Bexar County

San Antonio Mortgage Broker: VA Loans and Home Financing

Joint Base San Antonio carries 74,713 direct employees, 33,256 of them on active duty, according to the Texas Comptroller's 2025 analysis of Texas military installations. That one figure sets the terms for how houses get financed in this city. VA lending is the default question here rather than a specialty product, and the parts of a VA file that confuse people elsewhere come up weekly in San Antonio: entitlement on a second use, basic allowance for housing treated as income, occupancy while a servicemember is deployed, and the Tidewater step inside a VA appraisal.

The Comptroller put JBSA's total supported employment at 223,349 and its contribution to the Texas economy at roughly $53.5 billion for 2025. Lackland sits on the southwest side, Fort Sam Houston just northeast of downtown, and Randolph out past Converse and Universal City. Three locations, three different commutes, three different school districts, and three different tax stacks.

This page covers the city. The Bexar County lending guide handles county-wide mechanics, the appraisal district, unincorporated addresses and rural programs, so the material below stays on San Antonio itself.

What does a house actually cost in San Antonio right now?

The San Antonio Board of Realtors put the September 2026 median sale price just below $302,000, down about 2% from September 2025, with sales also down about 2% year over year. SABOR estimated roughly six months of supply that month and said average time on market was approaching three months. Those four numbers describe a market that has stopped moving quickly.

Read the median carefully, because the sources disagree and the disagreement is methodological rather than anyone being wrong. SABOR reports an MLS median across a service area that reaches well beyond the city limits. The Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M, in its September 2026 Texas Housing Insight report covering July data, put San Antonio at 6.2 months of inventory with active listings up 4.4% and prices down 1.1% year over year, easing from a 1.7% decline in June. Redfin, measuring city-limit sold prices over the three months ending September 2026, reported a median closer to $257,000, down 2.9%, with average time on market around 64 days. Zillow's index of typical home value for the city sat near $223,000 in August 2026, down 3.7% year over year.

Those are three different questions getting three different answers. The MLS median tells you what sold. The city-limit median tells you what sold inside the municipal boundary, which strips out the higher-priced new construction in the ETJ and the outlying counties. The index tells you what the typical standing house is worth, sold or not. When a listing agent and an appraiser quote you different market direction, this is usually why.

For statewide context, TRERC put the Texas median at $339,000 in July 2026, flat year over year and down from $342,000 in June, with 5.5 months of supply statewide. San Antonio is carrying more inventory than the state as a whole.

What six months of supply does to your loan file

Six months of supply changes the order of operations on a purchase. Sellers are agreeing to pay buyer closing costs more often, which is useful, but seller-paid costs are capped by program and by occupancy type, and anything above the cap gets reapplied as a price reduction or lost. Get the contribution structured before the contract is signed rather than discovered at underwriting.

Appraisals are also behaving differently. In a market with rising inventory and softening prices, the appraiser has recent comparable sales that closed below current list prices. That is the opposite of the 2021 problem. Expect the appraised value to land at or below contract more often than above it, and on a VA file, expect the Tidewater step described further down this page to be invoked more than it was three years ago.

New construction is a large share of what is for sale

HomesUSA.com counted 1,179 new-home closings in the San Antonio market in May 2026, up from 1,033 in April, at an average price of $333,952. A ConsumerAffairs analysis of January and February 2026 data ranked San Antonio tenth among 150 large metros for new construction activity, counting 1,815 new building permits issued and 1,685 new-construction homes sold across those two months.

That matters for financing because builder contracts are not resale contracts. Builder incentives are often tied to the builder's affiliated lender, the appraisal is ordered against a contract signed months before completion, and the tax escrow at closing is frequently calculated on unimproved land value and then resets when the improvement hits the roll. A broker file lets you compare the builder's lender against the open market instead of taking the incentive on faith.

Why does VA financing sit at the center of this market?

Because the eligible population here is enormous and the program's advantages are structural rather than promotional. A VA loan carries no monthly mortgage insurance, the funding fee is waived entirely for veterans receiving compensation for a service-connected disability, and the entitlement behind the guaranty can be reused across duty stations. The pieces below are where San Antonio files actually get stuck.

How much entitlement do you have, and what happens on a second use

Entitlement is the amount the VA will guarantee on your behalf, and it is not the same thing as a loan limit. A veteran with full entitlement and no other VA loan outstanding has no VA-imposed ceiling on loan size, only what the lender will underwrite and what the property appraises for. The 2026 conforming figure of $832,750 becomes relevant in a different situation: when you already have a VA loan outstanding and are using remaining entitlement for a second property.

