Down payment assistance is money toward the down payment or closing costs that a buyer in San Luis Obispo County, in most programs a first-time buyer, can pair with a first mortgage, and California Mortgage Solutions, an independent mortgage broker in San Luis Obispo, arranges first mortgages, the loan an assistance program sits behind. The assistance itself comes from state, county or city programs, each with its own rules about who qualifies, how much it gives and how it is repaid, and those rules change. This page names the programs a buyer here can read for themselves, says what kind of help each one is and who runs it, and explains how the help and the loan fit together.
Down payment assistance is money from a program, not from the lender, that a buyer puts toward the down payment or the closing costs on a home. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes it as something many state and local governments and nonprofits offer, often aimed at low- and moderate-income families buying a first home, and sometimes at teachers, firefighters and other public employees. Depending on the program it arrives as a second loan with its own payments, as a deferred loan that is repaid later, or as a grant that is not repaid. Whatever its form, it sits behind a first mortgage: the first mortgage pays for the house, and the assistance fills part of what the buyer would otherwise bring to closing. Every rule that matters belongs to the program and is published on its page: the amount, the income limit, the price limit, the first-time buyer test and the repayment terms. None of those figures is printed here, because each agency revises its own, and the program's page is the current one.
The California Housing Finance Agency, CalHFA, is the state's own housing agency, and MyHome is its assistance program. CalHFA describes MyHome as a deferred-payment junior loan toward the down payment or closing costs, which it calls a silent second: no payment is due on it until the home is sold, refinanced or paid in full. It pairs with a CalHFA first mortgage, and CalHFA names the first mortgages that take it, government and conventional alike, on its loan programs page. MyHome asks that the buyer be a first-time homebuyer as CalHFA defines the term, live in the home, finish a homebuyer education course CalHFA accepts, and meet the income limit CalHFA publishes for the program. CalHFA does not lend directly; a CalHFA-approved lender writes both the first mortgage and the MyHome loan, and the amount MyHome offers is set by CalHFA and stated on its page, not here. CalHFA's Dream For All shared appreciation loan is a different program that opens in limited rounds, and its page showed no open window on the day this was written. CalHFA announces any further round itself.
The Golden State Finance Authority, GSFA, is a California public agency, and its Platinum Program is another statewide source of help. GSFA describes Platinum as help with the down payment or closing costs that is not limited to first-time buyers, so a repeat buyer may qualify, and that can be paired with an FHA, VA, USDA or conventional first mortgage. The help comes as a combination of a second mortgage and, in some options, a gift that GSFA says need not be repaid; which option a file gets depends on the first mortgage and on the buyer, and GSFA's page sets out the terms of each. In the standard option the second mortgage carries monthly payments on terms GSFA sets alongside the first mortgage. GSFA says income limits may apply depending on the type of first mortgage, and it publishes those limits itself. Like CalHFA, GSFA is not a lender: a GSFA participating lender takes the application. GSFA also runs an Assist-to-Own option for people employed by one of its member counties, San Luis Obispo County among them, in which repayment of the second mortgage is deferred; that option is described on its own page.
No county or city in San Luis Obispo County showed a first-time buyer assistance program of its own on its public pages when this page was written. The county's housing pages carry its affordable housing standards and its block-grant funding, and its own site points county employees to GSFA's Assist-to-Own, which GSFA runs and is described in the GSFA section. Paso Robles says plainly that the city is not presently offering any homebuyer assistance program. San Luis Obispo, Atascadero and Grover Beach each describe deed-restricted below-market units, created through inclusionary policy or density bonus incentives, which are a way of buying a price-restricted home rather than help with the down payment on an open-market one. Pismo Beach's housing page lists block-grant funding and its housing element, and Morro Bay and Arroyo Grande publish their housing elements. A town with no program that day is not listed as having one, and a program this page could not read on an official page is left out rather than guessed at. For a buyer here, that means the state programs are the route, and your loan officer can say whether that has changed.
