Down payment assistance · Sterling Heights
Down Payment Assistance in Sterling Heights
Macomb County doesn’t run its own down payment assistance program the way Oakland and Wayne do. So the county isn’t where you look.
How the programs work in general is covered on the main down payment assistance page. This page is about what applies here.
Is There a Macomb County Assistance Program?
Not one I could find. Macomb County’s housing department publishes affordable housing development, rehabilitation, weatherization and rent assistance. None of it’s purchase assistance, and I’m not going to invent a program to fill the gap.
What the county does publish is help of a different kind: it points residents to MSU Extension, a HUD-certified counseling agency, for homebuyer education, budgeting and credit counseling. Take that seriously. Several assistance programs require a homebuyer education certificate before closing, and buyers who leave it until underwriting end up waiting on a class instead of on a lender.
The county also points buyers toward MSHDA, the state program. I don’t originate MSHDA loans. That’s a plain statement of what I do, not a judgment about the program. Here’s what I place instead, and how they differ →
So What Is Available to a Sterling Heights Buyer?
The assistance I place comes through Edge Home Finance, LLC’s wholesale lenders rather than through a county or the state, which is exactly why it’s available in a county that runs no program of its own.
It’s sized at 3.5%, 4% or 5% of the purchase price depending on the program, on FHA or on conventional financing, in repayable and forgivable versions. Repayable assistance is a second lien you pay back on the program’s terms. Forgivable assistance is forgiven once you’ve owned and occupied the home long enough to satisfy the program.
Because these aren’t tied to a county, moving your search from Sterling Heights to Warren or Clinton Township doesn’t take them away from you.
Do Sterling Heights Incomes Clear the Limits?
More often than in the Oakland County cities. Sterling Heights had a median household income of $81,102 in the Census Bureau’s 2024 one-year estimates, which is the lower end of the four Metro Detroit cities I write about most. Where a program sets an income limit, more Sterling Heights households sit under it.
Not every program has a limit, and several of the ones I work with allow a higher debt-to-income ratio and set lower minimum credit scores than the guidelines a buyer is usually measured against first. If student loans or a car payment got you a no somewhere else, that was one program’s rule.
Where a limit does apply it’s a Macomb County figure, not a Sterling Heights figure.
Why Keeping Cash Back Matters on a 1970s House
Roughly half of Sterling Heights housing was built between 1960 and 1979, and the median home here dates to 1977. Most of what a first-time buyer looks at is from that build-out: generally solid, and old enough that something mechanical is due.
Assistance is usually framed as the thing that gets you into the house. It’s also the thing that lets you keep a reserve for the furnace. Buyers who close with nothing left are the ones who end up financing a repair at a bad moment.
Worth knowing for later: the City of Sterling Heights runs a Home Improvement Program for owner-occupants — a no-interest deferred loan for repairs such as roofs, heating, electrical and plumbing. It’s explicitly for improvements, not for buying, and it has its own income limits, but it exists for the year after you move in.
One more line to plan for: your property taxes aren’t the seller’s. One line to plan for: Michigan uncaps taxable value the year after a sale, so what the seller pays now isn’t what you’ll pay. Ask for the uncapped figure before you decide what you can carry. More on that →
A First-Time Buyer Who Used One
“As a first-time homebuyer in Metro Detroit, I wasn’t sure if I would qualify — but Ryan helped me use a down payment assistance program and secure an FHA home loan with low money out of pocket. He explained my credit, debt-to-income ratio, and the pre-approval process in a way that was easy to understand. If you’re looking for a knowledgeable mortgage lender who truly understands first-time buyers, I highly recommend Ryan.”
Nate C. · Google review
Assistance is not the only thing that moves your cash at closing. A seller can agree to cover part of your costs too, and the two stack. What a seller concession can and cannot pay →
See What You Qualify For
Tell me your income and what you’ve saved, and I’ll tell you which programs you fit and what a Sterling Heights purchase takes. Free, and nothing about it pulls your credit or starts an application.
Related: buying your first home in Sterling Heights and the first-time buyer walkthrough.