Free guidance for First State homebuyers
Your Path To The Keys Starts Here
Delaware has more than a dozen free programs that help people fix credit, save for a down payment, and buy with confidence. Nobody should have to guess which one fits. Answer four questions and get your route from wherever you are to your front door.
Built by the Delaware Association of REALTORS®. Every program listed is free and independently run. We route, we don't sell.
Before anything else
Step zero: know your credit
Your credit is usually the first thing a lender looks at, and one of the biggest levers on whether you're approved and what rate you pay, which sets your monthly payment for decades. It's also the single most common thing Delaware's free coaches help people fix. Check it before you do anything else.
1. Pull your free report
AnnualCreditReport.com is the only source for free credit reports authorized by federal law, covering all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) at no cost. Skip lookalike sites that ask for a card number.
Get my free report (opens in a new window)2. Read it like a lender
Your report lists your accounts, balances, and payment history. Note that it's not the same as your score, which many banks and card apps show for free. Look for errors: accounts you don't recognize, late payments you didn't make, old debts that should have aged off. Mistakes happen, and you have a legal right to dispute them with the bureau for free.
3. Get free help fixing it
If the report shows work to do, that's normal, and it's exactly what the free coaching below is for. Of the 29,574 Delawareans coached by Stand By Me from 2011–2021, 84% improved their credit.
Chart my path to a coachYour REALTOR® can't pull or repair your credit for you, but they can tell you what lenders in this market are looking for. Coaching stat verified: uwde.org, September 2026.
The program directory
Verified free help, statewide
Every listing below was verified against the program's own site in September 2026, with its proof point and source shown. All are free to all.
Local help by topic
Twelve doors, one directory
Our partners at Delaware.money, a project of the Delaware Council on Economic Education, maintain a statewide directory of local agencies by topic. Pick your topic and connect directly to vetted Delaware providers.
Categories as published by Delaware.money, verified September 2026. Provider listings live on their site and stay current there. We route, we don't duplicate.
Delaware by the numbers
The costs nobody warns you about, explained
Two numbers every Delaware buyer should know before falling in love with a listing: the transfer tax (one of the highest in the country: 4% in most areas, split evenly between buyer and seller) and the monthly payment. Estimate both here.
Transfer tax
Monthly payment
Principal and interest only. Property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and any mortgage insurance come on top. Rate shown is an adjustable example, not an offer or today's market rate.
Source: Delaware Code, Title 30, §5402: 3% state rate (2.5% where the full 1.5% local tax applies; 4% combined in most areas), apportioned equally between buyer and seller. First-time buyers: 0.5% reduction on the buyer's portion, applied to the first $400,000 of value, for transactions on or after August 1, 2017. Other exemptions or reductions may apply to some transactions. Ask your REALTOR® or your closing attorney whether any apply to your purchase. Estimate only; confirm exact figures with your closing attorney.
Know how the process works
Plain-language guides from NAR
The National Association of REALTORS® publishes short consumer guides that explain, in plain English, how working with an agent actually works: what you'll sign, what things cost, and what your rights are. Start with the twelve below, or see the full library.
Buying a home
Selling a home
Working with your REALTOR® and everything else
NAR's full consumer guide library, linked as downloadable PDFs where available, harvested and link-checked September 2026. NAR adds guides regularly; we refresh this list quarterly.
After closing
The keys are the start, not the finish
Most programs stop at the settlement table. These don't, and neither does your REALTOR®.
Year-one budget
Plan for the bills that surprise new owners: school and county property taxes, homeowner's insurance, sewer and trash, and a maintenance fund of about 1% of home value per year.
Stay out of trouble
If payments ever get hard, act early. YWCA Delaware's HUD-certified counselors offer free, confidential foreclosure prevention, and the Delaware DOJ's Office of Foreclosure Prevention & Financial Education and its Mortgage Mediation Program can step in (verified September 2026).
Grow into it
Post-purchase courses through eHome America cover maintenance, refinancing, and building equity. Ask your counseling agency for free access.
Choosing your REALTOR®
The best way to find a REALTOR® is to ask around.
When you're ready, start with referrals. Ask friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers who recently bought or sold in Delaware who they worked with and whether they'd work with them again. Then interview two or three REALTORS® before you choose one. You'll spend months working together on the biggest purchase of your life, so the right fit matters as much as the right resume.
Ask each one:
How well do you know this part of Delaware, and what have you closed here recently?
How will we communicate, and how quickly do you respond?
Walk me through how you'd handle a deal like mine, start to close.
A good REALTOR® will welcome every one of these questions.