Ok, so I have a question about the USDA Guaranteed loan. My wife and I have found 5.4 acres of land that we'd like to build a house on and finance it all with a USDA loan. I talked with someone at Synovus, and they told me that in order to get the USDA loan, I would have to put down 25% for the land, and then the bank would only loan up to 85% of appraised value for the build. They are asking $35,000 for the land, and the builder quoted us $185,000 to construct the home. So, the down payment for the land would be $8750. And then if the bank loans up to 85%, would that be another $27,750 that we'd have to put down? The lender also said that if the builder was to buy the land, and build the house, then we would be able to do the USDA loan for $225,000 with $0 down. When I spoke to the builder, they said they would be willing to buy the land and build the house, but they want $20,000 down, and would give it back upon completion. If I had the $20,000, I would just buy the land and then take out a USDA loan for the $185,000 build. So, basically what I'm asking, is there a way to have a single loan through USDA to buy the land, and then construct a home? We have about $7000 in my 401k that I could pull out to use as a down payment on the land, but the reasoning for using the USDA loan is the fact of the $0 down. I've already been pre-approved for a $225,000 USDA loan through Synovus. What do I do? Thanks!
