100% financing. Fees cheaper than FHA. And eligible areas far closer to town than the word "rural" suggests. The USDA loan is the best-kept secret in home financing — two official checkers below tell you in minutes if it's yours.
Free · No hard credit pull · Response in 2 hours
True 100% financing of the purchase price. No down payment required — period.
Household income up to 115% of area median — higher than most people assume.
640+ gets streamlined approval; below that can work with manual underwriting.
Sellers can cover up to 6% in closing costs — pairing with 0% down for near-zero cash to close.
USDA eligibility has exactly two gates: the property's location and your household income. The USDA publishes official checkers for both. Run them right now — then send us your results and we'll handle the rest.
Type any address and the USDA map instantly tells you if the home sits in an eligible area. Choose "Single Family Housing Guaranteed" when the site asks. Spoiler: many suburban-feeling neighborhoods just outside city cores qualify — check before you assume.
Check a Property Address →Enter your state, county, and household details and USDA's tool checks your total household income against the current limit for your household size. Limits run to 115% of area median income and update periodically — many two-income households fit comfortably.
Check My Income Limit →Passed both checks — or not sure how to read the results? Send us the address and your household details and we'll verify everything against current USDA guidelines, including the parts the tools don't show (credit, DTI, property condition).
Verify My Eligibility →USDA eligibility maps were drawn generously — and they include growing communities that feel completely suburban. Regular single-family homes in regular neighborhoods. No farm, no acreage, no tractor required. Around here, buyers are routinely surprised by which addresses qualify — which is exactly why the map check comes first.
Fast-growing communities on the edges of metro areas often remain USDA-eligible for years after they've stopped feeling "rural." The map, not the vibe, decides.
0% down + up to 6% seller credits + gift funds allowed = the lowest cash-to-close of any mainstream loan. We've closed USDA purchases with almost nothing out of pocket.
USDA's annual fee (≈0.35%) is a fraction of FHA's mortgage insurance — so on the same house, the USDA payment usually wins. Cheaper to get in AND cheaper to carry.
USDA loans skip traditional mortgage insurance in favor of two guarantee fees: an upfront fee of about 1% (financed into the loan, not out of pocket) and an annual fee of about 0.35% paid monthly. Both are meaningfully cheaper than FHA's premiums — which is why, for buyers who fit the map and income box, USDA usually produces the lowest monthly payment of any low-down-payment loan.
One more USDA-only trick: when the home appraises above the purchase price, closing costs can be financed into the loan — something no other mainstream program allows. Combined with seller credits, this is how true zero-out-of-pocket closings happen.
Compare your scenarios side by side on our payment calculator — and if the map says your area doesn't qualify, don't stop: FHA plus down payment assistance gets remarkably close to the same result.
Fees set by USDA/HUD and subject to change; exact figures come with your pre-approval. FHA remains the fallback when location or income rules out USDA.
Run the map. Run the income tool. Then send us your situation and we'll verify everything against current USDA guidelines — with FHA + assistance as the ready backup plan if USDA says no.