Buying a home? DC may offer down payment assistance

Buying a new home for the first time is exciting but can leave you with a lot of questions. For starters, “How am I going to finance this purchase?”

Luckily, there are programs that help assist you in this process. The DC Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) offers three programs for first-time homebuyers:

1. DC Open Doors
2. Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC)
3. Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP)

The DC Open Doors program offers down payment assistance to help ease this process. It is also one of the more flexible programs. You can be a first-time or repeat homebuyer, the program is open to all neighborhoods and wards, and it is available to resident and non-residents of DC.

To qualify for the DC Open Doors program, you must maintain a minimum credit score of 640 and each borrower can have a maximum income of $145,560.

The Mortgage Credit Certificate program requires that you be a first-time home buyer and have not owned a property in DC for up to three years prior to the purchase. The only exception would be if you purchased a home in a “targeted area” or if you are a veteran. The income limits for this program are based strictly on the property location and household size.

The Home Purchase Assistance Program requires that you be a first-time home buyer who has not owned a property in DC three years prior to your current purchase. Your household income is low to moderate, you have maintained a good credit score, and the property will be your primary residence after purchase.

With so many homebuyer programs available for DC residents, your goal of purchasing a piece of DC real estate may not be so far out of reach.