The First Step for Every Home Buyer

Real Estate This Week

This episode of Real Estate This Week explores down payment assistance programs that can help homebuyers access thousands of dollars in fina

Key takeaways

• Over 62% of down payment assistance programs have household income limits exceeding $100,000 annually.
• 37% of programs do not require buyers to be first-time homebuyers, expanding eligibility significantly.

Main topics

• Down payment assistance eligibility for higher-income buyers
• Myths about first-time buyer requirements

Notable quotes

"You don't have to have no money to take advantage of these programs. It's really a wealth building strategy." – Rob Crane

Conclusion

Down payment assistance is a powerful yet underutilized tool for homebuyers

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:04) This is Real Estate This Week with Stephen Gaskway. 17 years on air and online, helping you succeed in buying, selling, and investing in property. The best real estate strategies out there, just for you. Speaker 3 (0:24) Welcome to Real Estate This Week. Hi again, I'm Stephen Gaskway, and I'm so glad you're here as we talk about the first step for every homebuyer. A step that could mean getting the house or not. A step that could be worth thousands of dollars if you take it. And we're talking about down payment assistance. Programs that are ready to give homebuyers money. Maybe buyers like you. Let's talk about that first step and how to make it happen with Rob Crane, CEO of Down Payment Resource in Atlanta, which connects eligible homebuyers with down payment assistance programs all across America. Rob, welcome to Real Estate This Week. Thank you, Stephen. It's great to be here Speaker 1 (1:13) again. Speaker 3 (1:14) I am so glad you're with us. And so, Rob, there's a new idea. about how to position down payment assistance in the nation's real estate markets. And that is make it the first step every buyer takes so that everyone knows about it. They know whether they qualify and they know how much money they might get from down payment assistance. Can you tell us about that? Speaker 1 (1:42) Yeah, Stephen, I'm glad you're bringing this up and sharing this with your listeners. It's so important and It's even more important than ever. And the reason I say that is because, you know, one of the unfortunate things is that the term we use that everybody uses and recognizes as down payment help is called down payment assistance. And yes, it's assistance, but I think that word assistance sometimes has negative connotations. And sometimes people think I'm middle class, I'm upper middle class, whatever, you know. whatever income bracket I might be in that, you know, I don't identify with somebody who needs assistance. And so they just think if they even hear about down payment assistance, they just think, well, you know, I certainly couldn't qualify. But over the years, and especially the last five years, the household income limits to qualify for these programs have gone up significantly. And so it's available to a lot more people. then they realize. And it's true for realtors and lenders too, that we're constantly encouraging them to kind of look beyond what they sort of had thought of as the traditional audiences and populations for these programs. And as you said, make it a first stop in your home buying journey to check it out because you don't have to have no money to take advantage of these programs. It's really a wealth building strategy. And Rob, let's Speaker 3 (3:17) talk about what you just said, beginning with qualifications. If someone's listening to this right now and they think, oh man, I make way too much money to qualify for down payment assistance. Tell us the facts. How much money can you make and still get down payment assistance? Speaker 1 (3:37) Yeah, I think this will surprise a lot of people. Our database of programs now is up to slightly over 2,600 programs. And 62 % of those programs, which is basically 1,600 programs, have an average income, household income limit exceeding $100,000 a year. And, you know, it varies from program to program. Sometimes that varies based on the household size. But the fact is, you know, people with six-figure household incomes, again, they don't necessarily identify with somebody who needs assistance. And yet, it may be there for the taking to, you know, to help them make a, you know, the best possible financial decision when they buy a home. Speaker 3 (4:28) Absolutely. And many of those people also might be thinking, hey, I'm not a first-time homebuyer. There's no way I would qualify. Now, tell us about that, Rob. Speaker 1 (4:41) Yeah, so two important things to know about that. Of the programs that do have a first-time homebuyer requirement, they use HUD's definition of first-time homebuyer, which is you have not owned a home within the last three years. So right off the bat, there are people out there who may have owned a home, but more than three years ago. So for these purposes, they are a first-time home buyer, but it would be easy to misunderstand that and not even look for it. But the other thing is 37 % of the programs are open to people who are not first-time home buyers. You know, that's a good number of programs, a lot of money available. that don't require you to be a first-time homebuyer. Speaker 3 (5:28) Excellent. And Rob, so now we've covered that you might qualify even if you make into the six figures. And if you do qualify, you don't have to be a first-time homebuyer. And so let's talk now about what people could actually get if they qualify for down payment assistance. Speaker 1 (5:51) Yes. So the way we calculate it, on average, Speaker 1 (5:56) The benefits range around $18,000 per program. So that doesn't mean every program offers $18,000. What that means is, you know, there may be some programs that offer $5,000 or $10,000 worth of help. There are other programs that may offer $20,000 or $30,000 or $40,000 or $50,000 of assistance. And some programs even more. The higher the amount, the more they are an outlier. So, you know, again, that's a significant benefit. amount of money to help you. And again, and if, you know, it's not just for people