CalHFA is a state agency, not a bank you walk into: it designs the programs and funds them, and a CalHFA-approved lender writes the loan. A CalHFA first mortgage can be paired with assistance toward the down payment or closing costs, and its assistance programs ask that you be a first-time buyer.
What a lender weighs before this program is on the table. A lender can add rules of its own, and those rules can differ from one lender to the next.
CalHFA's assistance programs ask that you have not owned and occupied a home, or lived in a home owned by a spouse, in the past three years. Somebody who owned a home longer ago than that may count as a first-time buyer again.
CalHFA sets an income limit for each county and revises it. We look up the current San Luis Obispo County figure and run your actual qualifying income against it.
A CalHFA first mortgage is an FHA, VA, USDA or conventional loan with CalHFA's rules on top. So the credit question is the one that program asks, plus CalHFA's own minimum, and we look at both together.
CalHFA requires a homebuyer education course of a first-time buyer and names the providers it accepts. Start it early rather than leaving it for the end, when everyone is in a hurry.
The steps in order, so you can see what is coming. Nothing here is underwritten until a lender underwrites it.
What you earn, what you have saved, and roughly where you are looking. Nothing formal, and no credit pull to get started.
Your income is measured against the current CalHFA income limit for San Luis Obispo County, and the loan against the first-mortgage program underneath.
Sometimes none does. An FHA or conventional loan without the assistance can be the cleaner file.
CalHFA's assistance asks for a homebuyer education course and documents of its own.
If yours is not here, call us. The useful answer depends on your file.
No. CalHFA is a California state agency that designs the programs and funds them, but the loan is written by a CalHFA-approved lender. You apply through a lender, not through the agency.
MyHome is a CalHFA junior loan that a first-time buyer can put toward the down payment or closing costs on a CalHFA first mortgage. Its payments are deferred, so it is repaid later rather than every month. CalHFA sets what it offers by program, and your loan officer works out what your file qualifies for.
Not on demand. Dream For All Shared Appreciation is a CalHFA program that opens in limited rounds rather than running all year. The 2026 round ran from February 24 to March 16, 2026 and has closed, and CalHFA announces any further round itself. We will not promise you a round that has not been announced.
For CalHFA's assistance programs, yes, and CalHFA's definition is not having owned and occupied a home, or lived in a home owned by a spouse, in the past three years. If you owned one longer ago than that, you may count as a first-time buyer again. We check that against your file instead of guessing.
CalHFA publishes its income limits by county and revises them, which is why a figure printed on a web page goes stale. We look up the current San Luis Obispo County income limit when we review your file, and tell you where you sit against it.
Government-insured
Government-insured, with credit score tiers HUD publishes.
Not government-insured
A loan for solid credit and income, with private mortgage insurance that does not have to be permanent.
Rural development
A Section 502 loan for an eligible address in the county, with a household income ceiling and USDA's own fees in place of private mortgage insurance.
Where this program fits:Buying a homeRefinancingThe county's loan limitsThe Central CoastServices
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This page is general information about a loan program, not an offer of credit or a commitment to lend. What a lender will do with your file depends on the file.
Answer a few questions and your loan officer can talk you through which programs could fit your file, including when this one does not.
No credit pull to get started. This is not a commitment to lend. Equal Housing Opportunity.
