Welcome H.O.M.E.: three new homes in Miami-Dade and up to $150,000 in assistance

The window closed early, and that is the thing to understand about this program: when it opens, it does not last. What decides who gets in is not luck, it is showing up with the paperwork already done.

Welcome H.O.M.E. is an initiative from the Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust (MDEAT) with JL Brown Development. It is not a standard assistance program: it is a lottery for specific homes that are already built, which is why it has an opening and a closing date.

On that $150,000, precision matters: the county says "up to" and adds that it depends on available funding. It is not a figure every selected applicant automatically receives, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something.

The date that mattered was not the 30th. By September 13, less than two weeks after opening, you could no longer apply. That is how this lottery works: three homes and a cap of 200 qualified applications in a county of nearly three million people. When another one opens, the people who get in are the ones with their paperwork done on day one; wait for the closing date and you probably will not make it.

• Household income below 140% of the typical family income in Miami-Dade (Area Median Income, or AMI). The exact limit changes with how many people live in your home.
• The home must be your primary residence. Not an investment, not a rental.
• One application per household. Filing twice does not double your odds.
• Online. You apply through the county portal.

This is the part almost nobody explains properly, and it decides whether you really have a shot:

1. 1Prescreening application and documentsYou complete a brief first-round application that checks the basics (prescreening) and submit the documents confirming you meet the requirements.
2. 2You enter the public lotteryEvery qualifying application goes into a public lottery. The order is randomized.
3. 3Ten households are rankedThe drawing produces positions one through ten. Landing in the top ten is what keeps you in play.
4. 4The top six get 60 daysThe six highest-ranked applicants have 60 days to show they meet the requirements and can buy the home.
5. 5The homes go to the first three who meet the requirementsIf any of the top three cannot meet the requirements within that period, the next applicant on the list is contacted.

Qualifying applications go into the public lottery described above. As of September 29, the county has not published the lottery date or the results. Its portal asks applicants to follow its official communications for updates on the process, the results and future opportunities, and the program page points to its Instagram, @mdeatinfo.

Welcome H.O.M.E. was a lottery for three specific homes. The county's down payment assistance does not work that way: it is not a lottery and has no announced closing date.

None of them is free money, and each has its own income limits. The down payment assistance guide, under «Keep reading», walks through them one by one, including what you pay back.

Applying is free, and the county itself warns you not to pay anyone to help with the application. If someone charges you to enter this lottery, they are scamming you. Hold on to that sentence.

Before applying, it pays to have three things ready. The first two are what the county's economic fund (MDEAT) recommends, and both can be ready in days; the third is ours:

1. 1The homebuyer course from the federal housing department (HUD)Eight hours with a certified agency. Several offer it free in Miami-Dade, and in Spanish. It is the same certificate nearly every county assistance program asks for, so none of it is wasted.
2. 2A pre-approval letterFrom an accredited lender or banking institution. It proves a lender is willing to lend you the money — exactly what you have to demonstrate within those 60 days.
3. 3Knowing your own numbersWhat you actually need between the down payment and the closing costs (the fees you pay at closing), and what you have. Without that figure you cannot tell whether the assistance covers you or what home you can carry.

For questions about the program, the county responds at Welcomehome@miamidade.gov, and notes that response times vary with the volume of inquiries.