Government Loans
There are 17 Government Housing Loans
Section 203h Mortgage Insurance for Disaster Victims
Program Description
Through Section 203(h), the Federal Government helps survivors in Presidentially designated disaster areas recover by making it easier for them to get mortgages and become homeowners or re-establish themselves as homeowners.
General Program Requirements
Individuals are eligible for this program if their homes are located in an area that was designated by the President as a disaster area and if their homes were destroyed or damaged to such an extent that reconstruction or replacement is necessary. Insured mortgages may be used to finance the purchase or reconstruction of a one-family home that will be the principal residence of the homeowner.
Get more information here.
Basic FHA Loan (Home Mortgage Insurance – HUD/FHA)
Program Description
This program can help individuals buy a single family home. While HUD does not lend money directly to buyers to purchase a home, FHA-approved lenders make loans through a number of FHA-insurance programs.
General Program Requirements
In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be a current or prospective homeowner who is refinancing an existing mortgage.
Get more information here.
Combination Mortgage Insurance for Manufactured Home and Lot
Program Description
This program can help you buy a manufactured home and the land for the home. The manufactured home must be your primary residence. While HUD does not lend money directly to buyers to purchase a manufactured home and land, FHA-approved lenders make loans through the Manufactured (Mobile) Home insurance program.
General Program Requirements
In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be a current or prospective homeowner who is either (a) planning to repair or improve a residential structure that is more than one year old, (b) refinancing an existing mortgage, or (c) buying a home that will serve as a primary residence.
Get more information here.
Condominium Unit Purchase (Mortgage Insurance – HUD/FHA)
Program Description
This program can help individuals buy a home in a condominium development that will be their place of residence. While Housing and Urban Development (HUD) does not lend money directly to buyers to purchase a home, Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved lenders make loans through a number of FHA-insurance programs.
General Program Requirements
In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be a current or prospective homeowner.
Get more information here.
Home and Property Disaster Loans
Program Description
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is responsible for providing affordable, timely and accessible financial assistance to homeowners and renters located in a declared disaster area. Financial assistance is available in the form of low-interest, long-term loans for losses that are not fully covered by insurance or other recoveries.
SBA’s disaster loans are the primary form of federal assistance for the repair and rebuilding of non-farm, private sector disaster losses. The disaster loan program is the only form of SBA assistance not limited to small businesses.
Homeowners can apply for a real property loan for up to $200,000 to repair or replace their primary residence to its pre-disaster condition. The loan may not be used to upgrade the home or make additions to it. If, however, building codes require structural improvements to repair the disaster damage, the loan may be used to meet these requirements. Loans may be increased by as much as 20 percent of the verified losses (not to exceed $200,000) to protect the damaged real property from possible future disasters of the same kind.
Homeowners or renters can apply for a personal property loan for up to $40,000 to help repair or replace personal property, such as clothing, furniture, automobiles, etc., lost in the disaster. As a rule of thumb, personal property is anything that is not considered real estate or a part of the actual structure. This loan may not be used to replace extraordinarily expensive or irreplaceable items, such as antiques, collections, pleasure boats, recreational vehicles, fur coats, etc.
General Program Requirements
To be eligible for SBA assistance, homeowners and renters must have sustained physical damage and be located in a disaster declared county.
Loan Terms
Disaster survivors must repay SBA disaster loans. SBA can only approve loans to applicants with a reasonable ability to repay the loan and other obligations from earnings. The terms of each loan are established in accordance with each borrower’s ability to repay. The law gives SBA several powerful tools to make disaster loans affordable: low fixed interest rates, long-terms (up to 30 years), and refinancing of prior real estate liens (in some cases). As required by law, the interest rate for each loan is based on SBA’s determination of whether an applicant has the ability to borrow or use their own resources to overcome the disaster.
The SBA can provide up to $200,000 to homeowners to repair or replace their primary residence. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $40,000 to help repair or replace personal property. There are no upfront fees or early payment penalties charged by SBA.
Get more information here.
Hope for Homeowners
Program Description
This is a new program for people at risk of losing their home due to default and foreclosure. The program provides new, 30-year, fixed rate mortgages that are insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Homeowners having difficulty paying their mortgages may be eligible to refinance into a mortgage that they can afford. Hope for Homeowners is voluntary and both lender(s) and homeowner(s) must agree to participate.
