economic life of a home

[Amber Beech]

I just found out that the home we are buying has a "25-year economic life" and apparently we are still able to get the FHA loan, but now we can't get the loan for the down payment and closing costs. I don't understand how we can still get the loan for the home (which is a 25-year loan), but we are now unable to get the smaller loan for the closing/down payment. It makes no sense to me. Now we have gone through a month of inspections and paperwork with a closing date set for May 5th only to find out that there is something called an "economic life" of a home and that it has affected our loans. We didn't even know to look out for something like this as we are first-time home buyers and rely on our agent/lender to guide us through this process. I would like to add that we are buying in Fairmont, West Virginia, but that was not an option in the location bar for this post.

If anyone could further explain how a 25-year economic life of a home can affect my closing/downpayment loan and why it only affects this type of loan and not our FHA loan, which is obviously much more money, I would greatly appreciate it! It is very hard to find a nice home for $125k for a family of 6, and I would like to know as much as I can before I decide whether I should continue the process of buying this home or start all over. Am I able to go to another lender for the closing costs and down payment loan? Can I even get one for a house with a 25-year economic loan? Any tips are welcome and greatly appreciated!

[Hamp Lee III]

I’m so sorry to hear about your situation. I really hope there’s a great answer to help.

The economic life of a house comes from the appraiser and not the agent. This is not something that agents would know about ahead of time.

Is requesting a second appraisal an option in this situation?

I’ll include another lender in the conversation, @Joel Allen. Maybe he can shed some light on the topic.

I truly wish you all the best.