Need help looking for ways to finance property in these times.......

[chickenzoo]

We've been looking for property for some time, since we had to move our animals off this property after 14 years because of a neighbors complaint and finding out we were not zoned for what we were told we were zoned for............ We are trying to get this house up for sale, and all the while going down endless dirt roads here and there with realtors looking for that place that feels like home. A lot of these homes have a lot of property, 15-30 acres. The realtors are saying finding someone who wants to lend for homes with property is hard, especially not being able to shell out thousands up front. We have VA, and I plan on looking into it with them but they also suggested Farm Credit . I will be calling on Mon, but was just wondering if anyone has experience with this. We are already qualified through one company, but don't know if the can do the no money down or very little...... We are looking at a 29 acre parcel with a mobile home, which they may replace the home with another due to rodents being in their while vacant etc.

 

[sfw2]

As long as the acreage you're looking at isn't out of character for the marketing area, you shouldn't have a problem financing your property. A lot of realtors (and even mortgage loan officers) are under the impression that you can't get a mortgage on acreage over 10 acres, but that's not necessarily so. Farm Credit is certainly a good option, since they specialize in financing in rural areas. It's been a while since I've checked VA guidelines (I work in the mortgage industry, but haven't worked in the "production" end for a few years), but if I'll be glad to check out my employer's interpretation of their guidelines, for you.

PM me if you have any other questions. My employer does business in Florida, so will include your area in its guidelines.

Good luck!

Edited to Add: I checked our VA guidelines. We don't have any restrictions on rural property, as long as it's not a working farm. Hobby farms are fine. However, a manufactured (mobile) home might be an issue.

 

[areyoumymother]

We received a home loan thru the USDA Rural Development Housing Program about 2 years ago.

They have certain eligibility criteria as far as geography.

We purchased about 3 acres in a rural area 30 miles east of Dallas, some of the areas that were on the approved list surprisingly were somewhat suburban but not yet heavily populated.

Our Realtor had mentioned the program to us and the application process facilitated by a mortgage brokerage.

There are several advantages to this program but here are a few reasons it was a good choice for us:

Less stringent criteria to financially qualify as our credit was not horrible but less than perfect having a 5 year old bankruptcy still plaguing our credit score.

100% financing including all closing costs and house/land improvements that are deemed necessary to making the property 'livable'

we could have included a fence (10K-15K) but chose not to to avoid financing that item for 30 years, we did however include the flooring as there was 'none' in the house, it was a hud house and for some reason they had striped out all carpet, thank goodness, I can't imagine what condition it was in for them to do that.

also offered a lower interest rate (5.25%) on fixed rate 30 year mortgage than we would have qualified for with a 'traditional loan'

Definitely worth checking 'em out and asking your realtor about.

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/HSF_SFH.html

 

[KenK]

In this area it would be very difficult to get a loan for more than 70% of the appraised value.

 

[chickenzoo]

Ok, I just called USDA and they said they only do 2 acres or less?????????????? Is that just the office I called or USDA itself.. they were not very helpful.

 

[chickenzoo]

Ok, got ahold of another one... we make too much,

 

[chickenzoo]

Alright, I'm losing hope now. Farm Credit says they would need 25% down also...... and rates would be higher.

Who has that at this time? VA said it wouldn't be a problem, but can't find a broker to go through to get it.............

any other ideas.

 

[SourRoses]

Owner Financing? Thats something we are trying for.... Still need some down though. But we have found a couple with only reasonable downpayment requirements....

 

[QH Girl]

You might try calling your dept. of agriculture to see if they have any suggestions. We bought 21 acres 5 years ago and used a friend that was just getting into real estate. I wish I had gone with someone familiar with farm land - some things were done incorrectly.

There are real estate agencies that specialize in farm land - you may want to see if you can find one. Good luck!

 

[lockedhearts]

When we bought our property, we had a hard time getting financed, we have a single wide mobile on 6+ acres. What we ended up doing was getting basically a standard loan, not a mortgage. It is a 20 year loan , we do pay a higher interest rate (10%) but our mortgage payment is less than $500 per month and it is almost 1/2 paid for.

One of our stipulations is our payment is automatically debited from hubbys Military Retirement. You might be able to get financing that way. We put a standard Down Payment on ours.