First Time Homebuyer - Buying a Home With a Low Down Payment

First Time Homebuyer Information & Education

Buying a Home With a Low Down Payment

Buying a Home With a Low Down Payment - If you are a first time home buyer that is in the market for a new home there are many mortgage programs availible to you that offer low down payment or no down payment. These mortgage programs are availible through FHA, con forming and sub prime lenders.

A Low or No Down Payment mortgage is an excellent way for many people to buy their first home. If the sellers pays closing costs it is often possible to get a mortgage to cover 100% of the sales price of the new home. In many instances the monthly payment will still be lower than rent for an apartment. More people than ever can now enjoy the benefits of home ownership.

But with 100% financing there will be some drawbacks. The interest rates are higher than 80% financing and usually even a little higher than 95% financing. You will also need to have private mortgage insurance (PMI) on your home. For this reason, it may be best to put money down even if you are not required to do so.

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Down payment assistance and community redevelopment programs offer affordable housing opportunities to first-time homebuyers, low-income and moderate-income individuals and families who wish to achieve homeownership with little to zero money down.

Grant types include seller funded programs such as HART, Nehemiah, Ameridream, Partners in Charity, and others, as well as programs that are funded by the federal government, such as the American Dream Down Payment Initiative, or local governments, often using mortgage revenue bond funds.

A new government grant program has been introduced and is similar to the non-profit DPA programs but it's funded by an Indian tribe. This makes it exempt from IRS exempt organization rules. http://www.fhadpa.com

Buying a home with a low down payment is the most common way that first time homebuyers enter the market. The home ownership rate is the highest on record because lenders have been extremely accommodative to buyers with a low down payment.

In order to have a true $0 down payment or a low downpayment, you should have the seller pay closing costs in most cases. For first time homebuyers, the seller generally pays 3% of your closing costs. Keep in mind that if the closing costs are less than 3%, you will not receive that money as cash back at closing.

Depending on the loan amount and desired interest rate, you may need or want to have the seller pay up to 6% for some programs. Lower loan amounts will need a higher percentage of closing costs since many costs are fixed regardless of the loan amount. High loan amounts may need lower closing costs for the same reason.

Fannie Mae offers an excellent program called The MyCommunity Program. You can qualify for excellent financing terms with as little as $500 of your own money invested into the transaction.

Many people who are looking to buy a home with a low down payment, or even no down payment, often obtain a combo loan. A combo loan is one of the most common ways to buy a home with little to 0 money down. A combo loan is also referred to as an 80/20 loan, an 80/15 loan, or an 80/10 loan. These mean that you will have two mortgages on the property and the first one will be at 80% of the purchase price and the 2nd mortgage will be at either the 20%, the 15% or the 10% of the purchase price. Combo loans can help you to avoid paying PMI, they can help sometimes to avoid having to escrow for property taxes and insurance and they can often provide an overall lower payment than other financing options.

It is important to note when talking about a no or low down payment mortgage you can still accrue costs associated with the purchase. Often times you will see no closing costs, or no out of pocket expenses paid at closing. These offers should be closely looked at to insure you are not going to be paying money out of your pocket. You should verify the lender is including all costs in their no cost mortgage quote: including appraisal fee's, inspections, Title costs, escrow costs, and tax's.

If you are a Veteran with an honorable discharge, you may qualify for 100% financing with a VA Loan. Contact your mortgage professional for more details.

Buying a home with little or low down payment will result in a higher monthly mortgage payment.

Buying a home with a low down payment is a great example of utilizing your power of leverage. Using the banks money to purchase real estate while putting very little of your own puts the majority of the risk on the bank. This methodology of investing in real estate potentially has a greater Return on Investment than other investment vehicles, like paper assets.

OH down payment assistance programs - Questions about down payment assistance programs are a very common question for a homeowner to ask a mortgage professional. These types of programs are usually for first time home-buyers, and each community or program usually has its own rules, guidelines and procedures for figuring out who qualifies for them.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to be a minority or a low income borrower to qualify for down payment assistance. There are programs available for many different scenarios.

Information listed above is to be used for educational purposes only and is not guaranteed

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