Boerne Down Payment Assistance: 2026 Limits for Kendall County

Most people shopping Boerne cross down payment assistance off the list before they ask a single question about it. Listings on the north side run past what the same house costs inside Loop 1604, acreage west of the city is priced on the land as much as the structure, and a program with assistance in the name sounds written for a cheaper county. The Kendall County figures argue the opposite: the income ceilings here are the highest in this part of the state, and what stops Boerne buyers is the purchase price.

Boerne is not a cheap town and has not been one for a while. A German settlement on Cibolo Creek grew into a Hill Country destination, Hauptstrasse fills with weekend visitors moving between the shops and the wineries out toward Comfort and Sisterdale, and Kendall County land values have climbed hard as San Antonio money followed I-10 northwest. The households buying here are Boerne ISD teachers, nurses, deputies, contractors, and people trading a Bexar County suburb for a few acres. What follows is the 2026 arithmetic, including what changes when the property carries land, a well, and a barn.

Four Things Boerne Buyers Assume That the Kendall County Numbers Contradict

Each comes up in almost every conversation about buying here, and each has a figure behind it.

• Is Boerne too expensive for down payment assistance to reach? Not on the income side, which is the surprise. Kendall County carries a TSAHC ceiling that may reach ~$179,875 at any household size. What bites here is the ~$579,037 price cap, so households clear the income test easily and then have to find a house under the ceiling, the reverse of how this goes in most of Texas.
• Do we earn too much in Kendall County? Test it before you accept it. TDHCA My Choice Texas Home reaches ~$167,110 on conventional financing and ~$244,630 on FHA, VA, and USDA loans, the widest gap of its kind in the state, which leaves a government-loan buyer room almost nobody expects.
• Do the San Antonio limits apply since we are just up I-10? They do not apply to a Kendall County address. TDHCA treats Kendall County as its own area, the Kendall County HMFA, and TSAHC publishes its ceilings county by county. Kendall’s figures differ sharply from Bexar County’s, in Boerne’s favor, and running your household against a San Antonio number is how most qualified buyers here talk themselves out of the programs.
• Does wanting a few acres rule us out? Land by itself does not disqualify anyone. Assistance rides on an ordinary residential first mortgage, which routinely covers a house on several acres with a personal-use barn behind it. What an underwriter works through is whether the property still reads as a home with land around it.

All four are settled by the same short piece of work: a lender puts your income against the Kendall ceilings, then runs the address against the price limit, the USDA boundary map, and the likely appraisal.

What Down Payment Assistance Means for a Purchase in Boerne

Down payment assistance covers your down payment and often a share of your closing costs, so the cash due on closing day drops substantially. In Boerne the money comes from the state rather than from city hall: the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC) and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA).

Either agency may provide up to ~5% of your loan amount, delivered as a grant you never repay or as a second lien forgiven after you have held the home a set period. It sits on top of a normal first mortgage, whether FHA, conventional, VA, or USDA, so nothing about the underlying loan becomes exotic. Our Texas down payment assistance hub covers how the statewide help is built.

Kendall County Has Its Own Numbers, and They Are Not San Antonio’s

Every address inside the Boerne city limits sits in Kendall County, so there is no county-line hedging to do here. TDHCA treats Kendall as its own area, the Kendall County HMFA, rather than folding it into the San Antonio-New Braunfels figures, and TSAHC publishes its ceilings county by county. One exception is worth knowing before you tour: neighboring Fair Oaks Ranch extends into Bexar and Comal counties, so an address on that side is measured against those counties instead. Confirm the county on the deed record for any listing with a Boerne mailing address that sits outside the city.

Neither the City of Boerne nor Kendall County operates a large, continuously funded down payment program, and anything local tends to be narrow and limited by the grant dollars on hand that year. To ask, start with the City of Boerne’s official site, then the county housing office at the courthouse. ShopDPA does not administer or fund any city or county program and mentions them only so you know to check. What is open year-round, and to repeat buyers, is the statewide TSAHC and TDHCA programs.

Kendall County Income Limits for Boerne Buyers in 2026

Limits run against area median income, and because Kendall County stands on its own rather than being averaged into a larger metro, the ceilings land well above what buyers a few exits down I-10 face. Read each figure as an “up to” guide for non-targeted areas.

