05/05/2026
The USDA📒 Path:
My Personal 😀Journey to 🏠Homeownership in Ellijay, GA.
This is my experience and opinion 📒 regarding a multi-year 📆 challenge to secure a home 🏡 through the USDA loan program.
Here is a summary of my multi-year pursuit to secure a USDA home loan: (Links to the USDA website are at the bottom of this message)
🔴 Initial📃 Application: I submitted a detailed 28-page application 📁 with two years of income and debt documentation. I chose not to use a loan packager because of my background as a real estate agent and my experience refinancing a house.
NOTE: 📑Loan packagers, available through USDA-approved companies, help with forms and backup data for about a $2,000 💰 fee, which is added to closing costs with no out-of-pocket expense from you💸. They typically speed up the USDA loan process, effectively giving you priority over private applications.
🔴 Loan Approval: It took 8 months before USDA did a review and approved my loan. 😊: The loan had a 90-day ⏱ expiration date. Now, I can get the house.
🔴 First Loan Expiration: Finding a home🏠 in the 2023 housing market was challenging. Near the end of my 90-day loan period, the clock ⏰was ticking, and I found a house. However, negotiations dragged on, and the strict non-extendable USDA loan period expired❌, forcing me to start all over. NO House!
🔴 Brother 🏌️♂️ comes to help; My brother, a successful businessman, offered help as my lease was ending without extension options. His company would buy a house with cash, 💵, and I would buy it from him using a USDA loan. After failed offers, we found a fixer-upper needing major mold work. He agreed to buy and pay for the repairs. We completed the work and bought a house on 3 acres, giving me a place to live.
🔴 Second 📋Application & Property Purchase: After reapplying and waiting an additional 10 months, I received a second approval, and I am now in a position to buy the 3-acre house from my brother and repay him.
🔴 Acreage📏 Rule Hurdles: The USDA required the home to sit on no more than 1.5 acres, the county's residential minimum. I thought it was 5 acres, but that applies to agriculture. To comply, my brother agreed to split the property, which cost me $2,500 in surveying fees and delayed the process by over two months.
🔴 Funding🥶 Freeze: Shortly after the property was split, all USDA funding was paused due to the transition to the new Trump administration. However, I was able to bypass a potentially months-long wait when another buyer's loan fell through, and those funds were offered to me at the last minute. I jumped on the offer at the 5 pm deadline.
🔴 Inspections and Final Closing: Before closing, the property had to undergo the required inspections 📈.
🔬House inspection $450
🐜Termite inspection and treatment $850
🚽Septic tank inspection/cleaning $1,000
Note: We were able to cover some of these costs at closing; about $2,000 covered. The rest was out of my pocket, some $2,800. $2,500 was the property split survey.
🔴 Closing July 2024 - The journey ends. ✍ All the hard work paid off, and I got to own my old home:🙂.
USDA:
I include a link to the USDA website. If you have any questions ✋, please consult 🔎them— they are very helpful.
Disclaimer: I wanted to share my experience and opinion to let everyone know that USDA loans are available in this area. Please note that my broker, VPR Virtual Properties Realty, and United Country Premier Properties do not provide professional real estate, legal, or mortgage advice. See the USDA website for questions and answers. Good Luck!
Here is the link to the USDA Georgia:
https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-programs/single-family-housing-direct-home-loans-0
