Orlando Real Estate

FHA - Many times when we hear about first time buyer programs, what we are really talking about is an FHA loan. This type of loan is guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration. You still have to qualify to obtain financing, but FHA can be more forgiving than conventional loan programs. The biggest benefit of using FHA financing is that the down payment can be as little as 3.5%, while a conventional loan may require you to pay up to 20% of the purchase price as a down payment plus closing costs. FHA will also allow you to ask the seller to make a contribution toward your closing costs. You may also be able to accept a gift from a family member toward your closing costs.

Check out this brief video about FHA loans courtesy of Geoffrey Archer with OnQ Financial

Down Payment Assistance - There are also other assistance programs that actually help first time home buyers with the down payment. These are typically down payment assistance programs operated by local, state and federal governments. These programs may require you to attend home buyer classes, and may be strictly limited based on the economic status of the buyer. This can make them difficult to obtain, because you have to make enough money to qualify for the home loan. However, you cannot make too much money, or you may not qualify for the down payment assistance. These programs are also very under-funded and often do not have funds available to offer assistance. Many bank owned properties will not work with these types of assistance programs, because of the lack of funding and frequent delays.

Orlando Real Estate

We always talk about location, location and location being the top three considerations when buying #realestate, but proximity to doctors and healthcare  may not be at the top of mind when looking at locations for your home. In our multi-generational home, access to healthcare services had to be a bit higher on our list of considerations. As I mentioned in my last blog about our #multigenerationalhome https://activerain.com/droplet/5jX6, both our mothers moved in with us. What I did not mention is that both had fairly significant health concerns, and saw multiple physicians regularly. Most of their physician offices were centrally located around downtown Orlando, which narrowed our prospective areas for our home search.

Great SoDo neighborhood near hospitals

Keeping our search close to downtown also kept us close to the two major hospitals in the area. Thankfully, over the past 15 years we did not need have many occasions to use the hospital services. We did however make dozens of trips to the doctors’ offices every year, so finding a home near them saved us countless hours of driving and allowed our mothers to keep seeing their trusted physicians.

If you are going to be searching for a multi-generational home in the #Orlando area, please give me a call. I would love to help you with your home search. #OrlandoRealEstate #Realtor #realestate