That second-use scenario is routine in San Antonio because people buy here, receive orders, and want to keep the house. In that case the VA's guaranty on the new loan is limited by what entitlement is left, and the county conforming figure is the reference point the calculation runs against. The practical result is that a second simultaneous VA purchase can work, but the numbers have to be run against your actual Certificate of Eligibility rather than assumed.

Restoration is the other path. Once the first VA loan is paid off, usually by selling, entitlement can be restored in full. There is also a one-time restoration available in certain circumstances where the prior loan has been paid off but the property is retained. Pull the Certificate of Eligibility at application, not after you are under contract. The COE carries codes that tell a lender immediately whether you have full entitlement, partial entitlement, or a funding fee exemption, and those three answers produce three different approvals.

Basic allowance for housing as qualifying income

BAH counts as qualifying income when it is documented and continuing. Because it is not taxable, lenders can generally treat it as worth more than its face value for ratio purposes, which on a tight debt-to-income calculation changes the answer rather than nudging it. Bring the Leave and Earnings Statement.

Two San Antonio-specific wrinkles come up constantly. First, BAH is set by duty ZIP code, rank and dependency status, not by the ZIP code of the house you are buying, so a servicemember reporting to Randolph and buying in Boerne is paid against the duty location. Second, a deployment can change the rate and the allowance type, and a lender needs the entitlement to be continuing rather than temporary. If the LES shows an allowance tied to a temporary assignment, expect questions and have the orders ready.

PCS timing and buying before you arrive

A permanent change of station compresses a mortgage into whatever time the report date leaves. Three habits do most of the work.

Start the file before the house. A complete credit, income and asset review done while you are still at the old duty station turns the search window into a confirmation rather than an underwrite. Orders also serve as documentation of the relocation, which is how a lender justifies qualifying you on the new duty station rather than the old one.

Get any power of attorney reviewed by the lender before it is signed. A general POA is frequently not sufficient. Many lenders and most title companies want specific language naming the transaction, the property and the loan, and discovering that three days before closing while the servicemember is unreachable is the single most common reason a PCS closing slips.

Plan the occupancy certification. VA expects the veteran to occupy the property as a home, generally within a reasonable time after closing, which is commonly administered as about 60 days. A report date that sits outside that window needs to be addressed in the file up front, not explained afterward.

Occupancy when the servicemember deploys

VA occupancy rules were written with deployment in mind, which is why they are more workable than conventional occupancy language. A spouse can satisfy the occupancy requirement in the servicemember's place while the servicemember is deployed, and the certification is made with that circumstance disclosed rather than hidden. An intent to occupy upon return from deployment can also be certified in defined circumstances.

What does not work is an undisclosed decision to rent the property out at closing while certifying occupancy. That is an occupancy misrepresentation regardless of how reasonable the reason feels, and it is the one thing on a VA file worth being rigid about. If the plan is a rental from day one, the file belongs on a conventional investment program or a DSCR loan instead, which is a conversation worth having before you write the offer rather than after.

VA appraisals, minimum property requirements and Tidewater

VA appraisals run on their own process and include minimum property requirements, which are condition standards rather than value questions. Peeling exterior paint on a pre-1978 house, exposed or unsafe wiring, an active roof leak, a failing water heater relief valve, or standing water under a pier-and-beam house will be written up and must be cured before closing. San Antonio sellers inside Loop 410 are generally used to this, because the housing stock there is old enough that something usually gets called.

Tidewater is the step most buyers have never heard of. When the appraiser's analysis is trending below the contract price, the appraiser notifies the lender's designated contact that Tidewater has been invoked. No value is disclosed at that point. The lender and the agents get a short window, commonly described as two business days, to submit additional comparable sales and market data for consideration. The appraiser then reconsiders and issues the Notice of Value.

If the Notice of Value still lands below contract, a Reconsideration of Value is the next step, and that request goes to the VA rather than back to the appraiser. Published timelines describe VA staff reviewing the report and the submitted data within about five business days, with a field review, if ordered, completed within about 20 business days. An ROV needs new information, meaning comparable sales the original appraiser did not consider, rather than disagreement with the conclusion. A Notice of Value is generally valid for six months.

Two things follow from this for anyone buying in a six-month-supply market. Your agent should have comparable sales assembled before the appraisal is ordered, not after Tidewater is invoked, because the window is measured in days. And the VA purchase contract amendment addressing what happens when reasonable value comes in under contract price should be in the paperwork from the start.

