Have you have had problems using your VA Loan benefit?

Joshua, you want to find a lender who specializes in VA loans and discuss with them. I do not know the exact criteria, but the VA has some leniency, meaning they focus a lot of the ability to pay, versus exact criteria and ratios like other loan programs... The best answers will come from a VA loan expert and not just some regular lender.

Joshua, I specialize in VA loans and being in commission sales or owning your own business can be tricky when getting a mortgage of any kind. There's several reasons behind why lenders require a 2 year history of commission earnings. All of them are to mitigate risk and ensure that you can pay for the loan each month. With commission sales, especially the requirement for a 2 year history, it is important to determine an average income for you. Since your income can vary from month to month they need to see where you are on average. Secondly, they are looking to see how much of your income you claim as a loss against your earnings from your tax returns. Theoretically if a commission person or business owner tells the IRS that they spent the majority of their earnings making the business run then essentially they're saying that their net income is truly what they had to spend personally on things like a roof over their head and food on the table. You and I know that isn't entirely the truth and so do the lenders, but in the instance of someone defaulting on their loan all the lenders have for their own salvation is the documentation you provided showing them you could afford the mortgage.

Sorry for all the background, but just wanted to show you the "why" behind it a little. There is a way to get around the 2 year history, but it will only work if you've been working in the same field for the past 2+ years. While that may not benefit your total purchasing power (averaging current plus past job incomes) it may be the way to get you into a home today rather than waiting out that 2 year window.