VA buyers in the East Valley: what the seller side must do

The line that shapes every VA offer

Most buyers never read line 48 of the Arizona buyer-broker agreement. If you are using VA financing, it is the most important sentence on the form. In a box, it says that unless VA regulations modify it, VA-financed transactions are conditioned on the broker’s compensation being paid by the seller or the seller’s broker.

What that means in practice is simple. When we write your offer, we ask the seller to pay my fee, on the one-page Seller Compensation Addendum, as part of the deal itself. Not as a favor after acceptance. The addendum makes that promise enforceable and says it survives closing. Under the buyer-broker agreement, whatever the seller pays is credited against the fee we agreed on, and I never collect more than that fee from any source.

Which VA rules apply to what you may pay is a lender and VA question, and the form itself says “unless modified by VA regulations.” I will not state a flat rule about it. What I will do is write the offer so the seller side is carrying the fee, which is what the form expects.

What the seller sees

Your offer goes in with the AAR Pre-Qualification Form. It shows the seller your loan type, whether the lender actually talked with you about income, assets and debts, whether a tri-merged credit report was pulled, which documents the lender has, and whether you are relying on seller concessions. There is a specific line on both the pre-qualification form and the Loan Status Update about relying on concessions for “VA costs the buyer may not pay,” so the Arizona forms already assume some costs on a VA purchase land on the seller’s side. The amount, the form says, “shall be established in the Contract.” That is our job in the offer.

Fill that form completely before we write. A seller weighing two offers looks for the one that will close, and a complete pre-qualification form, followed by the Loan Status Update delivered within ten days of acceptance, is how a VA buyer reads as a closing instead of a question.

Making the VA offer the one they pick

Sellers in much of the East Valley still have the edge. On 9/15/26, seven of the eighteen largest Valley cities were seller’s markets, including Chandler, Mesa and Scottsdale (Cromford Report / ARMLS, data 9/15/26, analysis mine). So a VA offer has to be as easy to say yes to as the offer next to it. Four moves do most of the work:

1. Ask for everything in the offer. Seller concessions (a percent of price or a dollar amount, usable toward any of your costs as far as the lender allows), the compensation addendum, a home warranty, and the HOA transfer and capital improvement fee checkboxes all get decided when we write. A seller who has already said yes to the whole package has nothing to resent on day nine.
2. Give the seller a date they can live with. The closing date is a blank, and the contract requires loan approval without prior-to-document conditions three full days before it. Ask your lender how long they need, then leave room. A missed loan deadline costs more goodwill than a slightly longer escrow.
3. Make the earnest money meaningful. The amount is a blank. It comes back if you cancel under a contingency the contract gives you, including a low appraisal or a loan that fails with the written notice delivered on time.
4. Keep the contract clean. Every blank filled, every initial signed, an expiration that gives the seller time to read. A counter is an opening for the next offer.

What not to do is waive the protections to look strong. The state’s Buyer Advisory says waiving the inspection, loan or appraisal contingency can cost you your earnest money or more. The forms give you better tools than a waiver, which brings us to the appraisal.

The appraisal, on paper

If the appraisal comes in under the price, the contract gives you five days after notice of the appraised value to cancel and take your earnest money back. Let the five days pass and the contingency is waived. If we expect a tight appraisal, the Additional Clause Addendum lets us write an appraisal shortfall clause: you cover the gap up to a dollar cap you choose, and above that cap you can still cancel with your deposit. That is a real offer strengthener, and it keeps a ceiling on your risk.

If the appraisal comes back with conditions, meaning items the appraiser wants addressed before the loan closes, which items apply is the lender’s and appraiser’s call. What I handle is the contract side: any repair the seller agrees to must be in writing, agreed repairs are due three days before closing with paid receipts, and the seller must disclose any change in the home during escrow, with five days for you to respond. If a repair turns into a credit, the inspection form says that addendum goes to your lender, who may limit total credits.

Inspections are still yours

A VA appraisal is not a home inspection, and the Buyer Advisory calls professional inspections “absolutely essential.” The Arizona contract gives you ten days by default. Everything you want fixed goes in one written notice before the period ends; the seller has five days to answer, silence is a no, and if they refuse you have five days to cancel with your deposit. Roof ten years or older, get a licensed roofing contractor. Pool, get a pool inspection, because the general inspector may exclude it. None of that depends on your loan.

Earnest money and the loan contingency

Three full days before closing, you either have loan approval without prior-to-document conditions or you deliver a written notice that you could not get it. Deliver the notice and your earnest money comes back. Miss it and the seller can keep the deposit as their sole damages. That notice is the single deadline on a financed purchase I watch most closely. If a listing asks for “non-refundable” earnest money, the Arizona clause still returns it on an inspection cancellation, a risk-of-loss cancellation or a seller breach, and the clause applies “unless otherwise prohibited by federal law.” Ask me before you check that box.

What I will do

I am an Associate Broker with Keller Williams Integrity First Realty in Gilbert, with more than 500 closed transactions, and a former brokerage owner and Designated Broker. On a VA purchase I write the seller-paid compensation into the offer from the first draft, get the pre-qualification form complete before we submit, build the closing date around your lender’s timeline, and keep every repair and credit in writing so the appraisal never turns into a phone-call negotiation.

Want the cost sheet for a VA purchase in your price range, or fifteen minutes to talk it through? Text or call (602) 610-3172, or email ryan@ryanharju.com.