The line that changes outcomes in Boerne is not in the table body, it is in the note underneath. My Choice Texas Home carries two income tiers, and in Kendall County the government-loan tier reaches ~$244,630 while the conventional tier stops at ~$167,110, the widest spread of its kind in Texas and the reverse of how most of the state runs. Two buyers with the same income and the same house can get different answers on loan type alone, and the one on an FHA or VA loan has enormous headroom. That is not by itself a reason to choose FHA, since rate and mortgage insurance still count, but it is a reason to have a participating lender price both.

The price cap is the other half. At ~$579,037 the ceiling covers a great deal of what trades in Boerne but not all of it, which is unusual for these programs. Newer construction on the north side, larger homes in the gated subdivisions west of town, and anything where a substantial acreage tract carries the value can push past it, so the search here starts with a filter most Texas buyers never have to set.

How TSAHC Works for a Household Buying Around Boerne

TSAHC is where a large share of Boerne buyers land, mostly because its single ceiling of ~$179,875 applies at any household size. TSAHC’s down payment assistance may provide up to ~5% of the loan amount in one of two structures: a grant that is never repaid, or a second lien forgiven once you have lived in the home three years. A third route exists with no assistance at all, just the first mortgage, and it often carries the lowest rate, though it can no longer carry a tax credit on its own, since TSAHC’s stand-alone Mortgage Credit Certificate has been discontinued indefinitely. One detail before you compare quotes: the tiers reaching ~5% currently come through the forgivable second lien, while the grant is offered at smaller percentages, and on a Boerne loan amount those percentage points are worth real money.

• Home Sweet Texas is the open track. If your Kendall County income fits under the ceiling, you may qualify whatever you do for a living and whether or not you have owned a home before.
• Homes for Texas Heroes covers teachers, police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, corrections officers, nursing faculty, and veterans, with the same assistance attached. Occupation opens the door and the income, credit, and property tests still decide what comes through it. Our Homes for Texas Heroes guide has the full breakdown.

TSAHC approves and trains the lenders permitted to write its loans, and the pool that also handles Hill Country property well is smaller again. A file with a septic system, a shared well, or twelve acres behind the house moves at the speed of whoever has done it before. Assistance percentages and rate options change through the year, and TSAHC posts what is current on its homebuyer pages.

TDHCA’s Two Tracks and Where Boerne Households Land

TDHCA runs the second statewide track, split on whether you have owned before:

• My First Texas Home serves first-time buyers, meaning no ownership interest in a primary residence in the past three years, plus qualified veterans. In Kendall County it runs at ~$143,900 for a household of one or two and ~$165,485 for three or more, and it is the one route here that still pairs with a Mortgage Credit Certificate.
• My Choice Texas Home drops the first-time requirement, which matters where so many buyers are trading up from a house inside Bexar County. Its ceiling depends on the loan: ~$167,110 conventional, ~$244,630 with FHA, VA, or USDA financing.

Current terms and the lender list are posted on TDHCA’s homebuyer site, with the underlying rules on TDHCA’s main agency site. For a Kendall County household the sorting runs in this order. If nobody on the loan has held a primary residence in three years, price My First Texas Home first for the certificate. If you already own and are moving out I-10, that track closes and the comparison is between My Choice Texas Home and TSAHC. If your income clears ~$179,875, My Choice Texas Home on a government loan is the one door still open, and it is wide.

The Mortgage Credit Certificate on a Boerne-Sized Loan

A Mortgage Credit Certificate is a federal tax credit claimed each year on IRS Form 8396, worth up to 15% of the mortgage interest you paid that year, with no annual cap, for as long as you hold the loan and occupy the home.

Because it tracks interest rather than principal, the certificate is worth more where balances are larger, and Boerne balances are larger. A first-time buyer financing near the ~$579,037 ceiling pays several times the annual interest of a buyer at the state median price, and the credit scales with it. The second condition matters just as much: a credit needs federal tax liability to offset, so what a household collects depends on the return it files. TSAHC’s Mortgage Credit Certificate page states that the stand-alone certificate has been discontinued indefinitely and that an MCC may still be obtained in combination with its down payment assistance, as funds are available. TDHCA continues to issue one alongside My First Texas Home. Our Texas MCC guide works through the arithmetic.

Choosing the First Mortgage Under the Assistance in Kendall County

Assistance is not a loan type of its own. It attaches to a standard first mortgage, and which one suits you depends on your credit, your cash, and, in Kendall County more than most places, what you are buying. Our Texas home loan guide covers the base options, and the table shows how each behaves alongside assistance.

