Current down payment assistance guidelines, updated from one source.
The snapshot below is not typed onto this page — it is pulled from one down payment assistance guideline source and refreshed when that source changes, so Pico Rivera, CA always shows the options in force.
Of the purchase price
The largest option is a repayable second lien that covers your down payment and can reach closing costs and prepaids too; the smaller options cover the 3.5% FHA minimum down payment.
Covers the whole FHA down payment
Nothing to repay, ever: this option pays the full 3.5% FHA minimum down payment and leaves no lien behind, for buyers within the area income limit or in 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 California · no option requires a first-time buyer · no option combines with another assistance program · owner-occupied primary residences only.
This page describes down payment assistance at the program level. The option for any file comes from the credit tier, the first lien, the property, and the eligibility category; the first lien’s approval, the appraisal, and full underwriting decide the actual terms, subject to lender program eligibility. Nothing here is a quote, a fee, or a commitment to lend; the calculator’s rate is a market benchmark you can edit and its payment an estimate. Lendmire is never the lender and is not affiliated with FHA, USDA, HUD, or the federal government.
What down payment assistance is — and how the options differ.
For Pico Rivera, CA buyers, the first-time home buyer programs work the same way: 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 California.
Assistance covers the FHA down payment
The gap the program closes for a Pico Rivera buyer is the minimum investment: the assistance covers that share of the price, the first lien carries the rest, and the buyer’s own savings stay for the move.
Four shapes: grant, forgivable, repayable, refinance
Nothing to repay, forgiven over time, or repaid with a balloon: the three purchase shapes in Pico Rivera, CA cover the same minimum investment and differ in what the buyer owes afterward.
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.
Eligibility without a first-time-buyer rule
A Pico Rivera buyer who has owned before is eligible; the second-lien options carry no income limit and no first-time-buyer rule, and the nothing-to-repay option opens on any one of four categories.
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 Pico Rivera’s first-time and moderate-income buyers shop — and how the assistance fits.
Where Pico Rivera, CA’s renters live, what a median home costs, and what a median household earns — Census estimates give the backdrop for a down payment assistance file.
Citywide figures provide general market context, not an appraisal or an income calculation. In most markets, the renter households are the pool the program exists for: qualified for a payment close to their rent, short the cash to close; the assistance is the bridge from one to the other.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Distinct Pico Rivera submarkets, distinct property rules.
A down payment assistance file in Pico Rivera reads differently by submarket — condominium approval, association packages, unit counts, and USDA eligibility all shift from one to the next.
Homes that need work
In Pico Rivera, a buyer can take on a fixer with a limited or standard renovation loan and the assistance attached, so the down payment and the repair budget are settled in one transaction. Pico Rivera counts a population near 60K.
USDA-eligible areas
On Pico Rivera’s rural edges, the USDA first lien and the second-lien options fit together, keeping cash to close near zero for buyers who qualify. The median owner-occupied home value in Pico Rivera runs near $648,600 on the latest Census estimate.
Two-to-four-unit homes, owner-occupied
In Pico Rivera, owner-occupied small multi-unit buildings qualify for assistance when the buyer lives in one unit; the unit count decides which option applies. Median gross rent in Pico Rivera is about $1,786 a month — the payment many renters already carry.
Manufactured homes on owned land
For Pico Rivera buyers choosing manufactured housing, the assistance is available on owned land, with the option set by the home’s width. About 29% of Pico Rivera’s households rent — roughly 4,973 renter households, the pool the program exists for.
New construction
For Pico Rivera buyers under contract with a builder, the assistance is arranged with the first lien so the closing date holds. On a home at Pico Rivera’s median value, the FHA minimum investment comes to about $22,700 — the figure the assistance is built to cover.
Established neighborhoods
In Pico Rivera, a first home in an older neighborhood pairs with the program on an FHA first lien, and the assistance covers the down payment the buyer would otherwise have to save. Median household income in Pico Rivera sits near $88,201 on the latest Census estimate.
Submarket descriptions are general market context; the first lien’s approval, the option’s rules, and full underwriting decide every figure in a file.
Four ways Pico Rivera buyers put down payment assistance to work.
From a first home to a small multi-unit building to an FHA refinance, down payment assistance in Pico Rivera, CA solves a specific set of problems.
Cover closing costs too on the larger option
The larger option exists for the Pico Rivera, CA closing where the down payment is only half the problem: it carries the minimum investment and a further share for costs.
Cover the costs of an FHA refinance
A Pico Rivera homeowner refinancing an existing FHA loan can use the refinance-cost option, a repayable second lien sized on the balance, to cover closing costs and keep the first lien inside FHA limits.
Buy a home that needs work with a renovation mortgage
Renovation purchases in Pico Rivera, CA qualify for the assistance on the price before repairs, so the down payment help and the repair budget close together.
Buy a first home with the down payment covered
The most common Pico Rivera, CA file: an FHA first lien, the assistance covering the minimum investment, and the buyer’s own funds reserved for moving costs and reserves.
Size the assistance on a Pico Rivera price before requesting a quote.
This tool applies the program to a Pico Rivera 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.
