USDA: $0 down for more Florida addresses than you think.

USDA eligibility is address-based, not county-based. That means large portions of Collier, Charlotte, Manatee, Sarasota, Marion, Alachua, St. Johns, and many other FL counties contain USDA-eligible addresses, even neighborhoods that feel suburban. The only way to know for certain is to run your specific address through the USDA eligibility map. We do this as our first step on every inquiry.

USDA income limits are based on household income (all earners in the home) and household size. For 2026, a 4-person household limit ranges from roughly $110,000 to $130,000 depending on county. 1-4 person household limits are lower; 5+ person household limits are higher. In higher-cost counties (Collier, Broward, Palm Beach, Manatee, Sarasota), limits are at the higher end of the range. We run the exact limit for your county and household size before anything else.

640+ FICO is the standard floor for GUS (Guaranteed Underwriting System) automated approval. Below 640, the file requires manual underwriting with strong compensating factors, stable employment, limited late payments, healthy reserves. USDA GUS is actually quite flexible on DTI, it doesn't have a hard DTI cap if the automated approval comes through, unlike FHA and conventional which have explicit ratios.

USDA Guaranteed Loans don't have a published maximum loan amount, the ceiling is set by what you qualify for based on income and DTI. In practice, most USDA loans in FL are under $450K because of income limits and USDA-eligible area property values. There's no hard cap, but the qualifying income limits naturally constrain purchase price. If you're asking because you're buying a $350K home in an eligible area, USDA absolutely works.

USDA is significantly cheaper. USDA: 1% upfront guarantee fee (financeable) + 0.35% annual. FHA: 1.75% upfront + 0.55% annual. On a $300,000 loan, that's $1,050/year in USDA annual MI vs. $1,650/year in FHA MI, a savings of $600/year every year. Both last the life of the loan at less than 10% down, so the difference compounds. If the address qualifies, USDA is almost always the better path.