Current down payment assistance guidelines, updated from one source.
The current program figures below are hydrated from Lendmire’s down payment assistance standards source at each visit, so the options shown for Ann Arbor, MI are the options in force.
Of the purchase price
Measured on the purchase price or the appraised value, whichever is lower; the largest option covers the down payment and reaches closing costs, and the smaller options cover the 3.5% FHA minimum.
Covers the whole FHA down payment
This covers the entire 3.5% FHA minimum down payment 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
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 Michigan · 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.
The first-time home buyer programs work the same way in Ann Arbor, MI as anywhere in the footprint: a government first lien, an assistance option sized as a percentage of the price, and a set of rules about credit, units, and eligibility that decide which option fits.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s down payment assistance program, or the statewide guide at Down Payment Assistance in Michigan.
Assistance covers the FHA down payment
In Ann Arbor, MI, the assistance attaches to the first lien at closing and covers the buyer’s required investment; on the larger option, what remains after the minimum investment goes toward closing costs.
Four shapes: grant, forgivable, repayable, refinance
Nothing to repay, forgiven over time, or repaid with a balloon: the three purchase shapes in Ann Arbor, MI cover the same minimum investment and differ in what the buyer owes afterward.
Credit floors, mortgage programs, and unit counts
An Ann Arbor file is placed by three things — the credit tier, the first-lien program, and the property — and the options table on this page shows the floor, the first liens, and the unit limit for every option offered in Michigan.
Eligibility without a first-time-buyer rule
An Ann Arbor 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 Ann Arbor’s first-time and moderate-income buyers shop — and how the assistance fits.
Census housing and income data describe who buys in Ann Arbor, MI and what it costs to get in; a lender reads those figures as context for the first lien, not as underwriting inputs.
Citywide figures provide general market context, not an appraisal or an income calculation. A large renter share signals demand for the program; a moderate median value signals that the minimum investment is within the assistance’s reach; 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 Ann Arbor submarkets, distinct property rules.
Across Ann Arbor’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.
New construction and infill
New construction in Ann Arbor works with the program; the appraisal and the builder’s timeline set the pace, and the assistance closes with the first lien like any other purchase. The median owner-occupied home value in Ann Arbor runs near $453,400 on the latest Census estimate.
Two-to-four-unit homes, owner-occupied
A buyer who lives in one unit of an Ann Arbor duplex or triplex can use the program on the whole building; the option that allows up to four units makes a house-hacking purchase reachable with the minimum investment covered. Median household income in Ann Arbor sits near $82,212 on the latest Census estimate.
Older neighborhoods and renovation loans
Renovation purchases in Ann Arbor 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. Median gross rent in Ann Arbor is about $1,649 a month — the payment many renters already carry.
Condominiums close to work
Buyers in Ann Arbor’s condominium buildings use the program to bridge the down payment, with the building’s approval status settled early so the closing is not held up. About 55% of Ann Arbor’s households rent — roughly 27,544 renter households, the pool the program exists for.
Manufactured homes on owned land
For Ann Arbor 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 Ann Arbor’s median value, the FHA minimum investment comes to about $15,900 — the figure the assistance is built to cover.
Townhomes and attached homes
Attached homes and townhomes in Ann Arbor 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. Ann Arbor counts a population near 122K within the Ann Arbor, MI area.
None of this is a valuation or an approval; it is the backdrop an Ann Arbor file is read against before the first lien and the option decide the numbers.
Four ways Ann Arbor buyers put down payment assistance to work.
How Ann Arbor 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 home that needs work with a renovation mortgage
For an older Ann Arbor home, the renovation first lien and the assistance fit together, with the assistance measured on the price rather than the repaired value.
Buy a first home with the down payment covered
The most common Ann Arbor, MI file: an FHA first lien, the assistance covering the minimum investment, and the buyer’s own funds reserved for moving costs and reserves.
Cover the costs of an FHA refinance
An Ann Arbor 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.
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 Ann Arbor, forgivable or repayable by the buyer’s choice and credit.
Size the assistance on an Ann Arbor price before requesting a quote.
Enter an Ann Arbor purchase price, choose an assistance option offered in Michigan, and add any cash of your own. The calculator sizes the FHA minimum investment, applies the assistance to the down payment and closing costs, builds the FHA loan with its upfront and monthly mortgage insurance, and estimates the payment at an editable market benchmark rate — with housing and total ratios when you enter income.
Ann Arbor FHA payment with assistance
An Ann Arbor scenario to start from — adjust the price, the option, your own cash, the term, and the rate to see the assistance and the payment.