The loan you choose does more here than set your rate, because it also sets which My Choice Texas Home income tier you are measured against: ~$167,110 on conventional financing against ~$244,630 on FHA, VA, and USDA loans. A household between those two numbers gets an eligibility answer that flips on loan type alone, which few buyers think to ask about.

USDA deserves a close look outside the city limits. Much of Kendall County beyond Boerne, toward Sisterdale, Waring, Kendalia, and the Comfort side, may fall inside a USDA-eligible rural boundary, while addresses inside town generally will not. It is a residential rural housing mortgage backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture rather than an agricultural loan, and on eligible property it can allow 100% financing for qualifying buyers. It applies its own income test separate from the TSAHC and TDHCA ceilings, and eligibility follows drawn boundaries, so two ranch gates on the same road can land on opposite sides of the line. With no down payment left to cover, assistance on a USDA loan generally goes toward closing costs and escrow reserves.

Property type is where Boerne files most often stall. Residential financing, USDA included, is written for a home and the site under it, and a house on five or ten acres with a fence and a personal-use barn is routine. It gets harder when the land carries most of the appraised value, when outbuildings are income-producing, when a commercial arena, boarding operation, or event venue sits on the tract, or when the parcel is large enough that an appraiser cannot find comparable residential sales nearby. Those may need farm and ranch financing, which the statewide programs do not attach to, and acreage slows appraisals, so build a longer option period into the offer. Eligible veterans should price a VA home loan, which allows zero down, against the land and home options from the Texas Veterans Land Board.

Picking Between TSAHC and TDHCA in Kendall County

The two agencies overlap enough that buyers assume they have to research their way to an answer, when a participating lender can price both in an afternoon. The side-by-side below is the version that matters for a Kendall County household.

In most Texas markets the choice comes down to income. In Boerne it usually does not, since both ceilings sit high enough that few households bump into them, and the tiebreaker becomes cost and structure. Ask for the same purchase quoted both ways and compare three things: the rate on the first mortgage, whether the assistance arrives as a grant or a forgivable lien, and what a Mortgage Credit Certificate would add if you are eligible. The exception is the household earning between the two My Choice tiers, where loan type decides eligibility outright.

In Town, on the North Side, or Out Past the County Roads

Because the ~$579,037 price limit is a live constraint here rather than a formality, where you look changes what is available. The market sorts into four bands.

• The historic core around Hauptstrasse and the older streets off Cibolo Creek, smaller lots on city utilities, where character carries a premium and older systems can raise repair conditions on an FHA appraisal.
• The north and east side toward Boerne Lake and the subdivisions off Highway 46 and I-10, the deepest pool of homes fitting under the price ceiling, and where most assistance-backed purchases close.
• West and southwest toward Fair Oaks Ranch and the gated Hill Country developments, where prices frequently run past the ceiling and association dues count in the payment you qualify on.
• Out in the county toward Comfort, Sisterdale, Waring, and Kendalia, where acreage listings begin, USDA eligibility becomes a live possibility, and well, septic, and access questions decide as much as price.

If the ceiling is squeezing your search, price the alternatives rather than imagining them. Our San Antonio page covers the closer-in option under Bexar County’s figures, New Braunfels is the other Hill Country edge market, and Schertz and Cibolo offer newer inventory at prices that clear the cap more easily.

Boerne ISD, the Hospital, and How the Heroes Track Lands Here

Boerne ISD is one of the main reasons households pay a premium to be here, and its campuses, Boerne High, Champion High, and the schools between town and the Fair Oaks side, employ many of the people who then try to buy inside the boundary they teach in. Add Comfort ISD at the northwest end of the county, the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office, the Boerne Police Department, the fire companies in town and out in the county, county EMS, and the nursing faculty at the hospital, and much of the local payroll sits in occupations the Homes for Texas Heroes track covers.

The bind those households run into is specific to a district like this one. A Boerne ISD employee on a district salary sits comfortably under the ~$179,875 ceiling, so income is not the problem. The price of a house inside the attendance zone is, which is why the ~$579,037 cap matters more to this group than any income table. Two details help: only one borrower needs the qualifying occupation, so a two-earner household can go through the track on one side of it while both incomes count, and there is no first-time requirement, so a teacher who already owns something small in town can use it to move up.

The Credit Score Question for Boerne Buyers

Most TSAHC and TDHCA programs open at a ~620 credit score, which surprises buyers who assumed assistance carried stricter standards than an ordinary mortgage. Your score still shapes your rate and which assistance structures are open to you.

