Yes. On a home you’ll live in, a family member can give the whole down payment. The lender needs the trail: the gift leaving the donor’s account and landing in yours, plus a short letter that says no repayment is required. One move worth knowing: set both up before the money moves.
Why the trail matters
A gift means “no expectation of repayment”. Nobody takes that on faith, because a quiet loan from a parent is a debt the payment math never saw. So the file proves two things.
Who gave it. On FHA: family, your employer or union, a close friend with a documented interest in you, a charity, or a government agency. Fannie Mae: a relative by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship, a domestic partner, a fiancé, or a long-standing familial-like relationship. Never the agent or the builder, and on FHA none of your minimum investment from anyone who profits from the sale.
How it moved. Before closing: the donor’s statement or canceled check for the withdrawal, and your statement for the deposit. At closing: a wire or cashier’s check from the donor’s account straight to the settlement agent. Cash on hand is not an acceptable source. An envelope of twenties has no trail.
The letter is four lines: the donor’s name, address and phone, the relationship, the amount, and that no repayment is required, signed by both of you. Done the day the money lands, it’s a condition cleared. Done after, it’s a week chasing a parent’s statement while closing waits.
Where the answer flips
On a two- to four-unit home or a second home financed above 80 percent, Fannie Mae wants the first 5 percent to be your own money, unless the donor has lived with you for 12 months and is moving in too. Help from a housing agency is its own paperwork. Arizona has programs that can cover most of it. Ask which you qualify for.
If a parent is about to send money, I’d rather see the plan before it moves than untangle it after. Ten minutes, no application, no credit pull.