Most types of housing are eligible for financing:

FHA has a list of ineligible property types as well:

•          Commercial property
•          Cooperatives
•          Condotels·         
•          Mobile homes
•          Non-warrantable condos
•          Timeshares
•          Working farms, ranches, orchards

Some types of properties won’t work on a VA loan. They include:

•          Cooperatives
•          Timeshares
•          Condotels
•          Commercial Property
•          Mobile Homes
•          Working Farms, Ranches, Orchards
•          VA Indian Leasehold properties

USDA has a wide variety of properties they will lend on:

•          Attached/Detached SFRs
•          Attached/Detached PUDs
•          Condos – Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD or VA eligible projects are acceptable.
•          Manufactured Housing:
  • Must be classified as Real Property
  • Single-wide and multi-wide are allowed
  • For purchase transactions, the unit must be new, less than 12 months old and never occupied (see exception for pilot states below)
    •   An exception to allow the purchase of an existing unit, constructed on or after January 1, 2006, applies to properties that qualify under the Manufactured Housing Pilot and is limited to the following Pilot states:  Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming
  •     Manufactured homes must be at least 12 feet wide and have a minimum 400 square feet of gross living area
  •     The manufactured home may not have been previously installed at another location
  •     All manufactured housing must meet USDA guidelines, restrictions in these Program Guidelines, and any lender guidelines
•          The property must be located in a rural area, as designated by the local RHS office. To determine whether the property is located in a designated rural area, go to the RD Website and from the home page under “Property Eligibility” click “Single Family Housing”. Property can be looked up by address or by viewing the “Additional Eligible Areas” or “Text Descriptions”.
•          The property must be a single family non-farm residence.
•          The value of the site should be typical for the area.
•          The property must be contiguous to and have access to a paved or all-weather surface street, road or driveway.
•          Privately maintained roads must be protected by a permanently recorded, non-exclusive, non-revocable easement or be maintained by the Homeowner’s Association.
•          The property must have dependable water and waste disposal systems that are approved by local authorities.
•          Remaining Economic Life must meet or exceed the term of proposed loan.
•          Existing properties located within a flood zone are eligible (when and only if NFIP is available). Flood insurance is required.

USDA properties that would not be eligible:

• Leasehold properties are ineligible
•  Condo projects comprised of manufactured homes are ineligible
• 2-4 units
• Mobile Homes
• Cooperatives
• New or proposed construction properties located in a flood or mudslide zone
• Properties with more than one detached garage may be considered non-essential for Rural HOusing and therefore may not be acceptable. Exceptions may be requested through the local Rural Development office.
• Properties that are actively used as a farm operation, cases where the seller previously used the property to operate a farm, or properties that contain farm service building(s), even if the building(s) have no contributory value.

USDA does allow new construction

Properties with a notice of completion or certificate of occupancy filed less than 12 months prior to the loan application date for the subject transaction are considered New Construction. All New Construction files must include the following documentation:

Certified Plans and Specifications

The loan file must contain evidence that the plans and specifications comply with all development standards applicable to the new construction. There are three options to document certified plans and specs: 

1. Building Permit, issued by local jurisdiction – Note that the local building authority much issue a final occupancy certificate or a notice of completion
2. Certificate of Occupancy or completion certificate, issued by local jurisdiction Or
3. Copy of certification from a qualified individual or organization that states the reviewed documents comply with applicable development standards.
4. Proof of construction inspections
5. Documents that either show inspections for the three phase inspections with a 1 year builder warranty plan acceptable to Rural Development or copies of the three inspections that include: Footings/Foundation, Shell complete, Final, 1 year insured builder warranty or Final with 10 year insured builder warranty plan acceptable to Rural Development.

While these are loans for more traditional properties, these agencies do also cover unusual property types, though not all lenders are willing to lend on things outside of the normal box. Check with your mortgage broker if you have or have identified an unusual structure or property you are interested in and need financing on. Feel free to reach out with questions.