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The Playbook · 50-page PDF · Fillable worksheets included

The USDA Home Buyer Playbook

How to actually buy a home with USDA financing — without wasting weekends on homes that can't work.

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What's inside

Nine chapters, three fillable worksheets, one honest goal: get you from "USDA sounds interesting" to "keys in hand" without the boundary-line, income-cap, or lender-selection mistakes that kill most first attempts.

  1. What USDA financing actually is (Guaranteed vs Direct, the honest math)
  2. The location filter: how to read the eligibility layer, and why one side of a road qualifies
  3. The income filter: household vs qualifying income, and the trap that kills the most deals
  4. The property filter: what USDA won't finance and how appraisers actually score it
  5. The borrower filter: credit, DTI, employment, reserves — the numbers that matter
  6. Building your offer-ready package (finding a USDA-fluent lender + agent, the documents you need)
  7. Writing an offer that closes on USDA (contingencies, seller concessions, the 6% cap)
  8. From accepted offer to keys in hand (the Conditional Commitment step, timing, the 4 deal-killers)
  9. After you close (occupancy, refinancing, life changes)

Who this is for

First-time buyersFirst home, small down payment, considering FHA vs USDA. This tells you which one actually fits.
Priced-out householdsPriced out of the urban core, comparing outer suburbs and small towns. Read Chapter 2 first.
USDA-curious skepticsYou've heard "97% of the country qualifies" and rightly don't trust it. Chapter 1 kills the myths in one page.
Buyers already touringAlready looking, tired of finding out mid-tour that a listing won't work. Jump to Chapter 6 first.

Why us

This is written by the team behind USDA.properties — the independent tool that runs address-level checks against the official USDA Rural Development geospatial layer. Every claim in the book is verified against the current-year sources, not rewritten from a 2019 mortgage blog. We are not USDA-affiliated, not a lender, and take no referral fees for lender or agent recommendations.

"USDA financing is the messiest wedge in home lending. It rewards buyers who understand it and punishes buyers who guess. This book removes the guessing."

Not ready to buy? Get Chapter 1 free.

Send me the first chapter (What USDA financing actually is) plus updates when the map changes for my county.

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Guarantee

If the Playbook doesn't save you at least one wasted weekend, reply to your receipt within 30 days and I'll refund you in full. No questions. You keep the PDF.

Launch price — save $2
$29$27 One-time payment · Lifetime updates · Instant download
Buy the Playbook →

FAQ

Do I get updates? Yes. When the USDA map, income caps, or program rules change, you get the updated PDF free, forever, delivered to the email you used at checkout.

Is this an official USDA product? No. USDA.properties is an independent publisher. Nothing in this book is an official eligibility determination or a loan approval. The final answer on any specific property comes only from USDA Rural Development or an approved lender.

Do you take affiliate fees from lenders or agents? No. We recommend a *category* (USDA-fluent lender, USDA-fluent agent) and give you the questions to interview one yourself.

What if my address turns out to be ineligible? The book has an entire chapter on how to widen a search when your first ZIP is fully ineligible — that scenario alone tends to save weeks.