First-Time Buyer Closes With Almost Nothing Out of Pocket

Jasmine had been renting in East LA for four years. She was a public school teacher — steady income, good credit at 688, but $41,000 in student loans and basically no savings beyond her $12,000 emergency fund.

Every online mortgage calculator told her the same thing: you do not have enough for a down payment in LA.

She almost believed it.

What those calculators did not account for was the California Dream For All program stacked with an FHA loan. We covered her entire down payment and a chunk of closing costs using assistance programs she did not even know existed.

She bought a 2-bedroom in Boyle Heights for $589,000.

Her out-of-pocket at closing: less than $3,000. Mostly prepaid insurance and prorated property taxes.

Her mortgage payment came out lower than her rent.

The down payment barrier in LA is real. But it is not always as high as people think when you know which programs to stack.