What constitutes a "First Time Home Buyer"?

[Horseshoez]

Hey gang, someone just told me my wife and I might qualify as "First Time Home Buyers"; I just looked it up and some sites say "Three years since last ownership", others say "It depends".

Our last mortage was taken out in 2002 and was closed in 2013, so the three year rule is easily satisfied; what other "it depends" types of rules are out there to prohibit us from taking advantage of first time benefits?

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

The most common definition of it is haven't owned a home within the past 3 years, but some programs could have a different definition, so that is the "it depends".  So whatever program you are looking up you'll want to find out how they define what a first time homebuyer is.  For example if you have co-signed for someone else's mortgage you might still be considered a first time homebuyer, or if your spouse has owned a home but you haven't then you might not be considered a first time homebuyer (example at https://www.calhfa.ca.gov/homebuyer/borrower.htm).  The definition is most commonly found under "borrower eligibility requirements" on the program's website.

[Horseshoez]

Thanks @ShanetheMortgageMan, I appreciate the clarity. 

[GreatLife]

Deleting prior post, @Shane's link answered my question. 😊

[CorpCrMgr1]

Great answer!

[Horseshoez]

Update...

Well, it looks like I'm about to become a "First Time Home Buyer" for the fourth time in my life.  

After three months of passive searching and another three months of working with a real estate agent actively beating the bushes, not one, but two properties popped up last week which met our criteria.  My wife and I just signed our bid via DocuSign; we're buying into a very competitive area with virtually no inventory; things are so tight all offers with a contingency are immediately dismissed; basically it is an as-is sale.  Of the two virtually identical properties, one was priced 13% lower than the other, but even if the prices had been identical, we would have liked the lower priced home better; hence our bid on that one.  Funny thing, an offer on the higher priced home was accepted this morning (at asking price), the winning bid on the one we want won't be announced until 7:00 tonight, but all bets are the disappointed buyers of the first will be hitting the second one hard, so that 13% delta will evaporate in a heartbeat.  I'm able to afford going higher, but I'm not sure how much I want to get pushed as the home we want will require an easy $50,000 in renovation (which I plan on having done before we move in).  I'll report back when the dust settles this evening.

[Horseshoez]

Evening update...

A bidding war ensued and we ended up second highest bid, by a whopping $65,000 (it is crazy someone had an escalation bid of nearly 40% over the asking price), however, we are able to move faster, so as a compromise, they got me to dial up my top price another $20,000 and want earnest money of $40,000.  Annoying, but we'll survive.