Are you tired of renting? Feeling like you may never enjoy the benefits and satisfaction of home ownership?Do you really want to buy a home, but have little money for down payment? Have you had life challenges, or are you concerned about less-than-perfect credit scores or income?

Hard times can happen to good people, to ALL of us, and there is ONE REMAINING program that provides home buyers, regular people, a doable way to secure and finance a primary residence with NO MONEY DOWN, low interest rates, minimal fees, and the flexibility to roll all closing costs into a federally guaranteed loan.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a Rural Development Guaranteed Housing Program, commonly referred to as a "USDA" or "Section 502" loan, that offers 100% financing with NO DOWN PAYMENT, for qualified borrowers, on properties in approved rural areas.

Luckily, the USDA definition of "rural area" is quite liberal, generally applies to Henderson County and surrounding areas, and is easily verified online with a USDA mapping tool.

There are just a few guidelines to consider, if the USDA is a solid option for you.

1) The property must be in an approved USDA development zone.

2) Although the USDA does not have a minimum credit score requirement, most lenders do. The USDA offers a credit waiver with a "middle" 620 score, which is typically a lender's cutoff.

3) Income eligibility is capped at 115% of the local median income, and local guidelines can be verified on the USDA website.

4) The USDA considers two debt-to-income ratios: The first is a 29% ratio of your monthly housing debt to your gross monthly income; the second is a 41% overall debt-to-income ratio.

5) If approved, there will be both "upfront" and "annual" guarantee fees applied to USDA loans; each have been reduced considerably in recent years. The "upfront" is a one-time fee, 1% of the loan amount. So if you have, for example, a $200,000 home loan, your total loan amount would become $202,000.

The "annual" fee is .35% of the loan amount, divided and applied to each monthly payment, every year. Let's say you borrow $200,000. Your annual fee would add $58.33 to your monthly payment ($200,000 x .35% / 12 payments).

To learn more about how you may take advantage of ownership options and programs designed to assist rural first-time home buyers, contact David Evans at 972-489-2157 or sold@realtordavidevans.com.