Special financial assistance is available for teachers seeking to buy a first home, refinance a home, or even repair an old home or add energy-saving improvements. This help translates to potentially lower closing costs and fees and a streamlined path to homeownership.
National Education Association
With membership, the National Education Association, or NEA as it is known, offers home financing programs to educators through Wells Fargo. Teachers and other educators receive special terms on down payment amounts and interest rates. Following a successful purchase, the program offers a gift card rebate.
Hometown Heroes
This rapidly expanding program, comprised of real estate agents, lenders, and other professionals in the home buying and selling industries, offers mortgage help to teachers, as well as others who serve their communities, including medical emergency first responders, government employees, nonprofits, and military families. Hometown Heroes partners offer services free of charge to qualified individuals and can often mean saving thousands in the process of buying, selling, or refinancing a home.
Department of Veterans Affairs
For teachers and education professionals who are also veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs, also known as the VA, offers special financing. Potential benefits include no down payment, no private mortgage insurance, and more flexible credit score requirements. The veteran or qualifying spouse must live in the home as their primary residence but can use the program for buying or refinancing a home and paying for energy-efficient home improvements. It also may allow student loans to be rolled into a mortgage.
Other government programs for educators
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Housing Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture offer educator-specific options on mortgage financing or can connect you to local lenders who provide loans. Some place restrictions on where you can buy to encourage revitalization. Depending on the program, the down payment amount and options to reduce mortgage costs vary. The programs typically have an income cap, and also must be for a primary residence.
Related – Home Buying Help for Military and First Responders
