Choosing To Build From The Ground Up Instead Of Buying An Existing Home

With a government-backed purchase loan such as an FHA or VA home loan, your low downpayment options include no money down for VA mortgages and 3.5% of the price of the home for FHA mortgages. 

With the FHA version of a government-backed home loan, there are no early payoff penalty issues for those who decide to refinance later to try to get into a better interest rate. Compare this to conventional purchase loans; the advantages are clear for some applicants. But if you don’t want to buy someone else’s property, is there an answer for you? 

Advantages of Building Your Home From The Ground Up

With an FHA or VA purchase loan, you can purchase someone else’s home or you can build a brand new house from the ground up. 

But when you build instead of buying, you eliminate some of the hassles associated with buying existing construction. For example, you won’t have to worry about the age of the roof or plumbing systems with a newly built house.

Advantages Of A One-Time Close Construction Loan

While it’s true that you have to wait til the builders are finished before you can move into your new home, what you DO NOT have to do is to compete with other borrowers for a specific home. You don’t even have to worry about the configuration of such a property since, with a construction loan, you have a lot of say over the design and materials.

Down Payment Issues?

Existing construction loans don’t require a higher down payment to build instead of buy. This may not be true of conventional mortgages, but where VA and FHA single-close loans are concerned, there is no FHA or VA requirement to pay more at closing time for the downpayment. 

Conventional construction loans may require a 20% downpayment depending on the lender, your financial qualifications, and other variables.

Is There An Upside To Buying Existing Construction?

If you don’t feel you have the time to wait out the construction process on a One-Time Close mortgage, buying an existing house makes sense. 

After all, it’s possible to occupy the house much faster, and you may also consider haggling with the seller to get some of your closing costs paid for (up to six percent of the sale price) as a seller concession. You can’t do that with a construction loan.

Want More Information About One-Time Close Loans?

We have extensively researched the FHA (Federal Housing Administration) and the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) One-Time Close Construction loan programs.

We have spoken directly to licensed lenders that originate these residential loan types in most states, and each company has supplied us with the guidelines for their products. We can connect you with mortgage loan officers who work for lenders who know the product well and have consistently provided quality service.

If you are interested in being contacted by a licensed lender in your area, please send responses to the questions below. All information is treated confidentially. 

OneTimeClose.com provides information and connects consumers to qualified One-Time Close lenders to raise awareness about this loan product and to help consumers receive higher-quality service.

We are not paid for endorsing or recommending the lenders or loan originators and do not otherwise benefit from doing so. Consumers should shop for mortgage services and compare their options before agreeing to proceed. 

Please note that investor guidelines for the FHA and VA One-Time Close Construction Program only allow for single-family dwellings (1 unit) – and NOT for multi-family units (no duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes).

In addition, the following homes/building styles are not allowed under these programs: Kit Homes, Barndominiums, Log Cabin Homes, Shipping Container Homes, Stilt Homes, Solar (only) or Wind Powered (only) Homes. 

Contact Us:  Send Us Your Request – Spam Safe 

Please send your email request to [email protected] which authorizes OneTimeClose.com to share your personal information with one mortgage lender licensed in your area to contact you. 

1.  Send your first and last name, e-mail address, and contact telephone number.

2.  Tell us the city and state of the proposed property.

3.  Tell us your and/or the Co-borrower’s credit profile: Excellent – (680+), Good - (640-679), Fair – (620-639), or Poor- (Below 620). 620 is the minimum qualifying credit score for this product. 

4.  Are you or your spouse (Co-borrower) eligible veterans? If either of you is an eligible veteran, down payments as low as $0 may be available up to the maximum amount your debt-to-income ratio per VA will allow – there are no maximum loan amounts as per VA guidelines.

Most VA lenders will go up to $1,500,000 and review higher loan amounts on a case-by-case basis. If not, the FHA down payment is 3.5% up to the maximum FHA lending limit for your county.