Most of the veterans and active-duty families I work with know one thing about buying a home in Indiana: the VA loan. Zero down, no PMI, competitive rates — it's a genuinely powerful benefit, and I've written before about how to use it here in Crawfordsville.
What almost nobody asks me about is everything else. Indiana stacks its own state-level programs, property tax relief, and emergency assistance on top of the federal VA loan — and most of it works with your VA benefit, not instead of it. Here's the full picture, in plain terms, from someone who's been a Certified Indiana Appraiser since 2006 and has walked more than a few military families through this exact process.
The State Programs Layered on Top of Your VA Benefit
The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) runs the state's homebuyer assistance programs, and two details matter specifically if you've served:
You may not need to be a "first-time" buyer. IHCDA's First Step and Step Down programs normally require you to not have owned a home in the past three years. If you qualify as an IHCDA "Eligible Veteran" — meaning you served in the active military, naval, or air service, or the Indiana National Guard, without a dishonorable discharge — that three-year rule is waived. That's a meaningful difference for career military families who've owned and sold homes at previous duty stations and assumed they no longer qualified for first-time buyer assistance here.
Next Home provides real down payment help. IHCDA's Next Home program offers down payment assistance of 2.5% or 3.5% of the purchase price, paired with a 30-year fixed-rate FHA or conventional loan. Since a VA loan already gets you to zero down, this assistance is most useful stacked toward closing costs — but for a military spouse buying under a conventional loan while a service member is still on VA-loan-eligible orders elsewhere, it can cover the down payment outright.
Every IHCDA program has income limits that vary by county and household size, and all of them require a homebuyer education course. I coordinate with participating lenders on this regularly, so if you're not sure where you land, that's a five-minute conversation.
What Changed With Your Property Taxes This Year
I covered this in more depth in a separate post, but it's worth repeating here because it's genuinely new: Governor Braun signed House Enrolled Act 1210 in March 2026, which rebuilt how Indiana handles property tax relief for disabled veterans.
The headline change — veterans with a total (100%) disability rating, or Individual Unemployability, now qualify for a full property tax exemption on their primary residence, replacing the old $14,000 assessed-value deduction. Other existing veteran deductions are being converted into direct tax credits instead. None of this is automatic if you're newly applying: qualifying veterans need to file with their county auditor, and the application window for the new full exemption runs from July 1 through December 30, 2026, for benefits that apply to taxes payable in 2027.
If you're closing on a home in Montgomery, Boone, Hendricks, or any of our nine West Central Indiana counties this year, this is exactly the kind of detail that should factor into your long-term cost picture — not something you find out about after the fact.
A Safety Net Most Veterans Don't Know Exists
Separate from homebuying assistance, the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs runs the Military Family Relief Fund (MFRF) — an emergency grant program for Indiana veterans and military families facing genuine financial hardship, covering housing, utilities, food, and other essentials, up to roughly $2,500. It's not a purchase program, but if a service member or veteran household hits a rough financial stretch, it's a resource worth knowing about before things get to crisis point.
What I Bring to the Table Locally
Beyond the state programs, I participate in the Military On The Move® (MOM) program, which gives eligible active-duty, veteran, retired, and Wounded Warrior buyers a 20% rebate of my commission at closing — on top of whatever state and federal benefits you're already using. On a typical West Central Indiana purchase, that's real money back in your pocket, not a discount buried in fine print.
Putting It Together
Here's how these pieces typically stack for a military buyer in West Central Indiana:
- VA loan (or IHCDA First Step/Step Down if VA isn't the right fit) for your first mortgage
- IHCDA Next Home down payment assistance, if you're not using a zero-down VA loan
- HEA 1210 property tax relief, if you carry a service-connected disability rating
- Military On The Move commission rebate at closing
- MFRF as a safety net, if hardship ever hits
Most veterans I talk to know about one of these. Very few know about all five, and fewer still know how to layer them correctly with a lender who understands military lending.
If you're relocating to Crawfordsville, coming home after service, or just starting to plan a purchase anywhere in our nine-county service area, I'd like to walk through exactly what applies to your situation. Call me at (765) 230-6335 or check your Military On The Move® eligibility to get started.
Where you live is my business — and for those who've served, making sure you don't leave benefits on the table is part of that job.
John Downey, REALTOR® | Indiana Certified Appraiser F.C. Tucker Company | 200 East Market Street, Crawfordsville, IN | (765) 230-6335