General Program Requirements
You should contact your lender to determine eligibility, but you may be eligible if, among other factors:
- The home is your primary residence, and you have no ownership interest in any other residential property, such as second homes.
- Your existing mortgage was originated on or before January 1, 2008 and you have made at least six payments.
- You are not able to pay your existing mortgage without help.
- As of March 2008, your total monthly mortgage payments due were more than 31 percent of your gross monthly income.
- You certify that you have not been convicted of fraud in the past 10 years, intentionally defaulted on debts; and did not knowingly or willingly provide material false information to obtain existing mortgage(s).
Get more information here.
Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program
Program Description
This grant provides and operates cost-effective, decent, safe and affordable dwellings for lower income families through an authorized local Public Housing Agency (PHA).
General Program Requirements
In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be Native American/American Indian, need aid in obtaining decent, safe, and/or sanitary rental housing, and characterize your financial situation as low income or very low income .
Get more information here.
Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program (Section 184)
Program Description
This program provides home ownership opportunities to Native Americans, Tribes, Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs), and Indian Housing Authorities on Indian land, through a guaranteed mortgage loan program available through private financial institutions.
General Program Requirements
In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be a Native American/American Indian in the process of buying a home that will be your primary residence. You or your family member(s) must also be enrolled in a federally recognized American Indian tribe or Alaskan Native village.
Loan Terms
Fixed Rate Financing with market rate of interest. Length of Loan is 30 years or less. Payments are made monthly. The maximum loan amount is 150% of the FHA lending limits for the area. There are no prepayment penalties.
Get more information here.
Manufactured Home Loan Insurance (HUD/FHA)
Program Description
The Manufactured Home Loan Insurance program makes reasonable financing possible for purchasing manufactured homes.
General Program Requirements
In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be buying a manufactured home that will serve as a primary residence.
Get more information here.
Mortgage Insurance: Purchase of a Cooperative Housing Unit
Program Description
This program can help individuals buy a single family home. While HUD does not lend money directly to buyers to purchase a home, FHA-approved lenders make loans through a number of FHA-insurance programs.
General Program Requirements
In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be a member of a housing cooperative or interested in purchasing a unit in a cooperative housing project.
Get more information here.
Property Improvement Loan Insurance (HUD/FHA)
Program Description
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) makes it easier for consumers to obtain affordable home improvement loans by insuring loans made by private lenders to improve properties that meet certain requirements. This is one of HUD’s most frequently used loan insurance products–by the end of fiscal year (FY) 1996, it had insured almost 35 million loans totaling $43.6 billion.
General Program Requirements
Eligible borrowers include the owner of the property to be improved, the person leasing the property (provided that the lease will extend at least 6 months beyond the date when the loan must be repaid), or someone purchasing the property under a land installment contract.
Get more information here.
Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance (HUD/FHA)
Program Description
This program may help individuals finance the cost of purchasing and rehabilitating their new or existing home. While HUD does not lend money directly to buyers to purchase a home, FHA-approved lenders make loans through a number of FHA-insurance programs.
General Program Requirements
In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be a current or prospective homeowner who is planning to repair or improve a residential structure that is more than one year old.
Get more information here.
Rural Housing Loans
Program Description
Direct and guaranteed loans may be used to buy, build, or improve the applicant’s permanent residence. New manufactured homes may be financed when they are on a permanent site, purchased from an approved dealer or contractor, and meet certain other requirements. Under very limited circumstances, homes may be re-financed with direct loans. Dwellings financed must be modest, decent, safe, and sanitary. The value of a home financed with a direct loan may not exceed the area limit. The property must be located in an eligible rural area. Assistance is available in the States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana’s, and the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands. Direct loans are made at the interest rate specified in RD Instruction 440.1, Exhibit B (available at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/regs/regs/pdf/04401.pdf or in any Rural Development local office).
General Program Requirements
In order to qualify for this benefit program, applicants must have very low-, low- or moderate incomes. Very low-income is defined as below 50 percent of the area median income (AMI); low-income is between 50 and 80 percent of AMI; moderate income is below 115 percent of AMI. Families must be without adequate housing, but able to afford the housing payments, including principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI). Qualifying repayment ratios are 29 percent for PITI to 41 percent for total debt. In addition, applicants must be unable to obtain credit elsewhere, yet have an acceptable credit history. You must also be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
Loan Terms
Direct loans are repaid over 33 years or 38 years for applicants whose adjusted annual income does not exceed 60 percent of the area median income, if necessary to show repayment ability. Payment assistance is granted on direct loans to reduce the installment to an “effective interest rate” as low as one percent, depending on adjusted family income. Payment assistance is subject to recapture by the government when the customer no longer resides in the dwelling. There is no funding provided for deferred mortgage authority or loans for deferred mortgage assumptions.
