Todd Fambrough Realtor

04/03/2026

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12/21/2025

Big Help for Homebuyers in 2026: From Reduced Mortgage Insurance to Down Payment Assistance
By Allaire Conte

Big Help for Homebuyers in 2026: From Reduced Mortgage Insurance to Down Payment Assistance
Getty Images
Affordability is forecast to modestly improve in the year ahead, but many homebuyers are likely to still need a little help getting through the front door of their next home.

On that front, there are a slew of programs aimed at assisting homebuyers, ranging from federal loans with flexible credit requirements to state grants and employer-sponsored down payment help. And as affordability remains both a local and national talking point, the menu of options designed to reduce both the money you need to close and the amount you’ll pay each month is likely to grow.

“I cannot overstate how positive the changes in 2026 will be for many states,” says Sain Rhodes, a real estate expert at Clever. But, she warns, there are some “catastrophic misperceptions” that could hold buyers back from taking advantage of the many programs available to them.

Here’s what to know, what’s new, and how to avoid the most common missteps in 2026.

What help looks like in 2026
Most homebuyer programs solve one of two problems: cash to close (down payment and closing costs) or the monthly payment (mortgage insurance or program fees that function like insurance).

Buyers often focus on the perk—“3.5% down,” “zero down,” or “no mortgage insurance”—but that may be missing the point.

For one, a low mortgage rate will do little for a buyer who has no cash to cover closing costs or a down payment. That’s why a more useful metric is to focus on whether the program meaningfully lowers the barrier that’s stopping you from buying.

For another, you may not qualify for the program at all.

As Rhodes put it, “I see the same three heartbreaking and disastrous patterns at closing,” often because buyers chase assistance before confirming they actually qualify, or because the home itself doesn’t meet the program’s property standards.

It’s a critical distinction for homebuyers looking for assistance in the year ahead.

Eligibility gates—whether they be military service status, property location, or income limits—matter far more than any headline benefit. That’s why it’s useful to think of it as a matching problem: Pick the program that targets your constraint, then get program-specific pre-qualification before you shop so you don’t discover the fine print after you’ve already gone under contract.

Programs to know in 2026
Aid programs usually fall into one of six buckets listed below. Each one solves a different constraint but comes with its own limits of who or what qualifies.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans
FHA loans are a common path for buyers who need a low down payment (often starting as low as 3.5%) and more flexible underwriting than conventional financing. Rhodes says she often points young buyers here because it can make the upfront math workable when saving 10% to 20% would take years.

The trade-off is that FHA comes with its own mortgage-insurance structure, so it’s not always the cheapest long-term option, especially for higher-credit borrowers who may be able to qualify for lower private mortgage insurance. Likewise, homes that are financed with an FHA loan often have to meet strict safety standards, which sometimes exceed those of a private lender.

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans
For eligible veterans, active-duty service members, and qualifying surviving spouses, VA loans offer the strongest payment relief available: 0% down and no monthly mortgage insurance. And because they eliminate two of the biggest upfront and ongoing costs of homeownership, VA loans are often the best option to explore if you qualify.

But even for those who are eligible, there can be complications. These loans rely on what's called entitlement, or the amount the Department of Veterans Affairs guarantees on your behalf. If your entitlement is already tied up in an existing loan, you may need to sell the home, refinance, or apply for a one-time restoration to reuse the benefit.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans
The USDA offers another 0% down option, but it’s pegged to location and income requirements.

These loans are designed to help low- to moderate-income buyers purchase a primary residence in eligible rural and some suburban areas. The main catch is that USDA is a two-part eligibility program: The property has to fall inside an eligible boundary and the household has to meet income requirements that are also location specific. So a buyer shopping on the edge of a metro should check the map and income tool before they bid.

HomeReady or Home Possible
HomeReady (by Fannie Mae) and Home Possible (by Freddie Mac) are conventional mortgage programs designed to help low- to moderate-income borrowers buy homes with smaller down payments (as low as 3%) and more flexible requirements.

They can be a strong alternative to FHA for buyers with stronger credit profiles, because the monthly cost of private mortgage insurance (PMI) can pencil out better than FHA’s insurance pricing. They’re also useful for buyers who expect their income or home value to rise and want a clearer runway to removing PMI later.

State and local Housing Finance Agency (HFA) programs
This is where much of the true down payment assistance lives. Many localities offer specific programs to help residents purchase homes in the area, often structured as grants, forgivable second mortgages, or deferred-payment loans.

One such program in Pawnee City, NE, offered $50,000 in down payment assistance to buyers of newly built homes.

While the Pawnee City example is an eye-popping sum, awards and terms vary widely by state and county, and the eligibility requirements can be just as diverse. The key to taking advantage of these programs is to treat HFA help as a separate qualification track, not a last-minute add-on.

Employer down payment assistance (EAH)
There may be one other place you never thought to look for help buying a home: Your boss.

Employer down payment assistance programs are an often overlooked and sometimes surprisingly generous form of homebuyer assistance. Rhodes calls it “underused” and recommends buyers check with HR or benefits departments, especially at large employers, unions, hospitals, universities, and municipal agencies that use housing benefits for recruitment and retention.

These programs may come as grants, matched savings, or forgivable loans, and they can sometimes stack with other assistance if the lender confirms it upfront.

How these deals fall apart at closing, and the playbook to avoid it
Rhodes says she sees “the same three heartbreaking and disastrous patterns at closing,” but adds that they’re all preventable if buyers treat assistance as a set of rules instead of a coupon you apply at the end.

First, buyers aren’t pre-qualified for the specific assistance program before they make an offer. Down payment assistance and HFA loans can add their own income limits, debt to income (DTI) caps, household definitions, purchase-price ceilings, and property-type rules.

The fix is straightforward: Ask your lender for a program-specific approval before you bid.

Second, deals get hit by property-condition and appraisal surprises, especially with programs that have stricter standards than a typical conventional loan.

FHA, USDA, and VA loans can all fall into this bucket, so be sure to understand the requirements before placing a bid on a home. For example, you can’t buy a house with a pool that has a diving board with a VA loan.

Third, buyers underestimate time. Layering assistance programs often means more documentation and more parties, which can stretch closings from roughly 30 days to more than 60 days.

The fix is to plan for it upfront: Write offers with a timeline that matches the financing and avoid setting yourself up for a rushed closing.

How to take advantage of these programs in 2026
The key for the year ahead will be less about hunting for a single magic program and more about using a slightly softer market to get your foot in the door.

Mortgage rates are forecast to average around 6.3% and affordability to improve only modestly, with the typical monthly payment dipping below 30% of household income for the first time since 2022, according to research from Realtor.com®. It’s helpful, but not a total reset.

But it’s also exactly why programs that reduce cash to close or the monthly payment can make the difference between “almost” and “approved” in 2026. And with inventory ticking up and competition cooling in many markets, buyers who come in prepared have a stronger chance of success. Just be sure to get your eligibility locked in before you fall in love with a house—so when the right one comes along, you’re ready to move.

12/15/2025

After years of record-breaking appreciation, the market is starting to come back down to earth in some areas where houses are beginning to lose value.

While sellers may not welcome the shift, it could finally bring some financial relief to would-be homebuyers who’ve found affordability out of reach in recent years.

Realtor.com® economists assessed the country’s 100 largest metros to find the 10 experiencing the greatest year-over-year median home value losses.

North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota, FL came in first, with Florida accounting for 6 of the top 10 metro areas.

"Florida has seen significant market cooling and strong inventory growth, which has driven prices down as the supply of homes for sale outpaces demand," says Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com. "The ancillary costs of homeownership in Florida—like insurance, maintenance, and HOA fees—are also high and growing, which keeps buyers sidelined."

1. North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL
Median listing price: $478,800

Median year-over-year value change: -8.6%, or -$36,423

"Parts of Sarasota saw home prices shoot way up during the [COVID-19] pandemic," says real estate agent and investor Ron Myers, of Ron Buys Florida Homes. "People were moving fast, bidding high, and many bought sight unseen just to lock something down. Those prices weren’t really sustainable long-term. Now that interest rates are up and monthly payments are higher, demand has slowed."

2. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL
Median listing price: $399,900

Median year-over-year value change: -7.9%, or -$29,393

"Many people who moved here during the pandemic had to go back to the office and move out of Florida, at a time where rates have gone up and stayed up," says Katrina Allison, real estate broker and owner of Absolute Equity Realty Group in Fort Myers. "So everyone seems in limbo to buy, even though the rates could be worse and are never going to be 2% again."

3. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
Median listing price: $479,000

Median year-over-year value change: -6.1%, or -$26,970

"Austin was a pandemic-era boomtown that saw prices shoot up in 2021 and 2022 that are now coming back down," says Berner. "New construction is part of the story, as builders responded to the spike in demand by building lots of new homes in this metro, and now that existing-home inventory has rebounded as well, supply exceeds demand. The still-high prices are keeping buyers out of the market for now, which is why demand seems low."

Median year-over-year value change: -4.4%, or -$13,614

"As a cash buyer, I’m seeing more motivated sellers in Florida willing to take a discount just to avoid the fallout of last-minute cancellations or holding costs piling up," says Myers. "The value drop isn’t necessarily because the homes are bad. It’s the combination of rising costs, tighter financing, and the market cooling off after a very hot run."

5. Stockton-Lodi, CA
Median listing price: $586,900

Median year-over-year value change: -4.4%, or -$22,164

"There is no longer a shortage of homes for sale in this California metro," says Berner, "so the upward pressure on prices has been released in a way that it hasn't in other parts of the country."

