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I'm not saying they haven't. You can still take advantage of those programs in mid sized cities in Baton Rouge, but what about large urban areas like Dallas or Houston or Atlanta? I'm guessing (and you may know, I certainty do not) the commute would be around 2 hours to qualify for rural development loans.

That's what I meant. Jobs and opportunities are leaving small cities and towns and moving to the metroplexes. You can't expect people to commute 2 hours to finance their house.

Your entire point was that it was a bonus and that people aren't actually making decisions on where they lived based on factors like the cost of owning a home, which the Section 502/538 Loans are huge parts and factors of for millions of people.

You don't seriously think that $25,000,000,000.00USD is being lent each year through this program strictly in the 5 Parish Metro BR area, do you? GMFS is one of the larger in-state lenders in LA and last year they were/are proud to say they lent a billion. But they work outside of LA also.

Now imagine TWENTY-FIVE TIMES THAT AMOUNT. These are conventional mortgages from a Max Purchase Price amount also...We're talking under $417K in each instance. So there aren't a bunch of McMansion Ranches being bought in rural areas per se. It's people who are living in "rural," suburbs who are commuting it for those opportunities and-by virtue of building the tax base up there-slowly building the cities and the opportunities out.

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So, it's harder to get a job where using the rural development loan is an option and using it in large metro's is not an option. That's my point. I agree if you want to own a home, don't have 20% for a DP, but won't move 20 minutes outside BR to get the RD loan, then, yeah that's on you.

Okay, so let's unpack this with a little real world research:

I just did a basic search for, "The 10 Best Dallas Suburbs for Families," on Google and that link came back.

60% of the Top 5 including 100% of the Top 2 are both USDA RD eligible.

Let's go to Houston next...

The Woodlands were RD Eligible until they grew so much I believe they're considered a "transitional," area now. It may have actually recently considered urban. But for years the flock of people there-in part fueled by getting more home for your money with products like the ones I'm talking about-shows people will commute.

I'm leaving for the day but I think I'll leave Atlanta for now. Your entire point earlier was that people don't buy their home based on what you considered a "bonus," and I think the statistics I'm referencing and research I'm doing prove they'll do EXACTLY that. Which basically negates the point you're driving at.