Traditional down payment assistance is now dead and gone.  For years we've all driven by those 100% financing signs.  But now lenders and FHA have pulled back from the previous years lending practices and now the landscape has changed. In an earlier article, I mentioned a program for lower income families called, UIDAN, or what is commonly called an IDA.

But what if you income is over the acceptable limit.  How do you come up with that down payment if your family can't help.  There are some other avenues and some could be as close as driving or calling city hall.  Many communities throughout the country have special financing programs to help new homeowners pay the down payment to get into houses in their communities.  This money is designated by state and federal officials, and the cities are encouraged to give this money out in the hope that it improves local neighborhoods through home ownership.

These programs range all across the board, but there are sometimes organizations like this one in Utah, that help new home buyers in terms of what to do and who to contact to get these grants or community loans.  The Community Development Corporation of Utah is one such organization where I live currently.  The CDC of Utahhas an excellent website (CDC Website) that gives buyers, agents  and loan officers alike the information they need to help get access to this money.

One thing that you may have to deal with is that many of these communities have restrictions in terms of occupancy and how long you need to live in the home.  In other words, if your city gives you $5000 for closing or down payment assistance and you sell the house in a year.  The community then may or will ask you to give them back the $5000 from the proceeds of your sale.  Most of the time you an consider the assistance a grant, but you may have to live in that home for a specific period of time.

Every community in the United States has similar programs, but they all very in regards to their rules and how much money they give in each transaction.  I would search under down payment assistance communities or cities or search the web for community development companies within your state.  These are usually not very difficult to find and maybe the difference of getting a home at this time.