The USDA 502 Direct Loan is designed specifically to  help with new homeownership, and our team specializes in this. Here is how it works and the next steps to take if you want to become a new homeowner.

• You must meet the income requirements for the development and have a total household income (combined income of everyone in the house) of no more than:
  • $55,350 per year for up to 4 members of the household, or
  • $73,050 per year for 5 or more members of the household.
• Contact us with any questions you may have, to learn more about the program, and to submit a pre-application for a USDA 502 Direct loan: [email protected] or (828) 384-1386. 
• We will do an initial evaluation for you. From the evaluation we will be able to tell you if you qualify immediately or if we can work with you to become eligible.

If you qualify immediately:

1. You will submit a full application. Like any loan, this will require you to submit copies of tax returns,  paystubs, bank statements, etc. A complete list of what you need for the full application will be provided to you, and we will help you collect everything.
2. It takes 5-6 weeks for USDA to process the application and if approved, USDA will give you a Certificate of Eligibility (COE), that confirms that you are eligible for a loan and states the maximum amount of the loan.
3. Find a house! You do NOT have to buy a house in a Gateway development, this eligibility is for any house. We would love to have you in a Gateway development but would be just as excited for you to be a homeowner anywhere.
4. In the Gateway developments, we aim to have a house available every two months.  If you are interested in one of our developments we can work with you on what is available at the moment and in the future. We can even work with you on a specific design that you like and finishes that are available and have a custom home built for you in 6 months.
5. Once we have a completed house, we will go under contract with you to purchase that house. All of this is submitted to USDA.
6. A home inspection and appraisal is completed next. The USDA underwriters will review it all and get back with a final closing statement.
7. A final credit check and income verification is required before closing, which is why it is imperative that you maintain your income and do not increase your debt throughout this process, so that it does not limit your chances of closing on the house at the very end of the process. See our 10 things to avoid during the home buying process here.
8. After the final income verification and credit check, USDA will inform you if a subsidy is possible and how that works. The goal is to keep the amount of your monthly payments under 30% of your monthly income, which is the national standard.
9. Finally, you close on the house and are given the keys to your new home!

If you do not qualify immediately:

1. The initial report will highlight the areas that need work to meet the USDA requirements for the loan.
2. We will work with you to develop a plan on how to correct these areas so that you can put in a full application. We will also set up a timeline for you to estimate how long it will take you to become eligible.
3. We will be building houses for many years. If you are committed to working on this, our team will commit to help you become a homeowner.

As with all loans, your credit score, debt-to-income ratio, and past credit history play a major part in getting approved for a loan and affect the amount you can borrow. 

An ideal credit score is around 640 or higher.

It is best to have a low debt-to-income ratio, ideally below 40% of debt. 

The longer your credit history (the age of your oldest credit account), the better your credit score.

We recognize that it is challenging to achieve this and therefore have teamed up with housing counselors who will review the current status of your credit and help you with a plan to become eligible for a loan. Often, there a simple steps you can take to significantly improve your credit score in a short timeframe.

If you are prepared to work on it, you can become a homeowner!

Ten Things to Avoid When Buying a Home

1. DO NOT change jobs, become self-employed, or quit your job.
2. DO NOT buy a car, truck, van, or any new vehicle that requires you to finance it, or borrow money.
3. DO NOT apply for any new credit.
4. DO NOT spend the money you have set aside for your closing.
5. DO NOT buy furniture or make any other major purchases over $250 using credit.
6. DO NOT let anyone pull your credit report or “check your credit.”
7. DO NOT make any large deposits or transfers that are not payroll.
8. DO NOT change bank accounts or move any money between accounts.
9. DO NOT co-sign on a loan for ANYONE.
10. DO NOT close any open accounts or pay any old collections.

1. Reach out to us! We want to help you become a homeowner: [email protected] or (828) 384-1386.
2. Fill out a pre-application so that our team can assess where you are in the process. Don’t worry, we’ll walk you through this.
3. Timing is everything. It takes us 6 months to build a house and even if you have to work on your credit history we can time it so that when you are ready to apply for your loan we are in the process of building your house.