Stacking First Time Home Buyer Financial Assistance Programs Together – The Basics

Most Realtors have heard of first time home buyer assistance programs such as CalHFA, the MCC, Community Housing Works, and Acorn. Many Realtors also know that lots of local cities have their own first time home buyer down payment assistance programs for first-time homebuyers. What most Realtors don’t know is that you can often combine these programs together. This is where REAL money becomes available for first time home buyers in San Diego County. It is not uncommon for five or six programs to be combined to enable a transaction that could not have been made otherwise. Here are the two overall approaches to doing that: 

-          Encourage your first time home buyer to move into an area that has a large first time home buyer down payment assistance program. Examples of such areas might be Santee, El Cajon, and City Heights. Use that first time home buyer down payment program as the basis of selecting all other down payment assistance programs for that buyer. Many of the first time home buyer down payment assistance programs can only be combined with certain first mortgage assistance programs. Your loan officer should be able to tell you which other programs each local area first time home buyer down payment assistance program can be combined with.

-          Choose the first mortgage assistance program first, based upon your client’s specific situation and needs. The three major first mortgage assistance programs are CalHFA, the MCC, and Acorn. Each has its strengths for different buyer situations. Your knowledgeable loan officer could advise you on which of the three major first mortgage assistance programs is best suited for your client. After the first mortgage program has been picked, additional subordinate financing programs that cover down payment and closing costs can be selected. Many of the first time home buyer down payment assistance programs can only be combined with one or two of the first mortgage programs. This is particularly true with the local first time home buyer assistance programs. Once again your loan officer should be able to advise you. A loan officer who specialized in first time home buyer assistance programs can be very helpful.

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