USDA Mortgage?

[Leta]

Does anyone have one?

We meet the guidelines for general or direct (income, and credit wise, and the whole U.P. is considered rural by USDA's standards), but we have this house, which has turned out to be... well, it's been cheap rent, lets put it that way. And we've learned a lot!

Anyway, we could sell it for what we owe on it. I think. And if we wait a couple years, once we have the principal down to about $25K, I *know* we could sell it for what we owe, so we wouldn't have to bring any money to the table. I can live with starting from zero, Lord knows we are better off than a lot of folks in this economy. But, if USDA would permit it, I'd be willing to keep it as a rental- that would take much less time, getting renters in here, versus listing it... and waiting... and waiting...

Can you have any money in savings at all and still get a USDA loan? Would we have to sell this house first? Or would we just have to list it?

Thanks!

 

[Wifezilla]

If the money is under your mattress....

 

[GOOGLE NIKOLA TESLA]

is this the one where they pay you not to farm?? i heard they can pay like 100,000 and that big building owners were using this because they can never farm on a 3 block wide building in a city, so they make extra money ripping off the usda, and all the tax payers lol.

 

[Leta]

Great minds think alike, WZ!

No, this is not the thing where they pay you not to farm. It's a mortgage that's guaranteed by the USDA. It's not too different from an FHA loan, just a little better.

 

[danielle82]

I am currently applying for a Usda Rural Home Loan, they put me hold for the time being, apparently they are out of funding for people in my family size/income bracket. I do know the home has to pass an inspection to get loaned on.

 

[hwillm1977]

In Canada you can't get mortgage insurance on a farm poperty so they require 25% down.... we do have a farm board that will give morgages to people who have a working farm (GROSS income has to be at least $5000 for the hobby farm category) and I was all excited about that, but they still require a 25% down payment. Other than that the terms are great... lots of ways to stop mortgage payments in a bad year, low interest, etc.

 

[savingdogs]

It was awhile ago now, but we had a USDA loan on our other house. It was an excellent deal for us and I would highly recommend it if things have not changed too drastically.

Our mistake was we re-financed later and so we no longer had the USDA loan later, and if we had not refinanced, we would never have lost that house later to foreclosure. So in our case, the USDA loan would have been best to KEEP for the entire length of the loan pay-off, unlike what our financial advisor suggested.

It did require that our home meet certain energy standards, but it was new construction so we just gave the directions to the builder. Those standards were excellent, they all had to do with energy efficiency and made for a great home. We also had to wrap pipes and a few other assorted things, so that our house would fit the parameters, but we were one of the few people who later did NOT have their pipes freeze during a big chill.

So our experience was extremely positive with that loan (which we got in 1996). It was suggested to us when we took a homebuying class and they help you evaluate the best loan for your situation. That class was very much worth the time and money.