2023 Income & Purchase Price Limits

The loans are designed for people with financial challenges and those looking to buy their first homes in Florida. And to ensure only the right people access these loans, Florida Housing has set some minimum qualifications that borrowers must meet.

Some qualifications include income and purchase price limits, first-time homebuyer requirements, minimum FICO scores, and FHA requirements.

This blog post will look at the income and purchase price limits requirements that borrowers must satisfy to qualify for subsidized mortgage loans.

But before we explore these requirements, let's first look at the different types of loans offered by Florida Housing.

Overview of the Florida Housing Homebuyer Loan Programs

The Florida Housing loan programs or the Florida Bond Program provides affordable first mortgage loans and down payments as well as second mortgage closing loans to eligible FL residents.

These loans are offered through a network of vetted and approved lenders who originate, underwrite, and close before funding the loans. The lenders then take the closed loans to the US Bank Home Mortgage, which purchases the loans.

Florida Housing provides three types of loans to eligible borrowers. These loans are:

First Mortgage Loans

First mortgage loan products are classified into three. These are: the government-funded Florida First loans (FL First), the conventional Florida HFA Advantage loans, and the Florida HFA Preferred loans.

All these three programs offer eligible FL residents a 30-year, fixed-rate loan. Residents who qualify for the three loan products automatically qualify for the second mortgage loan.

Second Mortgage Loans

Second mortgage loan products are classified into two. 

The first one is the Florida Assist or FL Assist, which provides eligible residents with the funds they need for a down payment, prepaids & closing costs, mortgage insurance premiums (MIP), or to be used as a principal mortgage reduction.

The FL Assist program offers up to $ 10,000 for VA, FHA, and USDA-RD loans. It also provides zero-interest, non-amortizing soft seconds/ deferred second mortgage. And while the repayment for this loan is deferred, the loan itself isn't forgivable.

The moment you transfer ownership of the property, sell, refinance the property or cease to occupy it, the FL Assist becomes payable in full.

The other second mortgage loan product is the FL HLP loans, which can be used for the same purposes as the FL Assist. The only difference is that this is a 3% interest, full-amortizing, second-mortgage with a 15-year payment period.

This loan carries a monthly payment, and the unpaid balance will become payable in full the moment you sell, transfer, refinance, or cease to occupy the property.

Now that you know how the FL Bond Program works and the types of loan programs to expect, let's look at the program requirements.

First and Second Mortgage Programs Requirements

To qualify for the Florida Housing Loan programs, you should meet the following requirements:

• You are a first-time homebuyer – with only two exceptions. One is that you are a military, air service, or naval veteran who was released or discharged under honorable conditions. Second, you live in a federally-designated targeted area.

• You have a minimum FICO score of 640 or 660 or lower for specific loan products and loan reservation requirements.

• You satisfy all the FHA requirements and any other requirements put out by US Bank.

• You meet the income and purchase price limit requirements.

Income and Purchase Price Limits Requirements

Below, we've prepared a detailed overview of the two requirements to help you understand how income and purchase price limits affect your eligibility for the Florida Housing mortgage loan programs.

Income Limit

The income limit for the FL mortgage loan programs is the maximum amount of income your household must not exceed to qualify for the subsidized loans.

This limit depends on where the property you want to buy is located and is also adjusted for specific household size.

So, for instance, in Alachua county, you can only qualify for the FL mortgage loan programs if your household income:

• Doesn't exceed $73,200 adjusted for 1-2 people when purchasing a property in a non-targeted area.

• Doesn't exceed $ 84,180 adjusted for 3+ persons when buying a property in a non-targeted area.

• Doesn't exceed $87,840 when purchasing a property in a targeted area. (There are no household unit restrictions/adjustments).

Purchase Price Limit

The purchase price limit for the FL mortgage loan program requires that the contracted price doesn't surpass the purchase price limits in the county where the property is located.

In other words, the FL Bond Program allows you to buy a property that's within a given price range. For example, you can only buy a property in Alachua County if the contracted pricing doesn't exceed:

• $311,980 – i.e., if it's located in a non-targeted area.
• $381,308 – i.e., if it's located in a targeted area.

Bottom Line

The above illustrations show that someone buying a property in a targeted area has a higher income and purchase price limits.

This means that you can earn more and still be eligible for the state's subsidized loan products, but only if you buy a property in a federally targeted area.

Similarly, you can purchase a more expensive, high-value property in a targeted area that you won't otherwise be eligible to buy in a non-targeted area.

The takeaway is that the state and federal governments are encouraging homeownership in specific neighborhoods through higher income limits and purchase price limits.