Pico Rivera FHA payment with assistance
Illustrative Pico Rivera inputs; the calculator recalculates on every change.
Editable benchmark: 6.71% as of September 3, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not an FHA loan quote.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $600,000 price near Pico Rivera’s median owner-occupied home value (kept 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, four very different closings.
Down payment assistance is one of four ways a Pico Rivera buyer covers the minimum investment; each has a different cost after closing.
Assistance on a government loan, saving the minimum, or a gift.
The structure for a Pico Rivera 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.
On a USDA or HUD-184 first lien, the assistance shifts to the second-lien options and to the closing costs; the nothing-to-repay option pairs only with FHA. For the USDA first lien, see the USDA loan program.
Choose by what you have: cash for the minimum investment, family who can gift it, a USDA-eligible property, or none of those — the assistance is for the last case, and the most common one.
What to prepare for a Pico Rivera scenario review.
What a down payment assistance review usually starts with.
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.
Every Pico Rivera file is underwritten individually, but the same handful of considerations recur; they are worth settling before the contract is signed.
Use these checks to keep the Pico Rivera file clean and fundable.
A clean Pico Rivera 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: complete the homebuyer education course where required.
- Handle small repairs: escrow more than the estimated cost.
The option decides what you owe afterward
The same minimum investment can be covered three ways in Pico Rivera, CA, 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.
Escrow holdbacks for minor repairs
A Pico Rivera home with a small repair list does not have to wait for the work before closing; the escrow holdback carries it, within the program’s cap and timeline, with an inspection when the work is done.
The forgiveness clock on the forgivable options
A forgivable second lien is released after the on-time payment period on the first lien — three years on one option, five on the other — with no interest and no payment in between; a serious delinquency inside the period keeps the lien in place.
No stacking with other assistance
No option may be combined with another down payment assistance program, and the nothing-to-repay option does not combine with a high-balance first lien; one assistance option, one first lien, one closing.
From a Pico Rivera pre-approval to keys with the assistance in place.
Lendmire runs a Pico Rivera assistance file in a set order: pick the option, match the first lien, clear the property, close both liens together.
Pick the option
Every Pico Rivera file starts with the option and the first lien; the category, the education course, and the property rules are then settled around them, in that order.
Get the mortgage approved
Lendmire packages the Pico Rivera 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
The property side of a Pico Rivera, CA file is where the option can change: unit count, project approval, and the loan limit are confirmed before the closing is scheduled.
Close both loans together
Final underwriting reads the whole Pico Rivera, CA 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.
Down payment assistance is where a generalist stumbles: the options differ by first lien, by credit tier, by unit count, and by state, and the wholesale programs that carry them competently are a short list.
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 Pico Rivera, CA buyer, not by default.
The mortgage, matched to the property
A Pico Rivera file is matched to the first-lien program that carries the property — FHA everywhere, USDA or HUD-184 where they fit — and the assistance option follows that choice.
The right wholesale program
A Pico Rivera 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.
Pico Rivera down payment assistance FAQs
Straight answers for Pico Rivera 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 option requires it. A Pico Rivera 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?
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 or a first purchase opens it regardless.
What first-time home buyer programs are available in Pico Rivera?
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?
For a Pico Rivera buyer, the nothing-to-repay option where offered, otherwise a forgivable second lien; the options table on this page shows what each costs to carry.
What credit score do I need?
It depends on the option. The lowest floor belongs to the nothing-to-repay option; the second-lien options start higher, and the mortgage’s own rules apply on top.
Can I use the assistance on a second home or a rental?
No. Every option is for an owner-occupied primary residence; on the forgivable and repayable options the home must stay the primary residence for the term of the second lien.
What is the rate on the mortgage and on the assistance?
The first lien’s rate is set by the lender at lock; the calculator on this page seeds its rate field from the weekly Freddie Mac conventional benchmark as a market reference, not an FHA quote, and every field stays editable. The repayable second lien’s terms are set by the program and disclosed on its own documents; the forgivable and nothing-to-repay options carry no interest.
How does a forgivable second lien work — the small second loan behind the mortgage?
It is recorded as a second lien with no interest and no monthly payment, and it is released after the on-time payment period on the first lien — three years on one option, five on the other — as long as there is no serious delinquency in that window and the home stays the primary residence.
Which mortgages can the assistance be used with?
Government first liens only: FHA for every option, USDA and HUD-184 for the second-lien options.
What property types are eligible?
Single-family homes, FHA-approved condominiums, townhomes and planned developments, owner-occupied two-to-four-unit homes within each option’s limit, and manufactured homes on owned land — single-width on the nothing-to-repay option, double-width on the second-lien options. Unique property types are outside the second-lien options.
Talk through a Pico Rivera assistance file before the contract is signed.
Start with the price, the first lien you expect, and your credit tier. No credit pull or commitment is required to request an initial scenario review.
This guide covers Pico Rivera — for the statewide options, categories, and property rules, see Down Payment Assistance in California, part of Lendmire’s down payment assistance program.
Also in California: Carson · Union City · Oakland · Newport Beach · FHA Loans · USDA Loans