“I want to buy a home.
Where do I start?”
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Pre-Purchase
Urban Institute researchers examined 6,224 loans made to NeighborWorks-counseled borrowers between 2010 and 2012 against a matched control group of 6,224 loans and found counseled borrowers had a 16 percent lower 90-day delinquency rate. The authors attribute the smaller effect, compared with earlier crisis-era findings, to the tightening of the credit box after the financial crisis
Li, W., et al. (2016). Urban Institute
What is it?
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OutHUD-certified counselor looks at your credit report, your income, and your savings, and tells you where you actually stand against what lenders look for. Not what you hope. What’s on paper.
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Some people leave that first session ready to apply. Most leave with a list — pay this down, wait these months, save this much. Either result is worth knowing before a lender tells you.
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In Affordable Housing is a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. We do not originate loans, we do not service loans, and no lender pays us. We work for you.
What happens in a session
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We pull your credit and go through it line by line. We look at your income and your monthly obligations and calculate the ratios a lender will calculate. We talk about how much house that supports, which is often not the number a mortgage calculator gave you.
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Then you leave with a written action plan. Specific steps, in order, with a timeline.
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There is a $50 fee for an optional Credco Credit report.
Down payment assistance
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Arkansas has programs that help with down payment and closing costs, and most people who qualify don’t know they exist. We’ll tell you which ones you may be eligible for and what each one requires. Some have income limits, some require homebuyer education first, and some can be combined.
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We help you understand and apply. We don’t decide who gets approved.
Who this is for
Anyone thinking about buying, whether that’s in three months or three years. You do not have to be a first-time buyer. You do not have to have good credit. Earlier is better — the further out you start, the more we can fix.
Where this connects
Most people who come to us for pre-purchase counseling also take the homebuyer education course, and some work on credit and savings through financial capabilities first. All three are here, and a counselor can tell you what order makes sense for you.
