It usually comes down to who's on the loan. The standard definition, which Fannie Mae and HUD share, says a first-time homebuyer is someone with no ownership interest in a principal residence during the three years before the purchase. If you're on the loan and you owned a home within that window, that generally voids the household's eligibility for first-time-buyer programs, even though your partner qualifies on her own. (Two exceptions built into the definition: displaced homemakers and single parents who only held joint ownership with a former spouse can still qualify.) The workaround some buyers use: have the first-time buyer qualify entirely on her own, with you off the loan. If her income and credit can carry the financing by themselves, she may still be eligible individually. The trade-off is that only her income counts toward qualifying, which affects how much you can borrow. Price both structures, her solo versus both of you together without assistance, to see which actually nets the better outcome for your target price in West Palm Beach. We can run both side by side so you're comparing real numbers instead of guesses.