A great loan that does not work here

A great loan that does not work here

A USDA loan in Clayton County GA is the question, and the honest answer is no. USDA is one of the best zero-down products out there, no down payment, no PMI, no funding fee. But the whole county is ineligible, every Riverdale address included.

Clayton sits fully inside the Atlanta metro statistical area, and USDA's definition of rural excludes metros that size. The map returns "Not Eligible" every time.

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Where USDA actually works

• Spalding County, the Griffin area
• Butts County, the Jackson area
• Lamar County, the Barnesville area
• Rural pockets of Henry and Fayette
• Roughly 35 to 45 miles from the airport
• Check any address on the USDA map

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What to use instead in Clayton

For a Riverdale home, three loans cover almost every buyer: FHA at 3.5 percent down, VA at zero down for eligible veterans, and Conventional 97 at 3 percent down around 720 credit.

One warning. A loan officer who tells you USDA works in Clayton has not checked the map. It is a basic error, and it signals how they handle a file.

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I would rather tell you the truth now than waste three weeks of your search on a loan that cannot close here.