Newlyweds, Charles and Naomi Hess, Randolph County residents, were tired of renting and really wanted to own their own home. They had been paying over $400 a month in rent and decided they could better spend their money buying a home of their own. They had heard about USDA Rural Development housing program through their parents and grandparents, who had applied or had a home loan with the agency in the past. Encouraged by the possibility they contacted the Moberly USDA Rural Development office to see if they would be eligible for the housing purchase program. They are now happy new home owners.
“We had good credit but just did not have the necessary down payment,” said Charles. “The USDA program was a good match.”
The Rural Development agency of U.S. Department of Agriculture has funds available to help low and very low income individuals or families with low-interest, no down payment, and 100% financing to obtain home ownership.
Additional funding for 2010 is available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for loans to be made through the direct loan program from the agency. These ARRA funds are in addition to the agency’s normal allocation, and will only be available until September 30, 2010.
The direct rural housing loan program is an on-going program that has been around for years. The additional ARRA funds will allow more families or individuals the opportunity for homeownership.
Benefits to this program include: no down payment, some or all of the closing may be included in the loan, Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is not required, the note interest rate is fixed, real estate taxes and insurance are escrowed and included as part of the monthly payment and payment assistance to qualified applicants may reduce the effective interest rate, thus reducing the monthly payment. This payment assistance benefit has the potential of making the monthly payments being less than rent payments for some applicants.
Eligibility for this program is to individuals or families who meet certain eligibility criteria as follows: Meet income eligibility requirements, be a U.S. citizen, use the home to be purchased as the primary residence, be of legal age to incur a loan obligation, have acceptable credit history, have repayment ability, and not be able to obtain credit through a conventional lender.
More information about homeownership financing or any other USDA Rural Development program may visit the homepage at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/mo/.
For further information, contact the Moberly office at 2995 County Road 1325, Moberly, Missouri 65270 or calling (660) 263-7400 extension 4. The Moberly office serves the counties of Chariton, Macon, Monroe, Randolph and Shelby counties.
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Moberly, Mo. —
