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New Jersey Smart Start Plus First-Generation Program

New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency offers Smart Start Plus First-Generation Program to first-time buyers in New Jersey: up to $22,000, as a forgivable loan.

Amount
As much as $22,000
Form of help
A loan that can be forgiven
Only first-time buyers
Yes

It's a forgivable loan: after 5 years of living there without moving or refinancing, the debt is forgiven.

Keep your home and the first mortgage on it for the required number of years and the forgivable loan is written off.

New Jersey Smart Start Plus First-Generation Program eligibility: who qualifies?

  • Open only to first-generation homebuyers (every borrower must sign a first-generation eligibility affidavit).
  • The limits vary by area and family size, and Urban Target Areas have higher limits.
  • First-time buyers only, which usually means you haven't owned a home in the past three years.

Check the agency's chart to see the exact income limit that applies to your county and household size. Use our HUD income limits tool to find the median income in your area.

New Jersey Smart Start Plus First-Generation Program: how to apply

  1. This help is paid out by New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency through its approved lenders. You apply through one of them, and your home loan is part of the same application.
  2. Your income and credit, plus the home, get checked against the program's rules by the lender, who then reserves the money for you.
  3. At closing, the help arrives and goes toward your closing costs and down payment.

New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency's page for Smart Start Plus First-Generation Program has the full rules and says whether it's taking applications.

For New Jersey Smart Start Plus First-Generation Program, check with a lender

Tell us where you're buying and a lender that works with New Jersey's programs can tell you whether New Jersey Smart Start Plus First-Generation Program fits you, and what you could combine with it.

Call 866-602-7460

Don't want to call? Share your details and the lender will contact you.

When you send this request, you agree that one mortgage lender who works with these programs may contact you by email, phone or text, including by automated means, about this request. Agreeing is not a condition of any purchase. We are an independent guide, not a lender or a government agency; only that one lender gets your details, and it may pay us for the introduction. See our about page and privacy notice.

More programs for first-time buyers in New Jersey

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