The Homebuyer’s Corner
Can I Really Buy a Home in California With Little or No Down Payment?
Written by Armando Novelo, NMLS 237243, a mortgage loan officer in West Covina with over 20 years of experience helping Southern California buyers.
Buying a home in California with little money down is possible for a lot of first-time buyers, especially in the San Gabriel Valley where city, county, and state programs exist specifically to help people who have steady income but not a lot of savings.
You are not going to get a house for literally zero dollars out of pocket. But the gap between what you have saved and what you need may be much smaller than you think.
I work with buyers in this situation every week. Most of them are surprised by how much help is available. The programs are real, the money is real, and the buyers who access them are not doing anything exotic. They are just working with someone who knows what to look for.
The 20 Percent Down Myth
Let's start here because it is the belief that stops more buyers than anything else.
You do not need 20 percent down to buy a home. You never did. The 20 percent figure comes from the threshold at which private mortgage insurance is no longer required on a conventional loan. That is it. It is a cost-reduction target, not a requirement.
FHA loans allow as little as 3.5 percent down with a credit score of 580 or above. Conventional loans can go as low as 3 to 5 percent down depending on the program. VA loans for eligible veterans require zero down. And when you layer down payment assistance on top of any of these programs, the amount you need to bring to the table can drop significantly further.
On a $700,000 home in the SGV, 3.5 percent down is $24,500. That is a real number that a lot of people can reach. And with assistance programs covering some or all of that, the barrier drops even further. We covered exactly how each assistance structure works in this article.
What Is Actually Available in the San Gabriel Valley
Down payment assistance in California comes from three levels: state programs, county programs, and city programs. Most buyers qualify for more than one and they can often be combined.
At the state level, CalHFA runs several programs including the MyHome Assistance Program, which provides a deferred loan for down payment or closing costs with no monthly payment until the home is sold or the mortgage is paid off. California Dream For All is the most well-known state program, offering up to 20 percent of the purchase price as a shared appreciation loan with no monthly payment. Dream For All runs on an annual lottery cycle and is currently closed for 2026. We covered its current status in detail here.
At the county level, Los Angeles County runs the Home Ownership Program which provides deferred loans for income-eligible first-time buyers in unincorporated areas and participating cities. Funds can be applied to down payment or closing costs.
At the city level, individual cities in the SGV run their own programs funded through federal Community Development Block Grant dollars. Cities including West Covina, El Monte, Pomona, Baldwin Park, Azusa, and others have historically offered assistance to buyers purchasing within city limits. Program availability and funding levels change on a cycle so what is open today may close next month and vice versa.
For teachers, nurses, firefighters, and other public service workers, additional occupation-based programs exist at both the state and local level. CalHFA's School Teacher and Employee Assistance Program provides supplemental funds for school staff that can be combined with other CalHFA programs. Some counties and hospital systems offer grants or forgivable loans for healthcare workers. These programs are worth asking about specifically if you work in one of these fields.
How the Stacking Works
This is the part most buyers never hear about until they are sitting across from someone who knows these programs.
Down payment assistance programs are often stackable. A buyer using an FHA loan might combine a CalHFA MyHome deferred loan for the down payment with a city program covering closing costs, all on top of a base loan with a 3.5 percent down payment requirement. The result is a buyer who gets into a home with significantly less out of pocket than any single program would have provided on its own.
Not every combination works. Programs have rules about what can be layered and lender approval is required for each component. But the principle is real and it is one of the most underused advantages available to first-time buyers in this market.
If you want to see a full list of programs currently available in Southern California, you can download it here: Get the list.
What You Actually Need to Qualify
Most programs share a few common eligibility requirements. First-time buyer status is almost universal, typically defined as no ownership interest in a primary residence in the past three years. Income limits based on county and household size apply to almost every program. Purchase price limits are common. And HUD-approved homeownership counseling is required for most state and many local programs before funds can be released. We covered what that class involves and how to complete it in this article.
Beyond those basics, individual programs have their own rules around residency, employment, credit minimums, and property type. The best way to find out what you qualify for is not to read through every program website individually. It is to have a lender who works with these programs regularly pull your file and tell you specifically what is available for your income, your purchase price target, and the cities you are considering.
The Nurse Friend Story
I have a friend who is a nurse. She spent years saving for a 20 percent down payment on a home in Glendora. Disciplined, focused, doing everything right. By the time she had saved the $80,000 she thought she needed, the home she had been watching was $646,000. She still has not bought.
What she did not know, and what I wish I had told her sooner, is that she never needed 20 percent. She could have been in that home years earlier with 3.5 percent down and assistance covering part of that. The equity she would have built in the years she spent saving would have outpaced what she accumulated sitting on the sideline.
The 20 percent myth is expensive. Not just in dollars. In time.
The Right First Step
Find out where you actually stand before you decide the answer is no.
A pre-approval review with a lender who understands assistance programs is different from a generic mortgage quote. It tells you which programs you qualify for, how they interact with your loan, what your actual out-of-pocket would be, and what your monthly payment looks like with everything factored in.
That conversation changes what feels possible. It does not commit you to anything. It just gives you real information instead of assumptions.
Armando Novelo, NMLS 237243, is a mortgage loan officer at Super Mortgage Bros, powered by Golden Empire Mortgage. He has been helping Southern California buyers and homeowners since 2002. His office is located in West Covina, CA.
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Article Published: June 2, 2026
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Armando Novelo
NMLS 237243
Super Mortgage Bros
1900 W. Garvey Ave S. #100
West Covina, CA 91790
Phone: (626) 200-1838
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