Your purchase
Start with the home and the loan. The appreciation rate is the biggest unknown — move it and watch every number below respond.
The home & the loan
Defaults reflect a typical Charlotte first purchase.
How much it grows
Home appreciation each year. Charlotte has run strong, but no one can promise a rate — so try a few.
Some assistance is a true grant; some is a deferred or forgivable second mortgage; and some must be repaid. The structure and your likely time in the home can matter as much as the dollar amount. This tool separates those moving parts.
The assistance you're stacking
Build the assistance package you want to test. Each option has a different payoff or forgiveness schedule, so confirm the terms in the current program documents before relying on the estimate.
What you'd actually keep
"What it feels like you have" is your home's value minus your mortgage — the number most people track. "What you'd keep" is that same number after the assistance you still owe and the cost of selling. The difference is what to plan around.
Ask the True Equity Coach
Ask about the numbers you entered. The coach will explain the equity tradeoff, payoff exposure, forgiveness timing, and questions to raise with your mortgage advisor.
Educational scenario analysis only. The coach does not determine eligibility, quote a program, or replace the note, deed of trust, disclosure, or advice from a licensed professional.
When the assistance clears
The bars show how much of each loan is still owed over time. The red marks are the exits above; the green marks are when each loan is fully forgiven. Notice where a typical move lands.
The two things that create the gap
Assistance is a genuine door-opener. The gap between what you feel and what you keep comes from two specific mechanics — worth understanding so you can plan your exit, not avoid the help.
The assistance structure
Some assistance is a grant. Other programs record a deed of trust behind your first mortgage. For a forgivable second, “forgivable” means the balance clears only after the program’s requirements are met. Until then, some or all of it may become due when you sell, refinance, move, or stop occupying the property.
The amount still owed depends on which options you select and how long you remain in the home.
Starting from behind
Getting in with nothing down means you begin near zero equity — and once you add the cost of selling, slightly underwater. Appreciation has to first climb back over that line before any of your "equity" is real money in your pocket.
This is true even when every layer is a pure grant. It's a function of zero down and selling costs, not of any one program.
You're most exposed if you're likely to…
- → Move within about 3–10 years — the assistance won't have forgiven yet.
- → Want to refinance early — NCHFA blocks subordination for the first 7 years, so a refi means repaying it.
- → Turn the home into a rental later — that ends owner-occupancy and triggers repayment of everything unforgiven.
- → Buy in a flat or softening market — there's no appreciation cushion to carry the liens.
None of this is a reason to skip assistance. If you plan to stay put and the market cooperates, the liens forgive and what you feel and what you keep line up. The point is to walk in with the real picture — so the payoff at closing is never a surprise.