First-time buyers · California

First-Time Home Buyer Programs in California

A first-time buyer in California has the state's own programs through CalHFA, down payment assistance from state and local agencies, and the federal loan types underneath them. This guide takes them in the order a purchase runs: the steps from pre-qualification to keys, what CalHFA offers and whom it counts as a first-time buyer, where Dream For All stands, how FHA, conventional and VA differ, where the income limits are published, what a pre-qualification letter does, and the disclosures and closing customs that are California's own. We are an independent mortgage broker in San Luis Obispo and do not underwrite: a lender makes the loan, and your loan officer can talk you through which of these fits your file.

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The steps, from pre-qualification to keys

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the CFPB) lays a home purchase out in four phases, and CalHFA's own steps for a buyer using its programs run the same way. Here they are in our words, with what you do at each one.

Prepare to shop
Decide what you can carry each month and whether now is the time, and gather what an application asks for. The CFPB's advice is to read your credit reports early, so there is time to correct a mistake, and to track your spending so you know what a monthly payment can be. In California this is also the point to check whether CalHFA's first-time definition and its income limit for your county fit you, because that decides which programs are in reach.
Explore loan choices and get pre-qualified
Talk to a loan officer before you fall for a house. A pre-qualification tells you what you can offer, and a seller or the seller's agent may ask for a letter with the offer. The CFPB's point is that once an offer is accepted the time to line up financing can be short, so the shopping for a loan happens before the shopping for a home. A first-time buyer using a CalHFA program completes CalHFA's homebuyer education along the way, through a provider CalHFA accepts.
Compare loan offers
Once your offer is accepted you choose the loan and the lender. Each lender you apply with gives you a Loan Estimate on the same federal form, early in the process, so the offers can be read side by side: the rate, the monthly payment, the closing costs and the cash you would bring to closing. A Loan Estimate is not an approval; it is what the lender expects to offer if you go ahead. Your loan officer can walk you through the estimates you receive.
Get ready to close
Underwriting asks for documents, so answer each request as it comes. You schedule a home inspection, shop for homeowners insurance, and shop for title insurance and the other closing services the Loan Estimate lets you choose. Before closing the lender gives you a Closing Disclosure with the final terms and costs, so you can check it against the Loan Estimate and ask about anything that changed. Signing is the last step, and once you sign you are responsible for the loan.

Buying in San Luis Obispo County, and the numbers:First-time buyer loans in San Luis Obispo County Affordability calculator The first-time buyer checklist All of the guides

CalHFA: the state's own programs

The California Housing Finance Agency, CalHFA, is a state agency that designs loan programs and funds them, and it does not lend directly: a CalHFA-approved lender qualifies you and makes the loan. Five things to know before you count on it.

What CalHFA offers

A set of first mortgages built on the federal loan types: CalHFA FHA, CalHFA VA, CalHFA USDA and CalHFA Conventional, with CalPLUS versions that pair with ZIP, the Zero Interest Program, for closing costs, and CalPLUS Access versions that pair with MyAccess. Under them sit CalHFA's subordinate loans for the down payment or closing costs, which CalHFA calls silent seconds because their payments are deferred until the home is sold, refinanced or paid in full.

Whom CalHFA counts as a first-time homebuyer

CalHFA's definition is someone who has not owned and occupied their home, and has not lived in a home owned by a spouse, within a look-back period CalHFA sets; someone who owned a home longer ago than that, or never, can qualify, and CalHFA says exceptions may apply. The requirement attaches to CalHFA's down payment assistance: MyHome requires a first-time homebuyer, and CalHFA's lender handbooks apply the test to any CalHFA first mortgage that carries a CalHFA subordinate loan, while a CalHFA Conventional first mortgage taken without one is the named exception.

Homebuyer education

CalHFA requires homebuyer education and counseling of a first-time homebuyer using a CalHFA program, and one occupying first-time borrower per transaction completes it. CalHFA accepts one online course, eHome's, and live counseling in person or virtually through NeighborWorks America or any HUD-approved housing counseling agency; it names other online courses it does not accept, because they lack the one-on-one counseling follow-up. Finish it early rather than at the end.

Through CalHFA-approved lenders

CalHFA takes no applications itself. Its products are offered through loan officers and lenders CalHFA has approved and trained, and CalHFA's Dream For All handbook says a broker works through a CalHFA-approved wholesale lender. Income limits apply to every CalHFA program and vary by county and by program. CalHFA no longer has sales price limits, though the loan limit for each first mortgage program still applies.

MyHome, the deferred junior loan

The MyHome Assistance Program is a deferred-payment junior loan toward the down payment or closing costs, usable only with a CalHFA first mortgage. Its amount is capped, and the cap depends on whether the first mortgage is FHA or conventional. It accrues simple interest and nothing is due on it month to month: the principal and interest are repaid when the home is sold or transferred, or when the first mortgage is refinanced or paid off. It asks for a first-time homebuyer under CalHFA's definition, a primary residence with no non-occupant co-borrower, the education certificate and CalHFA's income limit for the program, and it cannot be combined with Dream For All.

