Apply right now, schedule a call, or talk to a loan officer. USDA is the best-kept secret in Florida financing. Let's see if your address qualifies.
Same destination, a real pre-approval letter that lets you make competitive offers. Three ways to get there.
The full USDA application takes 10-15 minutes. We confirm property eligibility with USDA and run income qualifications in the same pass.
Secure portal hosted by PRMG. Opens in a new tab.
Pick a 30-minute slot that works for you. We'll check your target property against the USDA eligibility map, run income against the household cap, and tell you whether USDA is the right fit before you fill anything out.
30 minutes, no commitment.
Talk to a licensed loan officer right now. We know USDA-eligible Florida counties, the income caps, and what to do when you're close to the limit.
Average wait under 60 seconds.
USDA Rural Development loans are backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and were built to get qualified buyers into homes in rural and semi-rural areas with no down payment. In Florida, that includes far more of the state than most buyers expect: most of the land outside Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale metros is USDA-eligible. Income caps apply by household size and county, and the loan is for primary residences only.
Still researching? Read the full USDA loan guide
USDA was built to expand ownership outside the big metros, so the bar is different than FHA or conventional. Here's the quick read on who qualifies. If most of these apply to you, you're a strong candidate. If not, we'll point you to a better path.
Have these handy before you start the online application or jump on a call. Anything you don't have, we can request directly from your employer or bank during processing.
A current driver's license, state ID, or passport for every borrower on the loan.
W-2s if you're salaried, 1099s and federal tax returns if you're self-employed or commission-based. USDA needs to verify household income against the county cap.
Most recent pay stubs covering a full month. Bonus, overtime, and commissions should all appear if they're part of your qualifying income.
All accounts for closing costs and reserves. Big deposits need a paper trail, so flag anything unusual.
Monthly minimums on auto loans, student loans, credit cards, and installment debt. USDA's DTI rules are strict in the back-end ratio.
The specific address you want to buy, or the neighborhood you're shopping in. We check USDA eligibility before we go any further.
No black box. Here's the actual sequence after your application lands with our team, whether you came in online or scheduled a call.
We pull credit, confirm the property is in a USDA-eligible area, and run an automated underwriting check. You'll get a text or email letting you know we have what we need or what's still missing.
If your file is clean and the property is eligible, we issue a USDA pre-approval letter you can send to your agent and use on offers. If we need to dig in (income near the cap, household size questions, ineligible address), we set up a call within 24 hours to work through it.
USDA adds one step most loan types don't: final review by USDA's state office after lender underwriting. This adds a few days, not weeks, but we build it into the timeline so your closing date holds.
Most Florida buyers assume USDA is for farmland or tiny towns. It's not. USDA maps the state into eligible and ineligible zones, and a surprising amount of Florida, including much of the Tampa Bay fringe, the entire Nature Coast, most of central Florida outside Orlando, most of the Panhandle outside Pensacola and Panama City, and a large slice of the Treasure Coast, qualifies. If you're shopping outside the major metro cores, there's a real chance your target address is USDA-eligible.
The $0 down combined with typically lower mortgage insurance costs than FHA makes USDA the most affordable loan option on the market when you qualify. On a $300,000 purchase, that's $10,500 you don't have to save versus 3.5% FHA, and $15,000 you don't have to save versus 5% conventional. Most USDA buyers close with only a few thousand dollars out of pocket after seller-paid closing costs.
The catch is the income cap. USDA is designed for low-to-moderate income households, and if your household income is above the cap for your county, you don't qualify. The cap isn't low in Florida though, most counties sit around $112,450 for a 1-to-4-person household and rise from there. We run your exact numbers against your county's limit before you commit to anything.
Yes. USDA offers 100% financing with no down payment required. You can finance the purchase price and, in some cases, closing costs if the home appraises above the sale price. It's one of only two loan programs (along with VA) that allows zero down.
USDA maintains an interactive eligibility map. Most Florida outside the major metro cores qualifies. The fastest way to check is to send us the address, we'll run it through the map and the USDA Rural Development portal and tell you within minutes.
USDA caps household income at a percentage of area median income, varying by county and household size. In most Florida counties, the limit for a 1-to-4-person household is around $112,450. Larger households get a higher limit. We check your exact numbers against your county's cap during the application.
USDA Guaranteed is a loan issued by a private lender (like us) and backed by USDA. That's what most USDA buyers use, and that's what we originate. USDA Direct is a loan made directly by USDA to very-low-income buyers, processed through their Rural Development office, not through private lenders.
USDA has two fees that function like mortgage insurance: an upfront guarantee fee of 1% of the loan amount (usually rolled in), and an annual fee of 0.35% paid monthly. Both are significantly cheaper than FHA's MIP or typical conventional PMI, and there's no cap on loan-to-value the way there is with some conventional options.
USDA's automated underwriting system favors scores of 640 or higher for a streamlined approval. Scores below 640 can still qualify through manual underwriting with compensating factors like strong employment history, low DTI, or significant reserves.
USDA allows condos, but the project has to be on an approved list (FHA-, VA-, or USDA-approved) or go through a project review. Most Florida condo buyers end up on FHA or conventional simply because project approval is easier, but we'll check before we rule USDA out.
USDA allows sellers to contribute up to 6% of the sale price toward your closing costs and prepaid items. In a market where the seller is motivated, this plus 100% financing can put you in the home with almost no cash out of pocket at closing.
USDA loans generally close in 30 to 45 days because of the required state-office final review after lender underwriting. Our team targets the fastest end of that range by submitting clean files and flagging any issues before underwriting.
No. USDA is strictly for primary residences. If you move out, you can keep the loan, but you must live in the home initially. For second homes or investment property, you'd look at conventional or DSCR.
If you're only a few thousand dollars over, a 401(k) contribution, HSA contribution, or business deductions may be enough to bring you under. We run your numbers and the county cap together and tell you whether it's worth the conversation.
Three ways to start. Pick what feels right.