Assumable VA loans, and what the seller gives up

VA loans are assumable, which is a genuine advantage in a market where sellers are sitting on older loans. Loans with a commitment date after March 1, 1988 require the holder's or the VA's approval, and the assuming buyer is underwritten by the servicer on ordinary credit and income standards. A non-veteran can assume a VA loan. No Certificate of Eligibility is required to be the buyer.

The mechanics are where deals fall apart. Processing runs through the loan servicer rather than a retail lender, and published timelines commonly describe 45 to 90 days, which does not fit a 30-day contract. An assumption funding fee applies and is generally paid in cash at closing rather than financed, with the usual exemption for veterans receiving compensation for a service-connected disability. The buyer also has to cover the difference between the assumed balance and the purchase price, which on a house bought in 2019 and sold in 2026 can be substantial, and secondary financing behind an assumed first lien has to be acceptable to the servicer.

The part sellers miss: without a substitution of entitlement, the seller's VA entitlement stays tied to that loan until it is paid off, even after a non-veteran assumes it. If the buyer is a qualified veteran with at least equivalent available entitlement, a substitution of entitlement restores the seller's benefit. If the buyer is not, the seller should expect their entitlement to remain encumbered, which directly limits the next VA purchase. A written release of liability is separate from the substitution and worth insisting on, because without one a seller can remain exposed if the buyer later defaults.

If you already hold a VA loan and are looking at the other direction, the VA streamline refinance (the IRRRL) is the route. See refinance options for how that compares against a cash-out.

What does the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone do to a north side lot?

It caps how much of the lot you are allowed to cover. San Antonio's aquifer and watershed protection rules apply gross impervious cover limits over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, and the limits are stricter outside the city limits than inside them. That one rule explains a great deal about why lots, driveways and back yards look different on the north and northwest sides than they do on the south side.

As summarized by SAWS from the city's aquifer protection ordinance, the recharge zone inside the city limits carries gross impervious cover caps of 30% for single-family, 50% for multi-family and 65% for commercial use. Within the extraterritorial jurisdiction over the recharge zone, the single-family cap drops to 15%, and the same 15% applies across uses. A drainage area buffer zone is capped lower still, at 10%. Percent impervious cover is calculated as the impervious area within the lot or site divided by the total site area, and vegetated water quality basins, vegetated swales, other vegetated overland drainage and public sidewalks are excluded from the count. These figures trace to the city's 1995 aquifer protection ordinance as amended, so confirm the current code text and the applicable category for your specific parcel before you rely on a number.

Separately, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality administers the Edwards Aquifer rules, which require a water pollution abatement plan or a contributing zone plan before regulated construction begins over the recharge or contributing zones. That is a developer and builder obligation more often than a homeowner one, but it shapes what gets platted and when.

How this shows up on an actual loan

The loan itself does not care about impervious cover. What you planned to do with the house does.

A house on a small recharge zone lot may already be close to its cap once the roof, the driveway, the walks and the existing patio are counted. Adding a pool with decking, a detached garage, or a room addition can exceed the limit, which means the permit does not issue. If you were counting on the pool to justify the price, verify the available coverage before you remove the option period, because an appraiser values what exists rather than what you intended.

This matters most on a renovation loan. An FHA 203(k), a Fannie Mae HomeStyle or a Freddie Mac CHOICERenovation loan funds against an as-completed appraised value, and the scope has to be permittable. If the scope includes paving, a pool or an addition that the site cannot legally support, the as-completed value is built on work that will never be approved, and the problem surfaces at the first draw inspection rather than at application. Verify the coverage math before the contractor bids are locked.

Why the north and northwest specifically

The recharge zone crosses the northern part of Bexar County, which puts the Stone Oak corridor along US 281, the stretch of Loop 1604 across the top of the city, Shavano Park, and the Helotes side of the northwest within or adjacent to it. Much of the newer development up there was designed around the coverage rules, which is part of why platted lot layouts, drainage basins and street patterns differ noticeably from the subdivisions on the south side of the city. If you are comparing a 2004 house inside 1604 with a 2004 house on the south side, the lot coverage rules are one of the reasons the two lots are not interchangeable.

What happens on a 1920s house in King William, Monte Vista or Dignowity Hill?

