Free checklist · Orlando first-time buyers
Get The First-Time Buyer's Orlando Cost & Assistance Checklist — what you'd really need up front, the four costs that blindside new buyers, and the down-payment help most renters never even hear about.
Free · 2 pages
Instant download — see your real numbers in about 5 minutes.
Chad Gibson · Dreamtown Homes Team · "If the smart move is to wait, I'll tell you that too."
On a $350,000 Orlando starter: 20% down vs. FHA's 3.5%. A conventional first-time-buyer loan can go as low as 3% (~$10,500).
It's the number that keeps good people renting for years — and it's simply not what first-time buyers actually put down. The checklist walks you through the real up-front math: your loan options (3% / 3.5% / even $0 down), closing costs, and how to ask the seller to cover part of them — which many Orlando sellers will do right now.
Four short sections. One pen. About five minutes.
Down-payment assistance exists through the State of Florida, the City of Orlando, and Orange County — typically $10,000–$35,000 depending on the program and your income. The checklist shows you the three layers to ask about, the rules to know going in, and why "what's actually open right now" is the question that matters.
Down payment + closing costs with real numbers — not the scary version in your head.
Including the second-year tax jump — and the one that got me. RIP my first AC unit.
Sometimes "not yet" is the smart, grown-up answer. You deserve to hear that too — four honest checks before you commit to anything.
I've lived in Orlando about sixteen years, and before real estate I spent years as a university professor — so teaching is still how I work. I'd rather walk you through the decision than talk you into anything.
And I've been the blindsided first-time buyer. I bought at the very top of my pre-approval, and three weeks in my AC died — in Florida, in summer. That $2,000 lesson is why the checklist exists: the surprises are only surprises if nobody warns you.
The checklist takes about five minutes with a pen. Most people find out they're closer than they'd been telling themselves.
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