We just wanted to post on this real quick to clarify the recent news of the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment. HUD released this pre-maturely a few weeks back before realizing it broke their own rules, they revised / re-worded it and re-released it and now it’s official, you can use the $8,000 tax credit towards a down payment, closing costs or rate buy down. HOWEVER (notice, that’s a big however), whatever down payment is required for your particular loan program must come from your own funds not the $8,000 credit. In other words if you’re using FHA you still need to come up with the 3.5% down on your own, the tax credit cannot be used for that, but you can say put 7% down instead and that extra 3.5% can come from the tax credit.

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