What Is VAREP? The Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals — and Why Jacksonville Is Getting a Chapter
What Is VAREP? The Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals — and Why Jacksonville Is Getting a Chapter
Short answer: VAREP — the Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals — is a national nonprofit and HUD-approved housing counseling organization built to do one thing: increase sustainable homeownership for the active-duty military and veteran communities. It trains and certifies the real estate and lending professionals who serve military families, counsels veterans before and after they buy, advocates for veteran housing policy, and organizes all of that through local chapters. I am Douglas Wilkerson, a Marine Corps veteran and mortgage broker here in Jacksonville Beach — I spent today, October 26, 2026, at VAREP's national convention, and I am helping launch a brand-new VAREP chapter right here in Jacksonville.
What VAREP is
VAREP's legal name is the USA Homeownership Foundation, Inc., doing business as the Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, headquartered in Corona, California.
VAREP was founded in 2011 by Son Nguyen, a Navy veteran and Realtor, together with Dustin Luce, a real estate team leader. Their founding insight was simple: plenty of real estate agents, lenders, and financial professionals wanted to serve the military and veteran communities well — but no organization existed to train them, organize them, and hold them to a standard. VAREP was built to fill that void.
Its stated mission is to increase sustainable homeownership, financial-literacy education, VA loan awareness, and economic opportunity for the active-military and veteran communities. While the focus is military and veteran families, VAREP's counseling services are also open to eligible low-to-moderate income families — its doors are open to anyone working toward the American Dream of homeownership. Membership is open to everyone, veteran and non-veteran alike; VAREP calls its civilian members "Patriots."
What VAREP does: the five-point plan
VAREP accomplishes its mission through a five-point plan:
- Homeownership advocacy. VAREP advocates nationally to develop programs that reduce barriers to homeownership in the military and veteran communities — showing up in the policy arena on behalf of the people who served.
- Community outreach. VAREP fosters responsible homeownership by providing housing education — live and online courses on topics like foreclosure prevention, financial literacy, and understanding credit, both before and after purchase.
- Professional membership. VAREP gives real estate and financial service professionals a place to share ideas, get educated, and be empowered to better serve the real estate needs of servicemembers, veterans, and their families.
- Veteran job creation. VAREP collaborates with organizations across the financial services sector to support veteran employment and help implement supporting legislation.
- Affordable housing. VAREP provides affordable home buying opportunities for veterans and servicemembers who have come through its homeownership education and counseling services.
Jacksonville's military neighborhoods are exactly why a local VAREP chapter matters here.
Education, counseling, and real numbers
VAREP is not a networking club with a veteran logo. As a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, it does the unglamorous work that actually changes outcomes: one-on-one housing counseling, homebuyer education, and professional training.
By VAREP's own reporting, that work includes more than 6,000 low-to-moderate income and veteran housing counseling inquiries handled, over 130 veteran housing summits (homebuyer education events that put vetted experts in the room with military families), and more than 600 industry educational events and certification courses for professionals. Its VAREP Cares program has helped over 2,000 families with financial assistance — from rent help to holiday needs — alongside roughly $70,000 in housing grants for veterans purchasing homes.
For professionals, VAREP runs certification courses and national designations (its MVPro designations) so that a veteran sitting across the table can tell the difference between someone who markets to veterans and someone who has actually been trained to serve them.
How VAREP is built: chapters, committees, and national events
VAREP works through local chapters — dozens of them across the country — because homeownership is a local transaction. National core membership is free for servicemembers, veterans, Guard and Reserve members, ROTC, and surviving spouses, and for Patriot Society family members and civilian allies. Serving in a local chapter requires a chapter affiliation on top of that membership.
Nationally, standing committees run the mission: a National Legislative Committee for advocacy and public policy, a National Education Committee for training and curriculum, an Association Leadership Committee that mentors chapters, and charity and fundraising committees behind VAREP Cares and VETCares, VAREP's philanthropy arm. Together with the Veterans Housing & Financial Alliance (VHFA), VAREP's 501(c)(19) veterans service organization that leads grassroots advocacy, these entities form what VAREP calls its Continuum of Service.
Two national events anchor the calendar: the VAREP Policy Conference each June in Washington, D.C., where members engage policymakers directly, and the VAREP National Convention each October — the flagship gathering for education and mission alignment. I attended this year's convention today, and it is exactly why the next section exists.
Why Jacksonville, and why now
Northeast Florida is a military town. Naval Station Mayport and Naval Air Station Jacksonville anchor one of the largest concentrations of servicemembers, veterans, and military families in the country — and Duval County's veteran community is enormous. Every one of those families deserves local professionals who understand VA loans, PCS timelines, and military life from the inside.
