For buyers · 2 of 8
The loan behind it
There is a real FHA mortgage under this program. Here is exactly what it is, who owes it, and what it costs.
Who owes the money
The agency is the borrower on the FHA loan, so your name is not on that note. The home is still yours to pay for: you make the monthly payment, and if you stop paying, you can lose the home.
The agency's financing is what lets you buy now, before you can get a mortgage in your own name.
The first mortgage
| Loan type | FHA 203(b) |
| Term | 30 years |
| Rate | Fixed |
| Amortization | Full amortization only |
| Transaction | Purchase only. No refinances |
| Units | 1 to 2 |
| Occupancy | Primary residence only |
| After closing | The loan must be purchased by the master servicer |
Two clocks, not one
Fixed rate, full amortization
Your monthly payment is calculated on this schedule
In the early years most of what you pay is interest. Your equity comes mainly from appreciation and from what you brought at closing.
Mortgage insurance
FHA charges mortgage insurance on its loans, and that cost is inside your monthly payment. It is the agency's loan carrying the MIP, and you pay for it the same way any FHA borrower does.
The disclosure you actually receive
On the loan side there is an initial Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure with the transaction fees, and those go to the agency.
What you receive is a Homebuyer Cost Disclosure, the CCD, created by Arrive Home. Your loan officer may never hand you a CCD that did not come from Arrive Home. If someone gives you a cost sheet they made themselves, that is not the disclosure.
Get connected
Every application goes to an EEP-certified loan originator.