CALIFORNIA — CalHFA announced, Monday, that they would be opening the pre-registration portal, April 3, for homebuyers to apply for a Dream For All (DFA) 20% down payment shared appreciation voucher.
CalHFA says they anticipate that demand for Phase 2 will exceed available funding. The pre-registration process will provide more time to access the program and ensure an equitable geographic distribution of funds.
Voucher Regions
CalHFA will allocate available funds to nine regions — Bay Area, Capital, Central Coast, Central Valley, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Orange County, Rural Areas and San Diego.
Each region’s allocation will be based on the number of households in that region. DFA vouchers will be issued based on the available funds in each region.
CalHFA will use the applicant’s current address to determine which region their application will be placed in for random selection.
Pre-registration
CalHFA says voucher applicants need to work with a CalHFA approved lender to get pre-approved for the DFA Program. They will next need to create an account in the DFA pre-registration portal and upload required documents between April 3 and April 29, 2024.
Households can only submit one application. Duplicate applications will be immediately removed from the random selection process.
Once the voucher application is submitted, CalHFA will use a third-party to randomly select applications that meet eligibility requirements. They will also establish a waitlist for each region.
Applicants will receive notification of updated application status via email.
- Selected for Voucher
- Waitlisted
- Not Selected for Voucher
- Additional information needed
Applicants will have a limited window of time to respond to requests for additional information.
Voucher recipients will have up to 90 days to shop for a home, enter into a purchase contract for a home and have their lender reserve their loan in CalHFA’s Mortgage Access System (MAS). Lenders must reserve all DFA loans in MAS before the voucher expiration date and time identified on the DFA Voucher.
Shared Appreciation
CalHFA provides DFA down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers to be used in conjunction with the Dream For All Conventional first mortgage for down payment and/or closing costs.
Upon sale or transfer of the home, the homebuyer repays the original down payment loan, plus a share of the appreciation in the value of the home.
A 1-hour free online education which covers what shared appreciation is and how it affects the mortgage repayment is available here.
For more information about the pre-registration process visit https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homeownership/bulletins/2024/2024-05.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