That is why a brand-new VAREP Jacksonville Chapter is launching now — and why Freeman Douglas is part of building it. I am a Marine Corps veteran. My practice already runs on the principle behind everything on this site: most loan officers and banks know too little about VA loans, and veterans pay for that gap. A VAREP chapter gives Jacksonville's realtors, lenders, title professionals, and veteran advocates one table to sit at, one standard to train to, and one mission to organize around.
If you are a veteran, a servicemember, a military spouse, a realtor, a lender, or a Patriot who wants Jacksonville's military families served better, I want to hear from you. Call or text me directly at (904) 517-4049 and I will get you connected to the new chapter.
Education and counseling before the closing table — that is the VAREP model.
How VAREP connects to the Broker Action Coalition
Readers of this site will see me write about two organizations, and it is worth being precise about how they relate. VAREP and the Broker Action Coalition (BAC) are separate, independent organizations — different missions, different structures, no merger or formal partnership between them.
What connects them is the work — and, in my case, the person. Both are member-driven advocacy organizations in housing. VAREP advances veteran and active-duty homeownership: education, counseling, and housing policy for the military community. The Broker Action Coalition advances the independent mortgage broker channel and borrower-first policy — and its own mission statement includes advocating for the needs of veterans. When BAC led the multi-year fight that banned abusive trigger leads, the borrowers protected included every veteran whose VA loan application used to trigger a flood of deceptive spam calls.
I participate in both because the two missions meet in one practice. VAREP keeps me trained, accountable, and organized around the veteran community I serve. BAC puts my channel — independent brokers — in the rooms where the rules that govern those veterans' loans get written. The veteran mission and the broker mission are not two jobs. At Freeman Douglas, they are the same job, and you can read the full story in my companion piece on what the Broker Action Coalition does and why I am part of it.
Frequently asked questions
What is VAREP?
VAREP is the Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals — the public name of the USA Homeownership Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and HUD-approved housing counseling agency founded in 2011. Its mission is to increase sustainable homeownership, financial-literacy education, VA loan awareness, and economic opportunity for active-duty military and veteran communities.
Is VAREP part of the VA?
No. VAREP is an independent nonprofit organization. It is not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, it is not a government agency, and membership in it confers no VA endorsement. Its HUD-approved housing counseling status is a separate federal recognition of its counseling work.
Who can join VAREP?
Anyone. National core membership is free for servicemembers, veterans, Guard and Reserve members, ROTC, and surviving spouses, and VAREP's Patriot Society welcomes family members and civilian allies. Real estate agents, lenders, and other housing professionals join to train, get certified, and serve military families better. Serving in a local chapter requires a chapter affiliation.
What does a VAREP chapter actually do?
A local chapter is the boots-on-the-ground arm: member meetings and mixers, industry lunch-and-learns, homebuyer education and veteran housing summits, VAREP Cares assistance for local military families, and a trained local network a veteran can actually call. Chapters also send representatives to the June Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., and the October National Convention.
How do I get involved with the Jacksonville chapter?
Contact me directly. I am helping launch the brand-new Jacksonville Chapter, and I will be reaching out to many of you myself — but if you want in now, call or text Douglas Wilkerson at (904) 517-4049 and I will connect you.
How are VAREP and the Broker Action Coalition connected?
They are independent organizations with no formal partnership. The connection is mission overlap and people: both are member-driven housing advocacy organizations, BAC's stated mission includes advocating for veterans, and I participate in both — VAREP for veteran homeownership, BAC for the broker channel and borrower-first policy. Read the companion post: What Is the Broker Action Coalition?
Here is the question I want to hear from you: Jacksonville veterans and the professionals who serve them — what is the one thing this community needs most from a VAREP chapter? Drop your answer in the comments, or call me and tell me directly.
Start Here
Check Your Rate — 60-Second Quiz
Whether you are a veteran buying your first home, a servicemember PCSing to Mayport or NAS Jacksonville, or a professional who wants to serve this community the right way — start with your real numbers, and reach out about the chapter. We will run your file across our lenders and show you what you actually qualify for.
Douglas Wilkerson — NMLS #1680719
Direct: (904) 517-4049 | Office: (904) 906-8869
[email protected] | [email protected]
1548 the Greens Way, Ste. 4, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
Freeman Douglas Corporation is a DBA of Edge Home Finance. This is not a promise to lend — all credit decisions are subject to approval. Douglas Wilkerson, NMLS #1680719 | Edge Home Finance, NMLS #891464. Verify licensing at nmlsconsumeraccess.org. Equal Housing Opportunity.
