Does a VA loan require an inspection? What are the VA loan inspection requirements for buyers and spouses?

When I refinanced, the appraiser barely poked around—just checked for obvious safety stuff and made sure the roof wasn’t caving in.

Not sure I totally agree that “skipping an inspection is just asking for trouble,” at least in every case. When I refinanced with a VA loan last year, the house was only five years old and I’d kept up with maintenance, so I felt pretty comfortable passing on the full inspection. The appraiser did flag a loose handrail, but that was it. Maybe it’s different for older places or if you’re not as familiar with the property, but sometimes the risk is lower than folks make it out to be.

I get where you’re coming from—if you know the house inside and out, especially something newer, skipping a full inspection might not be as risky. Still, I’ve seen cases where even newer homes had hidden issues that only came up later. You mentioned,

“the appraiser did flag a loose handrail, but that was it.”

Title: Does a VA loan require an inspection? What are the VA loan inspection requirements for buyers and spouses?

I get what you mean about the VA appraiser—it feels like they’re just checking boxes sometimes. When I bought my place, the appraiser missed a leaky pipe under the kitchen sink. The VA’s requirements are decent for safety, but I wouldn’t skip a real inspection, even on a newer home. There’s just stuff they don’t catch in a quick walkthrough.

VA loans don’t technically require a home inspection, just the VA appraisal—which is more about making sure the property meets their Minimum Property Requirements (MPRs) for safety and habitability. The appraiser’s job isn’t to dig deep like a home inspector would. They’re mainly checking for things like working heat, no exposed wiring, safe access, and no obvious hazards. But yeah, they can definitely miss stuff that a real inspector would catch.

I always tell buyers: get your own independent inspection, even if the house looks great on the surface. The VA appraisal isn’t going to flag every leaky pipe or hidden issue. It’s really just a baseline to protect the lender and make sure the place is livable. If you want peace of mind (and to avoid surprises after closing), a separate inspection is worth every penny. Even newer homes can have weird issues pop up—seen it more than once.

I totally get what you’re saying about the VA appraisal being more of a “checklist” than a deep dive. When I was house hunting, I almost skipped the inspection because the place looked spotless and I figured the VA stuff would catch anything major. Glad I didn’t—turns out there was a plumbing issue in the crawlspace that the appraiser never even looked at. Saved me a ton of hassle down the road.

Curious if anyone’s ever had the VA appraiser actually flag something big, though? Or is it usually just the obvious surface-level stuff?