Help With The Hardest Part.

Saxton Mortgage does. At least one conventional program we offer accepts Community Seconds, grants from organizations, and employer assistance. At least one FHA program we offer also permits down payment assistance programs under FHA’s guidelines. A Community Seconds loan is a subsidized second mortgage typically made by a federal, state, or local government agency.

Down payment assistance comes in three forms under Fannie Mae rules: grants, Community Seconds loans and employer assistance. Eligible sources include government agencies, state housing finance agencies, 501(c)(3) charities, employers, federally listed tribes and Federal Home Loan Bank affordable housing programs. On a principal residence, a grant may cover reserves, closing costs or the down payment. The seller and other interested parties can never be the provider.

Saxton Retail Mortgage arranges the first mortgage, and the assistance comes from an eligible provider such as a city, a nonprofit or the state’s housing finance agency. Fannie Mae’s guide puts the job of reviewing each Community Seconds program for compliance on the lender. We check the program’s documents before you commit to it.

Fannie Mae accepts personal gifts from relatives and grants from eligible agencies as sources of down payment money and closing costs on a principal residence. If you buy a one-unit home, neither source forces you to add money of your own. The relative still signs a gift letter confirming the money never has to be paid back.

Paired with down payment assistance, a conventional first mortgage for a house with one unit can reach the 2026 limit of $832,750, or $1,249,125 for Alaska and Hawaii properties, at one program*. The assistance is recorded as its own subordinate lien. Fannie Mae wants that first loan to be fixed rate, or an ARM whose initial fixed period is long.

At one FHA program, purchases that use a government down payment assistance program are open to scores of 580 and up, and to scores between 500 and 579 under tighter limits*. Conventional loans paired with a Community Seconds start at a 620 score in our programs.

Fannie Mae’s Community Seconds rule looks at occupancy, not buying history: you must occupy the property as your main residence, and the building can hold four units at most. Individual programs can add their own limits, and when both the assistance provider and the first mortgage set income limits, the stricter one applies.

A Community Seconds loan can sit behind a first mortgage on any property of four units or fewer that will be your main home, and manufactured homes must also pass Fannie Mae’s manufactured home rules. Employer assistance is barred for vacation homes and rentals.