First Time Home buyer program eligibility

Factual Questions
1

I am curious if a person owns a property in another state (inherited, not purchased) whether it will affect eligibility for any potential first time buyer programs in their home state.

Scenario: Friends sister was left property by a deceased parent, the sister puts property into joint ownership with friend. This property is in Wisconsin. Friend wants to purchase property in Illinois. Does having joint ownership on a property in a different state affect first time buyer program eligibilities? Is it a state by state issue? What problems (if any) could this pose to a first time buyer and what should be expected?

Thank for any information or input on the matter!

2

I forgot one more thing: If it did potentially cause an issue with any potential first time buyer benefits, what would they likely be? A considerable amount of potential savings, or likely only a few grand/benefits on closing fees? Thanks again.

3

It does vary state by state and also program by program. Here is a listof programs by state.

4

Did the friend ever take out a loan on the property she inherited? That may come into play if the friend thinking of applying for a loan on the new property. Some states may differentiate between a first time home buyer and a first time home owner. Is the friend going to use the existing home as collateral? What is the relationship between them?

5

In general, “first time home buyer” means you have owned any property in the last three years regardless of location. Some states programs might have more restrict guidelines, but I’ve never seen one that gives an exception for owning property in a different state.

EDIT: The specific question on the Uniform Residential Loan Application is “Have you had an ownership interest in a property in the last three years?”

6

Thank you so much! I tried looking for something like that but like an idiot kept looking at resources for individual states and my searching stinks…all drivel. This will really help them out to get some ideas.

No loan taken out on inherited property, and likely won’t. Existing home won’t be used as collateral, it is a summer cottage.

Ahh, that may suck, is it something with any room for negotiation at all or is it cut and dry like that? Is answering that question in the positive an absolute disqualifying factor?
Thank you to all three of you for the assistance, i’m sure it will help out, possibly even for myself sometime. If you have any more input I would of course greatly appreciate it.