USDA has announced that the funds allocated for rural housing home loan program for the fiscal year of 2010 will likely be depleted prior to the end of April. The rural housing program budget is set in October each year. The increasing propularity of this program caused a double of funds from 2009 to 2010, but the picture is now clear that the increase was still insufficient.
Along with the announcement from USDA we received an email from nearly every lender stating they highly advise files be placed in line for underwriting to reserve the funds ASAP. In past years, the USDA program funds have neared depletion towards the end of the budget year allowing for USDA to give a “conditional funds approval”. This year we will not have this flexibility since we are still so far from the budget allocation. Therefore, I strongly urge anybody looking to purchase with the USDA rural housing home loan to make an offer sooner than later.
If you are looking to purchase or you have clients looking for homes and planning to use the USDA program, please call me and confirm the update on funds availability prior to making an offer.