Exterior work in a local historic district requires a Certificate of Appropriateness. San Antonio reviews those applications through the Historic and Design Review Commission, administered by the Office of Historic Preservation, whose director holds final authority over the application and can depart from the commission's recommendation. That review schedule is the constraint that breaks renovation loan timelines, because a draw schedule written without it assumes approvals that have not been issued.

King William was designated in 1968 as San Antonio's first historic district and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The King William Association describes it as the oldest historic district in Texas. It sits immediately south of downtown, with Southtown wrapped around it, and the stock runs to late nineteenth century Victorian, Italianate and German vernacular houses on platted city lots. Monte Vista, a couple of miles north of downtown off San Pedro Avenue, holds larger early twentieth century houses. Dignowity Hill sits east of downtown near the Hays Street Bridge, with late nineteenth and early twentieth century stock. All three are inside San Antonio ISD.

What the review process actually governs

The commission's jurisdiction is exterior and visible. A re-roof in kind generally clears staff review, while a change in roofing material, profile or visible form needs a Certificate of Appropriateness. Windows are the recurring fight. Repair of original wood sash is favored over replacement, and approvals in these districts have included commitments to repair rather than replace original wood windows. Where replacement is approved, the commission applies trim and setback criteria, including minimum depth between the face of the window trim and the face of the upper sash, achieved either by recessing the unit in the opening or by adding trim thickness.

Plan the sequence accordingly. Submit the application, get the Certificate of Appropriateness, then finalize the contractor bids, then close the renovation loan. Doing it in the other order produces a scope the city will not permit and a loan amount built on it.

Renovation mortgage mechanics on old stock

A renovation loan funds the purchase and the work in one loan against the as-completed value. The limited version of the FHA 203(k) suits cosmetic and non-structural work with a shorter list and no consultant. The standard 203(k) handles structural work, requires a HUD consultant, and runs on a formal work write-up, contractor bids, a contingency reserve and scheduled draw inspections. The conventional equivalents, HomeStyle and CHOICERenovation, are more flexible on luxury items such as a pool, which is exactly where the aquifer coverage question above intersects with this one.

Three details decide whether an old San Antonio house gets through underwriting.

Pier-and-beam foundations. Most of the pre-war stock in King William, Monte Vista and Dignowity Hill sits on pier and beam. An appraiser will note sloping floors, and a lender may require a structural engineer's letter. The crawl space needs access and should not hold standing water, which is a VA minimum property requirement issue as well as a valuation one. Shimming, pier replacement and sill repair are ordinary renovation line items here, and they are worth getting into the work write-up rather than deferring.

Knob-and-tube and cloth-insulated wiring. This is an insurance problem before it is a lending problem. Carriers routinely decline or surcharge a house with active knob-and-tube, and because every lender requires evidence of hazard insurance at closing, an uninsurable house does not close. Get a quote during the option period. Rewiring belongs in a renovation loan scope, which is often the cleanest way to solve both problems at once. The same logic applies to an undersized or obsolete electrical panel and to galvanized or cast iron supply plumbing.

Lead paint and asbestos. On a pre-1978 house, peeling exterior paint is called out on FHA and VA appraisals and must be cured before closing. Transite siding, asbestos floor tile and pipe insulation turn up in houses of this era and change the demolition line in a renovation budget. None of this disqualifies a house. All of it belongs in the scope and the budget before the appraisal is ordered.

Which taxing units apply to your address, and why pull a tax certificate?

San Antonio's boundary is irregular, and the city shares the county with a ring of separately incorporated cities and a large extraterritorial jurisdiction. Which units levy against a parcel determines the escrow, and the escrow determines your qualifying payment, so this is a lending question rather than a trivia question.

Alamo Heights, Olmos Park and Terrell Hills are separate incorporated cities surrounded by San Antonio, each with its own city rate, and Alamo Heights has its own school district. Shavano Park, Castle Hills, Leon Valley, Helotes, Converse, Universal City, Live Oak and Schertz are separate cities too. A San Antonio mailing address proves nothing about which city taxes the parcel.

Annexation, the ETJ and what changes

A property in San Antonio's extraterritorial jurisdiction has a San Antonio address and is not in the city. It pays no city tax, receives no city services, and typically sits inside an emergency services district for fire and EMS. Full-purpose annexation adds the city rate and city services. Limited-purpose annexation brings a parcel under certain city regulatory authority without the full tax and service exchange.

