Bond Money is Back!

Hey, This is Edna Wilson, with this week's education corner. So big, big, big news. Are you ready? Are you ready? The first time home money is back. I that know post-COVID, we finally have our first-time homebuyer bonds back. So I want to unpack that a little bit of day and talk about why they went away. And what we can

do to qualify for one. All right, here we go.

So after COVID hit, mortgage companies had tons of investors, and what they invest in and what they end up buying mortgages basically. That's how they earn their money. Just like buying stocks or buying bonds, they buy mortgages. Well, when COVID and everything went so upside down and forbearance became a thing and all that, all the investors pulled out. Maybe not all, but a good chunk of them pulled out. And anything that was a little bit hefty, they were done. So you had to have the perfect credit score, the perfect income, with the perfect job history. That was about the only way to get a loan during the first few months of COVID.

Well, now that we're almost at a year, I can't believe it, we have seen that it has loosened up. People are back in the game. The foreclosure thing was not a big deal like they thought it was going to be. And our investors are back. So with that comes our bond money, that first-time homeowner bond money. Now it's a little deceiving when it says first time homebuyer because it’s really not. What it is, is if you have not owned a home for the last three years, you get to qualify for bond money.

Now there are some restrictions. You have to make a certain income. You can't make more than a certain income. You have to have a certain credit score. So there' are a lot of different restrictions on it that you have to qualify for. But the majority of people can qualify. It is not that difficult. There are lots of different bond programs out there! But my favorite is a $7500 bond program through embrace home loan.

And the reason why I like it so much is that it's given to you, it sits on your mortgage as a second mortgage on your home as a second mortgage. And that is paid off at the very end of the loan. And so whether you sell the home or whether you pay it off, it gets you into the house with very little money out of pocket.

Now, what can you use the bond money for? I know that's what you're asking. That's a great question. So you can use the bond money for your down payment, for one bucket. Remember, we talked about the other bucket that's actually your closing cost, but you can't use it for your earnest money or your inspections. So two to three buckets, you can use it one bucket for your closing costs, one bucket for your down payment. And if you're really smart and have a great realtor, then you can actually get the seller to pay some of the closing costs and you can use the bond money for your down payment. You could come out buying a house for about $1500. It's crazy.

So give me a ring if you have more questions about that. I know it's a little confusing, but the great news is bond money is back and is ready to be used. Have a great day. And then come see your hometown realtor in Titusville Florida!!