Marlene Garvey’s story shows how refinancing a mortgage and uncovering a little-known Michigan property tax exemption allowed her to hold on to her home after her husband’s death.
The Michigan widow, whose husband spent 21 years in the U.S. Army, was afraid she would lose her lakeside home as mounting expenses outpaced her fixed retirement income—until she learned about financial relief available to qualifying surviving military spouses.
Garvey told FOX Business that refinancing her mortgage through a VA-backed loan led her to a Michigan property tax exemption she never knew existed, allowing her to stay in the home she had dreamed of living in since childhood.
Without that relief, she said, she could not have remained in the house, as rising property taxes and other costs had grown steadily harder to cover on a fixed income.
Garvey’s husband graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1962 and retired from the Army in 1983. He died in 1994, a loss Garvey attributes to Agent Orange exposure during his service in Vietnam.
A Michigan veteran’s widow who feared losing her lakeside home says a VA-backed mortgage refinance led her to a property tax exemption that helped her afford to stay. (Getty Images/stock / Getty Images)
Garvey settled in Michigan in 2004 after years of moving from place to place with her husband, including a posting in Leavenworth, Kansas. The couple had spent their honeymoon near the lake where she eventually put down roots.
“He knew when he passed where I was going to go, but I just always thought it would be the two of us,” she said.
Now retired and living on a fixed income, Garvey said she found it difficult to keep pace with climbing housing costs, including property taxes, while still carrying a conventional mortgage.
After seeing a television ad for VA mortgage refinancing, she reached out to Rocket Mortgage and was paired with representative Sean Park, who guided her through refinancing into a VA-backed loan.
Marlene Garvey, whose late husband served 21 years in the U.S. Army, discusses how a VA-backed mortgage refinance and Michigan property tax exemption helped her keep her lakeside home. (Brittany Miller/FOX Business / Fox News)
During the refinance, Park also flagged a Michigan property tax exemption for which Garvey may have qualified because her husband’s death was service-connected.
Garvey said she gathered the required paperwork, coordinated with her local assessor, and appeared before a three-member board before her application was approved.
According to the Michigan Department of Treasury, the state offers a property tax exemption to qualifying disabled veterans and certain unremarried surviving spouses who own and occupy the home as their primary residence.
That exemption is separate from the federal VA home loan program. Starting in 2025, approved exemptions generally stay in place without an annual renewal, unless they are rescinded or revoked.
VA-backed loans offer eligible veterans and certain surviving spouses refinancing options that may help reduce housing costs. (iStock / Getty Images)
Garvey estimated that the refinancing and exemption process took roughly six months, though she could not recall exact dates or dollar amounts.
She credited the combination of assistance with making the home affordable.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Rocket Mortgage giving me a VA mortgage and refinancing and having that benefit in the state of Michigan,” Garvey said.
In fiscal 2025, the Department of Veterans Affairs guaranteed 528,340 home loans worth more than $206 billion—a nearly 27% jump in loan volume from the prior year, according to federal data.
VA-backed mortgages offer eligible veterans and certain surviving spouses financing and refinancing options. (iStock / Getty Images)
Refinancing made up 38.7% of the VA-backed loans guaranteed that year. While the program lets eligible borrowers refinance existing mortgages, loan terms and borrowing costs can vary.
Certain surviving spouses, including those whose partners died from service-connected disabilities, may be eligible for VA-backed home loans, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Applicants generally must obtain a certificate of eligibility and meet lender requirements. VA-backed loans can provide competitive interest rates and do not require private mortgage insurance, though costs and eligibility differ by borrower.
Garvey said she was initially unsure whether she qualified, given that her husband had passed away years earlier.
“Look how long my husband had been gone, and before I realized that I could even get a VA loan, I wasn’t even sure I could,” she said.
Her experience underscores the housing-related benefits that many eligible veterans and surviving spouses may overlook, especially as property taxes and other ownership costs strain household budgets.
Garvey encouraged other qualifying military families to look into the assistance available to them.
“I would not hesitate anyone that qualifies for a VA mortgage to pursue it,” she said.