Across rural America, the government shutdown has eliminated one of the best options for low- to middle-income homebuyers, a zero down payment mortgage from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bloomberg News reported. That’s leaving deals and would-be buyers’ lives in limbo. They’re begging sellers for extensions and struggling to decide when to mention their plans to landlords, said Shane Siniard, a loan officer with SWBC Mortgage Corp. in the Atlanta area, where the biggest share of the USDA loans are made, according to an analysis by Zillow. Siniard, one of the most prolific originators of the loans, has one client with a buyer who is unable to sell because he’ll need a payoff statement from the government.
