The purpose of these workshops is to assist first-time homebuyers through the complex and often overwhelming process of purchasing and financing a home. A workshop provides 8 hours of education on a variety of topics essential to home purchasing and that will serve to empower a homebuyer to make well informed purchase decisions and avoid predatory schemes. The following topics are covered at each workshop:

• Homebuyer vocabulary
• Saving and budgeting
• Building good credit and repairing bad credit
• Establishing non-traditional credit
• Responsibilities of a real estate agent
• Shopping for a house
• Choosing a mortgage lender
• Applying for a mortgage loan
• Government assistance programs for first-time homebuyers
• Escrow and the closing process
• Consumer rights & consumer protection laws
• Fair housing laws
• Maintaining your home and managing your finances

Our first-time homebuyer workshop is approved by the City and County of Los Angeles and fulfills the 8-hour homebuyer education requirement for their respective soft second loan and down payment assistance programs.

Counseling
ELACC's one-on-one counseling is offered to all clients after attending the eight-hour homebuyer workshop. Counseling is designed to offer hands-on assistance with specific homebuyer issues. Services begin with a thorough review and assessment of a client's income, work history, household size and credit history in order to calculate an initial loan pre-qualification and to assess the client's needs. Counselors are highly trained on the many facets of a home purchase and are able to assist clients throughout the entire process from beginning to end. The most frequent services provided by homebuyer counselors include:

• Review personal income and financial documentation to assess homeownership potential
• Access and evaluate credit reports
• Conduct home loan prequalification assessment
• Provide referrals to regional homebuyer subsidy programs
• Referrals to reputable real estate agents