first time homebuyer qualifications?

[Anonymous]

Morning all, my question is this I have purchased 2 homes years ago like 8 and 12 yrs back How often can you qualify for the first time HB program. I live in GA I have been told by some that it"s about every 2 or 3 years. I do not know hoping someone could clarify this for me. thanks in advance.

[Hope]

Credit08

I bought a house in 1996 which I still own. I am also wondering if I can use FHA now. I look forward to seeing the replies to your question.

I am looking at buying a property in a different state than where I own at the present time.

Hope

[Anonymous]

I am sure its different for different loans, but the first time home owners that we are applying for, you could not have owned a home in the last 3 years and definitely not own one at the present time. We had to prove this with our last 3 years tax returns. The FHA loan that we were considering was the same. We chose this loan b/c the FHA was gonna be much more expensive. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I think the rule for FHA is that you can only have 1 FHA loan at a time. I don't think FHA in itself is a first-time-homebuyer program, though it may often be "packaged" with a FTHB program by lenders.

It's interesting that you "proved" you weren't a home owner in the past 3 years with tax returns. Wouldn't that just prove you didn't take the mortgage deduction (or any other tax benefit) in the past 3 years? If so, that would seem to mean that if you owned a home free and clear (i.e. paid off, no mortgage) you could qualify as a FTHB?!?! I would think they would do some sort of title search to make sure you didn't have any titles in your name.

[Anonymous]

I agree, it is strange to prove you havent owned a home with tax returns but thats what they asked for and thats what we gave.