Who writes this, and what we leave out on purpose
Program and regulatory figures verified October 5, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
A short page about method, because on a subject this full of stale and second-hand numbers the method is what makes the figures worth anything.
Where the numbers come from
AHFA's own published material, read directly and dated.
| Source | Date | What it governs |
|---|---|---|
| AHFA programme pages | read 2026-10-05 | Programme terms, eligibility, assistance amounts |
| First Step income & sales price limits | eff. 6/24/2026 | HUD income table, IRS price caps |
| First Step Program FAQ | read 2026-10-05 | Second-mortgage structure, recapture, fees, title |
| AHFA Lender Notice | 04.08.26 | Homebuyer education requirement |
| Freddie Mac AMI limits | current | Affordable Income Subsidy Grant eligibility |
FHFA supplies conforming loan limits and Zillow's public research data supplies market values.
★ Why we cite some AHFA pages and not others
Because not all of them can be read by the engines people now ask for answers.
www.ahfa.com returns a 402 to an AI crawler. We tested it on 2026-09-25 and again on 2026-10-05; both times a request identifying as GPTBot was refused while an ordinary browser request succeeded. It is a firewall response rather than a paywall, and it means AHFA's consumer pages are effectively invisible to the tools a lot of buyers now use.
So this site links to AHFA material that is fetchable — its published lender notices and its First Step FAQ, both of which return normally — along with Freddie Mac, the IRS and HUD. A citation nobody can follow is not a citation.
That also shapes what we think this site is for. If the authoritative source cannot be read, an accurate second-hand account of it that can be read is genuinely useful, and the obligation to get it right goes up rather than down.
Where AHFA's own documents disagree
Twice, and in both cases we follow the more specific document and say which:
- Homebuyer education. The consumer eligibility page omits it from First Step; Lender Notice 04.08.26 says it is required for all programmes and quotes the First Step Manual. Detail.
- Repeat buyers. The programme overview says First Step serves "first-time or repeat homebuyers" flatly; the detail pages and the FAQ limit repeat buyers to targeted areas. Detail.
What we deliberately leave off
- Rates, APRs and payment amounts. None anywhere. First Step's rate is its whole advantage and AHFA changes it often — three rate-change notices in September 2026 alone. A published figure would be stale within a fortnight.
- Funding levels and urgency. We describe programme structure and never attach a countdown or a scarcity hook.
- A worked recapture calculation. AHFA says its own staff cannot determine the amount. We are lenders, not tax advisers.
- Figures from AHFA's lender manuals. The programme manuals live in AllRegs behind a lender login. Where AHFA has not published something publicly, we say so rather than describing it.
- Programmes we are not approved to originate.
Why every figure carries a date
Because agency figures move and stale ones outlive them online. Alabama's income and sales price limits changed on 6/24/2026; pages still quoting the previous set are not obviously wrong on their face, which is exactly what makes them dangerous.
We have shipped a stale figure before by weighing a source's authority over its date. Checking the date first, every time, is the single most useful habit on a site like this.
Frequently asked questions
Who runs this Alabama down payment assistance site?
Mike Certo, Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #260555, company NMLS #173855. The site covers Alabama statewide across all 67 counties.Where do the AHFA figures on this site come from?
Directly from AHFA's published material with the date read: the programme pages and First Step Program FAQ read 2026-10-05, the income and sales price limits effective 6/24/2026, and AHFA Lender Notice 04.08.26 for the homebuyer education requirement. Freddie Mac supplies the grant's AMI limits.Why are there no interest rates on this site?
Because we publish no rates, APRs or payment figures anywhere. First Step's advantage is a below-market rate that AHFA changes frequently, issuing three rate-change notices in September 2026 alone, so any published figure would be stale quickly.Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal or tax advice. AHFA program terms, income limits and sales price limits are set by the Alabama Housing Finance Authority and change; figures here carry the date we verified them against AHFA's published documents. AHFA down payment assistance is an amortizing second mortgage with a monthly payment, not a grant. Federal recapture tax may apply on First Step bond loans; consult a tax advisor. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.