Money for Buying a Home

Money, money, money.  Money is normally one of the biggest obstacles that stops renters from buying their first home.  I don’t think that would be the case if they knew there was money available to assist them with down payment.  The great thing is that there is just one website that you need to know in order to find out what options are available.  Curious?  I thought so.  United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (or HUD) website provides links and/or telephone numbers for just about every program available to home buyers to obtain down payment assistance.

HUD created a page for every local market to determine what is available for you.  Just go to the Local Homebuying Programs website for HUD and choose the state you live in.  Once you select the state, you will need to select Assistance Programs under the Buying a Home section.  For example, I live in Colorado so I went to the Local Homebuying Programs, clicked on the assistance programs link and here are the Colorado assistance programs:

The site breaks down the programs by where they are available and show them by region, which varies based on your state.

Obtain a Professional Mortgage Loan Officer

HUD provides a great resource for potential home buyers but obtaining a knowledgeable and professional mortgage loan officer will be priceless in your endeavor to buy a home.  A lot of these programs have restrictions that may not be clear by reading the information online.  Here is an example in the state of Colorado.  Aurora is a city in the Counties of Arapahoe and Adams in the state of Colorado.  There are several statewide down payment assistance programs in addition to an Arapahoe and Adams County programs and City of Aurora Program.  So which program would a potential home buyer use if they were looking to buy in Aurora?  Can they use more than one?  These are the questions that a mortgage loan officer familiar with first time home buyer programs can answer for you.

For those of you who live in Aurora and are curious about the answers to the questions above, you can use the Aurora HOAP program combined with the CHFA program, or just use the Aurora HOAP program by itself.  The Arapahoe and Adams County programs are not able to be used within the city limits of Aurora.  Small little things like this can have a drastic impact on your down payment.

Each program has special requirements including the area you buy, the area you currently live or work, your household income, amount of money required to be invested, etc.  Read through the programs to better understand what might be available to you.

By combining these programs with FHA financing as explained in Down Payment Assistance: Buying FHA With No Money Down Doesn’t Require 100% Financing!, you may be able to buy that home you didn’t think you could!

Lending a Hand,

Scott Wynn