Around Boerne the files that need work usually need a particular kind of work, because so much of the local economy is small and seasonal. Shop owners on Hauptstrasse, tasting room and restaurant operators, event vendors, and the trades that build and maintain Hill Country properties often run a business through personal credit, and a card in your own name that floats inventory or materials can sit near its limit through an entire slow season while every payment posts on time. High utilization alone holds a score down, so bringing two or three of those balances under roughly a third of their limits, and leaving the accounts open rather than closing them, tends to move a file faster than anything else available. The other item that turns up here is a land or lot note. Buyers who bought a tract first and planned to build later carry a payment that counts in the debt-to-income calculation, and how that note is structured, including any balloon date, changes what a lender can do with it. Have a participating lender pull the score the program actually uses rather than the one on a consumer app, and if you are under ~620, a HUD-approved housing counselor can say which items are worth attacking first.

The Homebuyer Course, and What to Ask During It

Most assistance programs require a short homebuyer education course before closing. For a Kendall County buyer it is a good place to ask about the costs specific to Hill Country property: maintaining a well and septic system, what an association collects in the gated developments, insuring a barn, and how brush and wildfire exposure affect a homeowners quote on acreage. You can locate a HUD-approved housing counselor through HUD’s housing counselor directory, and your lender confirms which course your program accepts.

Recapture Tax, Explained Honestly (IRS §143)

Bond-backed programs, principally TDHCA’s My First Texas Home and the Mortgage Credit Certificate, carry a federal recapture provision under IRS §143. It can apply only when three conditions land together: you sell within nine years, your income at sale is significantly above the program limits, and you take a gain. Miss any one and there is generally nothing to recapture. Very few buyers ever owe it, TSAHC’s grant options generally do not carry the provision, and both agencies run reimbursement programs that may cover the tax if it is triggered. The mechanics are on IRS Form 8828.

From the Eligibility Form to the Closing Table in Boerne

1. Tell us what you are trying to buy and where. The eligibility step asks what your household earns, whether anyone files a Schedule C, and whether you are looking inside Boerne or out on the county roads.
2. Meet a participating lender who works Kendall County. We introduce you to a licensed mortgage professional in our network who holds TSAHC and TDHCA approval and has closed files with wells, septic systems, and acreage on them.
3. Get pre-qualified and settle the loan type early. Your lender sets your income against the Kendall County ceilings and prices conventional against FHA or VA, since the My Choice Texas Home tier you are measured on depends on which you use.
4. Filter the search at the price limit. Set your ceiling at ~$579,037 before you start touring, because in this market that number rules listings out rather than sitting comfortably above them.
5. Offer, inspect, and close. Shop with the assistance lined up, and allow a longer option period if the property carries land, a well, or a septic system.

Paperwork That Moves a Kendall County File Faster

None of this is required to start, but a file carrying these pieces tends to close weeks sooner:

• Roughly a month of pay stubs for anyone in the household drawing a W-2
• Two years of filed federal returns with every schedule, the center of the file if you run a shop, a tasting room, an event business, or a trade
• A year-to-date profit and loss statement if your revenue swings with the weekend and holiday season in town
• Two months of bank statements, photo identification, and a DD-214 if you are using VA financing or the veteran side of the Heroes track
• Any survey, plat, or acreage figure you have, plus well records, septic permits, and the most recent inspection, since underwriting and the appraiser will both ask
• The current agricultural or wildlife valuation on the tract, since a 1-d-1 exemption changes the tax figure your payment is qualified on and can shift when the property sells
• Association documents and the annual dues figure for the gated developments west and south of town, since dues are part of the payment you qualify on
• The note and payoff on any land or lot loan you are already carrying, including a balloon date if it has one

Boerne Down Payment Assistance: the Questions Buyers Actually Ask

Boerne down payment assistance: the questions buyers actually ask

† ShopDPA is The Texas Down Payment Assistance Marketplace, a home loan and down payment assistance referral service. We are not a mortgage lender, mortgage broker, or loan officer, and we do not originate, fund, or service loans. We connect Texas homebuyers with licensed mortgage professionals and with down payment assistance programs. We are not affiliated with the City of Boerne, Kendall County, TSAHC, TDHCA, HUD, the IRS, the VA, or any government agency. Program terms, income limits, purchase-price limits, and tax-credit amounts are set by the applicable agency, lender, or insurer and may change; confirm current details with a participating licensed lender. Equal Housing Opportunity.