Recent market conditions are making homes more affordable than they have been in decades. Still, families rightly wonder how they can afford a down payment and a mortgage, and whether they will face the same problems in the future that so many are facing today: struggling to pay mortgages and, in some instances, facing foreclosure.
Californians have supported a variety of state efforts to encourage homeownership and to make buying a first home easier. The state does this through unique programs that not only help people purchase their first home, but also stay in it.
Since 1975, the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) has invested more than $18 billion in non-taxpayer funds to assist 150,000 California individuals and families purchase their first home, with a mortgage they can afford.
The agency offers financing with low, fixed interest rates as well as opportunities to tap into down payment assistance funds.
CalHFA’s fixed rate loan products include a traditional 30-year mortgage, a 35-year mortgage where the first five years are interest-only payments, and a 40-year mortgage.
These products allow a great combination of flexibility and predictability. The loan terms of 30, 35 or 40 years give borrowers a choice for repayment timing, and the fixed rates mean no surprises down the road.
And, for the last three years, all of the agency’s standard loans include something more — protection to help borrowers keep their home in the event they involuntarily lose their job in the first five years of their loan.
California Housing Finance Agency’s HomeOpeners, a mortgage protection program, may pay as much as $2,500 for up to six payments during unemployment for the first five years of the loan. The benefit, which is subject to certain restrictions, can include principal, interest, insurance and tax payments.
The HomeOpeners mortgage protection program becomes effective 60 days after loan closing and adds no additional cost to the borrower’s mortgage or mortgage insurance.
The agency’s programs are available to families who meet income limits and purchase homes below certain, county-by-county sales price limits. 
In Placer County, a family of three or more can make up to $99,400 and still fall within the federally mandated income limits that CalHFA requires.
Additionally, the family could buy a home with a price tag as high $580,000. These limits mean there are more options, and more homes available, for the first-time home buyer using the agency’s financing.
In addition, the California Housing Finance Agency’s down payment assistance includes a variety of special programs, including initiatives for teachers, the disabled and those living in high-cost counties.
The California Housing Finance Agency has helped more than 1,800 educators and staff who serve in high-priority schools purchase their first home.
People like Sara Taylor, a teacher in Local District Five of the Los Angeles Unified School District, used the program to purchase her first home in El Sereno.
“Without CalHFA and the Extra Credit Teacher Program, I wouldn’t have been able to buy a home at all. Now I live and teach in the same district. It’s perfect.”
The program is also available to school staff. Michele DuPaty and her husband Odura both work in the Sacramento Unified School District, she as a payroll technician and he as a campus security officer. They used the program to purchase her first home.
“I did not know anything about the program and was surprised to learn of the benefits this program offered,” Michele DuPaty said. “My experience was great — fast and stress-free. My husband and I are grateful that ECTP allowed us to buy a beautiful home for our children and that we can continue to live and work in the Sacramento area.”
As declining prices put first-time homeownership in reach for more Californians, people should look to the California Housing Finance Agency’s programs and others offered by state and local agencies as they consider their options.
These programs may make the difference between purchasing a home — and just dreaming about it.
Theresa Parker is executive director of the California Housing Finance Agency. For more information, please visit www.calhfa.ca.gov.