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You may qualify as a “First-Time Home Buyer” even if you already own a home

Don’t disqualify yourself for a South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority loan just because you already own a home. The rules and definitions are different for different counties. Under certain conditions you may be a “first-time home buyer” even if you have recently owned a home.

SC State Housing has two categories of counties—“Targeted” and “Non-Targeted.”
In 34 targeted counties a first-time home buyer is a borrower who does not own a home at the time of closing their new loan with SC State Housing. This means you will be viewed as a first time home buyer just as long as you do not have title to another home when you close on your new loan. As an example:  A borrower could close the sale of the home they currently own at 11 a.m. and close on their new SC State Housing loan at 11:30 a.m. the same day.

Also, if you move from a non- targeted county to one of our targeted counties, or from another state into a targeted county, you will be considered a first-time home buyer so long as you do not have title to another home at the time of closing.

Even in targeted counties, you will be considered a first-time home buyer if you have not owned a home in the last three years. In all counties, single parent households and households with disabled family members qualify for the benefits of first-time home buyer status.

SC State Housing is here to make loans that people can live with—affordable over the long term. All of our loans are fixed-rate, most are 30 year loans and come with down payment assistance.

If you are a first-time home buyer according to our definition, the next step is to check for income qualifications and house price limits. The Authority has three options for income, house prices and down payment assistance.  Click the First Time Home Buyers button to get more information.

Our targeted counties are:
Abbeville ~ Allendale ~ Bamberg ~ Barnwell ~ Beaufort ~ Berkley ~ Calhoun ~ Cherokee ~ Chester ~ Chesterfield ~ Clarendon ~ Colleton ~ Darlington ~ Dillon ~ Dorchester ~ Edgefield ~ Fairfield ~ Florence ~ Georgetown ~ Hampton ~ Horry ~ Jasper ~ Kershaw ~ Laurens ~ Lee ~ McCormick ~ Marion ~ Marlboro ~ Newberry ~ Orangeburg ~ Saluda ~ Sumter ~ Union ~ Williamsburg ~ *County Census Division  #53, Ravenel Division (Charleston County)