Quick myth check first: FHA is available to any eligible owner-occupant, repeat buyers included, so don't confuse it with first-time-buyer assistance. As for stacking true down-payment and closing-cost assistance, availability depends heavily on your state. In California, after the state defunded local city redevelopment agencies years ago, most of those city-level assistance programs disappeared. What remains is primarily the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), which stacks a second and sometimes a third mortgage to cover down payment and closing costs. Those programs carry trade-offs: - Income limits (most first-time buyers fit under them). - Tighter DTI requirements and higher minimum credit scores than a standard FHA or conventional loan. - Higher interest rates. - Because the subordinate liens generally have to be paid off or refinanced together with the first, you can't easily refinance just the first mortgage later until you've built enough equity to cover everything. Other states run much stronger dedicated assistance programs (Massachusetts, for instance, has well-used state housing loans), so availability really does vary. Confirm the current terms and eligibility for whatever program you're considering, since these rules change.