Her life changed about a year and-a-half ago, when she bought a four-bedroom rambler, financed with a U.S. Department of Agriculture Direct Home loan that gave her a 30-year mortgage at 1 percent interest. The loan covered all of her costs, with no down payment required.
Thompson, 38, qualified because of her low income and her need for safe housing. A single mother, she works three jobs and earns about $25,000 a year. Her last rental home was an old, mold-speckled trailer. It wasn’t the place she wanted to raise her three children.