Assistance never stands on its own. It is paired with a first mortgage, and the pairing has rules on both sides. The program says which first mortgages it will sit behind: MyHome goes with a CalHFA first mortgage, GSFA Platinum with an FHA, VA, USDA or conventional loan from a GSFA participating lender. The lender making the first mortgage must in turn be approved by the program and willing to write the two together, and not every lender is. Your loan officer places the first mortgage with a lender that accepts the program your file fits, so the help and the loan can close together. The assistance also counts in the lender's arithmetic. A second loan with payments is a monthly debt the lender weighs; a deferred loan or a grant is not a payment but is still a lien or a condition the lender must document. The program's approval and the loan's approval are two separate decisions made by two separate parties. A program can accept a buyer whom the lender then declines, and a lender can approve a loan for which the program has no funds at the time. Neither is final until both are.
Down payment assistance is not a gift from the lender. The lender writes the first mortgage and, where the program allows, the second; the money behind the assistance belongs to the agency. It is not money with no conditions. Every program attaches terms: a deferred loan comes due when the home is sold, refinanced or paid off, an amortizing second has its own monthly payment, a gift, where a program offers one, is not repaid, and CalHFA's shared appreciation loan is repaid together with a share of the appreciation in the home's value. Those terms are the program's, they are written into the documents signed at closing, and the program's page states them. It is not invisible to the seller. The letter that goes with an offer names the program the loan rests on, and a listing agent who reads it knows that an assistance file has an extra approval in it and can add time to the closing timeline the lender sets, which is a reason to start the program's paperwork early. The Bureau's advice to a buyer using any of these options is to tell the lender, and the sooner the better; that is what the application on this site asks.
The steps in order, so you can see what is coming.
What you earn and how it is paid, what you have saved and where it sits, and whether you have owned a home before. The application on this site asks for each in order.
Your loan officer reads the current rules of each program against your file: the first-time buyer test, the income limit, the home you have in mind, and whether the program is taking applications.
The first mortgage is placed with a lender approved by the program and willing to write the two together, and the letter that goes with your offer names both.
The agency approves the assistance under its rules and the lender underwrites the loan under its own. Both must say yes, and the two close together.
If yours is not here, call us. The useful answer depends on your file.
Down payment assistance is money from a state, county, city or nonprofit program that a buyer puts toward the down payment or closing costs on a home, layered on top of a first mortgage that pays for the house. The CFPB describes it as something many state and local programs offer, often to low- and moderate-income first-time buyers, that can be used with a regular FHA or conventional loan. Depending on the program it is a second loan, a deferred loan repaid later, or a grant, and the program's own page states its amount, its income limit and its repayment terms.
We arrange first mortgages that pair with assistance programs run by the state's housing finance agency and by other public agencies, such as CalHFA's MyHome and GSFA's Platinum Program. The assistance is theirs: the agency sets the rules, approves the buyer and funds the help. The loan is placed by us: your loan officer finds a lender approved by the program that will write the first mortgage and the assistance together, and tells you which programs your file fits before you make an offer.
It depends on the program. CalHFA's MyHome asks that you be a first-time homebuyer as CalHFA defines the term, and many programs define first-time as not having owned a home within a stated number of years rather than never having owned one, so a buyer who owned a home long ago may count as first-time again. GSFA's Platinum Program is described by GSFA as open to repeat buyers as well. Each program's page says which test it applies, and your loan officer checks your history against the rule of the program your file fits.
It depends on the program, and the program's page states the terms. Some assistance is a deferred loan with no monthly payment that is repaid when the home is sold, refinanced or paid off, which is how CalHFA describes MyHome. Some is a second mortgage with its own monthly payment, which is how GSFA describes the standard form of its Platinum assistance. Some is forgiven over a period the program names, and some is a grant or gift that is never repaid. The repayment terms are written into the documents you sign at closing, so read them with your loan officer before you commit to a program.
State first-time buyer help
California's own first-time buyer programs: a CalHFA first mortgage, MyHome assistance, and ZIP for closing costs, written through approved lenders.
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.
Where this fits:Buying a homeRefinancingAll loan programsThe Central Coast
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This page is general information, not an offer of credit or a commitment to lend. What a lender will do with a file depends on the file.
Answer a few questions and your loan officer can talk you through what fits, including when this does not.
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