PEN
PEN is offered by the Department of Community Affairs and provides down payment assistance, mortgage loans, and homebuying education. Eligible applicants can receive as much as $7,500 in down payment assistance. Other applicants may be able to receive as much as $5,000.
This is a loan that must be paid back when the property is sold, refinanced, transferred, or is no longer the applicant’s primary residence.
Borrowers must be first-time homebuyers who are buying a house in one of the target areas. They also have to be able to provide at least $1,000 towards the purchase from their own funds. In order to qualify for the PEN program, the applicant must be a public protector, educator, health care worker, active military service member, or a member of the National Guard. This includes police, sheriff’s, highway patrol, probation, EMS, correctional or fire department employees, including volunteer firefighters; school employees; and state-licensed health facility employees, including hospitals, health departments, doctors’ offices, dentists’ offices, or nursing homes.
Household income and purchase price limits depend on location. As of 2020, these limits are as follows:
For Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, or Walton counties:
Purchase Price Limit: $250,000
Total Household Income Limits:
1-2 people: $69,000
3+ people: $79,500
For other areas:
Purchase Price Limit: $200,000
Total Household Income Limits:
1-2 people: $59,500
3+ people: $68,500
Other programs in Georgia:
