More than a requirement, homeownership education unlocks the door to what homebuying is like, how the mortgage process works, and what a first-time homebuyer like you can reasonably expect. It’s even more important when it helps you find viable down payment assistance programs and solutions.
Let’s face it. Homeownership is a serious responsibility and you’ll be lucky to take a homeownership education course to give you a headstart on what it means to be a homeowner.
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Homeownership Education: A Homeowner’s Viable Tool
Homeownership education and counseling can occur before and after buying a home or during homeownership. For first-time homebuyers, this marks their pre-purchase education while for already-homeowners, it deals with mortgage payments and avoiding foreclosure.
Specific mortgage programs such as HomeReady™ and Home Equity Conversion Mortgages have a homeownership education requirement contingent on the loan closing. Most housing finance agencies as found by the FDIC also hinge participation in their programs on completing a homeownership course.
These classes can be in person or online and provided in-house or via a third-party such as Framework. The Housing and Urban Development has a network of homeownership education and counseling agencies, most commonly nonprofit organizations.
What to Learn
Homeownership education classes cover a diverse range of topics. Pre-purchase education, for instance, checks on your:
- Readiness to buy a home. Topics such as financial literacy, personal finance, budgeting, the use of credit, and so on are covered.
- Readiness to get a mortgage. The process of getting a mortgage and how to navigate it is the focal point. Shopping for rates, comparing mortgage deals, and understanding basic mortgage terms such as interest rate vs annual percentage rate are discussed.
- Readiness to own a home. After loan closing, there’s the matter of home maintenance and its costs, e.g. property charges to explain.
Difficulties meeting mortgage payments are part and parcel of being a homeowner. That’s why there is foreclosure prevention counseling for troubled mortgage borrowers.
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Homebuyer Education and Down Payment Assistance
Down payment is a major cost and a primary reason why people hesitate to buy a home. One benefit you can get out of attending homebuyer classes is the support and assistance you can take advantage from myriad housing organizations.
Counselors can refer you to programs in your area or state that offer to cover a portion or all of your down payment and/or closing costs. Your local housing finance agency’s down payment assistance program might be able to give you grants and second mortgages.
Other forms of assistance are subsidized mortgage rates and mortgage loan forgiveness. There are also organizations that assist specific groups such as veterans, providing DPA gifts.
Preparation is key in any activity, especially when it comes to buying and owning a home.
For a few hours at a reasonable fee, you can come up with informed decisions about your homebuying prospects and can rely on help in overcoming hurdles to homeownership.
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