When Gina Williams moved into a Florida townhouse in late 2024, she became one of the tens of millions of Americans who count themselves as homeowners.
Williams also joined a much smaller group: first-time buyers who have amassed more than $100,000 in down payment assistance.
Williams landed a $95,000 loan through Palm Beach County and the Florida Housing Finance Corp., the state’s housing finance agency. She also received about $10,000 toward closing costs and the down payment from her lender, Third Federal Savings.
“This totally changed my life,” says Williams, an administrative assistant and longtime renter.
Down payment help hits six figures in costly markets
Supersized down payment subsidies are something of an outlier. The typical award nationally is $18,000, according to Down Payment Resource, a company that tracks homebuyer assistance.
Yet as home prices flirt with record highs and mortgage rates remain elevated, six-figure down payment assistance packages have grown more common. In fact, dozens of down payment programs now offer more than $100,000 in assistance. In one particularly large example, the City of San Francisco extends up to $500,000 in down payment assistance to first-time buyers, reflecting a housing market where the median home sale price as of January 2025 was $1.4 million.
Eighty-one percent of aspiring homeowners say the down payment and closing costs are a “very significant” or “somewhat significant” obstacle to homeownership, according to Bankrate’s 2025 Home Affordability Report.
“Since 2020, we’ve seen increased purchase price limits, increased income limits and larger assistance amounts,” says Sean Moss, executive vice president at Down Payment Resource, of these programs.
While generous down payment packages are most common in California, buyers in more affordable areas might also score hefty packages. Software engineer Diana Muro moved into a townhouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, in late 2024 after receiving more than $100,000 in down payment assistance.
Help doesn’t come without hoops
Williams, 63, was a renter for decades. As a single person with a modest income, apartment life was a good fit.
“I loved to rent,” Williams says.
Her attitude toward renting changed, however, during the pandemic.
“They raised my rent three times in the last three years,” Williams says. “It squeezed every last dollar out of me.”
As her rent was skyrocketing, Palm Beach County launched a program offering up to $100,000 in down payment assistance to first-time buyers who met certain guidelines. Among other criteria, applicants were required to show a mortgage preapproval letter, complete a first-time buyer class and buy a place valued at no more than $568,557.
The program also imposed shifting income requirements: A round of grants awarded in early 2024 limited single-person households to an income of $95,480, while another cycle later in the year capped single applicants’ incomes at $60,000.
Williams applied — and then the frustrations began. A paperwork mishap delayed her application by six months. She then had one bid after another accepted by the seller, only to later fall through. Over the course of four ill-fated offers, Williams figured she wound up spending a total of $6,000 on appraisals, home inspections and application fees to condo associations.
Ultimately, she made an offer that stuck — but Williams says she couldn’t get a clear answer about whether her down payment assistance was approved, or for how much, until the day of closing.
“Nothing was easy,” Williams says. “This was the biggest learning experience of my life.”
Her persistence paid off. In December, Williams closed on her $195,000 townhome. The $95,000 down payment assistance from the state and county is structured as a no-interest loan that’s forgiven after 30 years. If she sells before then, she’ll have to repay it.
Tips to supersize your down payment assistance
While large down payment assistance packages aren’t the norm everywhere, they are available. Here are some lessons learned from buyers who’ve landed large subsidies:
- Combine programs. Muro, the Charlotte buyer, stacked down payment assistance from four sources, including $65,000 through two North Carolina Housing Finance Agency programs, $30,000 from the City of Charlotte and $12,500 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. Of course, the more programs you apply for, the more complicated things become.
- Get a loan officer on your side. As a first-time buyer, you’re unlikely to be familiar with the available programs, or where to look for them. “It’s a pretty complex array of potential opportunities,” Down Payment Resource’s Moss says. Seek out a mortgage loan officer who’s experienced in navigating down payment assistance programs.
- Brace for competition. Not surprisingly, the most generous programs attract plenty of interest. For instance, when California’s Dream For All program, which offers up to $150,000 in down payment assistance to first-generation buyers, opened a round of funding in 2024, there were 18,000 applicants for 1,700 spots, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Winners were chosen by lottery.
- There are strings attached. The sheer amount of money offered means that first-time buyers winning big packages typically receive loans rather than grants — loans that have to be paid back. If Williams sells her home within 30 years, she’ll have to pay back the $95,000 loan from the county. In the case of Dream for All, the down payment assistance takes the form of a shared-appreciation loan: If a buyer receives the assistance and then sells, they must repay the loan plus 20 percent of any increase in the property’s value.
- Expect uncertainty and setbacks — but also a big payoff. The home-buying process is filled with pitfalls, and applying for down payment assistance adds a new layer of complexity. While Williams endured frustrations, she’s happy with the end result. Homeownership, she says, “is something I never, never, never would have been able to do without the program.”
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