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 Fort Worth, TX always shows the options in force.
Of the purchase price
Up to this share of the price can come from assistance: the largest option reaches closing costs as well as the down payment, while the smaller options cover the 3.5% FHA minimum.
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
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 Texas · 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 Fort Worth, TX 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 Texas.
Assistance covers the FHA down payment
The gap the program closes for a Fort Worth 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
The assistance comes as a grant where it is offered, as a forgivable second lien, or as a repayable second lien; each pairs with the first lien differently, and the options table on this page shows what is offered in Texas.
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 Fort Worth 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.
Enter a price, choose an option, and add your own cash. The calculator sizes the minimum investment, splits the assistance between the down payment and closing costs, and estimates the FHA payment with mortgage insurance, taxes, insurance, and dues.
Where Fort Worth’s first-time and moderate-income buyers shop — and how the assistance fits.
Where Fort Worth, TX’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.
Market context only. 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 Fort Worth submarkets, distinct property rules.
Across Fort Worth’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
For Fort Worth 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 Fort Worth’s median value, the FHA minimum investment comes to about $10,600 — the figure the assistance is built to cover.
Townhomes and attached homes
Attached homes and townhomes in Fort Worth 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 household income in Fort Worth sits near $79,507 on the latest Census estimate.
Older neighborhoods and renovation loans
Renovation purchases in Fort Worth 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. The median owner-occupied home value in Fort Worth runs near $303,000 on the latest Census estimate.
Condominiums close to work
Condominiums are often the entry point in Fort Worth, 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. Median gross rent in Fort Worth is about $1,509 a month — the payment many renters already carry.
New construction and infill
A newly built Fort Worth 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 43% of Fort Worth’s households rent — roughly 147,054 renter households, the pool the program exists for.
Two-to-four-unit homes, owner-occupied
A buyer who lives in one unit of a Fort Worth 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. Fort Worth counts a population near 963K within the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX area.
Read the submarkets as orientation. The file’s figures come from the first lien, the option, and the program’s rules.
Four ways Fort Worth buyers put down payment assistance to work.
The same assistance serves several purposes in Fort Worth, TX; four of the most common are below.
Buy a home that needs work with a renovation mortgage
A Fort Worth buyer taking on a fixer pairs a limited or standard renovation first lien with the assistance; the help is figured on the purchase price, and the loan covers price plus repairs.
Cover the costs of an FHA refinance
Owners in Fort Worth with an FHA loan and little cash for a refinance use the refinance-cost option, subject to its own credit floor and combined-leverage limit.
Pair the assistance with a USDA or HUD-184 mortgage
A Fort Worth, TX buyer on a USDA or HUD-184 first lien uses the second-lien options, forgivable or repayable; the nothing-to-repay option pairs only with FHA first liens.
Cover closing costs too on the larger option
A Fort Worth buyer who needs more than the minimum investment uses the repayable option that covers down payment, closing costs, and prepaid items, including costs paid outside closing.
Size the assistance on a Fort Worth price before requesting a quote.
The calculator does what a loan officer’s first pass does for a Fort Worth file — sizes the minimum investment, applies the option, builds the FHA loan with mortgage insurance, and estimates the payment — using the current program figures and an editable benchmark rate.
Fort Worth FHA payment with assistance
Starting assumptions reflect Fort Worth’s home values; change any field and the loan, the mortgage insurance, and the payment are recalculated.
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 $305,000 price near Fort Worth’s median owner-occupied home value (kept where an FHA first lien is realistic), the strongest assistance option offered in Texas applied against the FHA minimum investment, a thirty-year term at the current Freddie Mac benchmark, property taxes and insurance estimated for Texas (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 Fort Worth buyer covers the minimum investment; each has a different cost after closing.
Assistance on a government loan, saving the minimum, or a gift.
Covers the FHA minimum investment as a percentage of the price — some with nothing to repay — with forgivable and repayable second-lien shapes, credit floors in the low six hundreds, and no first-time-buyer rule; the larger option reaches closing costs and prepaids.
For a Fort Worth, TX 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 Fort Worth file, and the closing costs are what the assistance covers. 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; a documented gift fits when family can help — Lendmire places the Fort Worth, TX file where it reads best.
What to prepare for a Fort Worth 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.
Every Fort Worth 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 Fort Worth file clean and fundable.
Settle the option, the first lien, the property’s eligibility, and the category before the appraisal is ordered; a Fort Worth file that clears these reads cleanly.
- Know the option: choose by cost to carry first, amount second.
- Confirm the category: complete the homebuyer education course where required.
- Understand the clock: keep the first lien current through the forgiveness period.
The option decides what you owe afterward
The same minimum investment can be covered three ways in Fort Worth, TX, 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 forgiveness clock on the forgivable options
The clock starts at closing and runs with the first lien’s payments; a Fort Worth buyer who plans to sell or refinance inside the period should expect the second lien to be paid at that point, since it is not resubordinated.
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.
Property type and unit count select the option
The property itself can move a Fort Worth, TX 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 a Fort Worth pre-approval to keys with the assistance in place.
Four steps take a Fort Worth, TX assistance file from a first read to funding; the first one is the one most buyers skip.
Pick the option
Lendmire reads the Fort Worth scenario against the options offered in Texas: 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 Fort Worth 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
The Fort Worth 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.
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
Lendmire reads the options offered in Texas against a Fort Worth buyer’s credit, first lien, property, and category before anything is ordered, and names the fit by cost to carry.
The mortgage, matched to the property
FHA, USDA, or HUD-184 is chosen with the Fort Worth 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
A Fort Worth 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.
Fort Worth down payment assistance FAQs
Plain answers to the questions Fort Worth 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?
No option requires it. A Fort Worth buyer who has owned before qualifies for the second-lien options on credit, first lien, 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 Fort Worth?
Four shapes paired with a government first lien: 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 with a balloon that also reaches closing costs and prepaids; and a refinance-cost option for an existing FHA loan. The options table on this page shows what is offered in Texas.
Do I have to pay the assistance back?
Two of the shapes: the nothing-to-repay option where it is offered, and the forgivable second liens, which are released after the on-time payment period. The repayable option is a loan.
What credit score do I need?
Each option has its own floor, starting in the low six hundreds on the nothing-to-repay option and stepping up on the forgivable and repayable second liens; every borrower needs a score, and two-borrower files may qualify on a blended score on the second-lien options. The snapshot shows the floors in force.
Which mortgages can the assistance be used with?
The nothing-to-repay option pairs only with FHA; the second-lien options pair with FHA, USDA, and HUD-184. The property and the buyer decide which first lien fits.
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.
What is the rate on the mortgage and on the assistance?
It depends on the first lien, the option, and the file; the rate shown in the calculator is an editable market benchmark, not a quote, and the payment it produces is an illustrative estimate. A scenario review produces the terms.
What if my mortgage is above the county loan limit?
A high-balance first lien narrows the choice to the repayable options in Fort Worth, TX.
Can I buy a duplex or a fourplex with assistance?
Two units on the second-lien options, up to four on the nothing-to-repay option, always with the buyer living in one of them.
From a pre-approval to keys — with the assistance in place.
No credit pull, no commitment: an initial review places your Fort Worth purchase on the right option and tells you what to gather.
This guide covers Fort Worth — for the statewide options, categories, and property rules, see Down Payment Assistance in Texas, part of Lendmire’s down payment assistance program.
Also in Texas: Marfa · Lewisville · Grand Prairie · Sherman · FHA Loans · USDA Loans