100% Financing – Callahan, Fernandina

The USDA Rural Housing area map was recently updated. However, Nassau County (Amelia Island, Callahan, Fernandina Beach, Yulee) remain eligible and approved locations for the USDA program. This is fantastic news for Nassau County first time buyers that want to purchase a home but have little money saved up for down payment.  After all the USDA Rural Development mortgage is the only 100% financing loan program available for citizen home buyers in Florida today.

The USDA RD mortgage program was designed to help Florida’s rural locations expand by making homeownership more easy and affordable.  The good news is Callahan, Fernandina and Yulee are still classified as “rural defined” locations. Below we will discuss some of the USDA 502 Guaranteed loan program advantages:

• Finance up to 102% of the appraised value (not the sales price). Primary residence homes only
• Very low monthly mortgage insurance – especially when compared to FHA or Conventional loans
• Middle credit scores at or above 620 is required
• Interest rates are fixed 30 year terms, currently in the mid 3% range
• No loan amount limit in Nassau County.
• Home seller can pay buyer closing costs up to 6% seller concession
• Buyer can also receive gifts and put money down if they choose.

Comparing USDA loan with Conventional and FHA mortgage programs.

100% USDA financing offers Nassau County home buyers the most affordable payment, less out of pocket cost money, and the most competitive 30 year fixed interest rates available. The chart below shows a $150,000 mortgage at 4% interest rate for a standard 30 year fix term. The interest rates listed are just for demonstration purposes on this chart.

Real estate taxes and home owner’s insurance figures have NOT been included in this payment, as this additional cost would be the same for all loan programs listed. Only loan principal, interest, and applicable monthly PMI and one-time guarantee fee have been included. The Conventional loan listed will NOT offer a comparable fixed-rate at 95% financing (it will be approx .5% HIGHER, or 4.5% in this example) This is the best real-world comparison.

• FHA 97.5%  (1.75% Funding Fee /  .85% monthly MI)  3.5% DOWN PAYMENT OF $5,250 = $807.00
• CONVENTIONAL 95% (NO funding fee / .89% monthly MI) 5% DOWN PAYMENT OF $7,500 =  $827.00
• USDA RURAL HOUSING 100% (With 2% Guarantee Fee / .50% monthly MI) $0 DOWN PAYMENT = $794.00  (Update 2019: new Guarantee Fee is only 1%, and monthly MI is reduced to .35%) 

 Buyers applying for the USDA housing loan want to remember two important things – property location and household income.  First, the property you purchase ( no mobile homes, lot loans, etc permitted) must be located in an approved USDA area according to the map here.  Most of Nassau County is approved, Most of Duval County is NOT.  Second, the income for the household must be below the set USDA income limit for Nassau County – see the current USDA income limits here.

Buyers interested in applying for the program can read all the most commonly asked USDA FAQ’s here.  Feel free to call us anytime with questions by submitting the short Info Request Form on this page.  You can also contact us at 7 days a week at  ph: 800-743-7556

100% Financing – Callahan, Fernandina,  Nassau County – Amelia Island, Callahan, Fernandina Beach, Hilliard, Yulee