Every Figure Here Names Its Source, and We Publish What We Left Out
Program and regulatory figures verified October 10, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
The sourcing rules are the product here. If a figure is on this site we read it somewhere we can name; if we could not, it is in the omissions list below.
Who you reach
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555, with Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. Direct: (480) 296-6513 · mcerto@cfmtg.com.
We are a lender. We are not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, the Kentucky Department of Revenue, any county Property Valuation Administrator, or any government agency.
★ Where the figures come from
| Claim | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| ★★ Who qualifies: 65+ or totally disabled; the $6,500 base; the December 31 filing; "except for assessment for special benefits" | Ky. Const. § 170, text as ratified 3 Nov 1998 | 2026-10-10 |
| ★★★ The veteran carve-out from annual re-application; one-per-unit; 1972 purchasing power; the two-year adjustment; refunds | KRS 132.810 | 2026-10-10 |
| ★★ $49,100 for 2025-2026, up $2,750 from $46,350; the $200,000 → $150,900 example | Kentucky Department of Revenue and its 14 Nov 2024 notice | 2026-10-10 |
| The 1972-to-present amounts | DOR's own 1972-to-present table | 2026-10-10 |
| Transfer tax $0.50 per $500 "upon the grantor"; clerk collection; "value" including liens | KRS 142.050 | 2026-10-10 |
| Deed content and the dual sworn certificate | KRS 382.135 | 2026-10-10 |
| $832,750 across 120 counties | FHFA conforming-loan-limit data county file, parsed | 2026-10-10 |
| Funding fee 2.15%/3.3%/1.5%/1.25%/0.5% and all five exemptions | VA funding-fee page | 2026-10-10 |
| Full entitlement, "no loan limit", $36,000, the 25% guaranty | VA loan-limits page, verbatim | 2026-10-10 |
| ★★★ 13 of 20 metros fell; the national 65% ranking; the monthly series behind each steep decline | Zillow ZHVI metro file, Aug 2026, parsed | 2026-10-10 |
★ A note on Kentucky specifically: the General Assembly serves both the statutes and the constitution as PDFs with real text layers, and the Department of Revenue's pages are server-rendered. The whole legal spine of this site is readable by a machine as well as a person, which is not true of every state we build for.
★★ One thing we did that most sites do not
We did not take the market declines on trust. A -17.2% annual figure is as likely to be a data revision as a market, so we pulled the monthly series for every steep faller across 24 months and looked at the shape before publishing a word about it. Every one is a smooth, continuous slide. The detail.
★★ We also computed the national comparison ourselves, across every state with at least ten metros in the same file, rather than asserting "Kentucky is doing badly" and hoping.
★★ What we deliberately did not publish
- ★★ A dollar saving from the homestead exemption. It removes $49,100 of assessed value; the tax effect depends on local rates we did not read. The Department's $200,000 → $150,900 example is published as its example with no tax figure attached.
- ★★ A resolution of the constitution-versus-statute question on the annual continuing-disability statement. Both texts are published; the reader is sent to their PVA. Where we flag it
- ★ Any claim about a Kentucky local or county transfer-tax add-on, in either direction. KRS 142.050 sets the statewide charge and that is what we publish. We did not audit 120 counties, so "no local add-on" is not a claim we make.
- ★★ Any installation headcount or economic impact. Fort Knox, Fort Campbell and the Blue Grass Army Depot are named; every military host is closed to crawlers and the housing figures beside them come from the metro row.
- ★ A precise Kentucky veteran count. Not read at a primary source this pass. ★★ Note the Department of Revenue's 474,000 figure is elderly or disabled Kentuckians claiming the homestead exemption. It is not a veteran count and must never be used as one.
- ★ VA residual-income thresholds. Policy, not availability, the authority is VA Pamphlet 26-7, Chapter 4 on KnowVA. The detail
- ★ A link to the Zillow Research landing page. That host returns 403 to every user-agent we tried, so we name the dataset in text rather than linking something a reader cannot open.
- ★★★ Any forecast. Everything about the market here describes the twelve months to August 2026. We do not publish a view on what comes next.
★ That list is the point. A site with no omissions list has either read everything or quietly filled the gaps.
★ What this site never publishes
No interest rates, no APRs, no monthly payment figures, no payment examples. Not a style choice, advertising a rate pulls in disclosure requirements this site is not built to carry, and a stale rate is worse than none.
Related sites
We publish state-specific VA guides because county loan limits, state veteran property-tax relief, the installations driving each market and the housing stock around them differ by state. Ohio VA Loan Experts covers a state whose exemption is written for disabled veterans, and Missouri VA Loan Experts one that limits it to former prisoners of war. All three compared.
Compliance
This is not a commitment to lend. Loans are subject to buyer and property qualification. Equal Housing Lender. Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. Mike Certo, NMLS #260555.
Corporate: Cornerstone First Mortgage, Inc., 2650 Camino del Rio N, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92108.
Frequently asked questions
Who runs Kentucky VA Loan Experts?
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555, with Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. We are a lender and are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, the Kentucky Department of Revenue, any county Property Valuation Administrator or any government agency.Where does this site get its Kentucky figures?
The legal claims are read at section 170 of the Kentucky Constitution and at KRS 132.810, 142.050 and 382.135, all served by the General Assembly as PDFs with text layers. The exemption amount and its history come from the Kentucky Department of Revenue, loan limits from the parsed FHFA 2026 county file, VA mechanics from the VA's own pages, and metro values from the Zillow metro file for August 2026.Did you verify the Kentucky housing market declines?
Yes. A 17 percent annual decline is as likely to be a data revision as a market, so we pulled the monthly series for every steep faller across twenty-four months before publishing. Each is a smooth continuous slide. We also computed the national comparison ourselves across every state with at least ten metros in the same file.Does this site forecast Kentucky house prices?
No. Everything published here about the market describes the twelve months to August 2026. We publish no view on what happens next.Does this site publish mortgage rates?
No. There are no interest rates, APRs, payment figures or payment examples anywhere on this site.Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about VA home loan financing, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax or financial advice. Cornerstone First Mortgage is a private lender and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. VA entitlement, funding-fee exemption and disability ratings are determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Kentucky's homestead exemption is established by section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky and KRS 132.810 and is administered by county Property Valuation Administrators, not by Cornerstone; the amount is reset every two years by the Kentucky Department of Revenue and the tax effect depends on local rates. Housing market figures describe the twelve months to August 2026 and are not a forecast. Figures here carry the date we verified them against primary sources. All loans are subject to borrower, property and program qualification.