This June, national homeownership month, USDA Rural Development honors the top three lenders for North Dakota’s Guaranteed Rural Housing (GRH) loan program, a program designed to help low- and moderate-income households secure funding for a home. In the last twelve months through the GRH program, 51 lenders around the state financed 355 home loans totaling $50.4 million.
The top three lenders were:
• Gate City Bank: 47 loans, $5.8 million.
• First Community Credit Union: 38 loans, $3.9 million.
• Western Cooperative Credit Union: 25 loans, $4.3 million
Ryan Taylor, USDA Rural Development state director, awarded a plaque to each of these lenders to recognize both their involvement with the GRH program and their continued commitment to providing affordable homeownership.
“The partnership we have with local lenders has allowed us to provide more successful homeownership opportunities to North Dakotans and their families,” said Ryan Taylor, USDA Rural Development state director. “This is important because owning a home provides families a foundation for a financially secure and stable future. Homeownership also builds stronger communities and neighborhoods, and we can all appreciate those benefits in the fabric of our state and our local economies.”
In North Dakota, USDA Rural Development oversees a single-family housing portfolio of $304 million, consisting of more than 2,800 home loans.
GRH is a budget neutral federal program; it supports itself through capital created by loans, so the program functions without tax dollars. Approved, private lenders provide the loans, while the federal government guarantees them. This program has no down payment requirement for eligible-income households and has no maximum mortgage limits. Eligible homes are located in rural communities with 35,000 or fewer residents.
For households interested in applying for a GRH loan, please contact an approved lender. For institutions interested in becoming an approved USDA lender, contact our office at (701) 530-2046 or at grh.questions@nd.usda.gov. Learn more about this and other Rural Development programs at http://www.rd.usda.gov/nd.
- Gate City Bank: View photo of staff, who work with USDA Rural Development loans, at the Gate City Bank main location in Fargo.
- First Community Credit Union: View photo, taken at Jamestown location. In photo: Left to right: Mary Radenz (Mortgage Underwriter/Manager), Kelly Heyer (VP of Consumer Lending), Ryan Taylor (USDA State Director) and Tanya Nenow (Mortgage Loan Officer).
- Western Cooperative Credit Union: View photo, taken at Dickinson location. In photo: Left to right: Scott Schwindt (Chief Operations Officer), Cathy Yineman-Williams (Mortgage Loan Originator), Ryan Taylor (USDA State Director), Troy Geiszler (Senior Mortgage Loan Officer), Dana Adams (Mortgage Loan Processor) and Tori Knutson (Mortgage Loan Originator).
