Up to 102%
USDA Rural Housing Loans
Financing that can reach 102% of the appraised value or the sales price, whichever is lower, for a home in an eligible rural area, with no monthly PMI and a rate that's fixed for the full 30 years.
How the loan reaches past the sale price
A USDA loan can finance up to 102% of the appraised value or the sales price, whichever is lower. The extra isn't free money. It's the one time USDA guarantee fee, and instead of billing it to you at closing, the program finances it into the loan itself. That's the entire mechanism behind the 102% number. There's no monthly PMI on a USDA loan either, and the rate is fixed for all 30 years, so the payment you start with is the payment you keep.
Who it's actually built for
You need to be a US citizen, a qualified alien, or someone legally admitted for permanent residence. The property is the other half of the test. It has to sit inside a USDA eligible rural area, and that boundary runs through parts of Iowa that don't look especially rural on a map. If you're not sure whether an address qualifies, tell us and we'll research it before you write an offer that depends on financing that might not exist.
Iowa Mortgage Solutions has been placing mortgages across the state of Iowa since 2005. Call (319) 377-1988.
The numbers behind a USDA loan
One fee, financed in, and the math changes.
102%
of value or price
Financing can reach 102% of the appraised value or the sales price, whichever is lower.
2%
one time guarantee fee
That's the USDA guarantee fee, financed into the loan instead of billed to you at closing, which is exactly how the number gets past 100%.
0
monthly PMI
No private mortgage insurance, and the rate is fixed for the full 30 years, so the payment you start with is the payment you keep.
Who qualifies
Eligible on the property, then eligible on you.
You need to be a US citizen, a qualified alien, or someone legally admitted for permanent residence. The property is the other half of the test: it has to sit inside a USDA eligible rural area, and that boundary runs through parts of Iowa that don't look especially rural on a map. If you're not sure whether an address qualifies, don't guess. Tell us the property and we'll research it before you make an offer contingent on financing that might not exist.
Cash reserves matter less here than on most loan types. A seller can put money toward your closing costs, and between that and the light reserve requirement, USDA is often the program that gets someone into a house who assumed they needed a much bigger number saved first.
Tell us the address you're looking at, and whether it falls inside an eligible rural area is the first thing we'll check. Call (319) 377-1988 or send the details through the contact page, and we'll tell you honestly where you stand.