Well, after the first installment in this series I got some bids on my relocation and then I had to spend some time curled up in the fetal position for a while. Because moving? Is expensive.

But I’m back (and no, I haven’t selected a mover yet, and by the way, lalalalalaaaaa I can’t heeeeear you), and today I’ve got another resource for those of you who are buying a house.

You know that crazy guy on television who wears the suit covered in question marks and goes on and on about government grants for anything you want to do? Then he tries to sell you his book about how to find and apply for those grants? I’m hard pressed to think of someone more annoying. But he makes a good point: There’s plenty of government money out there most people don’t know about.

That’s true for purchasing real estate, too. There’s money out there, and who’s going to tell you? Hopefully not that guy in the question mark suit. He’s scary. How about I tell you, instead?

You may already know that low-income, first-time home buyers may qualify for a FHA Loan. Perhaps you don’t qualify for that, and so figured that there is no government assistance for which you do qualify. But! You might.

Here’s HUD’s little secret: There are local programs for all sorts of things. In addition to specific assistance for first-time buyers, there are grants to assist with down payments, grants to assist with closing costs… and some of them are much easier to qualify than you might think. For example, there will be assistance offered for areas that were deemed depressed or low-income in 2000. A lot can change in 7 years, and you may be moving to an area on the list. Depending on the area, you may qualify for assistance even if your annual household income approaches 6 figures. You just won’t know until you look.

Click on your state, then on “Assistance Programs.” You might qualify for money and you didn’t even know it. And if you’re the sort of person who would turn down free money, well, I just don’t think I know you the way that I thought I did.