Rural home loan program has almost run out of money

EAGLE MOUNTAIN (Deseret News) — A popular federal home loan program that's allowed many Utahns to buy into the American dream in the state's exburbs and its other hinterlands is running out of money by month's end.

The Rural Home Buyers Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, appears headed for temporary mothballing — at the peak of Utah's real estate selling season — until additional or new funding can be secured from Congress.

The program offers generous financing terms to buyers meeting certain income requirements and has helped spur home sales up and down the Beehive State, especially in bedroom communities like Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs, Stansbury Park and Grantsville.

Janice Kocher, housing program director for USDA housing, said the program provided 1,800 home loans in 2009 and was on target to provide 2,400 in 2010 before funding ran out. There's currently a backlog of an additional 150 loans awaiting review as homebuyers chased the program's final dollars as well as federal and state tax credits due to expire at the end of April.

New funding, to be included in the Obama administration's next budget, will be available at the beginning of the new fiscal year in October, although a bill that would make funds available sooner is pending in Congress.

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