Who Writes This, and What We Leave Out
Program and regulatory figures verified September 25, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
A page about sourcing is not the most exciting thing on a mortgage site. It is the one that tells you whether to trust the other twenty.
Who
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555, Producing Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. We originate Illinois Housing Development Authority down payment assistance, which is why this site covers IHDA programs and not others.
Equal Housing Lender. This is not a commitment to lend. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.
Where the numbers come from
| What | Source | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Program amounts, caps, terms, status | IHDA program directory | Read 2026-09-25 |
| Income and purchase price limits | IHDA income and purchase price limits | Effective 7-1-2026 |
| Underwriting, household and property rules | IHDA Origination Procedure Guide HO-052.7, in the IHDA Document Library | Dated 03/01/2026 |
| Conforming loan limits | FHFA conforming loan limits | 2026 |
| Typical home values | Zillow Research ZHVI, all homes, smoothed | August 2026 |
Where we quote IHDA, we quote it rather than paraphrase, because the precise wording carries the rule.
What we deliberately do not publish
Six things, and the reasoning for each.
- No funding-level or urgency claims. The program directory's underlying page markup contains a limited-funds badge on every program card, but none of them render as visible and all four programs show a status of Active. Reading the markup rather than the page would have produced a false scarcity claim, so we make no claim about funding levels in either direction. IHDA's own disclaimer is that funding is not guaranteed until a complete reservation is placed.
- No county-level program content. We cover what we are approved to originate. Where a separate municipal or county program exists, it is outside our scope and we would rather send you to IHDA accurately.
- No targeted-area address list. Targeted status is set at address level and IHDA publishes a lookup tool rather than a list. A stale list we typed could talk a buyer out of a house that qualifies.
- No rates, APRs or monthly payments. Anywhere on the site.
- No claim about which education provider is required below a 45.01% DTI beyond "an approved provider". IHDA's own summary table is ambiguous at that boundary, so we publish the unambiguous prose rule instead of inventing a clean threshold.
- No statement that a non-borrowing spouse's income is excluded. The published definition turns on being liable on the note, and the spouse's first-time-buyer status is separately required, but we have not verified how IHDA's required income calculator handles that case. We state both published rules and leave the rest to a conversation.
Corrections
If a figure here is wrong or has moved, tell us and we will fix it and date the fix. Program limits change, and a page that was right in September is not automatically right later. Every figure on this site carries the date we verified it for exactly that reason.
See also the full guide, the limit tables and contact us.
Frequently asked questions
Who writes this Illinois down payment assistance site?
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555, Producing Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855, which originates Illinois Housing Development Authority down payment assistance. The site covers IHDA programs because those are the ones we are approved to originate in Illinois. Equal Housing Lender.
Where do the figures on this site come from?
Primary sources only. Program amounts, caps and terms come from IHDA's program directory read 2026-09-25. Income and purchase price limits come from IHDA's non-targeted and targeted limit sheets effective 7-1-2026. Underwriting, household and property rules come from the IHDA Mortgage Origination Procedure Guide HO-052.7 dated 03/01/2026. Loan limits come from FHFA for 2026 and typical home values from Zillow ZHVI for August 2026.
Why does this site not say whether IHDA funds are running out?
Because we could not verify it. The program directory's page markup contains a limited-funds badge inside every program card, but none of those badges actually render and all four programs display a status of Active. Publishing the markup as fact would have put a false scarcity claim on a borrower-facing page. IHDA's own disclaimer states that funding and availability are subject to change and are not guaranteed until a complete reservation is placed.
Why are there no mortgage rates on this site?
We do not publish interest rates, APRs or monthly payment figures anywhere. Rate quotes depend on the individual file and change constantly, and a figure on a web page is a poor substitute for a real quote. The calculators here size the assistance amount and the borrower minimum investment instead.
Does this site cover Cook County or city of Chicago programs?
No. This site covers Illinois Housing Development Authority programs, which are what we are approved to originate. Where a separate county or municipal down payment assistance program exists, it falls outside that scope, and we would rather describe IHDA accurately than list programs we cannot deliver.
Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal or tax advice. IHDA program terms, income limits and purchase price limits are set by the Illinois Housing Development Authority and change; figures here carry the date we verified them and IHDA's own disclaimer applies, that funding and availability are subject to change and are not guaranteed until a complete reservation is placed. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.