NYC- Home First down payment assistance program

amother

Wed, May 08 2024, 10:46 pm

For those that live in the 5 boroughs of NYC, have any of you heard of this program or used it? the site says it helps cover down payment costs of up to 100K. Sounds awesome, catch is they limit the purchase price on a home which makes one hard to find. For example, in Brooklyn the max they let purchase price to be on this program is 699. Wonder if anyone has any experience with this

amother

Tanzanite

Wed, May 08 2024, 10:57 pm

I know people who got it 2 years ago. The house (apt lol) was under that amount. They scrutinize your bank statements for eligibility. The problem now is that mortgage rates are so high that it’s hard to be income eligible unless you have a big down payment.

amother

Wed, May 08 2024, 11:12 pm

amother Tanzanite wrote:

lets say a house costs 699. down payment being 20 percent of that is 139,000. If the program gives a down payment of 1,000. Only need a mortage of about 599k. shouldnt be so hard to qualify for a mortgage of 599.

Also what did they look for regarding bank statements

amother

Burntblack

Thu, May 09 2024, 5:00 am

amother OP wrote:

I know someone who bough with this a few years ago

I think the problem is it is hard to qualify as low enough income to get the grant, while still qualifying for the high (ish) mortgage payment. Also in the frum parts of brooklyn finding a place under 700k,,,,

amother

Springgreen

Thu, May 09 2024, 7:00 am

You also have to be low-income eligible which makes it pretty difficult.. because you still have to afford the mortgage...

amother

Hyacinth

Thu, May 09 2024, 8:32 am

We did it a number of years ago in Far Rockaway. It fully covered closing costs and was a huge help for us. We still need to fill out annual paperwork until the 10 year mark when the loan is forgiven.

The process was a bit annoying but we did it step by step and it was worth it. We also learned a lot through the program. One of the requirements was to take a short course on homeownership, and I actually found it very insightful. Boring, but important info like basic home maintenance (roofing, gutters etc), how mortgage payments work etc.

ETA that they needed bank statements but I think they were more focused on income than savings. We are not making tons per month but we had been saving for years.

amother

Tue, May 14 2024, 12:20 am

amother Hyacinth wrote:

how much did you get from the program? just help with closing cost? I was happy to read it said getting up to 100k