Texas changed the ground rules here. Senate Bill 2038, effective September 1, 2023, created two routes out of a municipal ETJ. Under the petition route, the owners of a majority in value of an area can petition for release, and the area is released by operation of law if the municipality takes no action by the later of the forty-fifth day after receiving the petition or the first governing body meeting after the thirtieth day. Under the election route, a petition signed by at least five percent of the registered voters residing in the area can force an election on release. The law also stopped the automatic expansion of a city's ETJ when it annexes, so post-annexation ETJ expansion now requires the affected owners to request inclusion, and it applied retroactively to January 1, 2023.

San Antonio's own ETJ release petition guidelines note that the statute does not reach certain areas, including those within five miles of an active military base boundary. In a city with three JBSA locations, that exclusion covers a meaningful amount of ground, which is a genuinely San Antonio-specific answer to a statewide question.

Why the tax certificate is the document that matters

An escrow estimate built at application from last year's rate on a different taxing unit stack is the most common reason a closing statement surprises a borrower. A tax certificate from the Bexar County tax assessor-collector lists every unit levying against the parcel, which is the only reliable way to catch an emergency services district, a municipal utility district, a public improvement district assessment or a separately incorporated city that nobody mentioned.

Pull it in three situations specifically. On any new subdivision, where districts are frequently added between platting and closing. On any address in the ETJ or near a city boundary, where annexation or release may have moved the parcel between stacks. And on any parcel where the seller has held a homestead exemption or an over-65 or disabled veteran exemption, because your bill will not resemble theirs. The county-wide exemption and protest mechanics, including the appraisal district's role, are covered in the Bexar County guide linked at the top of this page.

What do SAWS impact fees add to a new-construction price?

They add several thousand dollars per home, and the amount depends on where the lot sits. The San Antonio Water System charges water and wastewater impact fees per equivalent dwelling unit under a schedule effective July 1, 2024. The water supply fee is $2,592 per EDU. Water delivery is split between a flow component of $1,368 and a system development component that varies by elevation, at $1,510 for low elevation, $1,744 for middle and $2,027 for high.

Wastewater varies by basin and collection area. Treatment runs $1,527 in Medio Creek and $1,105 in Clouse and Leon Creek. Collection runs $4,436 in the Upper Collection area, $2,792 in Middle Collection, $1,138 in Lower Collection, $1,836 in Medio Creek, $1,702 in Upper Medina and $768 in Lower Medina. SAWS publishes impact fee area maps and a meter size chart that determine which figures apply to a given parcel.

The timing rule is the one to understand: the fee charged is based on the date of plat recordation. A lot platted under an older schedule carries the older fee, and a property requesting water or wastewater service beyond what the original plat designated becomes subject to current fees. The 2024 update raised fees roughly 23% on average, with the Northwest Side rising about 35%, from about $8,548 to about $11,528 per connection, and the far South Side rising about 24%, from about $5,902 to about $7,343. State law requires periodic updates, and the schedule before 2024 dated to 2019.

How the fee reaches your loan

In a production builder transaction, the impact fee is already inside the sales price. It is not a closing cost you can shop or negotiate away, and it is one reason the same floor plan prices differently on the northwest side than on the south side. Because it is inside the price, it is inside the appraisal and inside the loan amount.

On a custom build with a construction loan, the fee is a hard cost line in the budget and has to be in the approved budget before the first draw funds. Builders occasionally quote a fee locked at an older plat date, and that is worth confirming in writing, because a later change in requested service capacity can pull the parcel onto the current schedule. SAWS has separately been collecting less impact fee revenue than projected, reporting $103 million and $109 million in recent years against a $110 million budget for 2027, which is context for why the schedule gets revisited.

Where are people buying, and what is the housing stock?

Housing era, lot platting, school district and distance are the attributes that matter to a loan file. Everything below is stated in those terms.

Alamo Heights, Olmos Park and Terrell Hills sit roughly four to six miles north of downtown and are separate incorporated cities inside Alamo Heights ISD. The stock is largely 1920s through 1940s masonry and stucco on platted city lots with mature canopy. Values here reach above the 2026 conforming figure of $832,750 often enough that jumbo financing is a routine conversation rather than an exception.

Monte Vista runs north from downtown off San Pedro Avenue inside San Antonio ISD, with early twentieth century houses on larger platted lots and local historic district review on exterior work.

King William and Southtown sit immediately south of downtown inside San Antonio ISD. Late nineteenth century stock, historic district designation since 1968, and walking distance to the Blue Star Arts Complex and the Mission Reach trailhead.

Dignowity Hill lies east of downtown inside San Antonio ISD, bounded by the Hays Street Bridge on its western edge, with late nineteenth and early twentieth century houses and a high share of renovation financing.

