Can You Still Buy a Chicago Area Home with No Money Down?

Now that it's April, I think it is finally safe to say winter is over here in the Chicago area. It's been a long hard winter, and spring couldn't come a moment to soon. But the baseball season has officially started, the sun is out and my phone is ringing with first time home buyers who are ready to take the plunge into home ownership. Yep, this is springtime in Chicago. First time home buyers generally have two things in common. One, they are nervous about the home buying process and whether they will be able to qualify for a mortgage (especially now with all the economic uncertainty and the tighter underwriting from the mortgage mess), and two, they don't have a lot of money saved up for a down payment. This wasn't a problem a year or two back. Over the last few years 100% financing loans were the norm for first time home buyers. Now, with mortgage guidelines tightened (strangled?) and mortgage insurance companies running scared, no money down conventional loans have disappeared. So the question is, can you still buy a home here in the Chicago area with no money down?

The answer is yes. You can still buy a home with out any of your own money, but you will have to plan ahead. The best way left to buy with zero down is with an FHA loan combined with a grant from a down payment assistance program. (There are plenty of reasons to buy FHA in our present mortgage market, even if you could qualify for a conventional loan). Most conventional loans now require a 5% down payment (it could be more in areas marked as declining markets). FHA only requires a 3% down payment. But even a 3% down payment can be a huge obstacle. The down payment can mean the difference between buying now, and waiting a few more years until you have put enough cash aside to buy. This is where the Down Payment Assistance programs (DPAs) come in.

FHA guidelines say that you can buy a home with no down payment if the money comes as a gift from a relative or a grant from a charitable or non-profit organization. The gift from a relative is always an option, but if you don't have a rich uncle to call on, there are plenty of non-profits that want to help you out. The DPAs take advantage of a loophole in the FHA guidelines. In a way, this is a legal form of money laundering. The home seller is actually paying for your down payment.

Here is how it works. When you find the home you like, you negotiate the contract so there is a concession on the price upfront which allows the seller to donate the amount to the DPA. The two biggest DPAs are Nehemiah and AmeriDream. With AmeriDream, the donation from the seller needs to be 3% of the sale price plus $500. The 3% will go for the down payment; the rest goes to pay for the organization's administrative costs. The seller then agrees to give this negotiated concession to the DPA at the closing table out of the proceeds from his home after the loan has closed. The DPA in turn give a grant to the buyer for their down payment at the closing table. So the grant is from the DPAs own funds and the donation from the seller goes into their coffers to pay for the next home buyer.

Why would the seller go along with this? Sellers are concerned with how much they will net, not how the loan is structured. So let's say you were buying a home listed for $300,000. One way you could do this is offer a purchase price 3% ($9,000) below the list price. This means the seller is selling the home for $291,000. Another way you could do it is by offering the seller the full asking price of $300,000, but conditional on the seller donating the 3% to the DPA. Either way he nets the same amount, $291,000. (This is simplified because the administrative fee needs to be in there too). The important thing is to do this when you are first negotiating the offer. If you are negotiating on the same $300,000 home and the seller agrees to sell it for $290,000, you are going to have a hard time coming back later and asking him for more of a concession to pay for your down payment.

There are a few things to watch out for with this home buying strategy. First, the property has to be able to appraise out. You need to negotiate a price which will stand up to what comparable homes are selling for. Also, you need to make sure you follow the guidelines and get all the proper documentation. You will need to put the right phrasing in the contract, and get a few extra forms signed. Here is the wording for AmeriDream:

Seller agrees to contribute 3% of the purchase price ($ ), plus $500 (total $_______) to the AmeriDream Downpayment Gift Program.

There were some questions about whether these DPAs were legal and if the program could continue. But a court ruling last year kept the down payment assistance option open, so for now it is the best option for first time home buyers or anyone who wants to buy a home with no money down.

Keep in mind, the down payment assistance program takes care of the down payment, but you will still need money for closing costs, pre-paid interest and to set up the escrow accounts. There is a way to buy with not just no down payment, but with no money out of your own pocket at all. I'll cover that in my next post.

Pete Thompson is an Illinois mortgage banker who provides superior mortgage service and competitive mortgage rates in Chicago, the Chicago area and throughout Illinois. Click here for a Free copy of The Real World Home Buyer's Guide - How to Save Thousands when Buying a Home and Getting a mortgage. For information on the latest mortgage news and current Illinois mortgage rates, please visit http://www.illinoismortgageratesandnews.com/