Forgivable down payment assistance: what you owe if you leave early
Enter the help, its type and its term, then the year you might sell: the amount you would repay and the balance year by year.
Owed if you sell after 4 years
$15,000
100% of the help is still owed.
| Assistance received | $15,000 |
| Repaid at the sale | $15,000 |
| Kept for good | $0 |
A refinance usually counts as a sale. Some deferred loans carry simple interest (Washington State Housing Finance Commission 1% and 3% loans): add it to the amount owed.
| Sale after | Owed |
|---|---|
| 0 years | $15,000 |
| 1 years | $15,000 |
| 2 years | $15,000 |
| 3 years | $15,000 |
| 4 years | $15,000 |
| 5 years | $0 |
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · updated: HUD 2026 limits effective May 1, 2026 · Freddie Mac rate of October 15, 2026 · programs read on October 21, 2026
A forgivable down payment loan is erased only if you keep the home as your main residence for the whole period the agency sets, and the way it is erased matters as much as the length. Some loans are forgiven all at once at the end: Ohio's assistance after seven years, New Jersey's and Arizona's after five, Tennessee's deferred loan after ten. Sell or refinance one day early and you repay everything. Others shrink every month or year: New York's SONYMA loan by 1/120 a month over ten years, Pennsylvania's K-FIT by 10% a year, Florida's HFA Plus by 20% a year. On $15,000 of help, selling after six years leaves $15,000 to repay in Ohio and $6,000 in New York. North Carolina defers for ten years, then forgives 20% a year. The calculator gives the amount owed for any year and any schedule.
Nine schedules side by side
| Program | Rule (agency wording) | Sale in year 2 | Sale in year 4 | Sale in year 6 | Sale in year 8 | Sale in year 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Plus Down Payment Assistance (AZ) | no interest, no payment, deferred soft second mortgage, completely forgiven after 5 years (60 months); repaid if the first mortgage is refinanced or the home sold within the first 60 months | $10,000 | $10,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| NJHMFA Down Payment Assistance (with the First-Time Homebuyer Mortgage) (NJ) | no interest, no monthly payments; forgiven if you live in the home as your principal residence for five years from closing and do not refinance or otherwise convey the first mortgage | $10,000 | $10,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| OHFA Down Payment Assistance (OH) | forgiven after seven years; if you sell within seven years you repay all of the assistance | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $0 | $0 |
| THDA Great Choice Plus, deferred option (TN) | 0% interest; forgiven at the end of a 10-year term; due in full if the home is sold or refinanced before then | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $0 |
| HFA Preferred PLUS / HFA Advantage PLUS second mortgage (FL) | forgiven at 20% a year over a 5-year term, with Florida Housing conventional HFA Preferred or HFA Advantage first mortgages | $6,000 | $2,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| IHDA Access Forgivable (IL) | forgiven monthly over 10 years | $8,000 | $6,000 | $4,000 | $2,000 | $0 |
| SONYMA Down Payment Assistance Loan (DPAL) (NY) | 0% interest, no monthly payments, forgiven after 10 years; the amount subject to repayment drops by 1/120 each month of occupancy | $8,000 | $6,000 | $4,000 | $2,000 | $0 |
| PHFA K-FIT (Keystone Forgivable in Ten Years) (PA) | forgiven 10% a year over ten years; no monthly payment | $8,000 | $6,000 | $4,000 | $2,000 | $0 |
| NC Home Advantage Mortgage with 3% DPA (NC) | 15-year deferred/forgiven subordinate lien: deferred for 10 years, forgiven 20% a year at the end of years 11 to 15; due only on sale or refinance before year 15 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | $8,000 |
Two rows can hold the same amount for years and then part ways overnight. That is the difference between a cliff and a slope: a cliff loan costs you the full amount on the last day before forgiveness, while a slope loan has already shrunk. If you are not sure you will stay, the slope is safer; if you are sure, both end at zero.
Deferred loans are not forgivable
Many programs advertised as "no payment" are deferred, not forgivable: Illinois Access Home, Michigan MI 10K, Massachusetts option 1, Maryland and Florida's main assistance. They are repaid in full whenever you sell, refinance or pay off the first loan, at any point, even after thirty years. They cost nothing a month but are a debt you carry. The calculator's "deferred" option shows the full amount owed at any year.
Your sale year
Owed if you sell after 6 years
$4,000
| Assistance received | $10,000 |
| Repaid at the sale | $4,000 |
| Kept for good | $6,000 |
Planning around the date
Note the closing date and the forgiveness date in your files. If a move becomes likely, compare the cost of waiting a few months with the balance due: on a cliff loan it can be worth staying until the date passes. A job transfer, divorce or death in the family is not usually treated as an exception, though some agencies review hardship cases. Ask before you list the home, not after.
Recapture tax, a separate question
Loans funded by tax-exempt bonds can trigger a federal recapture tax when you sell within nine years with a large gain and an income well above the limit. It is not the repayment of the assistance; it is capped at a share of the gain, and several agencies reimburse it. Your lender gives you a notice at closing with the figures that apply.
How to find your own schedule
The schedule is written in the second mortgage note and the deed of trust you sign at closing, and summarized on the agency's program page linked in the table. Look for three things: the length of the period, whether the amount drops gradually or all at once, and the list of events that make it due. Then enter them in the calculator above with the year you might move: the result is the figure to set aside from a future sale.