Buying a Home

MassHousing is an independent agency connected to state government. Its mission is to provide funding for affordable housing. MassHousing helps first-time buyers with low or moderate incomes with grants of up to $50,000 towards the cost of purchasing a home in Boston and 28 other urban areas or up to $30,000 towards homes in other parts of the state. MassHousing also works with bank partners to offer low, fixed interest mortgages for those with low and moderate incomes. A different low, fixed interest mortgage (the ONE Mortgage) is available through the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. A good first step is to take an approved first-time homebuyer class.

While those MassHousing and Massachusetts Housing Partnership services are available for any home in the state, there also are condos and houses for sale that were subsidized when they were built and are meant to remain affordable. Those homes are offered at a lower price, and then must be sold at a lower price to keep them affordable for the next buyer. The MyMassHome website has a list of these deed-restricted homes for sale at lower cost to people with lower incomes. You can sign up to get emails when new homes are added.

Sometimes these deed-restricted homes are sold by lottery agents who collect applications and then run a lottery to determine which of the eligible applicants can buy the home. RHSO is a lottery agent and our current listings are at the top of the "Looking for Housing?" page. We also post all our lotteries on the MyMassHome site. Other lottery agents in the area include: