First Time Home Buyer Incentives Texas

[Danielle Scott]

I am a first time home buyer in Houtston Texas and through a realtor learned about some kind of assistance in the form of money back if you stay in your home five years. She wasn't specific and not my personal realtor - just someone I had a conversation with. I have excellent credit, would likely qualify for the income cap, and have at least 5% for the down payment. When I google I can't find any solid information and my personal realtor nor my loan officer know anything about it. Where can I find information on this?

[Jessica McKinney]

@Danielle Scott the first time buyer programs are definitely a passion for me so here’s the scoop on the main ones: there are 3 statewide programs TDHCA, TSAHC, and SETH. They are very easy to use. Don’t tack on any extra time to close. Each program has a variety of different loan types and assistance amounts, rates and availability of the different products can fluctuate. For example TSAHC pulled back most of their options last summer due to covid but I think they’re mostly back up an running. I recommend TDHCA over the others because the rates are more competitive. It is a silent second lien not a grant so it does have to be repaid. But depending on how long you keep it I think the difference in rate is probably worth it. I work with a lender that does all the programs, message me if you need his contact info.

An alternate option is a credit union 0 down loan, TDECU has one and the rate isn’t great but it has no pmi so it’s kind of a wash. I have a contact there too if you need.

I used to work mostly with first time buyers and used the TDHCA loan for most of them, used the credit union where there was a need for a higher dti or other underwriting issues that made it a better fit than the DPA programs. Tell your agent to look up those three programs they do training for agent, and sometimes offer marketing collateral for agents that have done training. If she/he works with a lot of buyers the DPA knowledge is a great tool to have!