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 $455,000 price near Ann Arbor’s median owner-occupied home value (kept where an FHA first lien is realistic), the strongest assistance option offered in Michigan applied against the FHA minimum investment, a thirty-year term at the current Freddie Mac benchmark, property taxes and insurance estimated for Michigan (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.
An Ann Arbor, MI buyer can reach the closing table several ways; the difference is where the minimum investment comes from and what it costs to carry afterward.
Assistance on a government loan, saving the minimum, or a gift.
Assistance paired with the first lien at closing: the minimum investment covered, the shape chosen by credit, first lien, and eligibility category, and the second-lien options open to repeat buyers with no income limit.
For an Ann Arbor, MI buyer with the cash in hand, the plain FHA purchase is the cleaner file; the assistance exists for the buyer who does not have it yet. 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 second-lien options carry the Ann Arbor file, and the closing costs are what the assistance covers. 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 an Ann Arbor scenario review.
A typical starting file for a first purchase with assistance.
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.
These are the points a lender reads on an Ann Arbor assistance file before the option is confirmed; each one can move the structure.
Use these checks to keep the Ann Arbor file clean and fundable.
Settle the option, the first lien, the property’s eligibility, and the category before the appraisal is ordered; an Ann Arbor file that clears these reads cleanly.
- Know the option: choose by cost to carry first, amount second.
- 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
The same minimum investment can be covered three ways in Ann Arbor, MI, 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.
The mortgage and the county loan limit
An Ann Arbor buyer near the county loan limit should settle the first lien’s size first; a high-balance first lien narrows the options to the repayable ones, and the choice of USDA or HUD-184 narrows them further.
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.
The balloon on the repayable option
The repayable option is the only purchase option that carries a payment; in exchange it covers the most and pairs with a high-balance first lien. Its terms are set by the program, never by this page.
From an Ann Arbor pre-approval to keys with the assistance in place.
The path from an Ann Arbor pre-approval to keys with the assistance in place runs through the option first and the paperwork second.
Pick the option
Every Ann Arbor 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 Ann Arbor 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 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 Ann Arbor, MI 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
An Ann Arbor scenario is placed on the right option first — the credit tier, the first lien, and the category — and the rest of the file is then built to fit it, before anything is ordered.
The mortgage, matched to the property
An Ann Arbor 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
An Ann Arbor 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.
Ann Arbor down payment assistance FAQs
Plain answers to the questions Ann Arbor buyers ask most about down payment assistance, before you request a review. Every file is underwritten individually; nothing here is a commitment.
Do I have to be a first-time homebuyer?
Not for any option. First-time status is one path into the nothing-to-repay option, not a requirement of the program.
Is there an income limit?
An Ann Arbor buyer above the area income limit still reaches the nothing-to-repay option through an occupation, a first purchase, or the tract, and reaches the second-lien options regardless of income.
What first-time home buyer programs are available in Ann Arbor?
Assistance measured as a percentage of the price, in shapes that differ by what you owe afterward: nothing, nothing if the first lien stays current, or a second loan with a balloon. Credit, the first lien, the property, and the eligibility category decide which fits.
Do I have to pay the assistance back?
For an Ann Arbor 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?
An Ann Arbor buyer’s credit tier decides which options are open — the options table on this page shows the floor for every option offered in Michigan.
Can the assistance cover closing costs too?
Yes, on the larger repayable option, which covers the minimum investment and a further share of the price for closing costs and prepaid items, including costs paid outside closing. The nothing-to-repay and forgivable options cover the minimum investment only.
Is there an option for refinancing?
Yes, a refinance-cost option: a repayable second lien sized as a share of the balance on an existing FHA loan, covering closing costs and keeping the first lien inside FHA leverage limits. It is not a streamline, and it cannot refinance a loan that already carries assistance.
Can I buy a duplex or a fourplex with assistance?
Yes, if you live in one of the units. The nothing-to-repay option reaches four units; the purchase second-lien options stop at two; the refinance-cost option reaches four with one unit owner-occupied.
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.
Can I combine this with another assistance program?
One option, one first lien, one closing — no combination with other assistance.
Place your Ann Arbor purchase on the right option today.
Request a scenario review with the price and the first lien in mind; Lendmire answers with the option, the floor, and what the file will need.
This guide covers Ann Arbor — for the statewide options, categories, and property rules, see Down Payment Assistance in Michigan, part of Lendmire’s down payment assistance program.
Also in Michigan: Niles · Detroit · Sterling Heights · Midland · FHA Loans · USDA Loans