First time home buyer in Texas: the programmes and what they require

Two kitchens, one table

You've run the rent-versus-buy math more ways than you'd like to admit, and every version snags on the same thing: the cash it takes to get in the door. Down payment, closing costs, the whole stack of up-front money.

Texas has help for exactly that. It just shows up like a church potluck: plenty of food, two kitchens doing the cooking, and a label on every dish that may or may not tell you what's under the foil. (The "dessert" is sometimes a King Ranch casserole. You learn.)

Texas has two state housing agencies with homebuyer programmes: the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) and the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC). Each has its own programmes, its own rules and its own paperwork.

Neither one hands you money directly. Their help is paired with a regular home loan through a participating lender, and your loan officer is the person who checks the fit and reserves it.

That's why lists of "Texas grants" can mislead. The help is real, but the details decide whether it's a grant, a loan you repay later, or a tax credit, and those are very different dishes.

1. 2% to 5%

My First Texas Home assistance, as a share of the total loan amount.

2. 620 credit score

TDHCA's minimum middle score for My First Texas Home.

3. Tax credit

An MCC lowers your federal income tax; it isn't down payment money.

The main dish: My First Texas Home

My First Texas Home is TDHCA's main programme for first-time buyers. TDHCA's November 2026 programme matrix lists down payment assistance of 2% to 5% of the total loan amount, as funding permits, for the down payment and closing costs.

The help is a second lien, meaning a smaller loan that sits behind your main one, and it comes in two forms. One has no required monthly payments and is due in full when you sell, refinance, transfer the home or pay off the first loan. The other is forgivable after three years, as long as you stay current on the main loan and the home stays your primary residence. (One you settle up later. One that turns into a gift if you wait. Potlucks are funny that way.)

The main checks, from TDHCA's matrix:

• First-time buyer: you haven't owned and lived in a primary residence in the last three years. Qualified veterans and homes in qualified targeted census tracts are exceptions.
• A middle credit score of at least 620.
• Every borrower completes a HUD-certified homebuyer education course.
• Your household income and the home's price fit the limits for your area.

Owned a home before? TDHCA's sibling programme, My Choice Texas Home, has no first-time buyer rule and, per its matrix, no purchase price limit.

Who's on the guest list: 2026 limits

TDHCA sets its limits by area and household size. Its current table puts income limits for one or two people and for three or more people side by side, along with a top purchase price for a one-unit home. Both took effect July 13, 2026.

Source: TDHCA, My First Texas Home Income and Purchase Price Limits Table, effective July 13, 2026. These are the non-targeted limits. Homes in a qualified targeted census tract get higher limits, and every Texas county is on the full table.

The household counts more than the buyer. TDHCA considers everyone who will sign the deed of trust, including a spouse who isn't buying.

The reserved table: TSAHC's two programmes

TSAHC runs two programmes that work a lot alike, and neither one requires you to be a first-time buyer.

Homes for Texas Heroes is for people who serve. TSAHC names educators, police officers, firefighters, EMS, county jailers, correctional officers and military veterans, and its full list adds groups like nursing and allied health faculty and public security officers. (Consider this the table somebody saved for you.)

Home Sweet Texas is for low- and moderate-income households, first-time or repeat.

Both offer down payment help of up to 5% of the loan amount, as either a grant that never has to be repaid or a forgivable second lien that's fully forgiven after three years. TSAHC lists a 620 minimum credit score on government loans and 640 on conventional loans, income limits based on your area and household size, and an approved homebuyer education course.

The leftovers that show up every tax season

This is the one most lists get wrong. A Mortgage Credit Certificate, or MCC, doesn't put money toward your down payment. TDHCA describes it as a non-refundable federal income tax credit that lets you claim a portion of the mortgage interest you pay each year.

It's also the most underrated piece of first-time buyer help in Texas.

TDHCA's current notice lists its MCC at 20%. TSAHC describes its own MCC as a credit equal to 15% of the mortgage interest you pay each year, and says it can be paired only with its down payment programmes for now.

Because it's non-refundable, the credit can lower the federal income tax you owe, but it doesn't pay out beyond that. How much it's worth depends on your loan and your taxes, which is a good reason to look at it with real numbers.

An MCC can often be combined with down payment help, so the two aren't either-or. Some families also look at a parent buying a home for a grown child, through a Family Opportunity Mortgage in Texas.

Nobody should leave the table hungry because the label on the dish was wrong.

Fill your plate before the offer, not after.