Zero Down. $3,311 a Month to Buy in Lemoore.

Zero down. About $3,311 every month. That is the estimated payment on a $395,000 Lemoore home with a 30-year VA loan at 7.24%, including property taxes and homeowners insurance, with the first-use 2.15% funding fee added to the loan. No monthly mortgage insurance. Still nearly $40,000 a year just for those housing payments—before utilities or upkeep. Zero down gets rid of the down payment. It does not get rid of the interest rate.

Consider a $395,000 purchase, using the median asking price in our Lemoore-area ZIP snapshot. At 3.5% down, an FHA buyer brings $13,825 toward the price. That leaves a base loan of $381,175. Finance FHA's 1.75% upfront mortgage insurance premium, and the loan grows to approximately $387,846. Monthly mortgage insurance adds another expense. HUD premium rules ↗

At a 7.24% interest rate over 30 years, that FHA example produces approximately:

• $2,643 in principal and interest;
• $175 in monthly mortgage insurance;
• $411 in property taxes and $150 in homeowners insurance.

Total: about $3,379 a month. The buyer has supplied almost $14,000 down, before closing costs, and still faces a payment about $1,317 above the ZIP's $2,062 average asking rent. The rent figure is a market benchmark, not a rental quote for that particular home.

Now consider an eligible VA buyer. Zero down preserves savings, and VA loans do not require monthly mortgage insurance. But finance the first-use 2.15% funding fee on this purchase and the balance becomes approximately $403,493. At the same illustrative rate, including the same tax and insurance allowances, the payment is about $3,311 a month. A funding-fee-exempt borrower would pay approximately $3,253. VA funding fees ↗

For a veteran or military household whose budget cannot carry that payment, “zero down” has not solved the central affordability problem. The interest rate still applies to virtually the entire purchase price—and sometimes to the financed fee as well.

The VA benefit is valuable. Avoiding monthly mortgage insurance and preserving savings matter. But we should expect the conversation about serving military buyers to reach beyond how little money they need upfront. What can they afford every month? What does the interest rate leave them to live on? VA purchase benefits ↗

That is my criticism of how we talk about both FHA and VA financing today. We celebrate a smaller entry requirement while high borrowing costs keep the home beyond reach. A low down payment cannot do the work of an affordable interest rate.