Guaranteed loans are amortized over 30 years.
Get more information here.
Rural Housing: Farm Labor Housing Loans and Grants
Program Description
The Farm Labor Housing Loan and Grant program provides capital financing for the development of housing for domestic farm laborers. Farm Labor Housing loans and grants are provided to buy, build, improve, or repair housing for farm laborers, including persons whose income is earned in aquaculture (fish and oyster farms) and those engaged in on-farm processing. Funds can be used to purchase a site or a leasehold interest in a site; to construct housing, day care facilities, or community rooms; to pay fees to purchase durable household furnishings; and to pay construction loan interest.
General Program Requirements
The Farm Labor Housing Loan and Grant program provides capital financing for the development of housing for domestic farm laborers. Loans are made to farmers, associations of farmers, family farm corporations, Indian tribes, nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and associations of farmworkers. Typically, loan applicants are unable to obtain credit elsewhere, but in some instances, farmers able to get credit elsewhere may obtain loans at a rate of interest based on the cost of federal borrowing. Grants are made to farmworker associations, nonprofit organizations, Indian tribes, and public agencies. Funds may be used in urban areas for nearby farm labor. (This is the only Rural Housing Service rural service area exception.)
Loan Terms
Loans are for 33 years at 1 percent interest. Grants may cover up to 90 percent of development costs. The balance may be a Farm Labor Housing Program loan.
Get more information here.
Rural Housing: Housing Repair Loans and Grants
Program Description
The Rural Housing Repair Loans and Grants program provides loans and grants to very low-income homeowners to repair, improve, modernize, or to remove health and safety hazards in their rural dwellings. Loans are arranged for up to 20 years at 1 percent interest. Grants may be arranged for recipients who are 62 years of age or older and can be used only to pay for repairs and improvements to remove health and safety hazards. Loan/grant combinations may be arranged for applicants who can repay part of the cost. Very low-income for this program is defined as below 50 percent of the area median income.
General Program Requirements
In order to be eligible for the loan program, you must be a homeowner who has very low income, and you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who lives in a rural area. In order to be eligible for the grant program, you must meet the above requirements, and also be aged 62 years or older.
Loan Terms
Loans of up to $20,000 and grants of up to $7,500 are available. Loans are for up to 20 years at 1 percent interest. A real estate mortgage is required for loans of $7,500 or more. Full title services are required for loans of $7,500 or more. Grants may be recaptured if the property is sold in less than three years. Loans and grants can be combined for up to $27,500 in assistance.
Get more information here.
Section 203k Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance
Program Description
When a homebuyer wants to purchase a house in need of repair or modernization, the homebuyer usually has to obtain financing first in order to purchase the dwelling; additional financing to do the rehabilitation construction; and a permanent mortgage when the work is completed to pay off the interim loans with a permanent mortgage. Often the interim financing (the acquisition and construction loans) involves relatively high interest rates and short amortization periods. The Section 203(k) program was designed to address this situation. The borrower can get just one mortgage loan, at a long-term fixed (or adjustable) rate, to finance both the acquisition and the rehabilitation of the property. To provide funds for the rehabilitation, the mortgage amount is based on the projected value of the property with the work completed, taking into account the cost of the work.
General Program Requirements
To be eligible, the property must be a one- to four-family dwelling that has been completed for at least one year. The number of units on the site must be acceptable according to the provisions of local zoning requirements. Cooperative units are not eligible.
Get more information here.
VA Home Loans – Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loan
Program Description
VA loan guarantees are made to service members, veterans, reservists and certain qualifying unmarried surviving spouses for the refinancing of a VA home loan.
General Program Requirements
You must have a current VA loan to be able to utilize the Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loan (IRRRL) program.
Loan Terms
The interest rate varies and the length of the loan cannot exceed 360 months. Payments are due monthly. No more than 2 points may be rolled into this loan plus allowable closing costs.
Get more information here.
