I am very new to real estate investing and I have been listening to BiggerPockets for a few weeks now. While watching a YouTube video, one of the ads that played was listing off incentives to buy real estate in the DMV area. Apparently Maryland has a program called SmartBuy which provides student loan assistance for first-time home buyers. 

Here is a description:

The Maryland SmartBuy 2.0 program helps homebuyers with student debt purchase a home. The program is designed to allow borrowers to pay off student debt during the purchase of an eligible home. Maryland SmartBuy financing provides up to 15% of the home purchase price for the borrower to pay off their outstanding student debt, up to a maximum of $40,000. This is structured as a 0% interest loan, forgivable over 5 years.

So I was wondering if anyone has used this program and what the experience has been like. For context, I have a little over 20k in student loans and live in an apartment where I pay rent. I am very interested in buying real estate and if 20k worth of student loans paid off can be added to an already good deal, I would like to explore my options for making this work. I'm set to attend an open house this upcoming Sunday (8/2) for a property that needs some rehab.