Median year-over-year value change: -4.4%, or -$14,351

"Many Florida buyers just can’t afford the same price that they could in 2021 or 2022," says Myers. "On top of that, rising insurance premiums and HOA fees are making certain Florida homes, especially condos, even harder to sell. In some deals I’ve worked on, insurance alone has killed the buyer’s loan approval after they were already under contract."

7. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
Median listing price: $400,000

Median year-over-year value change: -4.2%, or -$14,707

"After the pandemic, Florida got hit hardest because we had some of the fastest growth, and now the correction is balancing that out," says Myers.

Tampa home for sale
This home for sale in Tampa, FL, is on the market for $400,000 and has four bedrooms and two bathrooms.Realtor.com
8. Jacksonville, FL
Median listing price: $389,000

Median year-over-year value change: -3.3%, or -$11,376

Real estate agent Kati Spaniak, of eXp Realty, says Jacksonville is dealing with intense competition from new construction.

"Builders are flooding the market and providing huge incentives like rate buydowns and closing costs that the resale homes cannot compete with," she explains.

9. Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO
Median listing price: $579,000

Median year-over-year value change: -3.3%, or -$18,261

"Denver's value loss is due to the inventory skyrocketing relative to pre-pandemic levels," says Colorado real estate agent Andrew Fortune, of Great Colorado Homes. "This sudden increase in available homes, especially in the suburbs and luxury tiers, means buyers gain all the leverage. Sellers who bought during the 2021 frenzy must now accept a lower offer or a price concession."

Fortune says condos and townhomes are seeing prices drop due to rising HOA and insurance costs.

"The market is not collapsing, but it is correcting to match affordability," he adds.

Denver home for sale
Built in 1964, this four-bedroom Denver, CO, home is on the market for $579,900.Realtor.com
10. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
Median listing price: $915,000

Median year-over-year value change: -3.1%, or -$30,336

"In San Francisco, inventory has rebounded to even higher than pre-pandemic levels," according to Berner. This shift is putting downward pressure on home prices.

12/07/2025

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12/05/2025

Florida Home Prices Poised To Drop Even Further in 2026 After Years of Weakness
By Keith Griffith

December 4, 2025

Home prices in Florida are expected to slide further next year after several years of weakness, according to new projections from the Realtor.com® 2026 national housing forecast.

Across Florida's eight largest metro areas, median sales prices for existing homes and condos are projected to fall an average of 1.9% in 2026, well below the 2.2% positive gain the forecast expects nationally.

Among those top Florida markets, only Miami is expected to eke out a positive gain in home prices next year, with projected price growth of 1.1%.

Meanwhile, markets on the Gulf Coast are expected to take the hardest price hit, with projected declines of 10.2% in Cape Coral, 8.9% in North Port, and 3.6% in Tampa.

The forecast follows several years of weakness in the Florida market, where statewide median listing prices were down 6% in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period in 2023. The trend has been driven largely by falling condo prices, Realtor.com data shows.

"Florida has had a very different story than the national market over the past several years and a much different outlook," says Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner. "The main driver of price softness in Florida over the past several years is a growing supply of homes for sale at the same time that demand for those homes has weakened a bit."

The rising auxiliary costs of homeownership in Florida have been one major factor weighing on demand, including soaring insurance costs and steep homeowners association fees, especially in the condo segment.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has recently pushed for the elimination of property taxes on owner-occupied homes, in part as a solution to the rising costs of ownership in the state.

A recent Realtor.com analysis projected that eliminating all taxes on homeowners in Florida would immediately drive up the value of owner-occupied homes by 7% to 9%. But such a move would require a state constitutional amendment approved by voters, with no such ballot measure finalized yet.

Berner says that other factors affecting housing supply and demand in the Sunshine State include the recent high rate of new construction there and the decline of remote working, which has led to a slowdown in demand across the Sun Belt.

"These trends are likely to continue into 2026, though relief from high mortgage rates may help to get renters into the for-sale market as first-time homebuyers and boost demand for homes," he says. "At the same time, expect builders to respond to these price cues and slow down new-home construction in the state, which will prevent the imbalance between supply and demand from becoming more pronounced."

Condo weakness is leading Florida prices lower
Breaking out Florida's listing price trends into single-family homes versus condos, it becomes clear that weakness in the state's substantial condo market is the main driver of overall declines.

In October, median listing prices for condos in Florida were down a whopping 10.8% from the same month in 2023, while single-family home prices were down just 3.6%.

On a price-per-square-foot basis, which is a better proxy for underlying home values, condos dropped 9.3% over the two-year period, and single-family homes were down just 2.5%.

While those figures confirm prolonged weakness in both segments of the Florida real estate market, they show that the sharpest declines are concentrated in condos, perhaps due to new rules that have led to an uptick in HOA special assessment fees.

