Current down payment assistance guidelines, updated from one source.
One source feeds every down payment assistance page Lendmire publishes; the Boca Raton, FL figures below refresh when the program sheets are updated.
Of the purchase price
Assistance is sized as a share of the price, never a fixed sum: the biggest option covers the down payment and reaches closing costs, the smaller ones cover the 3.5% FHA minimum down payment, in whole or, on the lowest tier, in part.
Covers the FHA down payment, in whole or in part
This covers the 3.5% FHA minimum down payment in whole or, on its lower tier, in part, and is forgiven at closing: no lien on the home, no monthly payment, no interest. It opens on the area income limit or on a qualifying category.
On the forgivable and repayable options
Most of the options carry no income limit, so a higher-earning household qualifies the same as anyone else; only the nothing-to-repay option looks at income, at 140% of the area median, or at a qualifying category.
Credit score to start
This is the lowest score that opens an option here — the nothing-to-repay option; the forgivable second liens start a little higher and the repayable options higher still, so a stronger score opens more choices.
| Option | Assistance | What you repay | Credit · mortgage · units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grant-style assistance — nothing to repay | 2% or 3.5% of the price | Nothing — released at closing | 620+ · FHA 203(b), FHA repair escrow, FHA Limited 203(k), FHA Standard 203(k) · 1–4 units |
| Forgivable second lien — three-year | 3.5% of the price | Nothing after 36 on-time mortgage payments | 640+ · FHA 203(b), FHA Limited 203(k), HUD-184, USDA · 1–2 units |
| Forgivable second lien — five-year | 3.5% of the price | Nothing after 60 on-time mortgage payments | 640+ · FHA 203(b), FHA Limited 203(k), HUD-184, USDA · 1–2 units |
| Repayable second lien — thirty-year amortization, ten-year balloon | 3.5% or 5% of the price | Second lien, 30-year amortization, balloon in year 10 | 660+ · FHA 203(b), FHA Limited 203(k), HUD-184, USDA · 1–2 units |
| Closing-cost repayable second lien | 3.5% or 5% of the price | Second lien, 30-year amortization, balloon in year 10 | 660+ · FHA 203(b) · 1–2 units |
| Refinance-cost second lien (repayable) | 1% to 3.5% of the balance | Second lien, repaid | 660+ · FHA 203(b) · 1–4 units |
Current down payment assistance snapshot · updated September 7, 2026 · six options offered in Florida · no option requires a first-time buyer · no option combines with another assistance program · owner-occupied primary residences only.
The figures on this page are program parameters, not offers: assistance percentages, credit floors, unit limits, and forgiveness periods vary by option and by state, and every file is underwritten individually. The calculator estimates an FHA payment at an editable benchmark rate that is not a quote; no fee or lender is stated or implied. Lendmire brokers these loans through its wholesale network in sixteen licensed states, is never the lender, and is not affiliated with FHA, USDA, HUD, or the federal government. Lendmire, LLC — NMLS #2371349. Equal Housing Opportunity.
What down payment assistance is — and how the options differ.
For Boca Raton, FL buyers, the first-time home buyer programs come down to three parts: the first lien carries most of the price, the assistance covers the minimum investment, and the shape of the assistance — nothing to repay, forgivable, or repayable — decides what it costs to carry.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s down payment assistance program, or the statewide guide at Down Payment Assistance in Florida.
Assistance covers the FHA down payment
Every purchase option for a Boca Raton buyer is sized on the price (or the lesser of price and value), not on a fixed sum: the smaller options cover the minimum investment, in whole or, on the lowest tier, in part, and the larger repayable option covers it and reaches closing costs and prepaid items too; the refinance option is sized on the balance.
Four shapes: grant, forgivable, repayable, refinance
The options differ in what they cost to carry: a nothing-to-repay option released at closing; forgivable second liens with no interest and no payment, released after an on-time payment period; a repayable second lien, amortized with a balloon, that reaches closing costs; and a refinance-cost option for an existing FHA loan.
Credit floors, mortgage programs, and unit counts
Two-borrower files can qualify on a blended score on the second-lien options when the higher earner has the higher score and an automated approval is in hand; every borrower still needs a score of their own, and the first lien and the unit count place the file as the options table shows.
