Down Payment Assistance in Pembroke Pines, FL: Can the City and County Programs Be Combined?
Nelson Paredes · REALTOR® · One Stop Realty Center Inc
Updated October 20, 2026
Count on just one
The city expects them to stack and the county’s guide for lenders says they do not: both are official sources and neither corrects the other.
It is the prudent choice until your lender confirms in writing that it accepts both in the same loan.
City verified on October 14, 2026 against its housing programs page. County, on October 12, 2026 against its list and its guide for lenders. State assistance, on October 14, 2026, with Broward limits. The contradiction is published unresolved.
One program comes through the city and the other through your lender, each with its own rules. Here they are side by side, and where the official sources contradict each other, the page says so plainly.
Both are loans to buy a home in Pembroke Pines, but they are not the same assistance and you do not apply for them in the same place. The city’s is paid with state funds (SHIP, the state housing program); the county’s, with federal funds.
Detail The city’s The county’s Official name Pembroke Pines First-Time Homebuyer Program (SHIP) Broward County purchase assistance for Pembroke Pines (Homebuyer Purchase Assistance) Who provides it City of Pembroke Pines, with Community Redevelopment Associates of Florida (CRA Florida) Broward County Housing and Urban Planning Division (the lender processes it; there is no online application) How much up to $75,000 as a loan if your household earns up to 80% of what a typical family in the county earns, and $50,000 if it earns between 81% and 140% up to $75,000 as a loan (the county warns that funds are limited) How it is repaid It is a loan with no interest and you pay nothing for 10 years. At the end you do not have to pay it back if you still own the home and live in it; if you sell it earlier, hand it over to someone else or stop living in it, you pay it back. It is a loan with no interest and you pay nothing each month. If you live in the home for 15 years (10 if you get less than $40,000), you do not have to pay it back. If you sell it earlier, hand it over to someone else, or use it for anything other than living in it, you pay it back. Maximum household income (family of 4) $177,520 $101,400 Maximum home price $679,324 Unconfirmed: the money is federal and no source publishes the figure for this city The income limits for other household sizes are in the income limits table for Broward assistance.
In practice your lender decides, because it builds your loan. Since the city and the county contradict each other, before you sign a contract that counts on both, ask it in writing to confirm whether it accepts the county’s together with the city’s.
- If it confirms, both can go in your loan.
- If it says no, you keep the one it accepts in your loan.
- If it does not know, ask whoever runs each program: their official pages are at the bottom.
Meanwhile, do not add the two amounts in the table to your numbers, not even just in case.
- The city’s does not set the money aside until it approves your application. It only works for a finished home, not one still under construction, and its purchase contract has to state that the purchase depends on the city granting the funds.
- The county’s has its own rules, because its money arrives through an agreement between the city and the county. The minimum down payment has to come from your own money and the homebuyer course is finished before you apply for the loan.
- You also cannot add to the loan anyone who will not live in the home with you. And if you later replace your loan with another one, it can only be to lower the interest rate or change the term, with no cash out; otherwise you repay the assistance.
- The agreement covers a single-family house, a condo, a townhouse and a villa. It does not mention manufactured homes: do not count on them.
- Its maximum price in this city: because the money is federal, it may be lower than in the rest of the county, and neither the agreement nor the fact sheet gives the figure. Ask your lender before you start house hunting.
What each one requires, line by line, is in the city assistance guide and in the county assistance guide.
Alongside either one, and depending on what your lender accepts, the options include Florida Housing assistance (with Broward limits), Chenoa Fund and the county’s tax discount, which is not money for closing. Only one state assistance fits. The tax discount cannot be combined with some state loans (the ones paid for with bonds), and it is not confirmed that Chenoa Fund can be added to the city’s or the county’s assistance. How they combine is explained in the county assistance guide and, for the discount, in its guide. Which ones accept applications today is on the Down Payment Assistance Tracker.
Program Amount Home price limit Income limit, 1 person Income limit, 4 people State interest-free loan for the down payment (FL Assist) · Broward up to $10,000 as a loan for the down payment and the costs of the day you sign for the home $697,889 $126,800 $145,820 State down payment loan with a small monthly payment (FL HLP) · Broward up to $12,500 as a loan for the down payment and the costs of the day you sign for the home $697,889 $126,800 $145,820 State help that is forgiven over 5 years (HFA Plus) · Broward 3%, 4% or 5% of your bank loan, for the down payment and the costs of the day you sign for the home Not published $177,521 $177,521 State down payment loan for people who work in health care, schools, police and more (Hometown Heroes) · Broward up to 5% of your bank loan, between $10,000 and $35,000, for the down payment and the costs of the day you sign for the home Not published $126,800 $145,820 Down payment assistance, mostly with the 3.5%-down loan (Chenoa Fund) up to 5% of the home price, for the down payment Not published No limit published No limit published Tax discount on the interest of your home loan (Mortgage Credit Certificate) not money for the down payment: each year you pay less in taxes, because they take 10% to 50% of the interest on your loan off your tax bill (up to $2,000 a year if that percentage is above 20%) $679,324 $126,800 $145,820 For HFA Plus the home has no maximum price (that is why its cell says “Not published”); what has a cap is the bank loan, which cannot be over $832,750. For Hometown Heroes, the price cap depends on the type of loan: its guide explains it.
We help you find out which of the two to count on.
Whether they can be combined is for your lender to confirm, not a web page. Leave us your number and we take care of it with you: getting that answer in writing before you sign.
The terms of a public program can change without notice: always confirm with the city, the county or your lender before applying. This guide orients you, it does not advise you.
