Government Grants for Buying Home or Starting Business

[purplefdu]

We've got to move and finding a new rental is not a pleasant prospect We've been wanting to look into a government grant to help purchase a home (possibly coupled with a VA loan with my parents) and maybe start a business but every time we try we end up bogged down in "free gov grant program" sites or places that want you to pay for lists, info, example applications, etc. I know people do this free, and I'd like a nice estimate if this is feasible or not for us, even if we have to rent a year in between. Anyone have a good link to the actual section of the national government's website I can get looking at?

[purplefdu]

dude, no one?

[72Tiger]

I got nothing. I went FHA. Sorry, and good luck.

[lucille]

There are no grants for buying a home. There are some grant and roll-in type programs to cover closing costs or small down payments. IIRC they are federally funded but are disbursed by either state or local housing authorities. The one I commonly see is a $5000 grant for closing or downpayment.

There are a couple of home programs the govt. sponsors. Most are in some way run by HUD or USDA. There is VA loans, those are in a roundabout way managed by HUD. There is something called a Rural Housing loan. If you live in a rural area or a city under a certain population you can potentially use this. Small cities that are officially their own city even though they may be considered a burb occasionally qualify. There are also first time home buyer programs in many states. A state or local housing authority should be able to tell you what might be available.

I would be extremely careful about any claims about super secret govt. grants and the like. The govt. housing programs are out there, sometimes knowing where to go ask is the hard part. We have done a house with a VA loan, the current one is via a state HUD backed (due to a total fluke) and we almost used a Rural Housing loan to build a sustainable house a few years ago. Let me know if you need any specifics and I can try to at least point you to the right govt. agency or office to get what your looking for.

[purplefdu]

So long as its not easy and I'm not just missing the neon flashing sign, lol. We are making an appointment to meet with the community action office about an emergency security deposit as well as the home loan/financing programs but not sure how long that may be from now (they are out of town helping flood victims). I'll have to remember to ask about the rural one, we're probably not in one now (although we could be) but we'd be more than willing to possibly more to one as we're country folk.

[lucille]

Originally Posted by purplefdu

So long as its not easy and I'm not just missing the neon flashing sign, lol. We are making an appointment to meet with the community action office about an emergency security deposit as well as the home loan/financing programs but not sure how long that may be from now (they are out of town helping flood victims). I'll have to remember to ask about the rural one, we're probably not in one now (although we could be) but we'd be more than willing to possibly more to one as we're country folk.

I would start here, your profile says your in Maine?
http://www.mainehousing.org/

from their site
"MaineHousing provides low fixed rate mortgages and other assistance to help make homeownership affordable for more Maine people. No point, low point and extended payment term options are available. There are options with little or no down payment required, though if you still need help with the cash needed for closing, we also offer down payment and closing cost assistance. MaineHousing mortgages even come with payment protection for unemployment. And if you have a MaineHousing mortgage, you can be sure it will never be sold to anyone - it stays with us."

[purplefdu]

Yes I am in Maine. I think I've looked around that site before, and they are definitely something the Community Action has contacts in (the lady we know who works there is a specialist for MaineHousing). I wanted to look into grants as they are not something we would have to pay back, and depending on the cost of the house we may be able to use the grant to cover a decent down payment which could change the area we are looking at.

Where we live right now is just below the maximum home cost for the programs they offer for affordable mortgages (303k max, average 250k+ here), so having the down payment covered by a grant could leave space in their mortgage for repairs or improvements on a new home. Granted this is all hypothetical but we've been looking at homes in the area and know most need some updating in the lower price ranges compared to the 400k+ ones that are all brand new inside or well kept up.

Thanks for all your help.

[72Tiger]

Here's something that you may find helpful:

http://www.bankrate.com/dls/news/mor...p?prodtype=mtg

[purplefdu]

I saw a post about that on one of the realty sites I was looking for homes on. The tax credit sounds like a headache waiting to happen, lol. Hence why we're trying to go through community action, as they know the laws better then we do and can steer us through the useless junk (hopefully).

Good news is they should be back in the office tomorrow morning.