A Redfin agent working the Virginia Beach market described a scene that plays out more than sellers admit. A military family lists their house. They would like to sell to another military family, the kind of buyer who understands PCS timelines and doesn't need things explained twice. Then six offers arrive. The strongest one financially comes from a buyer with a conventional loan, offering ten thousand dollars more than the VA-financed offer sitting next to it. The seller takes the money.
That scene matters here more than almost anywhere else in the country, because Virginia Beach is not a market where VA financing is a rounding error. It is the market. As of March 2026, 42.8 percent of all mortgaged home purchases in Virginia Beach used VA loans, the highest share of any major U.S. metro, against a national rate of 7.7 percent that same month. The August 2025 numbers told the same story: 43.2 percent locally, up from just under 40 percent a year earlier, versus 7.3 percent nationally. Whichever month you check, Virginia Beach is running at five to six times the national VA loan rate, which tracks with a simple fact: it holds the largest concentration of military personnel outside the Pentagon, with nearly 100,000 active-duty service members stationed there across the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy and NATO.
So the friction is real. A huge share of local buyers finance with VA loans, and a documented pattern shows some sellers treating those offers as a step down from conventional financing when the numbers are close. Some of that hesitation traces back to a rule that stopped being true in 2022, and most buyers, and more than a few agents, still don't know it changed.
The Rule Everyone Remembers Is Three Years Out of Date
For a long stretch, VA purchase loans came with a real restriction. If the property needed a wood-destroying insect inspection, the veteran buyer was not allowed to pay for it. The cost had to fall to the seller or get negotiated away entirely. That restriction shaped how a lot of agents talk about VA offers to this day: harder to close, more line items the seller has to absorb, one more reason to prefer the other bid.
On June 15, 2022, the VA changed that with Circular 26-22-11. Veterans can now pay the termite inspection fee themselves, in any state, including states like Virginia where the inspection is required on every purchase transaction. Sellers can still offer to cover it as a negotiating point, and many do, but the rule that once made it mandatory is gone.
Here is what changed in practice.
| Before June 2022 | After June 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can pay the WDI inspection fee | Seller only, in states where the inspection was required | Either party, veteran's choice |
| Buyer flexibility in negotiations | None on this line item | Can offer to cover it to strengthen the bid |
| Common seller assumption | VA offer adds a cost seller must absorb | No longer automatically true |
That third row is the part worth sitting with. A seller comparing offers today who assumes the VA buyer's financing forces them to eat an inspection fee is working from outdated information. A VA buyer who volunteers to cover that fee in the offer itself removes one of the small, cumulative reasons a seller's agent might steer toward the conventional bid.
Why the Termite Report Isn't a Formality in Hampton Roads
None of this would matter much if the inspection were a rubber stamp. It isn't, and that's specific to where we live.
Virginia is one of the states where the wood-destroying insect report is required statewide on VA purchase loans, not left to an appraiser's discretion. The reason has less to do with paperwork and more to do with what's actually in the ground here. Local pest control operators who work Hampton Roads homes every week describe conditions that make this region unusually hospitable to subterranean termites: sandy soil, a high water table, and mild winters that never get cold enough to slow a colony down. Precision Pest Management, which has served Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads since 2019, notes that the area's warm, moist soil supports colony growth essentially year-round, with swarm season running March through May but underground activity continuing regardless of season.
Accel Pest & Termite Control, working the Tidewater region since 2010, points to specific neighborhoods where this shows up most: the high water table and sandy soil in areas like Great Neck and Kempsville let termites tunnel more easily and hold onto the moisture they need to survive. Universal Pest & Termite makes the same point about waterfront pockets in Norfolk's Ocean View and Portsmouth's Port Norfolk, where proximity to natural moisture sources raises the risk further. Bust-A-Bug, which services Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Newport News, and Hampton, adds that older homes across the region often carry aging wood and foundation gaps that make access easier for a colony already established nearby.
None of these companies are describing a hypothetical. They're describing what their inspectors find on a normal week. That's the backdrop against which the VA's inspection requirement makes sense, and it's why treating the report as a box to check rather than a real assessment is the wrong instinct on either side of a Hampton Roads closing table.
What the Report Actually Costs and How Long It's Good For
The practical numbers are small compared to everything else moving through closing. A standard wood-destroying insect inspection in Virginia typically runs $100 to $200. The inspector documents findings on a standardized NPMA-33 form, the report Virginia lenders and closing attorneys expect to see. Once completed, the report is generally treated as valid for 90 days, which matters if a deal stretches out with financing delays or a slow appraisal.
If the inspection turns up an active infestation or existing damage, that has to be resolved before the loan can close. Treatment and any needed repairs come first, then a clearance letter from the pest control company, before the file moves forward. That part of the process hasn't changed and won't. What's changed is only who's allowed to write the check for the initial inspection.
Turning the Line Item Into Leverage
If you're a veteran or active-duty buyer writing an offer in a competitive Virginia Beach listing, this is a place where a hundred and fifty dollars can do more work than its size suggests. Offering to cover the termite inspection fee yourself, in writing, removes a small but real objection some listing agents raise reflexively when comparing VA offers to conventional ones. It signals that your financing isn't going to create friction the seller has to manage.
If you're selling and a strong VA offer lands in your inbox next to a conventional one, it's worth asking your agent whether the price gap actually reflects anything real, or whether it's built on assumptions about VA financing that stopped being accurate in 2022. A seller who passes over a fully qualified VA buyer based on outdated information about who pays for a $150 inspection is potentially leaving a clean, well-financed offer on the table for the wrong reason.
Either way, this is exactly the kind of detail that separates a generic offer strategy from one built around what's actually true in this market right now. Half the buyers walking through Virginia Beach listings are financing with VA loans. Knowing the rules better than the person across the table is a real advantage, not a footnote.
A Few Straight Answers
Does every VA purchase in Virginia require a termite inspection? Yes. Virginia is one of the states where the wood-destroying insect report is required statewide on VA purchase loans, regardless of what the appraiser observes.
Can a veteran still ask the seller to pay for it? Yes. The 2022 change didn't remove that option, it just removed the requirement that only the seller could pay. Covering the cost is still negotiable in either direction.
How long is the report valid once it's done? Generally 90 days from the inspection date. If your closing timeline stretches past that, plan for a possible reinspection.
What happens if the inspector finds active termites? Treatment and any required repairs have to be completed and documented with a clearance letter before the loan can close. This applies regardless of who paid for the original inspection.
If you're weighing a VA offer in a multiple-bid situation, or listing a home and trying to read what a VA-financed offer actually means for your closing timeline, The Castle Team works this exact market every week. Schedule a free consultation and we'll walk through what your specific offer, or your specific listing, actually needs to compete.
