Everett, WA First-Time Buyer Programs in 2026: The Local Options

By Glenn Hoch, Washington State Licensed Mortgage Broker, NMLS #71716 · Published October 26, 2026 · Updated October 26, 2026

Everett WA first time buyer programs are easy to search for and hard to pin down. Most lists online mix statewide programs, King County programs that do not apply north of the county line, and programs that ended years ago. A buyer in Everett needs a shorter list: what is actually funded in Snohomish County this year, who runs it, who qualifies, and what it costs later.

This guide covers the local layer only. The statewide programs from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission have their own page, the Washington State down payment assistance guide. Every local figure here was read from the source in October 2026: Snohomish County's Draft 2026 Annual Action Plan, HomeSight's purchase assistance page, HUD's FY2026 income limits, and the program pages of each nonprofit.

Glenn Hoch is a Washington State Licensed Mortgage Broker at Barrett Financial with more than twenty years in mortgage lending and over a thousand closed loans. He works from an office in Freeland and helps first-time buyers in Everett and across Snohomish County line up a first mortgage that fits whatever assistance they qualify for.

Where Everett WA First Time Buyer Programs Come From

Local purchase assistance in Everett runs on federal money that passes through Snohomish County. HUD sends the county two kinds of housing grants each year, and the difference matters for Everett buyers:

• HOME Investment Partnerships funds. Snohomish County runs HOME as a consortium, and the City of Everett is its consortium partner. HOME-funded purchase assistance can be used inside Everett city limits.
• Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. The county's CDBG first-time homebuyer funding covers the county outside Everett, Marysville, Brier, and the King County part of Bothell. Everett runs its own separate CDBG process.

In practice, that means an Everett buyer reaches county assistance through the HOME side. The county does not lend to buyers directly. It funds nonprofit subrecipients, and the 2026 action plan names two of them for first-time homebuyer assistance: HomeSight and Parkview Services. The county's goal for the program is stated plainly in the plan: purchase assistance for first-time homebuyers with incomes at or below 80 percent of area median income.

Everett WA First Time Buyer Programs at a Glance

The Snohomish County Loan Through HomeSight

HomeSight is a Seattle-based nonprofit with its own homeownership center and loan originators, and it has administered Snohomish County purchase assistance for years. Its purchase assistance page, read on October 26, 2026, describes the Snohomish County product as down payment assistance of up to $50,000, a 3 percent deferred loan for 30 years for borrowers buying within Snohomish County. The county's Draft 2026 Annual Action Plan describes the same activity in more detail:

• Amount: up to $50,000 per household, as a second or third mortgage.
• Payments: 3 percent deferred interest for 30 years, with no monthly or annual payments.
• When it is repaid: at resale, refinance, or transfer of the property.
• Shared appreciation: repaid funds include the assistance and any shared appreciation, which are recycled into loans for future buyers.
• Income: at or below 80 percent of area median income.
• Education: HomeSight provides homebuyer education and housing counseling, and the county requires counseling before HOME assistance is given.

HomeSight's own requirements add three more. A first-time homebuyer means someone who has not owned a home in the past three years. The buyer must complete HomeSight's homebuyer education class and financial counseling. And the buyer must purchase in the program's designated area after HomeSight approves the loan. HomeSight lists the minimum down payment as low as 1 percent, with actual figures depending on the transaction.

2026 income limits for Everett WA first time buyer programs

Everett sits in HUD's Seattle-Bellevue metro area, which covers King and Snohomish counties. HUD's FY2026 income limits put the area median family income at $164,400. The 80 percent limits, the ceiling for the county loan, are:

The 50 percent column matters because the county expects some of the households it serves to fall at or below that level. Income is counted for the whole household, and HomeSight confirms which year's table applies on the day of approval.

How much money is actually in the pool

This is the part most program lists leave out. The county's Draft 2026 Annual Action Plan funds the HomeSight activity with $104,728.66 in HOME program income, which is money repaid by earlier assisted buyers, plus any further program income collected through June 30, 2026. The plan's estimate of who it will serve is three households, with a target date of June 30, 2027.

The track record is similar in scale. The same plan reports that in the 2024 program year, three low-income first-time homebuyers received financial assistance to buy homes in Edmonds and Everett. The program works, and Everett buyers have used it, but it is a short line rather than an open door. A buyer who qualifies should contact HomeSight early and build a plan that still works if the county funds are spoken for.

What shared appreciation and the affordability period mean

A deferred loan with no payment is not free money. Because the assistance is HOME-funded, the county's recapture guidelines apply. They set a minimum period of affordability based on the size of the assistance, and recapture is triggered if the home stops being the buyer's principal residence during that period:

On recapture, the county or HomeSight collects from the net proceeds of the sale: the outstanding principal, interest, and shared appreciation. Net proceeds are the sale price minus repayment of the senior loans and closing costs. The guidelines also state that a borrower is never required to use funds other than net proceeds to repay the HOME funds, so a sale that nets little caps what is owed.

The county's guidelines list three recapture methods: recapture of the entire HOME subsidy, a pro-rata reduction for the years the buyer has owned and lived in the home, and a shared net proceeds formula for sales where the proceeds are not enough to repay the HOME funds and return the buyer's own down payment and improvements. In that last case, the proceeds are split in proportion to the HOME subsidy and the buyer's investment. Separately, HomeSight's loan itself carries a shared appreciation feature: when it is paid off, a percentage of equity goes back to the program along with principal and interest, according to HomeSight's program sheet. The exact share is set in the loan documents, so the time to read them is before the offer, not at closing.

