Easton’s market is a tale of two rivers. North of the Lehigh you’ll find 1920s twins and Queen Anne singles in the West Ward, where prices jumped 9.3% last year yet still average $215k—perfect for FHA 203(k) buyers who want instant equity. South of the river, College Hill and Downtown Historic command $260-300k for renovated row homes within walking distance of Lafayette’s campus and the State Theatre; those pockets move in under two weeks and often see 3-4 offers. The Palmer Township fringe (18045) offers 1970s colonials on quarter-acre lots at $285k, but inventory is so thin that listings frequently escalate $15-20k over ask.

If you’re priced out of Bethlehem’s $300k baseline, Easton is the last Lehigh Valley stop where a household earning $70k can still qualify for the median home without needing a 20% down payment. NMHL tracks every micro-market from South Side to Forks Township; our weekly Easton Market Pulse email alerts clients the moment a USDA-eligible property hits the MLS in Wilson Borough or a repo duplex drops in the West Ward.

Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) programs treat Northampton County as a “target” area, so income limits rise 20% higher than Philly suburbs. A single buyer can earn up to $91,560 and still grab PHFA’s Keystone Home Loan at a rate that runs ¼ point below conventional 30-year pricing. Pair it with the Keystone Advantage Assistance—a $6,000 zero-interest second lien forgiven after 60 on-time payments—and you’re effectively financing 100% plus closing costs on a $200k purchase.

• Northampton County’s First Front Door adds a 3-to-1 match: contribute $1,000 and receive $3,000 in down-payment aid.
• City of Easton’s HOME Program chips in $5k deferred-payment loan for homes inside city limits; no payments until you sell or refinance.
• NMHL layers a $1,500 Easton Closing-Cost Grant on top of any county or PHFA money—funds arrive at the closing table, no repayment ever.

We run a grant stacking calculator during pre-approval so you know exactly which combinations are allowed; PHFA won’t let you combine HOME and First Front Door, but we can route you to the mix that yields the lowest cash to close.

Local banks often decline FHA below 640, but NMHL’s direct-endorsement underwriters can manually approve scores to 580 with 3.5% down and to 500 with 10% down. In 2023 we closed 42 Easton loans under 620; average client saw a 42-point score jump simply by paying down two credit cards under 30% utilization and removing an old Comcast collection we negotiated to $0.

Easton’s abundance of $180-220k twins fits the FHA loan limit of $472,030 for Northampton County, so you’re not forced into costly portfolio products. If you’re rebounding from a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, we can fund an FHA loan after 12 on-time trustee payments—no waiting for discharge. For self-employed borrowers with 600 scores, our Bank-Statement Advantage program qualifies you off 12 months of business statements, no tax returns, with rates only 0.375% above agency pricing.

Pro tip: Easton’s West Ward qualifies for the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit; if you improve the property, you can claim 10% of renovation costs up to $2,500/year for five years. Use the credit to reimburse yourself for the slightly higher FHA rate you locked while rebuilding credit, then streamline-refinance once you hit 620.

If you run a catering company out of a South Side kitchen or install floors up and down Route 22, you already know tax write-offs murder your qualified income. NMHL’s 12-month bank-statement program ignores Schedule C losses; we gross-up monthly deposits by your expense factor and qualify you at a 40% DTI. In Easton’s price band, a borrower showing $9,500 average monthly deposits can purchase up to $425k with 10% down—even after writing off mileage and equipment.

Recent Easton closes: a mobile auto-detailer at 629 score bought a $245k ranch in Palmer Township with 5% down; a husband-wife Etsy shop duo used 24 months of statements to snag a $315k rehabbed colonial on College Hill with 15% down and still cleared the 3-month reserve requirement. Rates run 0.75%-1% above conventional, but you skip PMI after 22% equity, shaving $180/mo compared to FHA.

We also sync with Easton’s Small Business Owner Down-Payment Grant—if your business license lists a City of Easton address, the Redevelopment Authority gifts $2,500 toward closing. Stack it with our NMHL lender credit and you can offset most of the rate premium.

Northampton County is the sweet spot where median price ($235k) sits well below the 2024 VA zero-down limit of $726,200, so every veteran in Easton can finance 100% without a funding-fee penalty on jumbo size. If you’re PCSing from Fort Dix to the Guard armory on Bushkill Drive, you can keep that $30k in your TSP and still beat civilians who need 3.5%-5% down.

NMHL’s VA Elite waives the 1% origination fee for any borrower with a 680+ score and less than 41% DTI—saves $2,350 on a $235k purchase. We also absorb the cost of the Northern Tier appraisal (up to $650) for veterans buying in Forks or Palmer townships, because those zones require the region’s only VA-approved appraisers and longer turn-times.

Surviving spouses: Pennsylvania exempts 100% disabled veterans and Gold-Star partners from Northampton County property taxes—on a $235k assessment that’s $2,800/year forever. We escrow the exemption so your monthly payment drops $235, effectively lowering your DTI and qualifying you for 15% more house.

Combine the right layers and you can walk into an Easton borough home with less than $3,000 liquid:

• PHFA Keystone Advantage: $6k forgivable second lien—covers 3.5% FHA down payment on a $170k purchase.
• Northampton County First Front Door: 3-to-1 match up to $3k—must contribute $1,000 of your own savings.
• City of Easton HOME DPA: $5k deferred-payment loan, 0% interest, due only on sale/refinance.
• NMHL Easton Grant: $1,500 toward closing—no repayment, no income cap.

On a typical $200k West Ward twin, stack HOME + First Front Door + NMHL Grant and you’ll need roughly $2,400 of your own cash for escrow reserves—everything else is covered. We time each draw so the HOME loan records first, keeping you compliant with city rules, then layer county and NMHL funds at the table.

If you’re over income for PHFA, Northampton County’s Community Land Trust sells renovated homes at 75% of market price in exchange for a 1% annual ground lease; NMHL finances the purchase with a 30-year fixed at market rates and you still build 100% of the upside when you sell.