Potential buyer has a USDA loan. What do I need to know?

[Karin Crompton]

Hey all,

We received an offer on a property today in which the buyer is using a USDA loan, a product I'm not very familiar with (but will learn). To cut to the chase, is USDA similar to a VA loan in that the buyer is essentially prohibited from putting any money down? Aside from the offer price, there's not much else that's good in this offer - buyer is putting down next to nothing for an earnest money deposit and wants 9k in closing costs, plus he hasn't specified a mortgage commitment date. Ummm, NO.

The offer just came in so we haven't replied or countered yet. I'm trying to read up on this type of loan but haven't found the specifics I'm after. In particular, I want to know whether we can require a more traditional deposit; whether USDA makes the seller pay for closing costs or whether we can negotiate that point; and how much of a stickler we can be on the date for the mortgage commitment. I would typically put in 21 days (a la @J Scott and his tips for closing success) and then they'd have to make a heckuva good case to extend from there.

I'll leave it at that for the moment. Thanks for any insight!