Buying a first home in Austin, Texas
Austin will put up to $40,000 toward a first home, and caps the price at $440,000 in a market where that rules a lot out. What the city programme requires, the county programmes most buyers never hear about, and what the arithmetic really turns on.
What will Austin put toward a first home?
Up to $40,000 through the City of Austin Housing Department, toward the down payment and closing costs. Brad's own figure from the class is the same one: Austin is "very similar focus" to the Dallas programme and runs "about a forty thousand up to forty thousand dollars incentive." The City publishes the cap, so the number is theirs and the experience is his.
- Maximum assistance: up to $40,000, as a second lien toward down payment and closing costs.
- Maximum home sales price: $440,000. In this market that is the gate that does the most work.
- Income limits run by household size at 80% of median family income: $74,800 for one person, $85,450 for two, $96,150 for three, $106,800 for four and $115,350 for five.
- Source, and the page to check before relying on any figure here: austintexas.gov
| Household size | Income limit, 80% MFI | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $74,800 | Gross household income from all sources |
| 2 | $85,450 | |
| 3 | $96,150 | |
| 4 | $106,800 | The figure most often quoted back to us |
| 5 | $115,350 |
Why is the price cap the number that matters here?
Because $440,000 is a different constraint in Austin than the same kind of cap is elsewhere. In Dallas the city cap is $342,000 and in Frisco it is $563,500, and each one bites differently against its own market. Austin's is the case where the cap and the market are closest together, so the practical effect is that the programme is usable on a narrower slice of what is for sale than the headline figure suggests. That is not a reason to skip it. It is a reason to check the cap against real listings before you build a plan around the forty thousand.
Which county programme applies to your address?
This is the part almost nobody is told, and it is Brad's rather than any agency's. Around Austin the county programmes overlap: in his words, "there's a program for Travis County and Bastrop County, and then there's a third program that is for Travis, Bastrop, and Hayes." So an address can sit inside more than one, or inside one and not another, and which applies is decided by the county line rather than by anything about the buyer. A buyer who checked only the City of Austin programme has checked one of several.
Which makes the address the first question, not the last
The usual order is to find a house and then ask what help exists. Around Austin that order costs you options, because the programme set changes at a county line you cannot see from a listing. Establish which county the address is in, and which programmes reach it, before you fall for a particular street.
Where should an Austin buyer start?
With the county, then the cap, then the payment. Confirm which county the address sits in and which programmes cover it, because that decides the menu. Check the current price cap against what is actually for sale in the areas you would consider. Then work out the payment with the tax and insurance lines in it rather than from price and rate, because Texas escrow lines do more to affordability than the headline price does. Nothing here is an approval, and a lender decides what a lender decides.
Want this checked against your own situation?
The free class covers the whole picture in 45 minutes. Or take two minutes and see which programs are worth a look for someone in your position.