FHA 203(k) in 2026: How Jacksonville Buyers Can Finance a Fixer-Upper — and the Renovation — in One Loan

September 23, 2026

Nearly three out of ten Jacksonville listings have taken a price cut this year. The typical home in Duval County sells for about $300,000 and sits on the market roughly 60 days — and a meaningful share of those price-cut homes share one trait: they need work. Dated kitchens, original roofs past their prime, aging electrical, a bathroom that last saw the 1980s.

Most buyers scroll right past those homes. They assume renovation money has to come from a separate pot — savings, a personal loan, a high-interest credit card. Here's the direct answer most house-hunters never hear:

An FHA 203(k) loan lets you buy the house and finance the renovation in a single mortgage. The purchase price and the repair costs are rolled together into one loan, one closing, one monthly payment. As of 2026, the minimum down payment is 3.5% of the total (purchase price plus rehab costs) for borrowers with a 580 credit score or higher — and the loan is underwritten to the home's appraised after-improvement value, not its current condition.

That changes the math on every discounted fixer-upper in Riverside, Springfield, Murray Hill, and San Marco.

With an FHA 203(k), the purchase and the renovation are financed in one loan.