{"id":113,"date":"2026-06-03T13:57:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennedymtg.com\/?page_id=113"},"modified":"2026-06-04T13:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T13:27:22","slug":"usda-loans","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/kennedymtg.com\/staging\/8888\/residential\/usda-loans\/","title":{"rendered":"USDA Loans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>One-line summary: Zero-down-payment loans backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for moderate-income borrowers buying in eligible rural and suburban areas, surprisingly broad geographic eligibility, including many areas near Texas metros.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Best for<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moderate-income borrowers purchasing primary residences in USDA-eligible areas. Despite the &#8220;rural&#8221; label, the eligibility map covers significant portions of Texas, including many suburbs and small towns within driving distance of major metros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key terms (typical)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table table-label-value\"><table><thead><tr><th>Attribute<\/th><th>Typical Range<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Eligible borrowers<\/td><td>Household income is capped at a base of $119,850 for a 1\u20134 person household, scaling up to $149,800 in high-cost metro Texas MSAs<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Eligible properties<\/td><td>Primary residences in USDA-designated rural and suburban master tracts<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Down payment<\/td><td>Zero down required (100% financing execution)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Credit score<\/td><td>640 typical minimum (some lenders go lower with manual underwriting)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mortgage insurance<\/td><td>Upfront guarantee fee (1% of loan) + annual fee (0.35%)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Term<\/td><td>30 years fixed<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Property type<\/td><td>Single-family primary residence<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why borrowers choose this program<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Zero down payment.<\/strong> Like VA, USDA allows 100% financing on a purchase, with no down payment required.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Available to non-veterans.<\/strong> USDA fills the same zero-down role as VA but for borrowers who don&#8217;t have military service eligibility.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geographic eligibility is broader than the name suggests.<\/strong> Many Texas areas outside major metros qualify, including parts of Hill Country, areas around Austin, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Houston. The USDA eligibility map is the definitive check.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lower monthly cost than FHA in most cases.<\/strong> USDA&#8217;s annual fee (0.35%) is significantly lower than FHA&#8217;s MIP, often resulting in a lower monthly payment for comparable loan amounts.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Considerations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Income limits.<\/strong> Total household income cannot exceed 115% of the area median. Higher-income borrowers won&#8217;t qualify even if everything else fits.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Property must be in an eligible area.<\/strong> Use the USDA eligibility map to check before getting attached to a specific property. Eligibility is updated periodically and can change.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Primary residence only.<\/strong> Like VA, USDA is for owner-occupied homes only. No investment property purchases.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Slower process than conventional.<\/strong> USDA loans require additional underwriting steps by the USDA itself, which can add time to close.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One-line summary: Zero-down-payment loans backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for moderate-income borrowers buying in eligible rural and suburban areas, surprisingly broad geographic eligibility, including many areas near Texas [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":490,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/program.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-113","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>USDA Loans - Kennedy Mortgage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kennedymtg.com\/staging\/8888\/residential\/usda-loans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"USDA Loans - 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