Two federal loan programs
share a number and
almost nothing else.
At the same income, one of them buys roughly twice the house for less each month. This board prices every active listing in the ring under both, and ranks them by what the payment would be.
Where the board stands
Live from the database, last run 2026-09-01.
The finding
On a $1,500 monthly ceiling at a $60,000 adjusted income in Franklin County, the two programs are not close:
$324,700
top purchase price. USDA lends directly and subsidises the payment down, so the rate you feel is far below the note rate.
$182,362
top purchase price. A bank lends at market rate and USDA insures it, so the payment is priced like an ordinary mortgage.
Both need the house to sit inside USDA's rural area. 7 of the towns within 25 minutes qualify. Wake Forest and Knightdale do not.
What this actually checks
Rural eligibility
Point-in-polygon against USDA's own ineligible-area layer, bundled offline and escalated to the live service near a boundary.
The payment
Direct payment assistance method 2, county income and area loan limits, taxes from assessed value where the parcel match is trustworthy.
The commute
A real route from your origin. Where an address has not been routed yet, the town-centre time is shown and labelled as an estimate.