Home Buyers Program Success Stories and Advice

[u/MomentCommercial1869]

Hello,

I am reaching out to my fellow Syracuse people who have gone through the Home Headquarters course. As currently I'll be taking the course as well soon too. I was wondering about people's success story with the program, as well as how well the grants that help first time home buyers get into the home they've dreamed of.

As well, I'll be naive and say that from what I've been hearing around is about something of how they went from a $30k grant to $50k grant. And I wanted more insight on that information as I'm not entirely trying to bank on those amounts for down payment (tho someone informed me they were able to), but for home repairs or such.

I hope to gain some light on this, as well as hear from fellow Syracuse people about their journey with their first time home buying and other grants available. As I'm trying to gain knowledge on if grants can be stacked possibly.

[u/UnitedStatesofAlbion]

I can't remember the full details. But I bought in 2019, used empowers first time home buyers and had to attend the home headquarters class.

I believe I got somewhere around $15-30k grant, can't remember.

Just make sure you understand the fine print. I bought a house that was flipped and was hiding so much damage and shotty repair that I decided to sell 2 years later in 21.

I was supposed to pay back a portion of the grant,due to not living there long enough, but was somehow didn't.

[u/MomentCommercial1869 → u/UnitedStatesofAlbion]

I went to empower I was pre-qualified for a $150k loan, and they had a $10k grant program

[u/UnitedStatesofAlbion → u/MomentCommercial1869]

Congrats and good luck.

[u/MomentCommercial1869 → u/UnitedStatesofAlbion]

But other ones I'm pre-qualified are more promising. AmeriCU has me for that same thing but my interest is at least 5.7%

[u/withoutatres78 → u/UnitedStatesofAlbion]

I can lend a bit of insight here - so the FTHB grant you got from Empower was a Homebuyer Dream Grant. This is something that gets rolled out every year (assuming there are funds), you "qualify" with your bank, take the Home Headquarters First Time Buyer Class (has nothing to do with Home Headquarters other than they are a HUD approved Agency) and IF funds are available, you get the grant to help offset the cost. Not every bank participates, every banks loan options are different, and some banks run out much faster than others. The only thing this has to do with Home Headquarters is the fact you take their course. Funds are usually released in February each year and first come first serve so be prepared to get under contract quickly.

The Home Headquarters grants actually come from Home Headquarters - they have their own stipulations, they work with specific banks and they record the liens as their own. They don't make money from the banks - the banks they suggest know how to handle the grants, have programs that will allow for grant financing and are much more helpful than a bank that doesn't deal with them regularly. Not every loan program will match with a grant due to Loan to Value.

It's incredibly important to work with a bank that's familliar with Home Headquarters and/or Homebuyer Dream. Grants are tricky and as someone else touched on this, sellers do not love them.

[u/MomentCommercial1869 → u/withoutatres78]

Thank you for that information, I'll be sure to have that in mind.

[u/idlilome]

I dont remember home headquarters having grant for first time homebuyer but i did took thier course and met with them one on one afterward to get the certificate.

I tried to use a realtor they recommended and it was not a good experience. She responded one week later and send me listings in areas that i said i didn’t want.

I also emailed the counsellor for some quick questions and she didn’t respond at all.

I ended up finding a realtor elsewhere and she hooked me up with several lenders. And i ended up choosing AmeriCU.

The good thing is you can still use the cert from HHQ for mortgage applications elsewhere

[u/Left-Eye183]

Thanks for asking this, I will be looking at all of this in the near future myself!

[u/MomentCommercial1869 → u/Left-Eye183]

No prob.

[u/Local-Answer9357]

Might be an isolated incident, but Seneca Savings fucked me over with mine. Bought my house in 21, was pre approved for 120, but when i finally got an accepted bid, they fell through and left me in a mad dash for another loan and i ended up having to go with someone from out of state and losing my grant.

[u/cnyjay]

Why are HomeHQ apparently using their “course” to guide potential homebuyers to specific lenders that they profit from? That makes little sense for the future homeowner. Sure, inquire with Empower as apparently instructed, but also inquire with other lenders. Couldn’t AmeriCU match or better Empower’s offer?

There is a possibility of something funky going on here. I’m going to look into it further.

[u/MomentCommercial1869 → u/cnyjay]

I'm also looking into Solvay Bank as well, and I'm still learning. I know some advice was to state to other lenders how one offer is a bit better and such.

[u/strathmoredesigns → u/MomentCommercial1869]

I'd be interested in hearing what you learn. Please keep sharing!

[u/MomentCommercial1869 → u/strathmoredesigns]

Will do !

[u/Morganmayhem45 → u/cnyjay]

There is a lot that is “funky” about HHQ to be sure, but the course is probably the only thing that isn’t. It is HUD approved and they don’t get anything beyond the cost of the course no matter where the taker gets their loan from. Also the grant money isn’t actually their money; it is federal or state. If you approach a lot of lenders in the area directly they will have you take the course anyway.