A significant number of Americans have interest in living a rural lifestyle, but there are often not many rural mortgage lending options available. Rural properties come with a unique set of challenges that can make finding adequate financing difficult.
If you’re a loan officer looking to help your clients achieve their homesteading goals, United Ag Lending is a premier wholesale homestead lender ready to work with you.
We are proud to work as a wholesale partner for brokers and lenders looking to expand their portfolios and offer more opportunities for their clients. Our flexible loan programs finance all kinds of agricultural projects, from a private homestead to commercial farming operations.
Particularly, we specialize in hobby farm financing, which covers a lot of what modern homesteaders might be looking for. Typically, wholesale lenders have strict limitations on what you can accomplish with hobby farm properties. However, we find it fulfilling to give your customers and our partners more flexibility.
What is a Homestead?
Today, “homestead” is a somewhat relative term that often means different things to different people. A more traditional, agreed-upon definition of a homestead refers to agricultural land where the landowners sustain themselves with their own crops and livestock. It can also describe situations where farmers sell crops locally for additional income.
Other people use the term “homestead” to refer to their home that is located on rural land, regardless of any crop production.
For our purposes, we use “homestead” as a catchall term for a house that lives on a piece of rural land. So for our homestead loan program, we expect our clients to live on the property, whether it’s a primary or secondary residence.
What Needs to Be Considered in a Homestead Loan
With years of experience in the rural lending sector, our team has a deep understanding of the complexities involved in financing agricultural properties. We recognize that homestead financing often requires specialized knowledge because of factors like land use, zoning laws, and agricultural economics.
Our team is ready to help you and your clients navigate these unique challenges in setting up homestead loans.
Land Use: Now and Future
Homesteads can have all kinds of purposes—some people might want to be self-sufficient by growing their own food and raising animals, while others might be looking at small-scale farming or just a fun getaway spot. Knowing how your clients plan to use the land is important for finding the right financing options.
Our loan programs are flexible, and we even offer refinancing options. However, it’s important to discuss your client’s homesteading plans thoroughly, especially for picking the property. For example, they may not have livestock now, but if they think they’ll ever want to in the future, they need to consider the suitability of the land they’re planning to buy.
As borrowers plan their homesteading ventures, considerations for future growth and changes in land use should be factored into financing decisions. As an experienced wholesale homestead lender, United Ag Lending can help you understand these dynamics and assist clients in creating sustainable long-term plans.
Zoning Laws
Zoning laws dictate how land can be used, impacting everything from livestock management to the construction of additional buildings. Lenders must be aware of these regulations to provide accurate guidance to borrowers.
Understanding the current zoning can help homesteaders plan for future needs, such as expanding their farming operation or building new structures. If a property is likely to remain stable under current zoning, it can provide peace of mind for long-term investments.
Agricultural Market
For homesteaders who plan to live off their land and livestock, considering the market is an important part of the lending process. Agricultural economics can be pretty unpredictable, affected by things like crop prices, livestock markets, and weather.
Lenders really need to keep these factors in mind when figuring out if a homesteading project is viable and setting the terms for loans. That’s where United Ag Lending can support you in building customized loan programs for your clients. Plus, it allows you to offer better support and guidance to borrowers, helping them navigate the challenges of farming life.
Offer Your Clients More Flexibility With Homestead Loans
With a hobby farm or homestead loan through United Ag Lending, your clients can access flexible solutions and pursue a number of opportunities, including:
Making an income from their hobby farming
- Making an income from their hobby farming
- Housing up to 50 heads of livestock on the land
- Owning multiple parcels of land and parcels within reasonable proximity of each other
(it’s also possible to combine these properties)
- Explore loans up to $2 million with Schedule F (Farm) income allowed
- And more
These opportunities are just the start of what we can do with our hobby farm loans. As a wholesale homestead lender, we’ve created them with your customers in mind. Our loan programs can be a key to their success, giving your clients the flexibility and freedom to manage their homestead as they would like.
Benefits of Partnering With United Ag Lending
United Ag Lending serves as a robust partner for financing rural properties. Our expertise, exceptional customer service, and strong communication skills make us an invaluable resource as a wholesale homestead lender.
As a non-bank lender, we have the flexibility to approve loans where others may decline. Unlike traditional loans, our range of options is broader. We’ve successfully assisted thousands of customers across the United States in finding ideal loan solutions, and we can do the same for your clients.
Our commitment to customer satisfaction, business development, and expertise defines our partnership with brokers and lenders. These characteristics drive us forward to be the simplest solution for farm loans in the United States, bringing many benefits to the brokers and lenders who partner with us.
Our Process
To start the process, we’ll begin with an introductory conversation with you to get to know your client’s goals. We’ll let you take the driver’s seat with our expertise as a resource.
We collaborate with you to develop a tailored plan for your client’s purchase through United Ag Lending. This process involves:
- Assessing their financing capabilities and constraints
- Exploring various financing options based on their property interests
- Guiding them through the benefits of our programs for rural residential, hobby farm, or commercial agriculture projects
No matter the specifics of your client’s situation, our team of experts is here to help you find the most suitable financing solutions for their needs.
Simplified Solutions That Work For Your Clients
United Ag Lending programs are flexible agricultural real estate loans that have changed the game for rural Americans. As a wholesale homestead lender, we have the flexibility to offer your clients creative, competitive financing options. Our mission is to bridge the gap between your customers and the rapidly changing economy by giving them the financial resources to meet their needs.
Our team is well-seasoned in the ag industry. Through working with multiple people across a variety of farming industries, we’ve gathered stacks of knowledge and expertise.
Interested in becoming one of our trusted lending partners? Reach out to us today to learn more about our loan products and services.
United Ag Lending’s TPO Licensed States: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming
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