First Time Home Buyers Grants in NYC... Investor Friendly?

[Karla Parraga]

Hello everyone,

I live in one of the most expensive areas of the US, NYC. I am planning on buying a house in the Bronx and as you know: IT IS EXPENSIVE! The good news (maybe) is that NYC has many programs that allocate juicy help with grants and 0% interest loans for downpayment and closing costs. With that said, I can potentially end up putting very little money down from my own pocket for my first home. My concern is that most of these programs lock you up this property since you have to stay in there as your primary residence for 10-15 years, which in other words, this means that I would not be able to use an FHA loan for that time or any other type of loan that might have a "primary residence" requirement in it. If I move my primary residence somewhere else, I would have to return back a percentage of the grant, depending on how long I've lived there. This implies a large downpayment for future investments since I won't be able to use any owner-occupied loans and that's exactly what I am trying to avoid in the beginning of my career as an investor. Is there a loophole around this? Has anybody gone through the process? How did it go? Should I not take this grant at all?

Refer to this links:

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/hpd/owners/homeowner-downpayment-assistance.page

http://www.nyshcr.org/Topics/Home/Buyers/SONYMA/Do...).htm