USDA announces its top five rural development lenders in Maine

Courtesy / USDA Rural Development Jesse and Monique LaRue, with their five children, were able to secure a home with a monthly mortgage payment of $869, which is less than their previous home, a rental.

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By Peter Van Allen

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Program, which helps set up buyers with affordable homes in rural areas of Maine, guaranteed 719 loans in the past fiscal year.

The top five lenders, announced in a news release Tuesday, include some of Maine’s largest lenders in other areas. But a couple of the names may be surprises.

Residential Mortgage Services Inc., 231 loans
CMG Mortgage, 158
Bangor Savings Bank, 141
Machias Savings Bank, 105
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp, 84

“I am pleased to recognize our valued top five housing lending partners in Maine. Their commitment to homeownership means Maine families can finance homes and live, work, and raise their families in the communities they love,” said Tommy R. Higgins, acting state director of the USDA Rural Development office in Maine.

The program cited one family in particular as a model of how the system works.

The LaRues, a family of seven in Oxford, was able to secure affordable housing with a loan from Residential Mortgage Services, which has eight offices in Maine and a team of 286 people. The South Portland company announced in May it will be acquired later this year, though the management team is expected to stay on and no major changes are expected.

The LaRue family was able to get a monthly mortgage payment of $869, which was less than the rent of their previous home, at $950 a month.

The LaRues went through the Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program, which assists approved lenders in providing low- and moderate-income households the opportunity to own adequate, modest, decent, safe and sanitary dwellings as their primary residence in eligible rural areas.

Eligible applicants may purchase, build, rehabilitate, improve or relocate a dwelling in an eligible rural area with 100% financing. There is no down payment required for applicants who qualify. The program helps protect the lender from risk, providing a 90% loan note guarantee to approved lenders.

Over the last 30 years, USDA has worked with nearly 4,000 private lenders nationwide to ensure the dream of homeownership is accessible to rural Americans across the country. These partnerships have helped nearly 2 million families and individuals finance homes in rural areas since the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan program was created in 1991.