Coming Up with the Down Payment for a Home

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by Lance Mohr

With the housing market being considered rather rocky on many levels at this point in time, many people are finding that the need to come up with larger down payments if they hope to be able to purchase a home. You may be a first time home buyer who is struggling with coming up with the appropriate and necessary down payment for the home of your dreams. With this in mind, you may be wondering whether there are some assistance programs when it comes to getting a down payment for a first time home buyer.

There are, in fact, some down payment assistance programs available for first time home buyers. Therefore, if you are interested in buying your first home and do not have the funds available to completely satisfy the down payment associated with this important purchase, you will want to consider closely whether or not one or another of the various down payment assistance programs for first time home buyers might be the right option for you.

At the present time there are two different types of down payment assistance programs available to people looking to purchase their first home in the Tampa Bay real estate market or anywhere else in Florida for that matter. First, there are down payment assistance programs that are offered by non-profit agencies and programs. There are also down payment assistance programs that are made available through the federal government.

In essence the way these programs work is the seller agrees to contribute a small fraction of the total sales proceeds to the buyer's down payment and closing cost, at the time of the closing. Federal and state laws prohibit the seller from giving money directly to the buyer. However, these federal and non-profits offer mechanisms through which this can legally be accomplished.

The seller enrolls in the down payment assistance program. In the housing market today, sellers understand that while participating in this type of program will reduce the total amount of money that will be realized from the sale on some level. However, these same sellers realize that absent such a program, a house may languish on the market for a significant period of time.

The best source of funding comes through the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). The FHA is a branch of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The prime responsibility of the FHA is to administer government home loan programs. Because the loan is insured by the FHA, the lender is protected in case of default.

Once again, if you are considering the purchase of your first home, you will want to keep your eyes and ears open for a property and a seller that either is or is willing to participate in one of the programs that have been discussed and presented for your consideration in this article. You may find that these programs offer the perfect solution for you.



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