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Home Post-purchase Services
Families can get assistance from our NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center with post-purchase, foreclosure prevention and reverse mortgage counseling
The NeighborWorks® Home Ownership Center (HOC) provides post-purchase educational workshops and individual financial counseling. Workshops provide general information about the responsibilities of home ownership, so that participants will have the skills and knowledge to successfully maintain their homes and finances. This type of education is the final part on the continuum of homebuyer support, before, during and after the purchase process.
Post-purchase Workshops
Studies prove that post-purchase education is essential to retain homeowners, especially those who are purchasing for the first time. HOC post-purchase classes are 1.5 hours long and start with a topic overview followed by a presentation by an expert in the related field. Key topics for post-purchase education include: foreclosure prevention, refinancing, avoiding predatory lending, home maintenance, connection with one’s community, and others.
These workshops provide general information about the responsibilities of home ownership, so that participants will have the skills and knowledge to successfully maintain their homes and finances. This type of education is the final part of the continuum of homebuyer support before, during, and after the purchase process. Topics include:
- Responsibilities as a homeowner, including property and supplemental taxes
- Avoiding predatory lending scams, including identity theft and credit card fraud
- Maintaining and repairing a home, including seasonal upkeep and energy conservation
- Improving budgeting skills, maintaining a good credit file, stopping unwanted solicitations and keeping good records
- Homeowner, life and disability insurance basics, being a good neighbor and an asset to the community
- What to do if you find yourself in trouble with your mortgage, how your mortgage lender works and what to look for if you want to refinance.
Post-purchase Counseling
The primary goal of the HOC is to help ensure that the home ownership experience is a successful one. This may include providing the home owner with additional information on record keeping, budgeting, home maintenance and repairs, what to do if one falls behind on mortgage payments, and much more. In some cases, staff helps families evaluate their budget and assists the family with a spending plan.
Foreclosure Prevention Counseling
The NeighborWorks® HomeOwnership Center is now offering counseling to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Unexpected emergencies such as temporary job loss, illness or a death in the family can lead to a loss of income. This can result in the inability to make the mortgage payment causing a possible foreclosure.
To help preserve families in the community and stabilize neighborhoods, a foreclosure prevention counseling program has been established to help families get through the difficult transition period. This will enable families to keep their homes by planning and saving for unexpected emergencies. Individuals are also urged to attend the Financial Empowerment Program classes.
These sessions help participants understand the various options that may be available if they have fallen behind on their mortgage payments. Sometimes a family is experiencing a financial crisis. In these cases, the HOC counselor gathers the client’s information to: outline the homeowner’s objectives, determine the client’s ability and willingness to pay for the mortgage, establish a course of action to address the problem, and mediate a plan that is acceptable to the borrower and lender. The earlier someone seeks guidance, the easier it is to avoid foreclosure.
Reverse Mortgage Counseling
Many senior citizens with a large investment (equity) in their homes experience low monthly income and have trouble making ends meet. These counseling sessions explore accessing that investment by receiving monthly payments through a reverse mortgage. The HOC counselor will provide the client with the information the client needs to make the decision of whether a reverse mortgage program is the right choice.