Eligibility without a first-time-buyer rule
No option requires a first-time buyer. The nothing-to-repay option asks for one qualifying category — income at or below the area limit, a community-service occupation, a first purchase, or an underserved tract — and a homebuyer education course; the second-lien options ask for neither.
The calculator below runs this math on a price you enter. Choose an assistance option offered in Florida and add any cash of your own; it sizes the minimum investment, the assistance, what is left for closing costs, the FHA loan with its mortgage insurance, and the payment at an editable market benchmark rate.
Where Boca Raton’s first-time and moderate-income buyers shop — and how the assistance fits.
These Boca Raton, FL figures describe the market, not a borrower; the first lien’s approval and the option’s rules carry the file, and the numbers here only explain the neighborhood it sits in.
Market context only. The renter share says how many households the program could serve; the median value says how far the minimum investment sits from a typical price; the two together describe where the program closes most files.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Distinct Boca Raton submarkets, distinct property rules.
Across Boca Raton’s condominiums, townhomes, and older neighborhoods close to work, the same program produces different closings because prices, property types, and first liens differ block by block.
Manufactured homes on owned land
Manufactured housing on owned land near Boca Raton is eligible, with the option decided by the home’s width: the nothing-to-repay option accepts single-width homes, while the second-lien options accept double-width only. The median owner-occupied home value in Boca Raton runs near $722,700 on the latest Census estimate.
Townhomes and attached homes
Attached homes and townhomes in Boca Raton sit at price points where the minimum investment is smaller in dollars but no easier to save; the assistance closes that gap, and the association’s documents are reviewed with the file. Median gross rent in Boca Raton is about $2,508 a month — the payment many renters already carry.
Small multi-unit homes, owner-occupied
A buyer who lives in one unit of a Boca Raton duplex can use the program on the whole building; the nothing-to-repay option, which reaches four units, makes a house-hacking purchase reachable with the minimum investment covered. Median household income in Boca Raton sits near $106,273 on the latest Census estimate.
New construction and infill
A newly built Boca Raton home is eligible; the buyer’s own funds requirement is covered by the assistance, and the builder’s closing date is met once the first lien is approved. On a home at Boca Raton’s median value, the FHA minimum investment comes to about $25,300 — the figure the assistance is built to cover.
Condominiums close to work
Condominiums are often the entry point in Boca Raton, and the assistance follows the first lien: the building needs FHA approval, or a single-unit approval, before the down payment help can attach to it. About 34% of Boca Raton’s households rent — roughly 14,200 renter households, the pool the program exists for.
Older neighborhoods and renovation loans
Renovation purchases in Boca Raton qualify for the assistance on the price before repairs, which lets a buyer take on a home that needs work without also finding the minimum investment. Boca Raton itself counts a population near 100K; it sits within the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL area.
Read the submarkets as orientation. The file’s figures come from the first lien, the option, and the program’s rules.
Four ways Boca Raton buyers put down payment assistance to work.
How Boca Raton buyers put the program to work depends on the first lien, the property, and what the help needs to cover; these four paths cover most files.
Cover closing costs too on the larger option
The larger option exists for the Boca Raton, FL closing where the down payment is only half the problem: it carries the minimum investment and a further share for costs.
Buy a small multi-unit home and live in one unit
For a Boca Raton buyer choosing a small multi-unit home, the assistance attaches to the first lien on the building, up to the option’s unit limit, with the buyer living in one of the units.
Buy a home that needs work with a renovation mortgage
Renovation purchases in Boca Raton, FL qualify for the assistance on the price before repairs, so the down payment help and the repair budget close together at one table.
Buy a first home with the down payment covered
A Boca Raton buyer with the income for the payment but not the cash to close uses the assistance to cover the FHA minimum investment, a grant with nothing to repay, and keeps savings for the move.
Size the assistance on a Boca Raton price before requesting a quote.
Run a Boca Raton price through the options before you request a quote: the minimum investment, the assistance applied, what is left for closing costs, the mortgage insurance tier, and the estimated payment. Enter income to see the ratios a lender reads.
