Why This Site Starts With a Correction
Program and regulatory figures verified October 6, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
Most pages about Oklahoma assistance are written to make the product sound simpler than it is. This one is written by the people who have to fund the loan.
Who writes this
Mike Certo, Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #260555. Cornerstone is NMLS #173855, an Equal Housing Lender. We originate OHFA loans and lend across Oklahoma statewide.
Reach us on (480) 296-6513 or mcerto@cfmtg.com.
★ Why the first thing we say is a correction
Because the most common statement about Oklahoma down payment assistance is wrong, and it is wrong in a direction that costs buyers money.
OHFA's assistance is repeatedly described online as a grant. OHFA's own subordinate mortgage document calls it a "SUBORDINATE MORTGAGE, Payable at Maturity or Earlier Prepayment Event." A buyer who believes it is a grant and sells in three years finds the balance on their settlement statement.
We would rather lead with that than have it surface at closing. The detail.
★ And why some programmes are missing
You will find Oklahoma pages listing grants and gift funds from various organisations. Several of those programmes are real. They are not on Cornerstone's approved list for Oklahoma, so we cannot originate them — and we do not put programmes on our site that we are unable to deliver.
The honest consequence, stated plainly on our programmes page: through us, Oklahoma has no down-payment grant. We think that is more useful than a longer list you cannot actually use.
How figures get on this site
- Primary sources, with dates. Programme terms from OHFA's own pages and documents; income limits from OHFA Exhibit H-1A, released 09/01/2025; loan limits from FHFA; the transfer tax from 68 O.S. §§ 3201–3206.
- Verified, not just extracted. The 77-county table was pulled from OHFA's PDF, then the page was rendered to an image and read back to confirm no digits had shifted, then every row was arithmetic-tested. Agency PDFs have silently dropped digits on us before.
- Cite or omit. Where we could not verify something, it is not here. We have not published DREAM-specific income limits because those exhibits have not been through the same check.
- No rates, APRs or payment figures. Pricing is specific to you and the day.
What we do not do
We are lenders. We do not advise on tax or on the law — recapture tax in particular is a question for a tax professional, not for us. We will tell you what your file supports and what it does not. Send a scenario.
Frequently asked questions
Who runs this Oklahoma down payment assistance site?
Mike Certo, Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #260555. Cornerstone is NMLS #173855, an Equal Housing Lender, and we lend across Oklahoma statewide.Why does this site say Oklahoma assistance is not a grant?
Because OHFA's own subordinate mortgage document describes it as a subordinate mortgage payable at maturity or earlier prepayment event. It is widely described online as a grant, and a buyer who believes that and sells within a few years finds the balance due on their settlement statement.Why are some Oklahoma programs missing from this site?
Because we only list programmes we can actually originate. Several Oklahoma down payment programmes exist but are not on Cornerstone's approved list, so we cannot deliver them and do not advertise them.Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not tax or legal guidance. OHFA program terms, income limits and purchase price limits are set by the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency and change; figures here carry the date we verified them against OHFA's published documents. OHFA down payment assistance is a repayable subordinate mortgage, not a grant. Federal recapture tax may apply on GOLD bond loans; consult a tax advisor. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.