The Virginia Housing Development Authority recently began offering a new financing package for first-time homebuyers called the VHDA Loan Combo. This innovative combination of products and services provides four benefits aimed at assisting these new buyers:

• A free homebuyer education class,
• An affordable VHDA mortgage,
• A downpayment grant, and
• A homebuyer tax credit

The first benefit of VHDA’s program, a free homebuyer education class, covers topics such as personal credit, creating a spending plan, working with lenders and real estate agents, as well as the home inspection and closing. The class is offered in English and Spanish, and can be taken online or in person.

Secondly, VHDA’s Loan Combo program offers a series of low or no downpayment mortgage programs that VHDA issues through its network of approved lenders throughout Virginia. “The downpayment is the biggest hurdle to becoming a homeowner, so these loans do a magnificent job of helping buyers purchase a property with little to no money down,” said Dan Kern, VHDA Business Development and Training Manager.

To further help new homebuyers with the downpayment, VHDA offers a downpayment assistance grant as the third benefit of the program. “We actually created our own downpayment assistance grant in 2015, and the nice thing about it is the fact that it’s applied as a portion of the normal downpayment, but never has to be paid back. It’s a true grant from VHDA to homebuyers to help them purchase their first home,” said Kern.

Finally, the fourth benefit of the Loan Combo program is VHDA’s Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC), which is a federal tax credit that could save eligible first-time homebuyers thousands of dollars by reducing the amount of federal income tax they owe. The MCC is effective for the life of the mortgage, so borrowers could potentially save money on their taxes every year, as long as they live in their home.

Be sure to let your customers know about this program to close more sales!

For more information about VHDA’s Loan Combo program, please visit vhda.com/loancombo.