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Minnesota program

Start Up

Minnesota route through Minnesota Housing. This page stays free for the core public facts. Open paid access only when you need the full state board, related paths, and the decision layer around this program.

Multiple assistance options Multiple repayment paths 2026-04-19
Agency Minnesota Housing
Support type Multiple assistance options
Amount highlight Statewide first-time-homebuyer mortgage path with downpayment and closing-cost loan options totaling up to $18,000 for eligible borrowers.
Last verified 2026-04-19

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Choose the Start Up loan option first

This page stays public because the official structure is still useful, but these details should not be flattened into fake certainty.

Start Up is a mortgage backbone plus optional closing-cost loan choices, not one single fixed DPA structure.

Decision-ready public facts

What stays free on this program page

Quick answer from published facts. Use this first, then jump to Go to Minnesota program hub if you need the wider state context.

Amount

Statewide first-time-homebuyer mortgage path with downpayment and closing-cost loan options totaling up to $18,000 for eligible borrowers.

Type

Multiple assistance options

Statewide mortgage with optional downpayment loans

Repayment

Start Up is the Minnesota Housing first-mortgage path. Optional downpayment and closing-cost loans can include a Monthly Payment Loan up to $14,000 with a 10-year repayment term at the first-mortgage rate, or a Deferred Payment Loan / DPL+ up to $18,000 with no interest, no monthly payments, and a balloon payoff due at mortgage maturity or when the borrower moves, sells, refinances, or pays off the first mortgage early.

First-time buyer

Required

Program guide

What to know before you click through

This is still the free fact layer. Open the official source when a detail affects eligibility, repayment, lender choice, or whether this path should stay on your shortlist.

Who qualifies?

Minnesota first-time homebuyers, Borrowers meeting current county-based income and purchase-price limits, Buyers using a participating Minnesota Housing lender, Borrowers meeting owner-occupancy requirements

What support do you get?

Statewide first-time-homebuyer mortgage path with downpayment and closing-cost loan options totaling up to $18,000 for eligible borrowers.

Do you repay it?

Start Up is the Minnesota Housing first-mortgage path. Optional downpayment and closing-cost loans can include a Monthly Payment Loan up to $14,000 with a 10-year repayment term at the first-mortgage rate, or a Deferred Payment Loan / DPL+ up to $18,000 with no interest, no monthly payments, and a balloon payoff due at mortgage maturity or when the borrower moves, sells, refinances, or pays off the first mortgage early.

How do you apply?

Complete an approved homebuyer education course before closing, connect with a participating Minnesota Housing lender, and apply for the Start Up first mortgage together with any qualifying downpayment or closing-cost loan option.

Application timing

Apply through a Minnesota Housing participating lender. Start Up loans have a 60-day rate-lock period; the loan must be delivered to the servicer or extended by the lock expiration date. Lenders must close and disburse loans before completing Minnesota Housing's True and Certify process.

Official source evidence

Minnesota Housing says Start Up is for first-time homebuyers and may include income limits up to $152,200 based on county, purchase-price limits up to $659,550 in the 11-county Metro area and $604,400 for all other counties, and downpayment and closing-cost loan options with amounts up to $18,000.

View official source

Last verified

2026-04-19

Effective date not captured.

Paid preview

What paid access adds for Start Up

See the shape of the comparison output, risk checks, lender questions, and next-step checklist before you decide whether this program is worth carrying into the paid layer.

Example paid output for this program. The free page stays visible either way.

Comparison preview

Start Up

Amount: Statewide first-time-homebuyer mortgage path with downpayment and closing-cost loan options totaling up to $18,000 for eligible borrowers.

Repayment: Start Up is the Minnesota Housing first-mortgage path. Optional downpayment and closing-cost loans can include a Monthly Payment Loan up to $14,000 with a 10-year repayment term at the first-mortgage rate, or a Deferred Payment Loan / DPL+ up to $18,000 with no interest, no monthly payments, and a balloon payoff due at mortgage maturity or when the borrower moves, sells, refinances, or pays off the first mortgage early.

First-time buyer: Required

Timing: Apply through a Minnesota Housing participating lender. Start Up loans have a 60-day rate-lock period; the loan must be delivered to the servicer or extended by the lock expiration date. Lenders must close and disburse loans before completing Minnesota Housing's True and Certify process.

Risk checks preview

What gets flagged before you call a lender

  • Start Up requires a participating lender.
  • Start Up must be paired with a specific first mortgage.

Lender questions preview

Questions tied to this exact path

  • Is your team approved to originate Start Up for this household and loan setup?
  • Which first-mortgage product must be paired with Start Up, and what breaks eligibility?

Action checklist preview

What you would do next

  • Confirm the first-time buyer definition before you apply
  • Review the official Buy a Home & Refinance for Start Up
Open the full Minnesota board

Paid research preview

What paid research already covers in Minnesota

Paid research already tracks city and county programs, specialty and conditional paths for Minnesota.

5 tracked deeper records

These are not generic promises. They are the local, employer, public-employee, and specialty directions already sitting behind the paid layer.

What unlocks after payment

Specific program names, source notes, current-vs-conditional judgments, and the next lender or agency questions tied to this state.

2 tracked

city and county programs

City and county down payment or closing-cost programs that never make it into the free statewide layer.

3 tracked

specialty and conditional paths

Conditional, paused, or specialty paths worth checking before you assume the state is a dead end.

Open the full Minnesota board

Private workspace

What paid access adds after the free facts

This page stays free for public facts. Paid access turns this program into a shortlist item, a related-path decision layer, risk checks, lender-call prep, and a next-step queue.

If the public facts still look relevant, paid access is where you decide whether this path is stronger than your fallback and what to do next.

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Full state board

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