How Buyers Are Really Getting Into Homes Now

where the help is coming from

For most buyers, assistance is coming from family. Parents are the most common source, with 16% of all homeowners saying their parents contributed to their down payment. Among younger buyers, that number climbs to 27% for Gen Z and 24% for millennials.

When that help arrives, it tends to cover a meaningful share of the purchase. Half of recipients say outside assistance covered at least 40% of their down payment. Nearly half received it as a gift, 28% as a loan, and 25% as a combination of both.

If you are a parent in Peachtree City or Fayette County thinking about helping your child buy a home — whether here or elsewhere — the most important thing to sort out upfront is whether the money is a gift or a loan. Lenders will ask, and the answer affects how the funds get documented during the mortgage process. A gift letter is typically required when repayment is not expected, and the buyer's lender can walk through exactly what is needed.

what this means for buyers in south atlanta

The gap between where buyers are and where they need to be is often smaller than it looks from the outside. Family contributions, assistance programs, seller concessions, and low-down-payment loan options can frequently be layered together to make a purchase work.
What is available specifically depends on where you are buying, what you qualify for, and what your goals look like. That conversation is worth having before assuming any door is closed.

when family help is not an option

Not every buyer has that path available. For buyers in South Atlanta who need to find another way in, there are real options worth understanding.

Down payment assistance programs are among the most underused resources in the homebuying process. They exist at the local, county, state, and federal level, and many are specifically designed for buyers who need help with the upfront costs. Some are grants that do not need to be repaid. Others are structured as low-interest loans. Georgia Dream is one of the better-known state-level programs for buyers in this region, and it is worth looking into alongside county-level options in Fayette and Coweta.

Certain loan programs also reduce what is needed upfront. FHA loans require a minimum of 3.5% down and are built with buyers who have less saved or are working with lower credit scores in mind. VA loans are available to eligible veterans and active-duty service members with no down payment required. USDA loans cover eligible rural and suburban areas and also carry no down payment requirement (parts of Coweta County fall within eligible zones, which surprises more buyers than you'd expect).

Seller concessions are another tool worth knowing about. A seller cannot hand a buyer money directly, but they may agree to cover a portion of closing costs. That frees up funds the buyer can put toward their down payment instead.

the 20% myth

One of the most persistent misconceptions in homebuying is that 20% down is the requirement. It is not. The survey found 51% of homebuyers put down less than 20% on their current home. Only 23% put down 20% or more.

For buyers who received outside help, the impact went well beyond just reaching the closing table. Forty-three percent say it helped them qualify for a mortgage, 33% say it reduced their monthly payment, and 31% say it allowed them to put down more than they could have on their own. Thirty-five percent of recipients say they could not have purchased when they did without it.

Even a modest contribution can change the math in a meaningful way. Whether that means qualifying for a better loan, lowering a monthly payment, or simply going into a purchase with more financial stability than you'd have otherwise.