Who Writes This, and What We Left Out
Program and regulatory figures verified September 26, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
A site about a government program is only as good as its sourcing. Here is ours, including the parts we chose not to publish.
Who we are
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555, Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. We originate MSHDA loans, which means the terms on this site are ones we work with rather than ones we read about.
That is the reason the pages are shaped the way they are. The owner-occupancy trigger has its own page because it catches people. The targeted-area map leads the site because it is the first question and almost nobody asks it first.
Where the figures come from
| Figure | Source | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Income and sales price limits | MSHDA's published limits sheet | Effective 6.1.2026, read 2026-09-26 |
| Program terms | MSHDA MI Home Loan and MI 10K DPA program pages | Read 2026-09-26 |
| Targeted area designations | MSHDA limits sheet and targeted areas flyer | Read 2026-09-26 |
| Underwriting notes | Cornerstone approved lender guideline | Read 2026-09-25 |
| Conforming loan limits | FHFA 2026 county loan limit file | Parsed 2026-09-25 |
| Typical home values | Zillow Research public ZHVI series | Data month August 2026 |
Links to MSHDA appear throughout the site: MI Home Loan and MI 10K DPA Loan.
A note on those links
michigan.gov returns a 403 error to automated crawlers on every path we tried, including the document paths that serve its PDFs. The links work in a browser and they are correct; they are simply closed to search engines and AI systems.
That has a consequence worth stating out loud. When the primary source cannot be fetched by a machine, a page like this one becomes the most accessible accurate statement of these facts. So we state each figure fully and in context rather than as a fragment that depends on a source nothing can reach. The accuracy bar goes up, not down.
What we deliberately left off
Rates, APRs and payment figures. Nowhere on this site. A payment number without a locked rate and a real file is a guess presented as a fact.
Mortgage Credit Certificate figures. MSHDA runs an MCC program. We have not read its operating manual end to end, so we publish no numbers for it rather than approximate ones.
The full targeted-place list. MSHDA names specific cities, villages and townships across 17 counties. The list is long, it changes, and an address can sit inside or outside a named township in a way the street does not reveal. We name the counties and the largest places and route you to MSHDA's own sheet or to us.
Funding or urgency claims. No countdowns, no funds running out, no act now. If we ever tell you a program is closing, it will be because we read it in a MSHDA notice and we will cite the notice.
A property-type checklist. Those rules live in the operating guideline and get updated. A stale list is how someone ends up under contract on something that will not finance.
Corrections
We keep a dated registry behind this site recording every figure, its source and the date it was verified, including the corrections. During this build an early draft of the metro value table carried figures written from memory rather than read from the data, and five of them were wrong. They were caught before publication and the correction is logged.
We mention it because a site that has never recorded a correction is a site that is not checking. If you find something wrong here, tell us and we will fix it and date the fix.
Our lane
We are lenders. We can tell you what a loan requires, what the program says, what the timeline looks like and what your options are. We do not advise on purchase contracts, we do not give legal or tax advice, and when a question belongs with your agent, your attorney or your accountant we will say so rather than guess.
Frequently asked questions
Who runs this Michigan down payment assistance site?
Mike Certo, NMLS #260555, Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. We originate MSHDA loans, so the terms described here are ones we work with directly rather than ones summarised from other websites. Every figure traces to a primary source with the date it was read.
Where do the figures on this site come from?
MSHDA's published income and sales price limits sheet effective June 1, 2026, read 2026-09-26; MSHDA's MI Home Loan and MI 10K DPA program pages, read the same day; the Cornerstone approved lender guideline read 2026-09-25; FHFA's 2026 county loan limit file; and Zillow Research's public ZHVI series for August 2026. Each figure on the site carries its date.
Why do the links to michigan.gov not work for search engines?
michigan.gov returns a 403 error to automated crawlers on every path we tried, including the paths serving its PDF documents. The links are correct and load normally in a browser. The practical consequence is that a page like this becomes the most machine-accessible accurate statement of these facts, which is why we state each figure fully and in context rather than as a fragment.
Why are there no interest rates on this site?
Because a payment or rate figure without a locked rate and a real file behind it is a guess presented as a fact, and it is the kind of number people plan around. We publish no rates, APRs or payment figures anywhere on this site. Ask us for a quote on your actual scenario and the assumptions will be written down alongside it.
Why does this site not list every MSHDA targeted city and township?
MSHDA names specific cities, villages and townships across 17 split counties, the list runs long and changes, and an address can sit inside or outside a named township in a way the street does not reveal. A stale list could talk someone out of a house that qualifies. We name the counties and the largest targeted places and route you to MSHDA's own sheet or to us for an address-level check.
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. MSHDA program terms, income limits and sales price limits are set by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and change; figures here carry the date we verified them against MSHDA's published documents. Targeted-area status is determined by MSHDA at city and township level and must be confirmed for the specific address. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.