USDA Rural Home Loans in North Durham

We get many calls from folks who love living in Durham, and want to know if they qualify for a USDA Home Loan. It’s often not a question of the home buyer qualifying for the program – often times, especially when it comes to Durham, there are few HOMES that qualify! USDA RURAL Home Loans are designed as no money down mortgage loans for home buyers wishing to live in a more rural setting.

Unfortunately, most of Durham does NOT qualify. As you can see from the Map below, the areas in North Durham past the Eno DO qualify. Some of the areas near Briar Creek Qualify – and then, around 751 and 55 (think just past South Point Mall towards Wake County) there are properties available for the program.

Here’s a close up of the area to the North of the Eno – again, the shaded area does NOT qualify

There are also parts of Chapel Hill that qualify for USDA RD Home Loans. In all, NC has over 70 Counties where the ENTIRE County Qualifies for USDA Home Loan financing. This is a great progam! It’s cheaper to get into a house than a FHA or Conventional Loan, and it has the cheapest PMI available (almost a hundred dollars a month cheaper than FHA!)!

Basic Underwriting Guidelines for USDA:

The Property must be located within the USDA Footprint for Rural Properties in NC
The Household Income must be UNDER the USDA Maximum Income Limits for the County (in Durham and Chapel Hill a Family of 1 – 4 the cap is 82,000, Person County is $74,750, Wake County is $91,850 – here’s a video that shows you how to find the maximum USDA Income limit for the area you are interested in)
Student Loans – DIFFERENT THAN FHA OR VA LOANS – Any student loan whether it is in repayment or deferred must be included in the qualifying calculations, per USDA Underwriting Guidelines (call us 919-649-5058 for more info).
620 credit score and 12 months with no one writing anything on your credit report except GOOD STUFF. Okay, so that exact wording is probably not in the Underwriting Guidelines… but if you have a credit score between 580 and 620 – THIS probably means you need 18 to 24 months of no judgements, no collections, AND on time payments. You should also have at least 3 different companies updating your credit each month. So, a car payment, a student loan, a credit card, and you’re golden! We help people with their credit everyday, if you think you are CLOSE to a 580 score – Call us at 919-649-5058.
Previous Bankruptcy, Foreclosure or Short Sale? USDA Underwriting Guidelines are pretty lenient.
The property must be Owner Occupied. This is not a loan for Investment or Rental Property.

If you have questions about qualifying for a USDA Home Loan, an FHA Mortgage Loan… a first time home buyer program or a mortgage loan for Veteran’s, call Steve and Eleanor Thorne, Mortgage Banker in Cary , 919-649-5058. We do MANY of these loans every month, and we offer today’s lowest interest rates!