Own your home with no down payment - Exchange Bank

Own your home with no down payment

Family moving boxes into their new home.

There’s just something about owning a home. Perhaps we all want to be the king or queen of our castle. Or, more likely, we want to start investing in our own success instead of our landlords. Besides, monthly mortgage payments aren’t that much different than rent anyway.

Whatever your reason, you’ve been house dreaming and ready to get out of that rental. In fact, you’re pretty sure you’d be into your own abode except for that one, enormous, insurmountable hurdle:

The down payment.

Even with some of the more accessible FHA loans that offer a 3.5% down payment, coming up with 3.5% for a $150,000 home is over $5k, and that’s not including closing costs. If you have consumer and education loans on top of your daily expenses, and the surprise expenses that inevitably come up, that amount can feel beyond reach.

However, there’s a little-known loan program that completely eliminates that hurdle, and it’s called the USDA Rural Development Guaranteed Housing Loan Program. Despite its unwieldy title, the program goes to great lengths to place qualified applicants into homes outside of city limits in order to “improve the economy and quality of life in rural America”.

If you meet the income limits, and other (fairly typical) qualifications, you can be in a home outside of town with zero down payment and a low interest rate.

Let me say that again. Zero down payment and a low interest rate.

And, if the seller is up for it, the USDA loan will allow the seller to pay for closing costs. But most likely, for the price of closing costs, you could be out of that rental and onto your own property. And, most likely, with extra room to run, space for that garden, and peace and quiet to your heart’s content. Furthermore, the USDA offers home improvement loans and grants (sometimes up to $27,500), so that fixer upper suddenly doesn’t look so daunting.

If you don’t mind a little extra drive to town, and you meet all of the qualifications, this program is the gift you’ve been waiting for.

If you’re ready to learn more, one of our expert lending agents would be happy to talk with you and determine if you’re an ideal candidate for this program.