The seller assisted non-profit down payment assistance programs are officially gone for FHA loans as of October 1st 2008. These programs were easy to use and could be funded quickly and thus became extremely popular.

But they aren’t the only game in town.

There are literally thousands of federal, state, county, local and charity based grant programs available all over the country. During the last few real estate boom years, sellers had no patience with waiting while potential buyers jumped through all the hoops necessary to qualify for these programs, but times are different now. Those sellers who once had no patience have now had their home for sale by owner, listed and expired with 3 different real estate agents and on the market for over a year. They will jump at any buyer they can get and do whatever they can to help sell that buyer their home. They will now wait 45 days for a buyer to get qualified for down payment grants.

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