If you are wanting to buy a home that is within the USDA Home Loan boundaries, you can buy with no down payment. There are a couple of other programs, My Community for example, which also allows for no down payment. If you qualify, a VA loan is another $0 down program.
If you buy a FannieMae (bank owned home) they offer a 3% down payment program.
FHA requires 3 1/2% down.
Conventional loans require 5%-20% depending on the guidelines.
All of these programs also have closing costs - the lender has some closing costs (origination fee, appraisal fee, and some other fees and reserves required for the loan). There are also Title Insurance and Escrow Closing costs about 1% of the purchase price. Your total closing costs could be 3-5% of the purchase price on top of the down payment required.
You can ask the seller to pay your closing costs - they are not allowed to give you your downpayment. You should talk with a lender to get the in's and out's of the different programs available to you.
