Recently I heard from some customers that rented a home in a very nice neighborhood that they want to begin the process of stepping up into home ownership. But there was one problem. When my customer’s spoke with their mortgage lender they were told they would need a seasoned down payment in order to qualify for the mortgage. Although it is not uncommon for lenders to want to see a home buyer with some skin in the game, there are programs today that can even help with a home down payment! So what is a seasoned down payment? Simply put, its the amount of money that is in your bank account that will be used to cover the down payment and has been in your account greater than 2-3 months. The reasoning behind the seasoning requirement for this article is not important because what my customer needed is to find the amount of money they don’t have saved with the amount the lender demands to qualify for the mortgage. The loan my customer wanted was the First-Time Home Buyer loan which only required to have 3.5% of the purchase price in their savings account as a down payment. Having only been able to save up 1% of the amount (because my customer is renting an expensive house) I told them about programs that are available that could help them obtain a grant towards the down payment. And best yet, would not have to pay the grant back! Not everyone will qualify for a grant, but just typing in “house down payment assistance” yielded no less than 2 million results! Although no one has the time to research (nor will they need to) I am familiar with at least 20 programs in Los Angeles that home buyers can research to determine if they qualify for a house down payment grant. It is important to note that no matter what direction you chose for down payment assistance, it is vital to communicate which program you chose with the realtor your working with so that when your offer to purchase is submitted that appropriate closing deadlines are planned so that you have enough time to receive the grant funds to fund your escrow. To become more familiar with down payment assistance this Freddie Mac resource written by Danny Gardner is a perfect first step to understand the options home buyers have available to them. Go here—–> http://bit.ly/2od7yBQ
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