About Open Country

Open Country is for people building, buying or refinancing rental housing in rural America with USDA Section 538. The rules sit in 7 CFR part 3565 and a stack of Federal Register notices, the eligibility map is buried in a USDA map service, and the income limits come as a 390-page PDF. We pull those apart, check them against the source, and put each piece where a developer or lender can use it.

The name comes from the statute. Section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 defines rural to include “open country,” and that definition is still the gate every 538 deal passes through.

Open Country is operated by Janover Capital LLC, a private company. It is not USDA, Rural Development or any government agency, and it is not affiliated with the lenders named in USDA’s data. The financing form goes to the Janover Capital desk, which works on commercial real estate loans; nothing here is an offer to lend.

How the data is kept

• Eligibility checks read USDA Rural Development’s live map service at the moment you check.
• Income limits, the Section 538 loan file and the Section 515 property file are USDA’s own downloads, each shown with its date. The data sources page lists every file and how it is refreshed.
• Rules quote the regulation or notice, with its citation and date.

See an error? Write to hello@usda538.loans with the page and the figure.