I remember years ago when I bought my first house I'd "heard" about a program for first time homebuyers. The realtor I used to buy my first home didn't know anything about them, so I didn't have the benefit of using one of these programs. Things do change, though, and there are programs now that can help first time home-buyers in to home ownership.

The first assumption is that a first time homebuyer is someone who has "never" owned a home in their name. Well, when it comes to using Bond Money, the requirements for being a "first time home-buyer" is that you can not have owned a home within the last three years. Other requirements include income limits based on family size (a family of one can qualify as well) and limits on the price of the home ($281,137 in Okaloosa County, FL; $237,431 in Santa Rosa County, FL; $429,619 in Walton County, FL). Income limits in Okaloosa County are $62,600 - $77,700, and in Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Walton Counties, they are $54,800 - $63,020.

Depending on your qualifications, Bond money, or SHIP Funds (State Housing Initiatives Program) can both provide funds to help with down payment and/or closing costs. Also, depending on the location of the home, it may qualify for a Rural Housing loan. The benefits to using a Rural Housing Loan are that you can borrow up to the appraised value of the property (usually you can only borrow the contract price, regardless of appraised value). This is a way to roll your closing costs in to the loan and have to pay less at the closing table. Ask your lender or Realtor to check the address of the house you are interested in to see if the home is considered Rural Housing.

So how do you know if you qualify for any of these programs? First, by talking to a lender about what you are qualified for. Not all lenders will be signed up to use Bond Money, so be sure to ask the questions. Also, keep in mind that using SHIP Funds or Bond Money may require a longer process than the normal loan process (usually approximately 30 days from the contract date), so keep that in mind when considering your time frame to move.