Field instrument · St. 02 · USDA build checker
The $0-down build loan is real. Most of Tarrant County is not eligible.
The USDA single-close construction loan can fund land, the build, and the 30-year mortgage in one closing with genuinely nothing down. The part the viral posts skip: eligibility is drawn parcel by parcel on a federal map, and most of Tarrant County sits outside it. Run the exact address against the live USDA map before you fall in love with a lot.
Check an address against the live USDA map.
The four gates the viral posts skip
Primary residence only
No investors, no second homes, no rentals. The program exists to put people in homes, not portfolios.
Income limits
National base as pulled Jul 7 2026: $119,850 for households of 1 to 4, $158,250 for 5 to 8. Verify the local MSA figure with a USDA lender.
No owner-builders
USDA-approved contractor, fixed-price contract, and builder warranty coverage (commonly one-year workmanship plus ten-year structural, or an inspection-and-warranty combination USDA accepts). Modest home, typically under 2,000 sqft.
A participating lender
The single-close version is a specialty product most loan officers have never closed. The lender pool is thin. Finding one is step one.
Source: USDA Rural Development guaranteed single-family loan program rules; income figures are the national base limits as pulled Jul 7 2026. Confirm current terms with a USDA-approved lender.
Want the street-level version?
The map check is the easy part. Which eligible lots are actually worth building on, what they trade for, and which lenders will touch a single-close deal is the real work. If you are serious about building out here, leave your info and I will pull the zone read for the area you are looking at. No charge for the read.
Tell me about the house.
You get the numbers, sourced and dated. What you do with them is up to you.
sell it or rent it? run the numbersgoogle reviewstrec license 0845090