Boca Raton FHA payment with assistance
Illustrative Boca Raton inputs; the calculator recalculates on every change.
Editable benchmark: 7.28% as of October 1, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not an FHA loan quote.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $600,000 price held below Boca Raton’s median owner-occupied home value, where an FHA first lien is realistic, the strongest assistance option offered in Florida applied against the FHA minimum investment, a thirty-year term at the current Freddie Mac benchmark, property taxes and insurance estimated for Florida (U.S. Census Bureau). Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a Loan Estimate, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The rate field carries the weekly Freddie Mac thirty-year conventional benchmark, a market reference and not an FHA loan quote; your rate is set by the lender at lock. FHA mortgage insurance follows HUD’s published schedule for the term, leverage and loan size entered; taxes, insurance and dues are editable estimates; closing costs are not included; a repayable second lien adds its own payment, which is not shown here. Consumer mortgage lending licensed in sixteen states. Lendmire is not affiliated with or acting on behalf of FHA, USDA, HUD, or the federal government.
Same buyer, three very different closings.
The right structure for a Boca Raton, FL buyer depends on savings, credit, the first lien, and whether the help needs to reach closing costs.
Assistance on an FHA loan, your own down payment, or assistance on a USDA or HUD-184 loan.
The structure for a Boca Raton buyer who qualifies for the payment but not the cash to close — the help is sized on the price and the option decides what, if anything, is owed afterward.
Paying the minimum investment yourself keeps the closing simplest — no second lien, no category, no course; the trade is the months or years of saving that the assistance replaces. For the first lien itself, see Lendmire’s FHA loan program.
USDA and HUD-184 first liens pair with the forgivable options and the ten-year repayable option on a Boca Raton, FL file; the separate closing-cost option is FHA only. For the USDA first lien, see the USDA loan program.
If the payment fits but the cash to close does not, down payment assistance is the structure; if the cash is there, the plain purchase; if the property is USDA-eligible, the USDA first lien with assistance for costs.
What to prepare for a Boca Raton scenario review.
The documents a lender reads first on an assistance file.
This is a general preparation guide, not a universal checklist. The selected lender may request additional information based on the mortgage, the assistance option, the property, and the eligibility category. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.
Local details that can change the loan.
Beyond the credit tier and the first lien, a handful of details decide which option a Boca Raton buyer can use — or whether the assistance attaches at all.
Use these checks to keep the Boca Raton file clean and fundable.
Settle the option, the first lien, the property’s eligibility, and the category before the appraisal is ordered; a Boca Raton file that clears these reads cleanly.
- Know the option: choose by cost to carry first, amount second.
- Confirm the category: settle which category applies before the application is signed.
- Confirm the property: confirm the property will be the primary residence.
The option decides what you owe afterward
The same minimum investment can be covered three ways on a purchase in Boca Raton, FL, and the difference is entirely in what happens after closing: nothing, nothing if the first lien stays current, or a second loan that comes due; the options table shows what is offered.
The eligibility category for the nothing-to-repay option
The category is checked at application on the nothing-to-repay option, together with the signed assistance application and the education certificate; no option requires a first-time buyer, and the second-lien options carry no income limit.
Property type and unit count select the option
The property itself can move a Boca Raton, FL file: a fourplex, a single-width manufactured home, or an unapproved condominium project each changes which option can attach, so the address is read before the option is promised.
The balloon on the repayable option
The repayable second lien amortizes over thirty years but comes due in the tenth year; it carries interest and a monthly payment, its own loan number, and a balloon disclosure. It is the option that reaches closing costs, and it is a loan.
The mortgage and the county loan limit
In Boca Raton, FL, the first-lien program is chosen with the property: USDA where the address is eligible, HUD-184 where the buyer qualifies, FHA everywhere. The county loan limit then decides whether a larger first lien can still carry an assistance option.
From a Boca Raton pre-approval to keys with the assistance in place.
Lendmire runs a Boca Raton assistance file in a set order: pick the option, match the first lien, clear the property, close with the assistance in place.
