USDA Rural Housing program highlights:
- Moderate income limits apply - based on family size (see
below)
- No down payment required.
- No Prepayment Penalties.
- Purchase: 2% upfront fee that can be rolled into
the loan
- Refinance: 1.5% upfront fee that can be rolled
into the loan
- 0.3% Yearly fee paid monthly -
Effective 10/01/2011
USDA Fee Changes on The Horizon
- A one-time guarantee fee
is paid at closing. In some cases, this fee, closing
costs and repairs may be included in the loan.
- Competitive 30 year fixed interest
rates.
- No maximum loan amount.
- No limits on cash contributions.
- Not restricted to first time home buyers
- Home must be occupied as your permanent residence.
See if your
income qualifies for a USDA Rural Housing loan
Check to see if the property is in an
Eligible Area for Rural Housing Loans
Income Qualification Information:
The most accurate way to check your income for qualification
is to use the
USDA Income Calculator. The calculator on USDA's
website is most accurate
because it is based on area income limits minus any deduction you
can take to offset your income. The most common income deduction
is for child care expenses. For general purposes, you can also
view the most recent income limits with a county by county
breakdown by family size from the pdf files below.
Wisconsin Income Limits
Illinois Income Limits
Florida Income Limits
Minnesota Income Limits
Ineligible Areas for USDA Rural Housing loans:
if you know the address of a property that you are interested
in, you can go to
USDA's website to determine if a specific address is eligible
(click the accept button and then type in the address). If the system
is unable to determine eligibility based on the address you entered,
that doesn’t mean it isn’t eligible. It just means the system couldn’t
find the address, so it is unable to determine eligibility. At this
point, you can either
contact us us and we will help in determining if the
property is eligible or sometimes it is just a matter of entering the correct format
of the street to get the system to find the property (what I call
HWY M is really County Road M according to the system).
Additional Information on our blog:
Are USDA Rural Housing loans only for "Farmers"?
USDA Rural Housing Refinance - Features and guidelines
USDA Rural Housing Refinance: Program Information
Detailed Wisconsin ineligible map
The counties in white are 100% eligible. The counties shaded
green have ineligible areas within the county, except for
Milwaukee County which is 100% ineligible. If you are looking
for a property in Dane County, you will want to know the area’s
that are eligible. Open up the map of Wisconsin (link above) and click on
Dane county. That is going to bring up a PDF map of part of Dane
County. The areas shaded in green on the county specific map are
ineligible. You can zoom in on the map for a detailed look of
the ineligible area. One side of a street or road may be
eligible, while the other side may not be eligible.
Other programs that may be of
interest:
FHA Loans
FHA 203K Rehab Loans
VA
Loans
100%
Financing Programs
Mortgage Programs
100% Financing (No Money Down) Programs
First Time Home Buyer Mortgage Programs
My Community Mortgage
Government Loans including
FHA, VA
and
Rural Housing
Refinance Programs
Mortgage Rates
About Us
Apply or Pre-qualify Online
Contact
Us
* Rural areas consist of communities
that have 20,000 and under in population and are not a part of an
urban area.
Recent Rural Housing mortgage posts on our blog:
USDA Raises Upfront Guarantee Fee for Refinance
Transactions
EFFECTIVE Wednesday, December 7, 2011: The upfront
guarantee fee for all refinance transactions will
increase from 1 percent to 1.5 percent at this time.
This increase to the upfront guarantee fee for refinance
transactions will make over $1.1 billion dollars in
refinance commitment authority available to eligible
homeowners. Interest rates continue to remain at very
low levels affording responsible homeowners the
opportunity to refinance their existing Single Family
Housing Guaranteed loan, resulting in lower monthly
payments.
Read the rest of this
entry »
USDA Rural Housing Refinance: Program Information
This program is for those that already have a
USDA Rural Development Loan in place. The USDA Refinance is designed to lower the interest rate on a current USDA mortgage and is only available with 30 year fixed rates. Generally, these refinances are streamlined and can be done with ease. In some cases we won’t need an appraisal if the borrower is willing to pay their closing costs out of pocket.
Read the rest of this entry
»
If You Are Looking for a Mortgage with No Down Payment,
Drive Outside the City
Any home secured by a USDA loan must be located in an
area labeled “rural” by the USDA. In addition the
borrowers must meet certain requirements. Their income
cannot be greater than a benchmark level for their area
and they usually need a credit score of 620 or above to
qualify.
Read the rest of this entry
»
We Continue to Fund and Close USDA Rural Housing Loans
We continue to offer the USDA Rural Housing program and
its business as usual for us. Our lending relationship and
underwriting approach gives us the ability to continue to
process and fund these loans. If you’ve found yourself in this
situation give us a call and we’ll be able to help you!
Read the rest of this entry »
Lesser Known Advantages of USDA Loans
An internet search of the term “USDA Loan” will likely
yield a lot of the same information. Websites, articles
and blogs will discuss the great advantages of buying a
home with no money down and the ability to borrow as
much as 100% of the home’s value. But there are quite a
few other advantages that don’t get as much attention.
Read the rest of this entry
»
USDA Re-Structuring Fees to Make the Program More Stable
The upfront fee has been 3.5% of the total loan amount
for some time now. This fee could be added into the loan
amount and repaid over time. But now the fee is going to
be lowered to 2% and an annual fee of 0.3% of the
outstanding balance will be charged to borrowers each
year. This provides more income for the program and
allows it to have more funds for future borrowers as
well as for refinances.
Read the rest of this entry
»
Advantages of a USDA Rural Housing Mortgage
The original intent of the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) housing program was to offer
mortgages for people of low income located in the
various rural parts of the country. Due to the severe
changes in conventional loan guidelines more people have
looked into the possibility of using a USDA loan. Here
are some of the top benefits of the current version of
the program.
Read the rest of this entry
»
Utilize USDA Loans to Buy a Home With No Money Down
Buying a home with no money down at an affordable rate is
still a very real possibility. Many people still do not
know about the benefits of the USDA Home Loan and how it
can help a wide range of people become homeowners.
Read the rest of this entry
»
USDA Rural Housing Loans are Still Available
For people that stay current with financial news there has
been quite a bit of buzz with the USDA loans. Earlier in
the year there was a statement that the funds available
for USDA loans would be depleted by April. Another statement
said that new funds would be available. However, the information
about when and how those funds would be available seemed
confusing. Now, everything has finally settled down and
it seems it is back to business as usual for the USDA program.
Read the rest of this entry
»
Are Wisconsin USDA Rural Housing Loans Only for Farmers
We will be discussing the USDA Guaranteed Rural Housing
program. The Guaranteed program is for low to moderate income
applicants to purchase a primary residence in a “rural”
area of the state. These mortgages are processed, underwritten
and serviced by a bank or lender with certain “guarantees”
from the USDA.
Read the rest of this entry
»
Benefits of the USDA Loan
Many people are looking for ways to take advantage of
the historically low mortgage rates. Some of these individuals
may not have quite enough for a 5% down payment on the home, yet
they have other strong financial qualities. For these people,
the USDA home loan in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Florida
may be a great solution.
Read the rest of this entry
»
USDA Rural Housing Refinance
We get this questions a lot; "Can I refinance into a
USDA Rural Housing loan?" and the answer, 9 out of 10 times, is
no. Unless your current loan is a Guaranteed Rural Housing loan
or a USDA Section 502 Direct loan, you cannot refinance into the
program.
Read the rest of this entry »
|
