Down Payment Assistance Offered By the City of Escondido Enables Zero Down

Sandiegodownpayment.com is the leader in providing knowledge and resources regarding home financing options for San Diego County first time home buyers. This is one of many installments in our series describing the little known, free, down payment assistance and grant programs available to home buyers throughout San Diego County. So we welcome you to read on and learn about these fantastic and generous programs available to you right now!

The Escondido offers 5% down payment assistance for qualified buyers looking to buy within the City of Escondido.  This program works for any home buyers who have not owned a property in the last 3 years. There are 2 outstanding aspects of this program vs. many of the other programs throughout San Diego County:

1. You DO NOT need a down payment. Escondido will give you 5% down and we will get you an FHA 1^st 30 year fixed mortgage for 95%. So you DO NOT need any money down
2. Escondido allows borrowers to make up to 120% of the median income for San Diego County to qualify. Many of the other programs require borrowers to make 80% or less of the median to qualify. So this program works for a larger number of borrowers.

Additionally, on top of the 5% from Escondido, we can arrange 3% more assistance that can be for closing costs or added to the down payment.  

The way we structure the financing for these programs for you is we first get you approved for a FHA 30 year fixed first mortgage, and then the City of Escondido provides the down payment assistance as a “silent 2nd” mortgage. There are NO payments that need to be made on the 5% down from Escondido or the 3% from the state. You do not have to pay the assistance back until you sell the property. If you never sell, you never have to pay the down payment assistance back! For Veterans we can also structure this with a VA loan 1^st mortgage.

So as you can see, using an easy to qualify for FHA or VA home loan + the 5% down payment from the City of Escondido is a fantastic way to become a home owner in San Diego County. These programs allow you to buy a house in a neighborhood you enjoy and to become a homeowner at a monthly payment similar to rent. And as a home owner, you will reap all the benefits of home ownership such as building equity and wealth, paying less taxes with the large deductions available to home owners (but not to renters) and also the personal satisfaction of owning your personal residence in a great community such as Escondido.

As mentioned above, homeowners pay substantially less income taxes then renters. As a homeowner, you are able to write off the mortgage interest + the property taxes. This is a very large deduction and you can take this up front by adjusting your tax withholdings with your HR Dept. This can result in taking $300, $400, $500 and more home per month that you were paying in tax when you were renting. So a $1,500 rent payment can be equivalent to a $1,900 or so housing payment, because when you rent you pay a lot extra in income taxes.

If you are interested in learning more about all of the hidden grants and down payment assistance programs available to home buyers in San Diego County, please contact one of our specialists at www.sandiegodownpayment.com.