whats the required down payment for a first time buyer? How would be the best way to buy a first home? Fanny Mae (sp?

It could be zero. FHA is 3.5%. VA is zero. Conventional is normally 5% but that varies as well. It all depends on the buyer and the lender.

Dear Patty,
Make sure you find a realtor who has experience.

There is a great Texas first time homeowners program, where you can get up to 2% grant from the state of Texas helping you with the down payment. This grant does not need to be given back to the state of Texas.

Contact me for a no cost, no obligation consultation.


Kind Regards,
DOMINIK SZABO
UTR - TEXAS REALTORS

(832) 844 1724
dominikrealtor.com
sold@dominikrealtor.com

There is a conventional loan option for 3% down, but there is a minimum credit score requirement. The actual amount, would obviously depend on the price of your home. There is always opportunities to have closing cost assistance from the sellers, but you will have to, no matter what, come up with the minimum down payment yourself. Now there are some options to be gifted a portion of the money. Finding an awesome lender (and real estate agent) is key.

If you are not represented by anyone yet, I would love to help you find a home. I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you have found the answers here from the agents above.

:) Jordan Marie Schilleci, REALTOR®, United Real Estate - Houston
Call/Text 832-493-6685
jordan@rewithjo.com

Hi Patty,
If you qualify for a conventional loan, there is a new program with only 3.5% down payment. It came out about three months ago.
If you don't qualify for that, FHA will require you to put around 3.5% and some closing costs.
Feel free to contact us direcly as we have partnership with lenders when you work with us.
Best,
francois@cozy-homes.com

Patty - what a good mom to help gather information! As the other answers recommend - speaking with a lender is a great first step. OR connecting with a Realtor who works with first-time homebuyers and has experience in the area they are looking. A Realtor has connections to some great lenders.

As mentioned there is down payment and then total closing costs. Total closing costs will include the down payment as well as lender fees, title fees, homeowners insurance and property taxes needed for escrow account, one full years payment for homeowners insurance etc. A lender can easily break down the numbers. Generally speaking a down payment can be as low as -0- for a veteran using a VA loan, 3% on some conventional loans and 3.5% on an FHA. There are nuances to each of these programs - to find out what is best for each buyer and situation and lender can walk you through different scenarios.

There are also some first time home buyer programs in Texas that they may qualify for. Visit http://www.tsahc.org to find out about these programs. There are also special grant programs (Homes for Heroes) that can help with down payment or closing costs for those who are first responders, teachers, or in parts of the medical field. The website can give you details on those. Also ask if the lender has any programs for first time buyers - you never know what they might provide.

Best of luck! If I can provide any further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Congratulations to your daughter as she begins the rewarding journey of home ownership. Buying a house for the first time is a big deal and can be overwhelming. The most important things to do is first find a good realtor in the area that you will be buying. Once you have a good realtor in place they can suggest mortgage lenders. Finding out how much home you can afford is the first important step. I have several great mortgage lenders I use that want nothing more than to help the home buying experience go well and do everything they can to make it happen. There are many great lending programs that only require a minimum down payment so it is imperative to talk with a mortgage lender for your daughter's specific financial situation and see what they can do to help her with the purchase of her home. I would strongly recommend talking with several before you make a selection. If you need recommendations I would love to help.

Krystal Huhn
krystal@stanfieldproperties.com

Hi Patty,

There is down payment and then there is cash to close. Your down payment is the amount of the "skin in the game" required by your lender's financing product. It's the amount of equity you are putting down into your home. The cash to close will include the down payment AND closing costs (lender and title fees, escrow fees, etc. as well as deducting the credits for earnest money deposit, option fee credit, any Seller credits to Buyer closing costs, credits for taxes, owner title policy, etc). In other words, unless you have the Seller cover all of your Buyer closing costs, you'll have your down payment amount + closing costs.

Now, to speak specifically about down payment! I highly advise you to contact a lender to discuss your specific situation (income, assets, debts, credit, employment, etc) in order to determine the programs that you qualify for and decide the best program fro you! Conventional Loans can be 3%+ down, FHA can be 3.5%+ down, VA can be 0%+. Keep in mind that you'll have escrow (reserve of property taxes and insurance) and PMI (mortgage insurance) if you are putting less than 20% down, which is included in your closing costs.

Here is one of my "go to" lenders. Feel free to reach out to him!

Clayton A. Gray
Team Lead/Sr. Loan Officer
www.unionhomemortgage.com/cgray
c: 832.748.7283
e: claytongray1@gmail.com

Feel free to reach out with any additional questions, this can be confusing and HAR gives little space to comment. :)
I'm happy to send over a couple items that I always share with my First Time Home Buyer clients that detail the process and important info. Just shoot me an email, if you are interested.

Darby Grimmett / KW / darby@darbygrimmett.com / 936-827-9217