Florida Hometown Heroes Down Payment Assistance Program

Bond and TBA are the two funding channels behind Hometown Heroes — the 5% down-payment assistance up to $35,000 is identical in both. Bond usually posts the lower rate, but it counts the income of everyone 18 or older in your household against a lower cap, requires you AND your spouse to be first-time buyers (verified with three years of tax returns), and can carry a federal recapture tax if you sell within nine years at a profit while your income has risen above the limits. TBA posts a slightly higher rate, but only counts the borrowers’ income against a much higher cap (around $148,050 in most counties), only checks first-time-buyer status for borrowers actually on the loan, and never has recapture tax. Your loan officer picks the channel when reserving your funds — you don’t have to.

It depends on the funding channel. Under Bond, the cap applies to household income — everyone 18 and older living in the home — and ranges from $98,700 (1–2 person household in most counties) up to $171,960 in Monroe County. Under TBA, the cap applies only to the borrowers on the loan and is $148,050 in most counties — higher in metro counties like Orange/Lake/Seminole ($172,350), Hillsborough/Pinellas/Pasco/Hernando ($172,050), Broward ($190,200), Palm Beach ($192,750), Miami-Dade ($204,300) and Monroe ($214,950). So a buyer over the Bond cap is often still eligible through TBA. USDA loans also respect USDA’s own income limits. See the county table on this page for your exact numbers.

They’re the program’s two conventional (non-government) loan options: HFA Preferred is Fannie Mae’s version and HFA Advantage is Freddie Mac’s. For you as a borrower they work almost identically — both are 30-year fixed and both offer reduced-cost mortgage insurance if your qualifying income is at or below 80% of your area’s median income. The differences are behind the scenes: each posts its own daily rate (they can differ meaningfully — on July 7, 2026 Advantage posted 6.500% vs Preferred’s 7.000%), each runs through a different underwriting system, and in 2026 Preferred is only available through the Bond channel. Your loan officer simply locks whichever conventional option approves your file at the better rate.

You get 5% of your first mortgage amount — minimum $10,000, maximum $35,000 — as a second mortgage toward your down payment and closing costs. (Even on a $150,000 loan, you still get the full $10,000 minimum.) It’s 0% interest with no monthly payment, and the only cost to set it up is recording charges — Florida even waives the doc stamps. It is not forgivable: you repay the balance — with zero interest added — when you sell, refinance, pay off the first mortgage, or stop living in the home. Two fine-print notes: the funds can’t be used to pay a realtor’s commission, and it can’t be combined with Florida Housing’s other down-payment programs (though outside DPA in third position is allowed).

Yes, two real advantages. First, veterans don’t have to work in an eligible occupation — any full-time job qualifies (discharged under other-than-dishonorable conditions, shown with your DD-214). Second, veterans are exempt from the first-time-homebuyer requirement, so you can use Hometown Heroes even if you’ve owned a home before. Note the fine print: you still must work full-time, and active-duty service members, Reserves and National Guard qualify for the program but are NOT exempt from the first-time-buyer rule — that exemption is specifically for veterans. Buyers purchasing in a federally designated targeted area are also exempt from the first-time-buyer rule.