Has anyone ever used a Sunny Mae first time home buyer grant? Do you know what the qualifications are for it. Reason I ask is because I know there is a dollar amount that the total household cant make over to qualify for it. Any info would be great. I cant find anything on it online.
yeah, you have to be a single, pregnant mother, carrying twins, on welfare, and in need of a kidney replacement because of a drinking problem
lol, i think your joint income cant be over 60k
its on their website.
it must be your first house, or you can not have owned a house for 5 years. it will need to be your primary residence, and the income limit for a single income is like 42k (its not a round number)
you will pay 1 point, but get a 5 k grant, and your interest rate will be 1 point below what banks are giving. you need to cover the rest of the closing costs, have 3-5% down payment, and show that you have had the money in the bank for 6 months.
call M&T Mortgage and ask to speak to Gary Lynch. he took care of me, and was great to work with.
edit: oh, and its sonyma
http://www.nyhomes.org/home/index.asp?page=311
thanks for the info, i already have everything set up but the group I am going thru but my thru a scare today. Since I am married the joint income between the two of us cant be over 60k from what I understand.
It’s actually SONYMA.
I’m going through getting one right now. The income limit depends on your county but for me it was $61k or something like that. You also have to be a first time homebuyer. There are a few other random requirements but I’m guessing you’ll meet them.
They’ll give you $5000 or 5% of the purchase price(whatever is HIGHER) for closing costs. The catch there is you have to keep the loan for 10 years. If you pay it off before then they pro-rate the amount for what you’ve paid and you pay the rest back interest free.
My interest rate was 5.875%. If you don’t take the closing cost assistance then it’s a bit lower. There are no points with it though.
Down payment is only 3%.
If you have anymore questions let me know…I’m sure I’ve been through it with this.
Terry
thanks again guys, i am going thru multisource funding and i was worried sick today that my wife put me over the limit to get the 5k grant for the closing costs of the house. We just squeaked in under the limit, thank god!!! We got our fixed rate for 30 years at 5.875 percent.
Congrats. Good luck with everything…it’s definitely not a fun process but I’m hoping it’s worth it in the end.
pretty good rep, can sell really well, but product knowledge is not his strength. I worked with the mtg group for a few years.
There are lots of banks that offer SONYMA mortgage so shop around if you have time. I went to one bank and they didn’t even know what sellers concessions were…I walked out shortly after that. 
You will almost always be better off with a rep in @ w/e 800 number for the mortgage & loans arena…
Its what they do 8 hours a day. They know what is best, what is competitive, and the ins / outs of each product & process - they process dozens per day.
As opposed to a general purpose branch employee who may process 1-2 mortgages per day.
You would be utterly amazed how under educated / out of practice alot of branch reps for alot of banks. Locally, and along the entire eastern seaboard. This goes specifically for M&T, HSBC, & Key.
branches are the worst to go to! i know i have to deal with branch screw ups all day.
and sonyma is not any better.
be careful with excessive account activity.
since I spent all my money on a wedding, then bought a house
after the wedding with “gift” money… i got screwed out of closing cost
assistance.
It also took over 3 months to get payment to the homowners.
they had to take legal action just before all my rates were to expire.
Do not trust the bank… no news is bad news 
lol, they gave me a scare as well. They didnt believe that my wife was employed and thought that we were lying. even though it shouldnt matter since she was in college whih counts as full time work. either way, after pushing it through 2 times we were granted our loan with the closing cost assistance. sonyma is realy tuff lately and you just need to stick with it. If not theres plenty of other great loans out there to get you what you need with different closing cost/home gift insentives. theres always another way.
good luck.:tup:
i hate sonyma and their income limits.
Humm so you guys are saying since I’m still in college and make around 30K a year I should run out and buy a 75K or so house? The 3% down payment would only be $2259. Then in 4 months or so when I’m making 60K+ a year I can double the payments and pay it off in 10 years exactly?
Then I can save up my cash and buy / build a house I really want to and rent my first one?
Humm I need to look into this before I graduate.
lol @ sunny mae hahaha
Missed your edit with the correction and link…which I’m assuming you’re talking about. My bad.
These things are supposed to add a week or two to the closing. Right now mine is going to the state early next week (appraisal held it up for like a week) so we’ll see. According to the bank they’ve been hearing back on them in a week, 2 is worst case. Just be prepared to hand over every financial document you’ve had in the past 2 years…it was even worst for me being self employed along with a full time job.
Just for a reference for you guys. I purchased a $78K house and am looking to spend about $2000-$2500 at closing. You have to pay for an appraisal on these ($300) and lawyer fees…that is the only thing not included in the closing cost assistance.
Terry