I posted this in team, but no bites.  

Hive,

I bought a townhouse with my VA eligibility in Oct 2011. We lived there for 2 years. We have now relocated 1 hour away, and we rent said townhouse out. VA loan interest rate was 4.75%.

Fast forward to mid September 2014. The VA announces that you can do an interest rate reduction refinance loan (IRRRL, pronounced "Earl") on non-owner occupied residences that have VA loans on them. We can go from a 30 year VA at 4.75% to a 15 year VA at 3.375% and our payments go up minimally (We have paid down the townhouse considerably.) We are 99.9999% done with the process through Navy Federal.

Then, something occurred to us: Will this affect our VA eligibility to get a new home in the next 6 months? We WILL need a new primary residence by 4/30/15 because our lease is up on this place, and the landlord is selling it.

If you get a new VA loan, you cannot get another one for 12 months.

Nobody at NFCU or the VA processing center was able to answer this question.

NFCU says, "You are using your EXISTING VA eligibility from the original loan. So, yes, you can get another VA loan." VA in Roanoke says, "You will be issued a NEW certificate of eligibility that will show that you are using less of your entitilement."

My big fear is that I trust NFCU, and they do the IRRRL. In 6 months, I try to get a new VA loan, and I cannot because my VA loan clock reset, and I have to wait ANOTHER 6 months. I would have no recourse w/ NFCU, since they would say, "the COE we got from the VA says you have to wait a total of 365 days to get a new loan for a new home." VA would say, "Well, you DID start a new loan 6 months ago."

I realize that I can always walk away from NFCU, and in 6 mos, buy a new house with my remaining VA eligibility. THAT is important. However, IF I can cut 15 years off of the time to pay back a loan, I would like to do that.

Any VA workers here that can give me some assistance, or point me in the right direction?