Current down payment assistance guidelines, updated from one source.
One source feeds every down payment assistance page Lendmire publishes; the Inglewood, CA 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
The FHA minimum down payment is 3.5%, and this option covers it in whole or, on its lower tier, in part with nothing to pay back — no lien, no payment, no interest — for buyers at or below the area income limit or in a qualifying category.
On the forgivable and repayable options
The forgivable and repayable options have no income limit at all — one of the biggest advantages of this program. Only the nothing-to-repay option asks for income at or below 140% of the area median, or a qualifying category.
Credit score to start
The score that opens the nothing-to-repay option; the forgivable options start a step higher and the repayable options higher still. Two-borrower files may use a blended score on the second-lien options.
| 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 California · 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.
First-time home buyer programs are not one program; they are a family of down payment assistance options paired with a government-backed first lien, and the right one for an Inglewood, CA buyer depends on credit, the first lien, the property, and whether the help needs to reach closing costs.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s down payment assistance program, or the statewide guide at Down Payment Assistance in California.
Assistance covers the FHA down payment
An FHA purchase asks for a minimum investment from the buyer; the assistance covers it, measured as a percentage of the lesser of price or value, and the largest option carries a further share for closing costs and prepaids.
Four shapes: grant, forgivable, repayable, refinance
The assistance comes as a grant where it is offered, as a forgivable second lien, or as a repayable second lien, with a refinance-cost version for an existing FHA loan; each pairs with the first lien differently, and the options table on this page shows what is offered in California.
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 assistance is measured on the price, so the calculator starts there. It then applies the option you choose, your own cash, and an editable benchmark rate to show the loan, the mortgage insurance, and the payment.
Where Inglewood’s first-time and moderate-income buyers shop — and how the assistance fits.
Census estimates give the backdrop for a down payment assistance file: where Inglewood, CA’s renters live, what a median home costs, and what a median household earns.
Read the figures as backdrop. Value and income rarely move at the same pace; the market figures below show what an Inglewood home costs and how many households rent, and the calculator shows what that means for the minimum investment.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Distinct Inglewood submarkets, distinct property rules.
Across Inglewood’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.
Townhomes and attached homes
The townhome rows of Inglewood are where many first purchases happen, and the assistance is designed for exactly that: the minimum investment covered, the closing costs reachable on the larger option. The median owner-occupied home value in Inglewood runs near $792,800 on the latest Census estimate.
New construction and infill
A newly built Inglewood 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. About 64% of Inglewood’s households rent — roughly 23,934 renter households, the pool the program exists for.
Condominiums close to work
In Inglewood, a condominium near the job is the first home many buyers can reach; the program pairs with it as long as the project clears FHA review, and the assistance covers the minimum investment the same way it would on a house. Inglewood itself counts a population near 105K.
Manufactured homes on owned land
For Inglewood buyers looking at manufactured housing, the assistance is available on owned land, with single-width homes reaching only the option that accepts them. On a home at Inglewood’s median value, the FHA minimum investment comes to about $27,700 — the figure the assistance is built to cover.
Older neighborhoods and renovation loans
In Inglewood’s established neighborhoods, a buyer can use the program with a limited renovation loan or, on the nothing-to-repay option, a standard one, so the down payment help and the repair budget close together. Median gross rent in Inglewood is about $1,787 a month — the payment many renters already carry.
Small multi-unit homes, owner-occupied
A buyer who lives in one unit of an Inglewood 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 Inglewood sits near $72,750 on the latest Census estimate.
None of this is a valuation or an approval; it is the backdrop an Inglewood file is read against before the first lien and the option decide the numbers.
Four ways Inglewood buyers put down payment assistance to work.
How Inglewood 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.
Buy a first home with the down payment covered
An Inglewood 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.
Pair the assistance with a USDA or HUD-184 mortgage
Where the first lien is USDA or HUD-184, the second-lien assistance options carry the file in Inglewood, forgivable or repayable by the buyer’s choice and credit profile.
Buy a small multi-unit home and live in one unit
For an Inglewood 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 Inglewood, CA qualify for the assistance on the price before repairs, so the down payment help and the repair budget close together at one table.
Size the assistance on an Inglewood price before requesting a quote.
This tool applies the program to an Inglewood scenario: the price sets the minimum investment, the option and your cash set the down payment, and the FHA loan, mortgage insurance, and payment follow at the benchmark rate shown. Every field is editable; the rate is a market reference, not a quote.
Inglewood FHA payment with assistance
Illustrative Inglewood 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 Inglewood’s median owner-occupied home value, where an FHA first lien is realistic, the strongest assistance option offered in California applied against the FHA minimum investment, a thirty-year term at the current Freddie Mac benchmark, property taxes and insurance estimated for California (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.
Same Inglewood buyer, three closings: assistance on an FHA loan, the buyer’s own minimum investment, or assistance on a USDA or HUD-184 loan.
Assistance on an FHA loan, your own down payment, or assistance on a USDA or HUD-184 loan.
Covers the FHA minimum investment as a percentage of the price in four shapes — the lightest a nothing-to-repay option released at closing, the largest a repayable second lien that reaches closing costs and prepaids — with credit floors in the low six hundreds and no first-time-buyer rule.
The buyer brings the minimum investment from savings, a retirement withdrawal, or seasoned funds; no second lien, no eligibility category, no homebuyer education requirement, and no assistance to carry. For the first lien itself, see Lendmire’s FHA loan program.
