If you are here, chances are your lender required you to take the first-time homebuyer course or your friend suggested that you take the course in order to prepare for the big responsibility of homeownership.
It doesn’t matter how you arrived here, what matters is that you want to learn more about what this course is all about. Purchasing a home for the first time is one of the biggest commitments an individual or family can make. Since it is such a big responsibility and the process can be somehow long, more and more lenders now require potential homebuyers to take a pre-purchase course covering the homebuying process, homeownership preparedness, financial management, and sustaining homeownership. Some government-fund downpayment assistance programs also require that you take this course. But, what is it?
Simply put, it is a course offered by HUD-certified housing counseling agencies designed to help prospective homeowners understand the process of buying a home. The course offers a detailed explanation of the process of pre-qualification, pre-approval, financing, closing, and even a look at your responsibilities as a new homeowner.
To many people, buying a home sounds like it’s just a process that involves the downpayment and a mortgage but in reality, it is not as simple as just that. It involves many other responsibilities that, as renters, we don’t understand. The first-time homebuyer course offers information about how to make a budget and be financially prepared to maintain a home in order for it to maintain its value. It helps the potential buyer understand if they are financially and mentally prepared to own a home, mortgage loan products, types of home insurances, selecting a home, among other important topics that every person must be aware of before they buy a house.
Buying a house requires one to have a well-structured plan, and that’s exactly the type of information that the first-time homebuyer course offers for you to build your own plan based on your financial situation. Even if buying a house is not in your plans right now, we suggest that you take the course to better understand the process and be prepared for when you decide it is time for you to become a homeowner.