current tri-county figures. The CTAR median sales price for August 2026 was $431,500.
Say a service member bought a home in 2021 for $330,000 with a zero-down VA loan at 2.75%. Their principal and interest payment is about $1,347 a month. Five years later, the remaining balance is roughly $292,000.
They sell to you for $431,500.
- If you assume their loan: you take over the $292,000 balance at 2.75%, and your principal and interest stays about $1,347.
- If you borrow that same $292,000 at 6.95% on a new loan: principal and interest is about $1,933.
That's roughly $586 a month — about $7,000 a year — on the identical house with the identical amount borrowed. The VA funding fee on the assumption would be about $1,460.
Those are real savings. Now here's the part the "3% mortgage!" headlines skip.
The catch: the equity gap
You don't buy the seller's loan balance. You buy the house.
In that example, the price is $431,500 and the loan you're assuming is $292,000. The difference — about $139,500 — is the seller's equity, and you have to pay it to them at closing.
You can cover that gap with:
- Cash. The simplest and cleanest route.
- A second mortgage or home equity loan layered behind the assumed loan. Available, but typically at a higher rate than a first mortgage, which eats into your savings. Not every lender will do it, and not every servicer is comfortable with it.
- Some combination, sometimes including seller-carried financing, which needs careful legal structuring.
This is where the math changes fast. Borrow $139,500 on a second lien at a rate well above 7% and your blended payment can end up closer to a new loan than you expected. Run the numbers with a lender before you get attached to a house.
The best assumption candidates in Charleston tend to be recent purchases with small down payments — a home bought in 2022 or 2023 in Cane Bay, Nexton, Summerville, or Goose Creek with an FHA or VA loan, where the seller hasn't built a mountain of equity yet. A house bought in 2019 that's since appreciated substantially usually has a gap too big for most buyers to close.
What sellers need to know before they say yes
If you're the seller with a VA loan, an assumption can make your house stand out in a market where CTAR's August report showed 5,593 homes for sale across the region. A below-market rate is a real selling feature, and in some cases it can support a stronger price.
But there's a serious trade-off, and it falls on you.
Your VA entitlement may stay tied to the house. If a non-veteran assumes your loan, your VA entitlement generally remains committed to that loan until it's paid off. That can limit your ability to use your full VA benefit on your next purchase.
If the buyer is an eligible veteran who agrees to a substitution of entitlement, your entitlement can be restored. That's the cleanest outcome for a VA seller.
For a service member getting PCS orders out of Joint Base Charleston and planning to buy again with a VA loan at the next duty station, this is not a small detail. It may be the whole decision.
Get a release of liability. Without one, you can remain exposed if the new borrower defaults later. Make sure your closing attorney confirms it's in place.
How this works inside a South Carolina contract
South Carolina residential contracts are generally built around a buyer getting a new loan. An assumption is a different transaction, and the contract needs to say so.
At minimum, your contract should address:
- That the purchase is contingent on the servicer approving the assumption
- The timeline — and what happens if the servicer takes longer than expected
- How the equity gap is being paid, and whether any second loan is a contingency
- Whether the buyer is substituting VA entitlement
- Who pays which fees
Build at least 90 days into your closing timeline, and have a clear plan if approval stalls. Because South Carolina requires an attorney to handle the closing, bring your closing attorney into this early. This is not a transaction to paper on a standard form and hope.
How to find assumable homes
Assumable loans aren't consistently flagged in the MLS. The practical approaches are:
- Search listing remarks for words like "assumable," "VA assumption," or "low rate." I can run this for you across the tri-county.
- Ask the listing agent directly about the seller's loan type on homes you like.
- Use assumption-specific platforms. Sites like Assumable.io and AssumeList aggregate these listings. One vendor claims over 42,000 active VA assumable listings nationwide — treat that as a vendor figure, not an audited count.
Who this is for — and who it isn't
An assumption tends to make sense if you have significant cash or reliable secondary financing for the equity gap, you plan to live in the home, you can tolerate a longer closing, and the rate difference is large.
It usually doesn't make sense if you're stretching for the down payment, you need a fast closing, you want an investment property, or the seller's equity is so large that financing the gap wipes out the savings.
It's also worth saying plainly: most buyers won't end up using an assumption. The combination of an assumable loan, a manageable equity gap, and a seller willing to wait 90 days is uncommon. But when it lines up, it can be the single biggest money-saving move available in a 7% market.
Numbers to verify before you rely on them
- Mortgage rates move weekly. The 6.95% figure is Freddie Mac's survey average as of September 17, 2026, for borrowers with 20% down and excellent credit. Your quote will differ.
- Assumption timelines vary widely by servicer. VA guidance calls for 45-day processing, but reported real-world timelines range from about 45 to over 120 days.
- Fee caps cited here reflect published VA and FHA guidance. Confirm with the specific servicer.
- The payment example is my own hypothetical calculation — principal and interest only, with no taxes or insurance included.
- Joint Base Charleston population figures vary by source depending on who's counted (active duty only versus retirees and civilians). The roughly 90,000 figure includes all of them.
I'm a Realtor, not a lender or attorney. Talk to both before you commit to an assumption.
The bottom line
Yes, a non-veteran can assume a VA loan in South Carolina, and in the Charleston market — with its deep military footprint and a lot of 2021-vintage VA loans — there are more of these opportunities hiding in plain sight than most buyers realize.
The rate is the prize. The equity gap is the price of admission. And for a VA seller, the entitlement question deserves as much thought as the sale price.
If you want me to search the tri-county for homes with assumable loans, or you're a seller wondering whether your low-rate loan could help you sell, call me. I'd rather run those numbers with you before the first showing than after the first offer.
Article written by:
Dustin Guthrie, Realtor
(843) 697-7757
[email protected]
