First time home buyer grants are offered by some governments to encourage new home purchasers and to offset the costs of entering the market. Unlike government granted loans, provided you can meet the qualifying criteria, first home buyer grants are not usually required to be repaid. Governments in Australia and the Department of Housing and Urban Development in America are two examples of government sponsored first time home buyer grants.
In Australia, the government introduced the first time home buyer scheme to offset the introduction of the goods and services tax. Initially, $14,000 was offered but it was subsequently reduced to $10,000 after December 2001 and further reduced to $7000 from July 2002 onwards. The basic qualifying criteria for this are that the individual or spouse must not have owned a home individually, jointly or severally prior to 1 July 2000. The eligible applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents who are purchasing or building their first home in Australia. Separate jurisdictional requirements further qualify the candidates according to State or Territory requirements. The scheme requires the home to be located in Australia and can consist of: a new or established house, home unit, flat or self contained dwelling that passes the legal test to qualify as a place of residence. The applicants are also required to make application for the grant and occupy the place of residence within 12 months of settlement or completion of construction.
In the US, grants for first time home buyers have different qualifying criteria. You can find out more about the criteria by visiting the US Department of Housing & Urban Development website and grants.gov. The details of the Ross Family Home ownership and Ross Elderly Persons with disabilities program is covered on these sites. You can also find out more about the range of other government initiatives such as public housing authority, Indian housing authority and Native American tribal Government assistance programs. The relevant sites provide detailed further information together with the associated application forms.
If you're a potential home owner you should make the necessary enquiries at state and federal level to determine whether similar programs are available in your country. In some cases the details for these are not openly advertised and you have to do the necessary research to uncover the opportunity. A great place to start is the state or federal housing authority website. Most countries have this in one form or another. If the first time home buyers grant details are not listed you can submit an enquiry to ascertain further details. If your researching to buy your first home this is a potential unaccounted for windfall. It is worthwhile to do the due diligence to determine whether a program applies to you.