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 Texarkana, TX always shows 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, in whole or, on the lowest tier, in part.
Covers the FHA down payment, in whole or in part
Nothing to repay, ever: this option pays the 3.5% FHA minimum down payment in whole or, on its lower tier, in part, and leaves no lien behind, for buyers within the area income limit or in a qualifying category.
On the forgivable and repayable options
No income cap on the forgivable and repayable options: earn what you earn. The nothing-to-repay option is the one exception, opening at or below 140% of area median income or through 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.
Down payment assistance options are consumer mortgage programs arranged through select wholesale lenders, licensed in sixteen states, paired with FHA, USDA, or HUD-184 first liens. Assistance is stated as a percentage of price or value, never as a dollar figure a specific borrower would receive; the forgivable and repayable options are second liens with their own disclosures. Eligibility depends on the first lien’s approval, the option’s rules, the property, and full underwriting, subject to lender program eligibility. The calculator’s rate is an editable market benchmark, not a quote, and its payment is an illustrative estimate; no fee or lender identity appears on this page. Lendmire is a mortgage broker and never the lender, and is not affiliated with or acting on behalf of FHA, VA, USDA, HUD, or the federal government. Lendmire, LLC — NMLS #2371349. Equal Housing Opportunity.
What down payment assistance is — and how the options differ.
The first-time home buyer programs in Texarkana, TX answer the most common reason a qualified buyer does not close — the cash to close — with assistance measured on the price and shaped to the buyer’s situation.
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
In Texarkana, TX, 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 Texarkana, TX cover the same minimum investment and differ in what the buyer owes afterward, and a fourth, the refinance-cost option, serves an existing FHA loan.
Credit floors, mortgage programs, and unit counts
Credit decides which options are open; the first lien decides which options attach; the property’s unit count and type decide which option carries it. The options table shows all three side by side.
Eligibility without a first-time-buyer rule
Eligibility is broader than most buyers expect: repeat buyers qualify, income limits apply only to the nothing-to-repay option, and the categories that open it include first responders, educators, medical personnel, civil servants, and military.
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 Texarkana’s first-time and moderate-income buyers shop — and how the assistance fits.
These Texarkana, TX 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.
Citywide figures provide general market context, not an appraisal or an income calculation. Value and income rarely move at the same pace; the market figures below show what a Texarkana 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 Texarkana submarkets, distinct property rules.
Where a Texarkana home sits changes which option can attach and what the property review asks; the submarkets below are the map most assistance files are read against.
New construction and infill
Infill and new-build homes in Texarkana pair with the assistance as long as the property is the buyer’s primary residence and the first lien is a government program. About 48% of Texarkana’s households rent — roughly 7,159 renter households, the pool the program exists for.
Older neighborhoods and renovation loans
In Texarkana’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 Texarkana is about $1,010 a month — the payment many renters already carry.
Condominiums close to work
Buyers in Texarkana’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. The median owner-occupied home value in Texarkana runs near $171,500 on the latest Census estimate.
Townhomes and attached homes
Attached homes and townhomes in Texarkana 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 Texarkana sits near $50,573 on the latest Census estimate.
Small multi-unit homes, owner-occupied
A buyer who lives in one unit of a Texarkana 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. Texarkana itself counts a population near 36K.
Manufactured homes on owned land
For Texarkana 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 Texarkana’s median value, the FHA minimum investment comes to about $6,000 — the figure the assistance is built to cover.
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 Texarkana buyers put down payment assistance to work.
From a first home to an FHA refinance, down payment assistance in Texarkana, TX solves a specific set of problems, and the cards below take up the ones that come up most.
Buy a home that needs work with a renovation mortgage
Renovation purchases in Texarkana, TX qualify for the assistance on the price before repairs, so the down payment help and the repair budget close together at one table.
Cover the costs of an FHA refinance
Owners in Texarkana with an FHA loan and little cash for a refinance use the refinance-cost option, subject to its own credit floor and the combined-leverage limit it carries.
Buy a first home with the down payment covered
A Texarkana 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.
Cover closing costs too on the larger option
The larger option exists for the Texarkana, TX closing where the down payment is only half the problem: it carries the minimum investment and a further share for costs.
Size the assistance on a Texarkana price before requesting a quote.
Run a Texarkana 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.
Texarkana FHA payment with assistance
Illustrative Texarkana 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 $170,000 price near Texarkana’s median owner-occupied home value, 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, three very different closings.
Down payment assistance is one of the ways a Texarkana buyer covers the minimum investment; each has a different cost after closing.
Assistance on an FHA loan, your own down payment, or assistance on a USDA or HUD-184 loan.
The structure for a Texarkana 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.
For a Texarkana, 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.
USDA and HUD-184 first liens pair with the forgivable options and the ten-year repayable option on a Texarkana, TX 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 Texarkana 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.
The assistance is the easy part; the rules around it are where Texarkana, TX files stall. These are the ones that most often change a file’s shape.
Use these checks to keep the Texarkana file clean and fundable.
Settle the option, the first lien, the property’s eligibility, and the category before the appraisal is ordered; a Texarkana file that clears these reads cleanly.
- Know the option: choose by cost to carry first, amount second.
- Confirm the category: remember that the second-lien options need no category and carry no income limit.
- Consider a blended score: expect an automated approval, not a manual underwrite.
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.
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 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 forgiveness clock on the forgivable options
The clock starts at closing and runs with the first lien’s payments; a Texarkana 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.
From a Texarkana pre-approval to keys with the assistance in place.
Lendmire runs a Texarkana 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
The first step is the option: which ones the credit opens, which the first lien allows, and which costs the least to carry for a Texarkana, TX buyer — settled before anything is ordered.
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
The Texarkana 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
A Texarkana 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
FHA, USDA, or HUD-184 is chosen with the Texarkana 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 Texarkana, TX file where its credit, its first lien, and its property read best, subject to lender program eligibility.
Trusted by first-time buyers & families alike.
Texarkana down payment assistance FAQs
The questions a Texarkana, TX buyer asks before requesting an assistance review, answered plainly.
Do I have to be a first-time homebuyer?
No — and that surprises most Texarkana buyers. The program has no first-time requirement; owning a home before does not close a single option, and being a first-time buyer is simply one of the doors into the nothing-to-repay option.
Is there an income limit?
Income limits apply to one option only — the nothing-to-repay grant — and only for buyers outside its categories. Everything else on this page is open at any income, which is why higher-earning Texarkana households use it.
What first-time home buyer programs are available in Texarkana?
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 Texarkana buyer chooses by what they want to carry after closing.
What credit score do I need?
A Texarkana buyer’s credit tier decides which options are open — the options table on this page shows the floor for every option offered in Texas.
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.
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).
Is there an option for refinancing?
The refinance-cost option covers the costs of an FHA refinance with a repayable second lien, at its own credit floor and combined-leverage limit.
What is the repayable option and when does it make sense?
A second lien that amortizes over thirty years and comes due in the tenth year, with interest, a monthly payment, and its own disclosures. It makes sense when the help needs to reach closing costs and prepaids or when the first lien is high balance.
Can I combine this with another assistance program?
No. One assistance program per Texarkana, TX file. The nothing-to-repay and forgivable options also do not combine with a high-balance first lien, and the nothing-to-repay option not with certain FHA specialty programs.
Talk through a Texarkana 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 Texarkana — for the statewide options, categories, and property rules, see Down Payment Assistance in Texas, part of Lendmire’s down payment assistance program.
Nearby markets in Texas: Longview · Tyler · Rockwall · Wylie · Denison · Sherman · Rowlett · McKinney
Related programs: FHA Loans · USDA Loans · FHA 203(k) Rehab Loans