Still, home values in Florida remain far above where they stood just five years ago. On a square-foot basis, condo prices are up 26% from 2020, and single-family home prices are up 34%.

At the same time, median incomes in Florida have risen by an estimated 27% over the past five years. This means that condos are actually more affordable relative to incomes before the COVID-19 pandemic, at least based on their listing price. (Higher HOA fees may change that calculus significantly.)

Meanwhile, single-family homes remain less affordable to the typical buyer than they were before 2020, even after recent price declines in the state.

In 2025, the typical single-family home in Florida was listed for about 6 times the state's estimated median household income, based on a Realtor.com analysis. That's more than the 5.6 times the average ratio seen there from 2016 to 2019.

Meanwhile, condos in Florida used to list at 4.6 times the median income during the pre-pandemic period. For 2025, that ratio is expected to fall to about 4.4, meaning that condos in the state are now relatively more affordable.

For Florida homebuyers, however, the affordability gains from falling prices may be mostly or wholly wiped out by the soaring auxiliary costs of homeownership, a trend that may continue to weigh on buyer demand into 2026.

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09/30/2025

Here’s When Mortgage Rates Could Finally Fall Below 6%
By Keith Griffith

September 24, 2025

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae has issued new projections forecasting that mortgage rates will finally fall below 6% by the end of 2026, a level that has not been reached in three years.

Fannie Mae's latest monthly economic and housing outlook for September predicts mortgage rates will average 6.4% at the end of this year, and 5.9% at the end of 2026.

Those are downward revisions from a month ago, when Fannie saw year-end mortgage rates at 6.5% in 2025 and 6% next year.

If mortgage rates do punch below the 6% threshold in late 2026, it would be the first time they have reached that level since 2022. Since then, elevated rates have combined with record-high home prices to price many buyers out of the market, weighing heavily on the number of home sales.

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed loans averaged 6.26% as of last week, an 11-month low, according to Freddie Mac.

Rates have been falling in recent weeks ahead of the Federal Reserve's first interest rate cut since 2024, but movement in bond markets suggests they may have bottomed out for the time being.

Indeed, Freddie Mac's forecast indicates that rates could rise some through the end of the year, climbing back to around 6.4% by December. That matches the Realtor.com® economic research team's midyear forecast update, which called for year-end rates around 6.4%.

Mortgage rates largely follow movements in the 10-year Treasury yield, which reflects investor expectations for growth and inflation. Upcoming reports on labor and inflation data will have the biggest impact on rates in the coming weeks, ahead of the next Fed rate meeting in October.

"Inflation data and inflation expectations remain key, as any sign of stickiness could keep the Fed cautious on cutting rates," says Realtor.com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones. "The Fed’s communications and pace of policy changes will also set the tone, with markets responding quickly to any signal of shifting policy path."

Currently, more than 80% of mortgages have a rate below 6%, and about 10% have a rate in the 5% to 6% range. The average rate for outstanding mortgages was 4.3% in the first quarter, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

This means that rates dropping below 6% are unlikely to "unlock" a large portion of the market by encouraging more sellers to give up their existing low mortgage rate, says Jones.

"However, the 6% level may be more of a psychological barrier for some homeowners, shaping sentiment and affordability perceptions," says Jones. "If households see rates below 6% as 'normal' compared to the 7%-plus highs of recent years, a dip below that barrier could motivate demand."

For homebuyers, any breach below 6% could open up more buying opportunities, though affordability still depends on home prices and income, not rates alone.

For the housing market to return to the average affordability levels found from 2016 to 2019, it would take one of three things, or a combination of them, according to Fannie Mae.

Either the median price of a single-family home would need to plunge more than 39% to $257,000; the median household income would have to rise more than 60% to $134,500; or mortgage rates would need to fall to 2.35%.

Fannie revises sales forecast down
As affordability issues persist, Fannie Mae's latest forecast revises projections for total home sales in 2025 down to 4.72 million, compared to 4.74 million previously. The new projection would be slightly below the 2024 total.

Fannie's home sales projection for 2026 is now 5.16 million, down from 5.23 million previously.

In its midyear forecast, the Realtor.com economic research team projected that sales of existing homes (excluding new construction) would total 4 million this year, which would mark the lowest annual transaction pace since 1995.

New-home sales have remained sluggish this year, although new data on Wednesday showed an unexpected surge in sales of new single-family homes in August.

Signed contracts for new single-family homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 800,000 last month, up 21% from July and 15% higher than a year ago, the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported on Thursday.

The August figure was far above what economists had expected and the highest since January 2022, potentially signaling a resurgence for homebuilders, who have struggled in the face of weak demand and elevated interest rates.

New data on sales of existing homes in August is expected from the National Association of Realtors® on Thursday.

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