Your first home, in plain English.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both offer a standard 97% LTV product to first-time buyers. 3% down on a 1-unit primary residence. Standard PMI applies (cancellable at 80% LTV, automatic at 78%). No income limit — unlike HomeReady or Home Possible. Best fit for first-time buyers above the 80%-of-AMI cap who want maximum LTV at standard pricing.

PMI on a Conventional 97 file runs higher than on HomeReady/Home Possible (no reduced-rate MI here), so for borrowers under the AMI cap, those programs win on monthly payment.

Fannie Mae HomeReady and Freddie Mac Home Possible are matched 3%-down programs with reduced PMI rates for borrowers under 80% of the area median income. Same down payment as Conventional 97, but the lower MI rate typically saves $25–$50/month per $100K of loan amount.

Other benefits: $2,500 lender grant on very-low-income files (HomeReady), boarder-income qualifying (HomeReady), non-occupant co-borrower allowed (a parent can co-sign without living in the home), and homeownership-education credit toward closing costs.

FHA is the workhorse first-time-buyer product when conventional does not fit — credit under 660, DTI over 45%, or a thin credit file. 3.5% down at 580+ FICO; 10% down at 500–579. Down payment can be 100% gift funds. Seller-paid closing-cost contributions up to 6% of sale price (more generous than conventional's 3%).

The trade-off is mortgage insurance: 1.75% UFMIP financed into the loan, plus annual MIP that lasts at least 11 years and, on <10%-down files, lasts the life of the loan. For most first-time buyers this is the right entry product, with a refinance into conventional once equity reaches 20% as the planned exit.

For first-time buyers who are eligible service members, veterans, National Guard or Reserve, or surviving spouses, the VA loan is almost always the right product. 100% LTV with no down payment, no monthly mortgage insurance, no minimum credit score set by the VA itself (lender overlays typically require 580–620), and seller concessions up to 4%. The funding fee is the trade-off — and it is waived entirely for veterans with any service-connected disability rating.

The benefit is reusable. First-time-buyer eligibility (under federal definition) does not expire just because the borrower has used VA before. This product stacks with first-time-buyer DPA programs in many states.

The Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) administers several down-payment-assistance programs that pair with FHA, VA, USDA, and conventional first mortgages. The flagship is the Florida Assist (FL Assist) program — a deferred-payment second mortgage (typically up to $10,000) that is repaid only when the home is sold, refinanced, or paid off. No monthly DPA payment. Program dollar amounts change annually — confirm current limits at floridahousing.org.

Other FHFC programs: HFA Preferred and HFA Advantage (3% conventional with reduced MI), Salute Our Soldiers (military borrowers), Hometown Heroes (essential-worker DPA — teachers, nurses, first responders, etc., with up to 5% of the first-mortgage amount in DPA). Eligibility is income-, location-, and program-specific. We run scenarios across all of them and stack the best combination.

The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) administers Dream For All — a shared-appreciation second mortgage that funds up to 20% of the home price as a silent second, with the borrower paying back principal plus a percentage of the home's appreciation when they sell. It pairs with a 30-year fixed FHA or conventional first.

California also has dozens of county- and city-level DPA programs (LA County MCC, San Diego MCC, MyHome Assistance, Forgivable Equity Builder Loan). Eligibility is hyperlocal — we map a borrower's ZIP + income to the available stack.