Buying · Florida

First-time home buyer programs in Florida

The obstacle is almost never the monthly payment. It is the cash to get to the closing table — and that is the specific problem these programs solve.

Get pre-qualified See what you can afford

What help is available for first-time home buyers in Florida?

Florida Hometown Heroes provides 5% of the first mortgage, from $10,000 to $35,000, at 0% interest with no monthly payment. FHA assistance programs can cover FHA's entire 3.5% minimum investment. VA offers 100% financing to eligible veterans. Conventional financing starts at 3% down.

Start before you find the house

Assistance programs are funded in annual allocations and reserved first-come, first-served. Credit issues take weeks to correct. Gift funds have documentation rules that are easy to breach by accident.

Every one of those is fixable given time and unfixable under contract. The most valuable thing a first-time buyer can do is start the conversation months before they are ready.

Hometown HeroesUp to $35,0000%, no monthly payment

FHA with DPA$0 downAssistance covers the 3.5%

VA$0 downEligible veterans, no MI

Conventional3% downPMI removable at 78%

Next step

Find out if this fits your file

Five minutes, no credit pull to start, and a straight answer from a licensed loan officer.

Get pre-qualified (786) 519-3007

Straight answers

Frequently asked

Who counts as a first-time home buyer?

Generally anyone with no ownership interest in a primary residence during the previous three years. That means a previous owner can qualify again after three years of renting. Veterans and active-duty military are exempt from the requirement entirely on Florida Hometown Heroes.

Does getting pre-qualified affect your credit score?

The first conversation requires no credit pull at all. A formal pre-approval does require a hard inquiry, but mortgage inquiries made within a short shopping window are treated as a single event by credit scoring models, so comparing lenders responsibly does not compound the impact.

Often compared with

Related programs

Down payment assistance

Tell us the obstacle. We'll tell you if this removes it.

A licensed Florida loan officer, on the phone, with a straight answer either way.