Hometown Heroes House Hacking

[Eric Wittenburg]

Me and my fiancé are saving up for a house hack in the Tampa area.  Starting July 1 2023, the Hometown Heroes program will be available to all first time homebuyers in Florida, regardless of occupation. We are considering the pros and cons for this route to see if it would be right for us. The obvious benefit we see is being able to get into the game for little to no money down. Does anyone have experience using this program for a house hack? Any insight into benefits or risks? 

[Josh Green]

Hey Eric,

I've done this a few times with clients and am super excited with the occupation requirement removal.  It's a no-brainer to get into a house-hack; the program reduces some of the closing costs and is not a loan and does not have interest.  

The only CON really is you do have to pay it back - but it's literally free leverage.  If a bank was willing to lend me money to buy real estate with no interest on it, i'd leverage as much as I could.

[Ryan Halford]

Hi Eric,

I would be glad help you. Let's set up a phone call and talk about finding the perfect house hack using the Live Local Act. The Hometown Heroes program is awesome and was supercharged by this Act! There are a few qualifiers of 640+ credit score and income under $136k (for Hillsborough). 

One con can be that if you refinance you have to pay it back (you have to pay it back when you sell otherwise), I think it's still worth it because you're probably not going to refinance unless the rates drop significantly. If that does happen by then you would hopefully have enough equity to roll it into the new loan at a decent rate. Any way you cut it this is 0% loan on up to $35k. 

Also, for anyone else out there who may have owned a home in the past, the first time home owner stipulation includes anyone who has not owned a home in the last 3 years. Feel free to reach out I would be glad to walk you through it.

[Ryan Thomson]

Hey @Eric Wittenburg That sounds like an awesome program! House Hacking is amazing. Here are some resources I found really helpful on my journey:

1. For podcasts I really like the House Hacking episodes on Bigger Pockets Podcast and other channels. 

2. Great beginners guide: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

3. The Book on House Hacking Strategies by Bigger Pockets is also a fantastic book

4. Happy to talk if you want more advice

5. Connect with a realtor who understands house hacking and has invested themselves

6. Connect with a lender to see what you qualify for and how you can improve that situation

7. Go to local Real Estate meetups and learn from people there

[Katherine Blazer]

I am a lender and realtor and Tampa Bay. I have closed a couple of these loans this year and they are a great option! Just make sure you don't exceed the county's income and give your HR department a heads up that they must verbally speak to them a couple of days before closing! 

If house hacking and growing a portfolio is your long-term goal, make sure if you sell or refinance, you are adding this 2nd mortgage back in. You also may have trouble doing a HELOC on these homes because they would be 3rd.