Stone Oak extends north along US 281 inside North East ISD, roughly 18 to 20 miles from downtown, built out mostly from the 1990s through the 2010s. Hillside lots, limestone cut streets, recharge zone coverage rules in places, and public improvement district or municipal utility district assessments on some sections.

Shavano Park is a separate incorporated city inside Loop 1604 near NW Military Highway, inside Northside ISD, platted at larger lot sizes than the surrounding subdivisions.

Alamo Ranch sits on the far west side along Loop 1604 and TX 151 inside Northside ISD, roughly 20 miles from downtown and roughly 9 miles from the Lackland side of JBSA. Construction runs from the mid-2000s to the present, much of it in unincorporated Bexar County inside San Antonio's ETJ, and public improvement district assessments are common.

Helotes is a separate incorporated city on Bandera Road inside Northside ISD, roughly 18 miles northwest of downtown, on the edge of the Hill Country and the recharge zone.

Converse is a separate incorporated city inside Judson ISD, roughly 15 miles northeast of downtown and within a few miles of Randolph. Stock runs from 1970s and 1980s ranch through recent subdivisions.

Cibolo sits mostly in Guadalupe County inside Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, roughly 25 miles northeast of downtown along I-35 and FM 1103, almost entirely post-2000 construction. The parcel is outside Bexar County, which means a different appraisal district and a different rate stack.

Schertz straddles Bexar, Guadalupe and Comal counties inside Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, roughly 20 miles northeast of downtown and adjacent to Randolph. Which county the parcel falls in changes the tax certificate, so confirm it rather than assuming.

Boerne is in Kendall County inside Boerne ISD, roughly 31 miles northwest of downtown on I-10, with limestone Hill Country lots, a mix of 1980s through current construction, and acreage parcels where well and septic appear. A well means a lender-required water test on certain programs, and an acreage parcel can qualify for USDA financing by address.

Northside ISD covers much of the city's north and west sides and is the largest district in Bexar County by enrollment. North East ISD covers the north and northeast, San Antonio ISD the central city, Judson ISD the northeast around Converse, Alamo Heights ISD the three incorporated enclaves, and Boerne ISD the Kendall County edge.

What is there to do in San Antonio?

The River Walk is the obvious answer, and the two extensions are the better one. The Museum Reach runs about four miles from Hildebrand Avenue south to Lexington Avenue, past the Pearl and the San Antonio Museum of Art. The Mission Reach is the eight-mile southern section, from Lone Star Boulevard down past Mission Espada, restored as an ecosystem project with trails the whole way. The San Antonio River Authority puts the full San Antonio River Improvements Project at $384.1 million across 13 miles of river.

The Mission Reach connects the five Spanish colonial missions. Concepción, San José, San Juan, Espada and the Alamo together form San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only one in Texas. San José is the largest of the four southern missions and holds the Rose Window. The Alamo anchors the north end of the chain in the middle of downtown.

Fiesta San Antonio takes over the city for eleven days in April and traces to the Battle of Flowers Parade of 1891, organized to honor the dead of the Alamo and San Jacinto. The Order of the Alamo was added in 1909, and the citywide event took the name Fiesta San Antonio around 1959. The Battle of Flowers Parade is the largest of the Fiesta parades and is planned entirely by women, which makes it unusual among American parades of its size. Night in Old San Antonio runs in La Villita, and the Flambeau parade runs after dark.

The Pearl, a redeveloped nineteenth century brewery at the north end of the Museum Reach, runs a weekend farmers market and holds much of the city's best cooking. Market Square, a three-block plaza west of downtown, is described as the largest Mexican market in the United States. UNESCO designated San Antonio a Creative City of Gastronomy in 2017, the second city in the United States to receive it after Tucson. The puffy taco is a local invention, the shell fried so it inflates, and barbacoa and pan dulce on a Sunday morning is a civic habit rather than a tourist activity.

The Hays Street Bridge, a restored nineteenth century truss span east of downtown, now carries pedestrians and cyclists and gives the best skyline view in the city. The Spurs play at the Frost Bank Center on the east side. The San Antonio Missions, the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, are moving into a roughly 7,500-seat ballpark along the redeveloped San Pedro Creek downtown, with the opening pushed from the 2028 season to 2029 per the city's own reporting.

