Building north of 1604, out toward Bulverde and Boerne, or on your own acreage in Comal County? A one-time-close loan covers the land, the build and the permanent mortgage in a single closing — one set of costs, one rate lock, no refinance at the end.
Most San Antonio banks offer a construction loan the old way: a short-term interest-only note for twelve months, and then you go and find a mortgage to pay it off. That is two closings, two sets of closing costs, two underwrites — and critically, your permanent rate is whatever the market happens to be doing on the day your house is finished.
A one-time close does it in a single transaction. You are underwritten once, you close once, the loan funds the land and the draws during construction, and then it converts automatically into your permanent mortgage. Your rate is set at the beginning. If rates rise 1% while your builder is waiting on trusses, that is no longer your problem.
| One-time close | Two-close construction | |
|---|---|---|
| Closings | One | Two |
| Closing costs | Paid once | Paid twice |
| Rate risk during build | None — locked up front | Yours entirely |
| Requalifying at the end | No | Yes — new credit, income and appraisal |
| If your circumstances change mid-build | Already approved | You may not qualify for the takeout loan |
| Payments during construction | Interest-only on drawn funds | Interest-only on drawn funds |
That fifth row is the one that ruins people. A job change, a new car payment or a dip in credit score between the start and end of a twelve-month build can leave you holding a construction note with no way to refinance out of it. A one-time close removes that risk entirely because there is no second approval to fail.
Some programs also include a one-time float-down, so if rates fall meaningfully before completion you can capture the improvement. That varies by lender and is worth asking about specifically rather than assuming.
People assume construction financing demands 20% down. For conventional it often does. For everything else it does not, and the government one-time-close programs are the reason a lot of San Antonio families can build rather than buy.
| Program | Down | Who it fits |
|---|---|---|
| VA one-time close | 0% | Veterans and active duty. No down payment on a ground-up build and no monthly mortgage insurance. The strongest construction product in the market, and badly under-used around JBSA. |
| USDA one-time close | 0% | Building on an eligible rural address — much of the land outside the metro boundary qualifies. Household income limits apply. |
| FHA one-time close | 3.5% | 580-plus credit. The most accessible route for a first-time builder. Down payment is calculated on the lesser of total cost or appraised value. |
| Conventional one-time close | 5% to 20% | Stronger credit profiles, and the route for higher-value builds. Above the conforming limit it becomes a jumbo one-time close, typically 10% to 20% down. |
If you already own your lot, that changes the arithmetic considerably. The appraised value of land you own counts toward your equity contribution, and on a tract bought years ago in Bulverde or out past Helotes that equity alone frequently covers the entire down payment requirement. People sit on land for a decade assuming they need cash on top of it; often they do not.
Qualifying works the same way it does on any mortgage — income, credit, debt-to-income — with one addition: you are underwritten against the completed home. The appraisal is done subject to the plans and specifications, so the builder's contract, plan set and detailed cost breakdown are part of the file from day one rather than afterthoughts.
Once you close, the loan does not fund in one lump. It releases in draws against completed work — commonly slab, framing, mechanicals, drywall, finish-out and completion — with an inspection before each release. You pay interest only on what has actually been drawn, so your payment starts small and climbs as the house goes up.
Build windows are usually twelve months, sometimes extendable. When the final inspection and certificate of occupancy are done, the loan modifies into its permanent term automatically. There is no new application, no new appraisal and no new closing costs.
Three things belong in your budget that rarely make it into the builder's quote:
| Item | Why it matters here |
|---|---|
| Contingency reserve | Lenders normally require a reserve on top of the contract price, commonly around 5% to 10%, to absorb change orders and overruns. It is not wasted — unused reserve reduces your final balance. |
| Utility and impact fees | SAWS water and sewer impact fees and CPS Energy service extension are real costs on a new build, and they vary enormously between an infill lot inside Loop 410 and a tract with no service at the road. |
| Site work and permitting | North Bexar and Comal County sit partly over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, where additional water-quality review applies and adds time to permitting. Septic, well, driveway and utility runs on acreage add cost that suburban buyers never encounter. |
Your builder needs to be acceptable to the lender — licensed, insured, experienced, and willing to work on a draw schedule with inspections. Most established San Antonio custom builders already are. If yours pushes back on the draw structure, that is information worth having early.
Tell me where you are building and roughly what it costs, and I'll come back with which one-time-close programs you qualify for, what you would need down, and what the payment looks like during and after the build.
Want the national rules rather than the San Antonio version? Read the complete construction loan guide.