I'll Take Some Government Home Loans Please!

There are several government home loans available. Many are well known. Others you may have to do some work at uncovering them.

FHA
The first and most well known is the FHA Loan. What most people do not understand about the FHA Loan is that the government does not loan you the money. They only insure the loan. If the loan goes into default the lender is paid by an insurance pool.

You can purchase a home with as little as 3% down when using the FHA Loan. There is currently legislature in the works to make the FHA Loan require 3.5% down.

VA
The second government home loan is the VA Loan. Unfortunately only veterans will qualify for this home loan. You can purchase a home up to $417,000 with zero down. What is very exciting about this home loan is that the seller of the home can pay all of your closing costs. You could actually buy a home for the cost of a credit report.

GRH
The third and very popular program is the Guaranteed Rural Housing program. This program is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture. It too is a zero down program. There are income and purchase price limitations. Also, you can not purchase a home anywhere the USDA considers urban.

The seller can pay all of your closing costs with this government home loan. In reality you could purchase a home for as little as the cost of a credit report.

There are also many state, county, and city government home loans available. These programs come and go depending on the funding and use of these programs.

The best place to start your research is with a mortgage company. Next try any of the local housing authority offices. Or any of the local government offices. You can also call real estate agents to see if they know of any government home loan programs.

Just to give you an example here in Oregon we have the Oregon Bond Loan. It offers extremely low interest rates. There are income and purchase price limitations. It also has a recapture tax. For the first 9 years of the loan if you refinance or sell the home you will be required to pay the state a tax on the original purchase price. The tax is on a sliding scale with year 5 being the highest tax of approximately 6.5%.

Oregon Residents to apply click here on Government Home Loans

For more information and other government loan programs please visit http://www.hud.gov