Consumer Services

The Home Buying Process

This 3-hour course provides a detailed overview of the primary steps in purchasing a home, readiness, affordability, money management, loan qualification, the professionals' role, how to avoid pitfalls, and an overview of affordable home loan and down payment assistance programs.

Credit & Budgeting

This 2-hour workshop is designed to provide a more in-depth look at issues surrounding credit including how to read a credit report, credit scoring, consumer rights, how to improve poor credit, and correcting errors, with the ultimate goal of achieving homeownership. Detailed money management techniques are discussed, with the student actually completing a number of worksheets including an individual monthly budget analysis. Students are encouraged to modify spending habits in order to begin saving for a down payment and/or a reserve fund.

Home Maintenance & Good Neighbor

This 3-hour workshop outlines the importance of regular preventative maintenance, offering suggestions for general upkeep, safety tips to safeguard the home, budgeting for repairs, and record keeping. A discussion on what a good neighbor is and how to be active within the community is also suggested. The general theme throughout this class is the investment made by each individual/family in themselves through homeownership, building long-term economic stability for their family. An emphasis on the investment within the community is also stressed, focusing on the process of being a stakeholder within your neighborhood.

In addition to emphasizing regular preventative maintenance, instructors discuss the expected lives of various primary household components and their approximate replacement cost, which leads to a discussion of realistic money management, including budgeting for repairs and replacement. The importance of punctually making monthly mortgage payments is also stressed, along with the inevitable consequences of failure to do so, which impacts not only the individual family but the surrounding neighborhood as well

Other Services

Pre-purchase counseling is available for students who have completed one or all of these seminars. Personalized assistance is provided by our certified lending and real estate counselors to identify your needs and to determine a path to homeownership.

Energy Efficient Financing for your home

Financial Planning Counseling through our volunteer network

Certificate of Completion may allow you to get additional funds for down payment or save money on closing costs.