The Witte Museum covers Texas natural history and the Pecos River rock art on the edge of Brackenridge Park, and the McNay sits in a 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival house on the north side with a modern and contemporary collection. The San Antonio Botanical Garden is a short distance east of Brackenridge. Natural Bridge Caverns, northeast of the city toward New Braunfels, is the largest commercial cavern system in Texas. Six Flags Fiesta Texas occupies a former limestone quarry on the northwest side, and SeaWorld San Antonio sits on the far west side near Westover Hills.

The Tower of the Americas stands 750 feet over Hemisfair, built as the theme structure of HemisFair '68, the world's fair held for the city's 250th anniversary. It was the tallest observation tower in the United States from 1968 until 1996.

Austin is about 80 miles north on I-35, close enough that people shop both markets. Our Austin page covers that one.

Which loan programs fit which part of San Antonio?

VA financing carries a larger share of volume here than almost anywhere in Texas, for the reasons above. No monthly mortgage insurance, a funding fee waived for veterans receiving compensation for a service-connected disability, reusable entitlement, and an assumable note.

FHA is heavily used across the south, west and east sides. The 2026 one-unit limit for Bexar County and the San Antonio-New Braunfels MSA is commonly published at $557,750, above the $541,287 national floor, and HUD's lookup carries the governing figure. FHA suits files with thinner credit history or recent derogatory events on documentation and credit grounds rather than on payment grounds.

Conventional financing covers the broad middle of the market, with the 2026 conforming limit at $832,750. It is usually the better answer where credit is strong and mortgage insurance can be removed later.

Jumbo applies above $832,750, which in practice means Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills, Olmos Park, Shavano Park, the Dominion and parts of Stone Oak. Expect substantial reserve requirements and full documentation.

Renovation loans, in both the FHA 203(k) and the conventional HomeStyle and CHOICERenovation forms, are the right tool for the pre-war stock in King William, Monte Vista, Dignowity Hill and the near east side.

DSCR loans underwrite a rental property on its own income rather than yours, which fits the rental demand that constant JBSA turnover sustains.

Bank statement loans serve self-employed borrowers whose tax returns understate cash flow, which is common among the trades and the service businesses that scale with new construction out on 1604.

Down payment and closing cost assistance comes through the City of San Antonio's Homeownership Incentive Program inside the city limits, and statewide through TDHCA and TSAHC, whose Homes for Texas Heroes program reaches military, first responder, teacher and nurse households. Assistance can usually layer with FHA and sometimes with VA, though the second lien must be approved by the first-lien lender, which is a reason to raise it at application. More on assistance programs.

Not sure which fits? Compare every loan program we place.

Frequently asked questions

Is San Antonio a good place to use a VA loan? It is one of the heaviest VA markets in the country because Joint Base San Antonio carries 74,713 direct employees according to the Texas Comptroller's 2025 analysis. The practical advantage is local rather than programmatic: sellers, agents, title companies and appraisers here handle VA minimum property requirements and Tidewater routinely, so the process is less likely to derail than in a market that rarely sees VA files.

What is the median home price in San Antonio? The San Antonio Board of Realtors reported a September 2026 median just below $302,000, down about 2% year over year across its multi-county service area. Redfin, measuring only inside the city limits over the three months ending September 2026, reported about $257,000. Both are accurate for what they measure. Ask which geography and which method any quoted median uses before comparing it to anything.

How long are homes taking to sell in San Antonio? SABOR said average time on market was approaching three months in September 2026, and Redfin put average days on market near 64 for the city. The Texas Real Estate Research Center recorded 6.2 months of inventory for San Antonio in July 2026, against 5.5 months statewide. More inventory and longer marketing time generally means more room to ask for seller-paid closing costs.

Can I buy a house in San Antonio before I actually move here? Yes. Orders documenting a permanent change of station support qualifying you against the new duty station, and the underwriting can be completed before you arrive. Two things need handling in advance: a power of attorney reviewed and approved by the lender before it is signed, and the VA occupancy certification, since VA expects occupancy within a reasonable time after closing.

Does BAH count as income for a mortgage? Yes, when it is documented and continuing. Because basic allowance for housing is not taxable, lenders can generally treat it as worth more than face value for debt-to-income purposes, which often changes the qualifying answer outright. Bring your Leave and Earnings Statement. BAH is set by duty ZIP code, rank and dependency status, not by the ZIP code of the house you are buying.

Can I keep my San Antonio house and buy another with a VA loan? Often yes, using remaining entitlement. The calculation runs against your Certificate of Eligibility and the county conforming figure rather than against a flat rule, so the answer is file-specific. Pull the COE before you shop, because it tells a lender in minutes whether you have full entitlement, partial entitlement, or a funding fee exemption, and those lead to three different approvals.

