New Programs for First-Time Buyers
By Lisa Fant
In New Jersey’s competitive housing market, higher mortgage rates, home prices, and dwindling inventory have created challenging barriers for first-time buyers, casting doubt on their ability to step confidently into the market. However, there’s encouraging news for those aspiring to become homeowners in the Garden State. The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency offers an array of programs designed to support prospective homebuyers in the Garden State and could be your key to achieving homeownership.
To learn more about The NJHMFA, available programs, and additional resources for new homebuyers, click here to visit their website.
What is the NJHMFA?
NJHMFA stands for the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency and is the state’s housing finance agency that provides funding for affordable homeownership and housing opportunities for New Jersey residents through programs and financial assistance.
Programs & Qualifications
First-Time Homebuyer Mortgage Program
Do I Qualify for this Program?
If you are a first-time homebuyer planning to purchase a home in New Jersey as a primary residence, you may be qualified for the First-Time Homebuyer Mortgage Program. You’re considered a first-time homebuyer if you have not owned a home within the previous three years.
Down Payment Assistance Program
Do I qualify for this Program?
To participate in this program, the DPA must be paired with an NJHMFA first mortgage loan. The first mortgage loan is a competitive 30-year, fixed-rate government-insured loan (FHA/VA/USDA) or conventional mortgage, originated through an NJHMFA participating lender. Certain restrictions such as maximum household income and purchase price limits apply.
First-Generation Homebuyer Program
The First-Generation Homebuyer Program provides first-generation homebuyers across the state with up to $7,000 of down payment and closing cost assistance. This program must be coupled with any of the NJHMFA First-Time Homebuyer Mortgage Programs.
The NJHMFA First-Generation Down Payment Assistance Program is for qualified first-time homebuyers who are also first-generation homebuyers. The assistance is provided as an interest-free, five-year forgivable second loan with no monthly payment.
Do I qualify for this program?
A first-generation homebuyer qualified for the First-Generation Down Payment Assistance Program is a first-time homebuyer who is either:
- 1. an individual with parents or legal guardians without any current ownership interest in residential real property and whose spouse, domestic partner, and each member of whose household has not, during the 3-year period ending upon acquisition of the eligible home to be acquired using such assistance, had any present ownership interest in any residential real property used as their principal residence in any state or territory of the United States, or outside of the United States.
2. an individual who has been placed in foster care in the State of New Jersey.
This assistance program requires pairing with an NJHMFA first mortgage loan, a competitive 30-year fixed-rate loan with restrictions on maximum household income and purchase price limits, originated through an NJHMFA participating lender.