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First-time homebuyer: what it means

Under the definition HUD uses, a first-time homebuyer is a person, and his or her spouse, who has not owned a home during the three years before the purchase. There are exceptions: a single parent or a displaced homemaker is not excluded just because he or she owned a home with a spouse while married.

In Spanish it is

Comprador de vivienda por primera vez

Also written as: first-time buyer · first-time home buyer · FTHB

A man shakes hands with the specialist who helped him with his loan, in the kitchen of his new home.

Verified on October 17, 2026

3 official sources

See the whole dictionary

The full explanation

Nor does it count if you only owned a home that was not on a permanent foundation, or one that did not meet building codes and could not be brought up to code for less than the cost of building a new one. Each program may use its own definition.

An example

Many years ago, Julia owned a home with her ex-husband. Today she is a single mother and rents. Even though she owned before, she can count as a first-time homebuyer in programs that use HUD's definition, because she only owned with her spouse.

You will see it in…

Down payment assistance program requirements
The loan application, in the question about past ownership
Homebuyer education course requirements

Words that go with it

You will rarely see this word alone. These are the ones that show up with it on the same papers.

More guides that use “first-time homebuyer”

Still confused by a paper?

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through it. Agencies usually charge little or nothing, many work in Spanish, and they do not sell you anything.

What a housing counselor does See free help

Official sources

We sum up what these official sources say, in plain words. We add no rules they do not state; when a rule changes, the definition and its date change.

1. Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School) · 42 U.S.C. § 12704(14): definition of first-time homebuyer (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
2. HUD · FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1: Glossary (First Time Homebuyer) (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
3. CFPB · Mortgages key terms: first-time home buyers (FTHB) loan programs (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026