The Secret to Buying a Home (down payment help)

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Down payment help can:

- Lower your fees.

- Cover your costs.

- Help you buy a home sooner.

Unfortunately, these programs aren't well known.

Your First Home

The biggest challenge with buying a home includes:

- Saving money.

- Finding a good deal.

- Ballooning home prices.

Earlier this month I posted a thread on homebuying that might be helpful.

If you want to buy a home

Here are 10 things to know

Plus: Down Payment Help

— JOHN HENRY (@Millennial_Wlth) April 2, 2025

Today, let's review down payment help in greater detail.

I bought my first home with an "affordable" loan.

That's what it's called when:

- You don't have a down payment.

OR

- You have a small down payment.

That's the case for many people (me included when buying for the first time).

Without these programs, buying your first home can take much longer.

Later, after I spent 10 years in banking and did over 500+ home loans for other people.

I noticed 3 things about down payment help:

1. Most banks don't offer it.

2. Most people don't know where to find it.

3. Most loan officers won't tell you where to look (most work on commission and don't want to send your business somewhere else).

So—

I decided to create this 7-step guide showing you how to find down payment help.

Let's dive in:

Step 1: The Down Payment Vault

Go to the ​Fannie Mae​ website.

Fannie Mae works directly with the U.S. government to help provide home loans.

Most down payment help programs are listed on their website.

Step 2: Calculators & Tools

Once you're on the homepage.

In the menu click:

"Calculators & Tools"

You'll see a drop down box.

Step 3: Tools For Homebuyers

Inside the drop down click:

"Tools for Homebuyers"

A new window will open.

Step 4: Down Payment Assistance Tool

Scroll down and click:

"Down Payment Assistance Tool".

 A search page will open.

Step 5: Find Down Payment Help

Click the "I acknowledge" button.

And answer 10 quick questions.

As you answer the questions.

You'll notice a number in the upper right hand corner.

These are your matched programs.

It's important to answer the questions correctly.

Because they determine which programs you may qualify for.

Step 6: Review Your Options

After answering all of the questions.

You'll see a list of options after clicking "View Programs".

Here's an example if you were buying in Los Angeles.

There's 16 different programs.

Let's review the 4th option (for example).

You can see the details after clicking "Learn More".

Step 7: Contact The Program

This page gives you all of the info on that program.

It also tells you who to contact.

If you scroll down further you'll see more details.

Some of these programs give you money that you don't need to pay back.

Others (like this example) advance you money that you later pay back when you sell your home.

The Bottom Line

When buying a home.

You can get a regular home loan and pay any costs up front.

Or you can get a regular home loan plus use a down payment help program.

Most programs provide $5k, $10k, $20k+ to help you with your home purchase.

Many don't charge interest on the money they give you.

And don't require you to make a monthly payment.

But most down payment help programs expect to be paid back when you sell your home.

Each one is different.

So it's important to understand all of the details.

Reading through the different programs can be confusing with terms like:

"subordinate loan"

"balloon maturity term"

"deferred second mortgage"

So I'd suggest—

Pick 2 or 3 programs and reach out to the contact.

They'll supply all of the info you need to make a decision (using words that make more sense).

Hope this is helpful for the hopeful homebuyers out there.

Keep building 💰

See you next week.