Can my spouse close on the house while I am deployed? Usually, with a power of attorney the lender and title company have reviewed and approved in advance. A general power of attorney is frequently not sufficient, because many lenders require language naming the specific transaction, property and loan. VA occupancy rules also allow a spouse to satisfy occupancy in the servicemember's place during a deployment, with that circumstance disclosed in the certification.

What is the Tidewater process on a VA appraisal? When the appraiser's analysis is trending below the contract price, the appraiser notifies the lender that Tidewater is invoked without disclosing a value. The lender and agents then have a short window, commonly described as two business days, to submit additional comparable sales before the Notice of Value is issued. Have the comps assembled before the appraisal is ordered, because the window is measured in days.

Can someone assume my VA loan? Yes, including a non-veteran buyer, subject to the holder's or the VA's approval and the servicer's credit and income review. Two warnings. Processing runs through the servicer and commonly takes 45 to 90 days. And without a substitution of entitlement by a qualified veteran buyer, your entitlement stays tied to the loan until it is paid off, which limits your next VA purchase.

Why can I not put a pool in on the north side of San Antonio? Because of gross impervious cover limits over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. The single-family cap is 30% inside the city limits and 15% in the extraterritorial jurisdiction, calculated as covered area divided by total site area. A roof, driveway, walks and existing patio can already approach the cap on a small lot. Verify the available coverage during the option period, not after closing.

Do I need a certificate of appropriateness to renovate in King William? For exterior and visible work in a local historic district, yes. Applications go to the Historic and Design Review Commission, and the Office of Historic Preservation director holds final authority. A re-roof in kind generally clears staff review, while changing material or profile does not. Repair of original wood windows is favored over replacement. Get the approval before the contractor bids are finalized on a renovation loan.

Can I get a mortgage on a pier-and-beam house with knob-and-tube wiring? Yes, though the insurance comes first. Carriers routinely decline or surcharge a house with active knob-and-tube, and every lender requires evidence of hazard insurance at closing, so an uninsurable house does not close. Get a quote during the option period. Rewiring belongs in the scope of a renovation loan, which solves the insurance and the lending problem together.

What are SAWS impact fees and do I pay them? They are water and wastewater connection fees charged per equivalent dwelling unit under a schedule effective July 1, 2024, including $2,592 for water supply. On a production builder purchase they are already inside the sales price rather than itemized as a closing cost. Fees vary by elevation and basin, the Northwest Side being among the highest, and the amount is set by the plat recordation date.

Is Alamo Heights part of the City of San Antonio? No. Alamo Heights, Olmos Park and Terrell Hills are separately incorporated cities surrounded by San Antonio, each levying its own city rate, and Alamo Heights operates its own school district. Shavano Park, Castle Hills, Leon Valley, Helotes and Converse are separate cities too. A San Antonio mailing address tells you nothing about which city taxes the parcel, so pull the tax certificate.

What does being in San Antonio's ETJ mean for my taxes? An extraterritorial jurisdiction address pays no city tax and receives no city services, and usually sits in an emergency services district for fire and EMS. Senate Bill 2038, effective September 2023, created petition and election routes out of a municipal ETJ, though San Antonio's guidelines note the statute does not reach areas within five miles of an active military base boundary.

What is the loan limit in Bexar County? The 2026 conforming limit for a one-unit property is $832,750, which is the reference point for conventional financing and for remaining-entitlement VA calculations. The FHA one-unit limit for Bexar County and the San Antonio-New Braunfels MSA is commonly published at $557,750, above the $541,287 national floor. Verify the FHA figure against HUD's own lookup before relying on it.

What is there to do in San Antonio besides the River Walk? The five Spanish colonial missions form the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Texas, linked by the eight-mile Mission Reach trail. Fiesta San Antonio runs eleven days in April and dates to the 1891 Battle of Flowers Parade. The Pearl runs a weekend farmers market, Market Square is the largest Mexican market in the country, and the Hays Street Bridge gives the best skyline view downtown.

Pull the Certificate of Eligibility first

If you are VA-eligible, request your Certificate of Eligibility before you look at a single house. It answers the entitlement question, the funding fee exemption question and the second-use question in one document, and every other decision on the file depends on those three answers. Send it over with your Leave and Earnings Statement and we will have the approval settled before you are under contract.

Wise Capital Mortgage is not endorsed by or affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense or any government agency.

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