If you need a little extra help putting together the money for your down payment, or financing those closing costs, there are funds available. Here are a few resources to help you get started.
Invest Atlanta is one of the organizations that offers offers assistance programs and incentives for first time homebuyers.
https://www.investatlanta.com/homebuyers/homebuyer-programs-downpayment-assistance
Here are the requirements for the program:
- Participants must contribute $1,500 of their own funds (items purchased outside of closing count toward this requirement).
- Participants cannot own interest in any other property.
- The property must be owner-occupied.
- The property cannot be manufactured.
- Existing properties must pass inspection prior to closing.
Both a homebuyer education course and a Q&A session are required and your certificate of completion is valid for 12 months. So even if it takes you a little time to find the right property, you won’t have to worry about taking the courses again for a year.
In addition to Invest Atlanta, here are other sources where grant money may be available to you:
The Wells Fargo NeighborhoodLIFT program
(**Funds available through the Wells Fargo NeighborhoodLIFT event held on May 4, 2018 in Atlanta have been allocated, but more funds could be available for qualified borrowers starting in July 2018 through their affiliation with The Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership.)
Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership
Another program is the Georgia Dream, available through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
Some programs allow you to combine the grants, increasing the amount of money available to you. But be diligent when choosing your lender and the homeownership education courses: Different program have different financial institutions and courses that are approved as participants.
It’s a little more work than finding a winning number under a scratch-off ticket, or hitting the lottery, but finding free money is worth doing a little homework.
