North Carolina First Time Home Buyer Programs

Do you live in North Carolina and wondering how you can get your own house? Well, you are lucky. The state of North Carolina has a North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA), which is tasked with the responsibility of delivering a variety of first-time homebuyer assistance programs.

This will help you in purchasing your first house. The state agency (NCHFA) partners with other private mortgage lenders that enable first-time homeowners to get loans. What I love about the program is that anybody living in North Carolina can own a home, don’t be left behind.

So, now I know you are eager to know the requirements. Well, you must meet the minimum income limit of about $30000—this value changes depending on family size to $21500 on the lower end and $40500 on the higher end (1).

You must also have a credit score of about 640, your debt to income ratio has to be 43% or less, and sometimes, you might be required to have a home buyer education—to know what you are getting yourself into.

In case the down payment is less than 20%, mortgage insurance is required.

However, you will be happy to know there is no limit to the price of the house you want to buy. You can buy a townhouse, a duplex, a condominium, or even a newly manufactured home. These assistance programs give you the ability to have any of them.

What programs am I talking about, keep on reading:
-USDA Loans assistance program
In this program, there is no down-payment required for the mortgage loan. Both rural and suburban home buyers are eligible. The U.S Department of agriculture supports this mortgage through the USDA rural development guaranteed housing Loan program.

For this program, if you have a credit score of about 640 or higher, you will get faster processing with no delays (2). However, you will be unlucky if you have lower credit score limits since you will have to be subjected to more stringent regulations.  

This program is best suited for rural homebuyers with low down payments.

-VA Loans
 This program is best suited for military veterans and requires low down payments.

The U. S Department of Veterans Affairs guarantees it, and it is mostly available for military veteran members and their surviving spouses.  The benefits of this program include:

? No minimum credit score required to get the mortgage loan.
? No down payments are required.
? No mortgage insurance required.

However, you will have to pay a Veteran Association VA funding fee.

-FHA Loans
This program is suitable for low down payments, and low credit scores.

This is the best program (and the program of most first-time home buyers) in North Carolina. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program has one of the lowest credit scores requirements of about 580 and allows a down payment of at least 3.5%.

However, if you have a credit score of 500, don’t panic, you can still get into the program. But, will have a 10% down payment (2).

Now you don’t have any excuse of not owning a home for your family if you live in North Carolina.

Reference
1. Income Limits [Internet]. NCHFA. 2016 [cited 2019 Jan 19]. Available from:
https://www.nchfa.com/rental-housing-partners/rental-owners-managers/income-limits
2. NerdWallet. North Carolina First-Time Home Buyer Programs of 2019 [Internet]. NerdWallet.
2018 [cited 2019 Jan 19]. Available from: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/mortgages/north-
carolina-first-time-home-buyer-programs/