Buying a first home in Dallas, Texas
Dallas runs its own forgivable down payment program on top of the state ones, with a price cap that decides which houses qualify before anything about you is considered. What it pays, what it caps, and what the payment looks like once taxes and insurance land.
Which assistance programs apply in Dallas?
Two layers, and they are decided by different people. The statewide programs run by TDHCA are available to a Dallas buyer like any other Texan. On top of that the City of Dallas runs its own down payment programme, funded and capped by the city, which is where the larger sums are. A buyer who only ever hears about the state layer is being told a true thing and half the picture.
The Dallas Homebuyer Assistance Program
DHAP is a City of Dallas programme, and as of May 2026 it is administered on the city's behalf by BCL of Texas rather than by the department directly. The assistance is a second lien at no interest with no monthly payment, forgiven pro-rata over an affordability period. Sell, lease or transfer before that period ends and part of it comes back.
- It is capped by the PROPERTY as well as by you. The purchase price limit is $342,000 for both existing homes and new construction, effective 1 September 2024.
- The larger award is geographic. $60,000 in the areas the city designates High Opportunity Areas, $50,000 elsewhere inside the city limits.
- Household income must be at or below 80% of Area Median Income, which the city stated as $65,700 to $123,900 depending on household size as of 1 June 2025.
- It applies inside the City of Dallas city limits. A Dallas-address house in a neighbouring city is a different programme, or none.
- Source, and the page to check before relying on any figure above: dallascityhall.com
The state layer, underneath it
TDHCA's two programmes run statewide and are not Dallas-specific, so the county tables rather than the city's numbers decide them. They are covered in full elsewhere on this site; the thing worth knowing here is that they are a separate application with separate limits, and the city programme does not replace them.
| What it is | The term the city publishes | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Assistance amount | $60,000 in High Opportunity Areas, $50,000 elsewhere in the city | How much of the down payment and costs are covered |
| Purchase price limit | $342,000, existing and new construction, effective 1 September 2024 | Which houses are eligible at all, before anything about the buyer |
| Income limit | At or below 80% of Area Median Income -- $65,700 to $123,900 by household size, as of 1 June 2025 | Whether the household qualifies |
| Structure | Second lien, no interest, no monthly payment, forgiven pro-rata over the affordability period | What you owe later, and when |
| If you sell early | Partial repayment on sale, lease, transfer or other disposition inside the period | The cost of moving sooner than planned |
| Where | Inside the City of Dallas city limits | Whether the address is in the programme at all |
What does the price cap actually rule out?
This is the part that catches people, and it is worth being plain about. The cap is not a budget suggestion; it is a hard line on which houses the programme will fund. A buyer can be comfortably under the income limit and still find that most of what they want to see is over the price limit. Brad's own framing in class was that the caps move by submarket and that he had last seen around $342,000 -- the figure the city publishes -- and that he checks it against what is actually for sale rather than against what a buyer hopes is for sale.
And the houses inside the cap are not all in buying condition
A programme loan is not indifferent to the state of the house. FHA and assistance-backed loans have condition standards, and the homes sitting at the bottom of a price range are the ones most likely to fail them. In Brad's words, from a class rather than a brochure: "It's probably gonna be in rough shape. And FHA loans and and special program loans, they don't like houses that are in rough shape. So it might take a few tries." That is a planning fact, not a discouragement -- it means budgeting for more than one offer, and it is not written on any agency page.
What does the payment look like once taxes and insurance land?
Dallas County sits inside the Dallas-Fort Worth tax picture, where the school district line is both the largest and the most variable part of the bill and two identical houses a mile apart can carry materially different rates. On a zero-down or near-zero-down programme there is no equity cushion absorbing that, so the escrow line does more damage to affordability than the headline price does. Brad's reality check from the class -- "Seventeen hundred is gonna be tight, k, especially if you're on a zero down program" -- is about exactly this: the number that matters is the payment after the tax and insurance lines, not the one a calculator produces from price and rate.
Where a Dallas buyer should start
In this order, because each step changes what the next one is worth. Confirm whether the address you are interested in is inside the City of Dallas limits, since that alone decides whether the city programme exists for you. Check the current price and income limits with the administering body rather than with any summary, this one included. Then work out what the payment is with the tax and insurance lines in it, before deciding what you can look at. 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.