USDA Home Loans in Florida

The USDA Loan in Florida is a popular program given many locations are eligible. The Rural Housing Loan can be challenging to qualify for, but offers more competitive interest rates, no money down and low mortgage insurance compared to Conventional Mortgages and FHA Loans in Florida.

In this article we will focus specifically on USDA Home Loans in Florida, particularly the Benefits of the USDA Loan, USDA Loan Map in Florida highlighting eligible areas and the USDA Income Limits in Florida.

USDA Loan Benefits in Florida

• No Money Down - Florida borrowers are not required to put any money down in most instances when applying for a USDA loan.
• Low Interest rates – At United Fidelity Funding, we offer some of the more competitive rates in the nation, but on top of that USDA Loans in Florida have some of the lowest rates of all which allows your payment to be more affordable.
• Reduced Mortgage Insurance – the USDA Mortgage Insurance premium is the lowest of any loan program, calculated at .35% of the loan amount per year, which is then divided by 12 to determine the monthly installment added to your mortgage payment.

To get an idea of what your mortgage payment would look like, use our USDA Loan Calculator or our Florida Mortgage Calculator where we break down property tax rates by county.

USDA Loan Eligibility Zone Map in Florida

One of the challenges to the USDA loan in Florida is buying a home in a designated rural area. Area is not only the only factor to determine property eligibility, as homes with inground pools aren’t eligible for USDA financing in Florida, nor are homes with items in need of immediate repair such as peeling paint on the exterior of the house.

Eligible properties include single family homes, townhomes, and HUD-approved condos. The property also must be your primary residence to be eligible.

Florida USDA Loan Map

While most major metro areas are excluded from eligibility, the property zone map below highlights all areas that are INELIGBLE.

Any area with a peach-colored shading is NOT eligible. Areas in white are eligible.

Once you’ve found a home you want to make an offer on, it’s best to look up the home’s address in the USDA eligibility zone lookup tool which can be accessed here: Florida USDA Loan Property Eligibility Lookup.

USDA Income Limits and Requirements in Florida

Another challenge to qualify for a USDA Loan in Florida are the income restrictions and debt-to-income ratio requirements.

Income

USDA loans in Florida count the entire HOUSEHOLD’S income when determining if you’re eligible. The household’s income must be below the area median as defined by the tables below. So even if a person isn’t on the loan, the lender must verify that person’s income and include it towards the USDA income limits in Florida.

Debt-to-Income Ratio

The USDA does not have loan limits, meaning you can borrow as much as you can qualify for. Instead, they have some strict debt-to-income ratio requirements which limits how much you can qualify for.

• Monthly Debt Payments – to qualify for a USDA loan in Florida, your monthly minimum debt payments as reported on credit cannot exceed 31% of your gross (before taxes) monthly income.
• Overall Debt Payments + House Payment – additionally, the USDA requires that the new mortgage payment plus your minimum debt payments be below 43% of your qualifying monthly income.

The income used to calculate these debt-to-income ratio limits is the income received by the borrowers on the loan, and not the entire household income.

Credit

The credit score for a USDA loan is generally set at 640 which is what’s needed to qualify for an automated approval through GUS.

Lower credit scores are allowed but are case-by-case and in order to get a loan approved, the borrower will likely need compensating factors such as assets held in reserves after the loan closes. This generally needs to be 3-6+ months of the mortgage payment and the money needs to be in checking, savings or retirement accounts.

USDA Income Limits Florida

For 90% of USDA eligible areas in Florida, the household income limit is capped at $82,700/year for 1-4 person households and goes up to $109,150/year for 5+ person households.

Below is a breakdown of the USDA Income Limits in Florida by area.

About United Fidelity Funding

UFF Mortgage is an approved USDA lender and assists borrowers in Florida with USDA Guaranteed financing. With an average of 7 years in the industry and 400 funded loans, our licensed loan officers are highly experienced with USDA loan options. In addition to our 5-star service (as rated by our past clients), our core focus is keeping our company overhead low, thereby allowing us to have some of the most competitive rates and lowest fees for our borrowers.