Our sources
How do we know what we tell you about Georgia programs?
It's a fair question, and you should ask it of any website. Here is the honest answer, step by step.
Who do we listen to?
Only the people who run the money. Today that means 35 official sources covering the 24 Georgia programs on this site: the state housing agency's own pages, its rate sheets and its limit charts, plus whatever the city, county or nonprofit behind a local program has put in writing. We do not copy numbers from other directories, blogs or news articles. If two official documents disagree, we tell you that on the program's page and let you see both.
How fresh is it?
Look at the bottom of any program card and you will see the month we last went through it. We return to the source on a regular cycle. When a budget is spent, a new funding round starts or a rule is rewritten, the status here changes to match. Programs that shut down for good are taken off. Programs that are only resting stay put with a "Paused" tag, so you remember to look again later.
What do the tags mean?
| Tag you'll see | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Open now | Buyers are being accepted today, either through a lender in the program or at the program office. |
| Money is limited | Funding comes in a fixed amount, often once a year, and it can be spent before the year ends. Ask whether any is left before you count on it. |
| Waitlist | Every dollar in the current round has been promised to someone, so newcomers are put in line. |
| Paused | The door is shut for the moment. A good number of these come back once fresh money arrives. |
| Grant, nothing to repay | A true gift. It stays yours whatever happens. |
| Forgivable loan | A loan that shrinks to zero the longer you live there. Leave early, by selling or refinancing, and some or all of it comes back due. |
| Deferred loan | No bill arrives each month. The full balance waits for the day you sell, refinance or stop living in the home. |
| Loan with monthly payments | Treated like a small second loan, paid down month by month. |
What will we never do?
- Call something a grant unless its official terms say it never has to be paid back.
- Write a full page about a program before its dollar amount and rules are published. Until then it gets a brief listing only.
- Take money from a program to be listed or to be ranked higher.
- Pretend to be a lender or a government office. We are neither.
Did we miss a change?
Thank you for catching it. Send a note to leads@gadownpmtassistance.com naming the program, and we will go back to the source.
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