Pick the option
Every Boca Raton file starts with the option and the first lien; the category, the homebuyer education course and the property rules are then settled around them, in that order.
Get the mortgage approved
The first lien’s approval carries the file; the assistance is arranged alongside it, with the eligibility category and the education certificate in hand where they apply.
Clear the property
The appraisal, the condominium approval where one applies, the manufactured-home title, and the county loan limit are settled; small repairs go into an escrow holdback where the option allows it.
Close both loans together
Final underwriting reads the whole Boca Raton, FL file against the first lien’s rules and the option’s; the loan funds with the assistance in place and the second lien, where there is one, recorded behind it.
A brokerage that pairs the assistance to the loan.
Pairing the right assistance to the right first lien for a Boca Raton buyer means knowing which option the credit opens, which the property allows, and what each costs to carry — before the contract is signed.
The option, matched to the buyer
The nothing-to-repay option where it fits, the forgivable options where it does not, the repayable option where closing costs are the hurdle — chosen for the Boca Raton, FL buyer, not by default.
The mortgage, matched to the property
FHA, USDA, or HUD-184 is chosen with the Boca Raton property — its address, its unit count, its type — so the assistance option that pairs with it is the one that attaches.
The right wholesale program
Assistance programs differ across wholesale lenders in what they offer and where; Lendmire places a Boca Raton, FL file where its credit, its first lien, and its property read best, subject to lender program eligibility.
Trusted by first-time buyers & families alike.
Boca Raton down payment assistance FAQs
Straight answers for Boca Raton buyers weighing down payment assistance; the mortgage approval and the option’s rules decide every actual figure.
Do I have to be a first-time homebuyer?
No. None of the options requires a first-time buyer. Being a first-time buyer is one of four categories that opens the nothing-to-repay option; the second-lien options have no first-time-buyer rule and no income limit at all.
Is there an income limit?
For most of the options, no. The forgivable and repayable second liens carry no income limit at all. The nothing-to-repay option is the one that looks at income, and even there a qualifying occupation, a first purchase, or an underserved census tract opens it as an alternative to the income test.
What first-time home buyer programs are available in Boca Raton?
Assistance measured as a percentage of the price, in shapes that differ by what you owe afterward: nothing, nothing if the mortgage stays current, or a second loan with a balloon. Credit, the mortgage, the property, and the eligibility category decide which fits.
Do I have to pay the assistance back?
It depends on the shape you choose. Grant-style help is released at closing and never repaid; a forgivable second lien is forgiven after the on-time period; a repayable second lien is a real second loan with a balloon. A Boca Raton buyer chooses by what they want to carry after closing.
What credit score do I need?
A Boca Raton buyer’s credit tier decides which options are open — the options table on this page shows the floor for every option offered in Florida.
Which mortgages can the assistance be used with?
Government first liens only: FHA for every option, USDA and HUD-184 for the forgivable and repayable second liens (the closing-cost repayable option, the one that also reaches prepaid items, is FHA only).
Do I need a homebuyer education course?
Required on one option, optional on the rest; schedule it early if the nothing-to-repay option is the plan.
What property types are eligible?
Most primary-residence property types, with the condominium’s approval, the manufactured home’s width and title, and the unit count deciding which option attaches.
Is there an option for refinancing?
For an existing FHA loan, yes — a repayable option sized on the balance, for a full refinance rather than a streamline.
What does Lendmire do on a Boca Raton first-time home buyer file?
The structural work covers the option, the first lien, the property, the category, the education course, the disclosures, and closing. A Boca Raton buyer brings the contract; Lendmire brings the fit.
Bring the price. We will find the option.
Share the property, the price, and a little about your situation; a Lendmire loan officer names the option that fits and follows up.
This guide covers Boca Raton — for the statewide options, categories, and property rules, see Down Payment Assistance in Florida, part of Lendmire’s down payment assistance program.
Nearby markets in Florida: Deerfield Beach · Delray Beach · Coconut Creek · Pompano Beach · Boynton Beach · Margate · Coral Springs · Tamarac
Related programs: FHA Loans · USDA Loans · FHA 203(k) Rehab Loans