Where the property is USDA-eligible or the buyer qualifies for HUD-184, the forgivable options and the ten-year repayable option carry the Inglewood file; the separate closing-cost option is FHA only. For the USDA first lien, see the USDA loan program.
Assistance fits the buyer short of cash to close; the plain purchase fits the buyer with savings; the USDA and HUD-184 pairing fits eligible properties and borrowers — Lendmire places the Inglewood, CA file where it reads best.
What to prepare for an Inglewood 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.
The assistance is the easy part; the rules around it are where Inglewood, CA files stall. These are the ones that most often change a file’s shape.
Use these checks to keep the Inglewood file clean and fundable.
A clean Inglewood file starts with the option chosen, the first lien matched to the property, and the homebuyer education course completed where it is required.
- Know the option: read the second lien as the loan it is.
- Confirm the category: identify the category that opens the nothing-to-repay option.
- Match the first lien: check the price against the county loan limit.
The option decides what you owe afterward
Choose the shape before the amount: the forgivable options cover the minimum investment and cost nothing to carry when the first lien stays current; the repayable option covers more and is repaid; where it is offered, a nothing-to-repay option released at closing costs nothing at all.
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.
The mortgage and the county loan limit
In Inglewood, CA, 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.
Blended scores for two-borrower files
On the second-lien options, two occupying borrowers can qualify on the average of their representative scores when the higher earner has the higher score; the loan must carry an automated approval, and every borrower still needs a score.
Property type and unit count select the option
The property itself can move an Inglewood, CA 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.
From an Inglewood pre-approval to keys with the assistance in place.
The path from an Inglewood pre-approval to keys with the assistance in place runs through the option first and the paperwork second.
Pick the option
Lendmire reads the Inglewood scenario against the options offered in California: the credit tier, the first lien, the unit count, the category, and whether the help must reach closing costs.
Get the mortgage approved
Lendmire packages the Inglewood file for the first lien first, because the assistance follows its approval; the option’s floor and the first lien’s rules both have to clear.
Clear the property
Property review runs in parallel with the first lien; the Inglewood home is checked against the option’s rules and the first lien’s, from the unit count to the association package.
Close both loans together
The Inglewood closing carries both instruments: the first lien and the assistance, each documented on its own and closed together, with the education certificate in the file where it applies.
A brokerage that pairs the assistance to the loan.
An assistance file rewards preparation, and preparation is what a brokerage built for first-time and moderate-income buyers provides.
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 Inglewood, CA buyer, not by default.
The mortgage, matched to the property
FHA, USDA, or HUD-184 is chosen with the Inglewood 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
An Inglewood file is matched to the wholesale program whose option fits the buyer, and Lendmire manages the first lien and the assistance together through closing.
Trusted by first-time buyers & families alike.
Inglewood down payment assistance FAQs
The questions an Inglewood, CA buyer asks before requesting an assistance review, answered plainly.
Do I have to be a first-time homebuyer?
No option requires it. An Inglewood buyer who has owned before qualifies for the second-lien options on credit, mortgage, and property alone, and for the nothing-to-repay option through any of the other categories.
Is there an income limit?
The second-lien options have none; the nothing-to-repay option has an area income limit that a qualifying occupation, a first purchase, or an underserved tract can substitute for.
What first-time home buyer programs are available in Inglewood?
Down payment help in four shapes for an Inglewood, CA buyer: money with nothing to repay, a forgivable second lien that costs nothing while the mortgage stays current, a repayable second lien that reaches closing costs, and a refinance-cost option for an existing FHA loan. The forgivable and ten-year repayable shapes pair with an FHA, USDA, or HUD-184 mortgage; the rest pair with FHA only.
Do I have to pay the assistance back?
A nothing-to-repay option is released at closing with no lien and no payment. The forgivable second liens also cost nothing — no interest, no payment — as long as the mortgage stays current through the forgiveness period, and they pair with USDA and HUD-184 mortgages as well as FHA. The repayable options are loans, with a monthly payment and a balloon.
What credit score do I need?
Scores in the low six hundreds open the first option, and each step up in score opens more of them. The mortgage program has its own rules too, so the credit score, the mortgage, and the property are read together before the option is named.
What is the repayable option and when does it make sense?
It is a loan — the repayable options are the only purchase options with a payment — in exchange for covering the most. An Inglewood buyer chooses it for the closing-cost coverage or the high-balance pairing.
Can I use the assistance on a second home or a rental?
The assistance is for the home you live in; rentals and second homes are financed other ways.
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.
Do I need a homebuyer education course?
On the nothing-to-repay option, yes — a HUD-approved course, online or in person, with the cost credited back at closing. The second-lien options do not require it, though the course is worth taking on any first purchase.
Can I combine this with another assistance program?
One option, one first lien, one closing — no combination with other assistance.
Talk through an Inglewood assistance file before the contract is signed.
A first read of an Inglewood assistance scenario takes a few minutes and commits you to nothing; the option, the category, and the property rules are explained before anything is ordered.
This guide covers Inglewood — for the statewide options, categories, and property rules, see Down Payment Assistance in California, part of Lendmire’s down payment assistance program.
Nearby markets in California: Hawthorne · Gardena · Los Angeles · Huntington Park · Compton · Redondo Beach · Lynwood · Torrance
Related programs: FHA Loans · USDA Loans · FHA 203(k) Rehab Loans