Hometown Heroes Mortgage Program

Hometown Heroes Mortgage Program

Program update: The Florida Housing Board of Directors has approved an additional $100,000,000 in funding available on July 1, 2024!

The hometown heroes mortgage program effective July 3, 2023 is now available for all first time home buyers who work for a Florida based employer full time. Full time is considered 35 hours or more a week. This is a first time home buyer’s program! That does not mean you can’t have ever owned a home. It means you can’t have occupied and owned that home in the last three years. There used to be a qualifying occupation list for first responders and alike but that has since been waived! Furthermore Veterans, and active military do no need to be first time home buyers.  Summed up the hometown heroes mortgage program is designed to help reduce interest rate, closing costs, and out of pocket expenses when purchasing a home. This is huge news for the state of Florida, this program makes buying a home more affordable in a time when home affordability is a serious issue!

So What’s the Benefit to the Hometown Heroes Program?

In short the hometown heroes first time home buyer program saves you money!  5% of the mortgage amount up to $35,0000 is able to be applied towards your closing costs and down payment. So on a $300,000 loan amount that’s $15,000 available at closing. This is done through a 0% second non-amortizing mortgage, otherwise known as a silent second. However, the second mortgage is not forgivable, Its due once the home is sold, refinanced or if the home owner no longer occupies the property as a primary residence. The hometown heroes mortgage program can be utilized with not only Conventional financing via Fannie or Freddie, but also FHA, the VA lending program and $0 Down USDA financing. The hometown heroes mortgage program can be used to buy a manufactured home well!

Benefits in a Nutshell 

• Seller concessions for closing costs and pre-paids aren’t needed.
• The rate is lower than current market rates.
• Discount points to lower the rate are not allowed.
• No origination points are allowed.
• The program can be used on a 30 or 15 year fixed mortgage.
• State doc stamps and intangibles are waived when the buyer uses this program, with typical financing in Florida a lot of times the seller is paying this so it makes your offer even stronger!
• If you are a Veteran the first time home buyer qualification is waived!

We used to have a huge list of occupations that qualify but once again if you work for any Florida based employer you qualify for this program!

Hometown Heroes Mortgage Program Limitations

The program does have income limitations. However the limitations are based on the area median income or the AMI. The current limit for the hometown heroes program is 150% of the AMI for your county. This is actually pretty favorable allowing more individuals and families to partake in this incredible Florida first time home buyer program. In Florida 150% of the AMI and max income limit ranges from $118,950 to $146,250 depending on which county you live in! The loan amount limits are based on current conventional loan limits and FHA lending limits for the state and county.

For conventional financing the loan limit is $766,550, and the FHA and USDA loan limit ranges from $472,030 for most counties up to $672,750 for Collier county and $557,750 for Broward County. For these exact numbers you can see them here at the Florida Housing site. The minimum credit score required to participate in the Hometown Heroes Program is a 640! If you are using the program to buy a manufactured home the minimum credit score is a 660. This is dictated by the state, if yours is a little lower ask us how we can help get it u

 First Time Home Buyer’s Course

Remember, unless you are a Veteran this is a first time home buyer’s program for Floridians. Which the states definition to qualify is that you can’t have owned a home in a the last 3 years to be considered a first time home buyer. Before you close on your loan using the Hometown Heroes Program you must complete a first time home buyer’s course by a HUD approved counselor. You can find a list of HUD approved counselors here, you can search by zip code.

Coast 2 Coast Mortgage is an Approved Lender through United Wholesale Mortgage For the Florida Housing Finance Corporation

Buy applying for a pre-approval we can confirm you meet the income and first time home buyer status for Hometown Heroes. Our lender will underwrite the loan and work with the state to reserve your benefit at closing. An application is not an obligation, and if you don’t qualify we can help guide you in the right direction for another loan program that meets your needs.