California is giving out free money! Yes, it’s true! The California Housing Finance Agency (“CalHFA”) has designed a brand new program called the California Dream for All Program (“DFA”) to help low- and moderate-income households purchase a home in California. This is a brand new program that goes in to effect March 2023.
No down payment? No problem!
CalHFA is going to invest in a home with you by contributing up to a 20% down payment toward your purchase of a new home. And you don’t have to make ANY payments on that money. If you sell, transfer or refinance the home, then you pay back the amount that CalHFA loaned plus 20% of the actual appreciation of the home. You keep 80% of that appreciation!
A summary of the program is below.
So if you know someone with:
- A minimum 680 credit score
- Makes $211k or less per year
- Wants to buy a house
- Doesn’t have a down payment
California Dreams for All Loan (“DFA”) Program Summary
- https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/dream/index.htm
- First time buyer down-payment assistance program
- Must not have owned real property in the last 3 years
- Available for owner-occupied purchases only
- Can qualify if you’ve owned property in last 3 years but it’s been rented
- Funds available in initial roll-out of program: $500M over 2 years
- Funds anticipated to be fully deployed prior to 2-year period
- Demand most likely will exceed available funds
- Funds only available until exhausted
- Program start date: March 28, 2023
- Program provides up to 20% down payment on borrowers behalf in the form of a “shared appreciation loan”
- Loan comes in the form of a “Silent Second”, meaning that there are no monthly payments required
- Loan payback required upon:
- Sale
- Refinance
- Transfer of title
- Borrower must pay back:
- Initial principal amount
- Plus equity share (20% of actual appreciation)
- Borrower keeps 80% of appreciation
- Must be paired with CalHFA first mortgage
- No mortgage limit / determined by your Debt to Income Ratios (“DTI”)
- $211k max earnings to qualify
- Designed for low to moderate income households
- Based on AMI (Area Median Income)
- Check AMI limits here: HomeReady® Look Up Tool
- Based on AMI (Area Median Income)