The purchase price cap

HOME rules cap the price of an assisted home at 95 percent of the area median purchase price, a limit HUD publishes and the county passes along. HomeSight's most recent posted Snohomish County program sheet, revised May 2024, listed a maximum price of $618,000. Everett's median sale price was about $575,000 over the three months through September 2026, according to Redfin, so many Everett condos, townhomes, and entry-level houses fall under a cap in that range and many single-family homes do not. Ask HomeSight for the current cap before setting a price range. The Everett neighborhoods guide shows where prices sit across the city.

Parkview Services: The Everett WA First Time Buyer Program for Households With a Disability

Parkview Services is the county's second HOME subrecipient for 2026. Its homeownership assistance is built for low-income first-time homebuyers where at least one member of the household has a permanent disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the county's action plan, it provides up to $50,000 per household as a second or third mortgage at zero percent interest, with no monthly or annual payments, repaid at resale, refinance, or transfer.

The same income ceiling applies: at or below 80 percent of area median income. The same shared appreciation model applies too. Funding is smaller than HomeSight's. The 2026 plan budgets one household. Parkview also offers first-time homebuyer courses and pre-purchase counseling, which can count toward the education step a household will need for other programs.

Habitat for Humanity of Snohomish County

Habitat is not down payment assistance. It is a path to a specific home that Habitat builds, purchased with an affordable fixed-rate mortgage through a third-party lending partner. Habitat for Humanity of Snohomish County lists these requirements on its homeownership page:

• Household income below 80 percent of area median income for Snohomish County, with minimum incomes that vary by home.
• A demonstrated need for housing, based on the size, condition, or cost of the current home, such as unsafe conditions or paying too much for rent.
• A credit score of 620 or higher, no outstanding liens, judgments, or open collections, and a total debt-to-income ratio no higher than 30 percent front-end and 41 percent back-end.
• Closing costs of about 1 percent of the purchase price.
• 250 to 500 hours of sweat equity, on the build site or in Habitat Stores.
• Living or working in Snohomish County, being a first-time homebuyer, and using the home as a primary residence.

Habitat's homes come in projects, not a steady stream. Its current project is Willow Path Cottages, an eight-home cottage community in Lynnwood, and future openings are announced through its mailing list. For an Everett household that qualifies, the trade-off is location and timing in exchange for a price built around the household's income.

A Program That Has Ended: Housing Hope Team HomeBuilding

Housing Hope, based on Evergreen Way in Everett, ran Team HomeBuilding for years: a sweat-equity program modeled on USDA Rural Development's mutual self-help housing, where families built homes together in place of a cash down payment. Many older articles and directories still list it. Housing Hope's own program page now says Team HomeBuilding is no longer a program that Housing Hope offers. Housing Hope still develops affordable rental housing, but a buyer looking for a sweat-equity path in 2026 should look to Habitat instead.

How Everett WA First Time Buyer Programs Layer With Statewide Help

The local loans are designed to sit behind a first mortgage and alongside other help. The county describes its assistance as a second or third mortgage, which leaves room for a statewide second mortgage in between. HomeSight's page also lists a statewide WSHFC down payment loan and a separate $10,000 Social Justice down payment assistance loan for Indigenous and BIPOC buyers that HomeSight says can be layered with all its other programs.

Layering has limits. HOME rules treat the assistance as gap financing, so the county only puts in what the purchase actually needs, capped at $50,000. A household that qualifies for a large statewide loan may be offered less local money as a result. The order that usually works:

1. Check income first. Compare household income to the FY2026 table above. Above 80 percent of median, the county loans are off the table, but statewide programs may still fit.
2. Start education and counseling early. HomeSight's class and counseling are required for its loans, and the county requires counseling before HOME assistance. Completing them first keeps the purchase from stalling.
3. Ask HomeSight about current funds and the price cap. The pool is small, and the cap shapes the price range.
4. Line up a first mortgage that fits. HomeSight approves its own assistance, so ask which first-mortgage lenders and loan types it will sit behind. Glenn can shop the first loan within those guidelines.
5. Run cash to close with and without the local loan. If the numbers work without it, a buyer can weigh whether the shared appreciation cost is worth the help.

For the savings side of the plan, the saving for a down payment in Everett guide covers cash-to-close targets and deposit rules. Once the money is lined up, the Everett first-time buyer checklist walks through pre-approval to closing.

How Glenn Helps With Everett WA First Time Buyer Programs

Glenn does not run any of these programs, and he does not decide who receives local assistance. What he does is make sure the first mortgage, which is the biggest piece of the purchase, fits the assistance a household qualifies for. As a broker, he compares programs from dozens of lenders, including conventional options for first-time buyers, FHA loans in Everett, and VA loans for eligible service members near Naval Station Everett. His approach:

• Compare household income to the current county and statewide limits before anyone writes an offer.
• Point qualified buyers to HomeSight, Parkview, or Habitat early, so education and counseling are finished in time.
• Shop a first mortgage that works within the program's rules on loan type and price.
• Show cash to close with and without assistance, so the buyer can see what the help actually changes.
• Keep the plan moving if local funds run out, subject to a full loan estimate and underwriting approval.

The Everett home loans page and the conventional loans in Everett guide are good next reads.

Frequently Asked Questions About Everett WA First Time Buyer Programs