CalHFA's programs in detail:CalHFA loans

Dream For All: where it stands

The California Dream For All Shared Appreciation Loan is CalHFA's help toward a first-generation buyer's down payment or closing costs. It sits under a Dream For All Conventional first mortgage, and when the home is sold or transferred or the first mortgage is paid off, the buyer repays the original loan plus a share of the home's appreciation. It does not run all year: CalHFA opens an application portal for a window it announces, draws applicants at random by region, and issues vouchers to the ones it selects. It is not first come, first served.

When we last read CalHFA's Dream For All page the portal was closed and no new application could be started. The most recent round's vouchers were issued in the spring. CalHFA announces any further round on that page and in its email news, and until it does, nobody can tell you one is coming. If you want to be ready, the voucher application needs a letter from a CalHFA-approved lender first, so the conversation with a loan officer comes before the portal.

Dream For All cannot be combined with MyHome. Somebody not selected in a round can still work with a CalHFA-approved lender on CalHFA's other assistance, MyHome and CalPLUS with ZIP.

The shared appreciation, who is eligible and how a round runs:Dream For All

Down payment assistance, local and statewide

Down payment assistance in California is not one program. CalHFA's MyHome comes only with a CalHFA first mortgage, counties and cities run programs of their own, and each program sets its own income limit, its own property rules and its own repayment terms. Our service page explains what the help is, what it is not, and how an assistance loan is layered under a first mortgage that accepts it.

One statewide option is not limited to first-time buyers: the Golden State Finance Authority's GSFA Platinum program provides help toward the down payment or closing costs as a gift, a second mortgage or both, pairs with FHA, VA, USDA and conventional first mortgages, carries income limits GSFA describes as low to moderate, and is available only through GSFA's participating lenders, since GSFA is not a direct lender.

The programs, and how we pair one with a first mortgage:Down payment assistance

FHA, conventional or VA for a first home

CalHFA's first-time test attaches to CalHFA's own assistance, not to these three loan types, each of which has rules of its own. What differs between them is who insures or stands behind the loan, what it asks of your credit and your savings, and what it costs each month.

FHA

A loan insured by the Federal Housing Administration and made by an FHA-approved lender. HUD publishes the decision credit score tiers and the property standards, and the loan carries FHA's mortgage insurance, charged up front and then annually. CalHFA's own FHA program is an FHA-insured first mortgage, which is how CalHFA's assistance can sit under an FHA loan.

Conventional

A loan written to Fannie Mae's or Freddie Mac's guidelines, with their credit rules, automated underwriting and the lender's own overlays deciding the file, and private mortgage insurance while the loan is large against the home's value. Fannie Mae's HomeReady and Freddie Mac's Home Possible are the income-limited versions, with qualifying income measured against the area's median: HomeReady is written for low-income borrowers who may be first-time or repeat buyers and asks for homeownership education when every occupying borrower is a first-time buyer, and Home Possible is written for low- and very low-income borrowers.

VA

A loan made by a private lender and guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, for an eligible veteran, service member or surviving spouse who holds a Certificate of Eligibility. VA lists no private mortgage insurance and no mortgage insurance premium among the loan's features, and says the benefit can be used again after you sell or refinance a home bought with a VA-backed loan.

Side by side:FHA vs conventional FHA vs VA VA vs conventional

Income limits, and where to read them

Every CalHFA program carries an income limit, set by CalHFA for each county and for each program and re-issued each year, with a separate table for Dream For All. CalHFA says its limits cannot exceed certain federal maximums and that it may set them lower to reach its policy goals. No figure is printed here because the tables change: the current ones are on CalHFA's income limits page, listed in the sources at the foot of this page, and your loan officer checks your qualifying income against the table for the county you are buying in.

USDA's Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program has a limit of its own: the household's adjusted income may not exceed the applicable moderate income limit, the home must be your primary residence, and Rural Development backs loans only in areas it designates as rural. HomeReady and Home Possible carry the income limits described above, measured against the area's median.

The pre-qualification letter

A seller or the seller's agent may ask for a letter with your offer. Ours is a pre-qualification letter: your loan officer reads your application and your credit report, pulled with your permission, and writes a letter for the offer you are making, so the figure on the letter matches the figure on the contract. It is not an underwriting decision, and nothing on this site is one. The CFPB's point about a lender's letter is that it shows a seller you are serious without committing you to that lender.

CalHFA's Dream For All asks for a lender letter on CalHFA's own form before a voucher application can be submitted, which is one more reason the conversation with a loan officer comes first.

What the letter says, what it does not, and how it is written:The pre-qualification letter

Closing in California: the forms and the customs

The two federal forms a mortgage borrower receives, and the disclosures and customs that are California's own.

The Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure

After you apply for a loan on a particular home, the lender gives you a Loan Estimate on the standard form every lender uses: the estimated rate, the monthly payment, the closing costs and the estimated cash to close, which is the down payment and closing costs less any deposit already paid to the seller and any credits. Before closing you receive a Closing Disclosure with the final terms, payments and costs. The CFPB's advice is to check that the cash to close matches your most recent Loan Estimate and to ask the lender to explain any difference. A subordinate loan through some homebuyer assistance programs comes with different federal disclosure forms instead of these two.

The Transfer Disclosure Statement

California's Civil Code requires the seller of a single-family home to deliver a completed Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement, the TDS, to the buyer as soon as practicable before title transfers. If a disclosure or a material amendment to one arrives after you have signed an offer, the Code gives you a short statutory period to terminate the offer by written notice, and the length of the period depends on how the disclosure was delivered. The requirement cannot be waived.

The Natural Hazard Disclosure Statement

The seller and the seller's agent, or a third-party consultant they use, disclose on the NHDS whether the home lies in a special flood hazard area, an area of potential flooding from dam failure, a high or very high fire hazard severity zone, a wildland area that may contain substantial forest fire risks, an earthquake fault zone or a seismic hazard zone. The statute's own form warns that these hazards may limit your ability to develop the property, to obtain insurance or to receive assistance after a disaster, and it says the disclosure is between the seller, the agent and the buyer and is not a document for a lender or an insurer. This requirement cannot be waived either.

Escrow

In California the money and the documents of a sale pass through an escrow. The Civil Code describes a deed deposited with a third person, to be delivered when a condition is performed, and the California Department of Insurance describes escrow as a closing service that handles the funds and documents of a real estate transaction through that third party. You sign at escrow, the lender funds, and the deed records.

Title insurance

An owner's policy protects you against claims on the title; a lender's policy protects the lender and not you, and the premium for either is a one-time charge paid when escrow closes. Who pays the title premium is set by local custom and not by law, and the custom differs by region: it can be the buyer, the seller or a split. Every title insurer, underwritten title company and controlled escrow company files its rates with the Insurance Commissioner, and the rates differ by company; the CFPB, separately, tells a buyer to shop for title insurance and the other closing services.

What first-time buyers in California ask

Who counts as a first-time buyer in California?

It depends on the program, because there is no single state definition. For CalHFA's assistance, a first-time homebuyer is someone who has not owned and occupied their home, and has not lived in a home owned by a spouse, within a look-back period CalHFA sets; owning a home longer ago than that does not disqualify you, and CalHFA says exceptions may apply. A CalHFA Conventional first mortgage taken without CalHFA assistance does not carry the test. A local or statewide assistance program sets its own rule, and some, GSFA Platinum among them, have no first-time requirement at all.

Is Dream For All open right now?

No. When we last read CalHFA's Dream For All page the portal was closed and no new application could be started. The latest round's vouchers were issued in the spring, and CalHFA announces any further round on its Dream For All page and in its email news. Nobody can promise you a round, and we will not. What you can do now is the part that comes first anyway: a conversation with a loan officer, and, when a window opens, a lender letter on CalHFA's form.

Do I have to use CalHFA to get down payment assistance?

No. CalHFA's MyHome is one source and it comes only with a CalHFA first mortgage, but counties and cities run programs of their own, and the Golden State Finance Authority's GSFA Platinum pairs with FHA, VA, USDA and conventional first mortgages and is not limited to first-time buyers. Each program has its own income limit, its own property rules and its own repayment terms, so what applies depends on the home's location and your household. Your loan officer can lay out what is open to the file for the home you are looking at.

Is there a federal first-time buyer tax credit?

Not a new one in effect as of our last check. Bills that would create a federal first-time buyer credit have been introduced in Congress and none has become law, so a credit you have read about describes a bill, not a program you can apply for. What exists at the federal level is the loan types themselves, FHA, VA and USDA; help toward a down payment comes from state and local programs such as CalHFA's and GSFA's. A mortgage credit certificate, which some state and local agencies issue under federal rules, is a separate matter with rules of its own.

Can I use CalHFA with an FHA, VA or conventional loan?

Yes. CalHFA's first mortgages are built on those loan types: CalHFA FHA, CalHFA VA, CalHFA USDA and CalHFA Conventional, each written by a CalHFA-approved lender, with CalPLUS versions paired with ZIP for closing costs and CalPLUS Access versions paired with MyAccess. CalHFA's assistance sits under the first mortgage as a deferred junior loan. The loan limit for each first mortgage program still applies, as do CalHFA's income limits, and CalHFA no longer has sales price limits.

Sources

What this page rests on, read on the date in the byline below. CalHFA's lender handbooks were used to verify and are not linked.

Published by

California Mortgage Solutions Inc. · Company NMLS #325189 · Sources last checked November 7, 2026

This page is general information for a first-time buyer in California, not an offer of credit or a commitment to lend. Program rules, income limits and application windows are CalHFA's and each agency's to set and to change. We are a mortgage broker and do not underwrite: a lender reads the file.

Start with the conversation, not the portal

Answer a few questions and your loan officer can talk you through which of these programs could fit your file and what comes first.