The Bay Area Home Buyer Agency's free Home Buyer counseling services, provided by First Home, Inc., assist homebuyers through the entire home purchase process. A designated Home Buyer Counselor will work with you, from an intial review of your unique home buyer needs (where you identify which homebuyer assistance programs match your needs) to the closing of a home purchase. Counselors are able to determine the best steps for you to take to make your dream of home ownership a reality.

Home Buyer Counselors will, among other things, cover the following with you:

• Provide free homebuyer education and coaching.
• Conduct a thorough review of your credit report with you: they will provide recommendations, if necessary, on steps you can take to immediately start improving your credit situation, so that you can maximize your potential.
• Discuss how much home you can afford to buy and how your purchase will impact your overall cost of living.
• Review homebuyer programs and financing alternatives available to you.
• Establish a home purchase plan/strategy - be it that you will be immediately pursuing your home purchase or buying six to twenty-four months into the future.
• Introduce you to resources and professionals who will help you through the entire home purchase process.

How Do I Begin the Free Home Buyer Counseling Process?

To begin the counseling process you will need to complete the Homebuyer Counseling Worksheet & Application. If you do not already have tri-agency credit report, we will need to run one for you so that our counselors can advise you. You will need to send us $40 to cover the cost of this report.

Once your Home Buyer Counseling Worksheet and Credit Report processing fee are received, a Home Buyer Counselor will send you a detailed copy of your report and conduct an intial review of your unique situation. Within 7 to 10 days, a counselor will:

• Call you to set an appointment: If after the initial review, the counselor finds that you are ready to take your next steps to home ownership, you will be contacted to set an appointment. The Counselor will review your specific case with you and explain the the various opportunities and programs for which you are eligible. The counselors will be there to support you every step of the way!

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• Advise you on how to prepare: In some cases, after a careful review of the information provided in your Worksheet & Credit Report, the counselor may not be able to match you with any existing programs or the programs you qualify for have waiting lists. Depending on what the counselor finds, you will be notified of what additional steps are needed to ensure that you may be eligible for any of our Home Buyer Assistance programs in the future.

What will the Counselor review with me?

• Personal Financial Assessment. This assessment evaluates your current and future situation and financial resources. It also establishes a basis for you to analyze your capacity to purchase a home now, or in the future, and helps lay a foundation to structure a homebuying plan.
• Budgeting for a Home Purchase and Home Ownership. A great degree of emphasis is applied towards the effect homeownership can have on your cost of living and how to prepare and work with any cost of living adjustments. In your counseling session you will look at your options.
• Your Credit History and Goals. You and your counselor carefully review your comprehensive credit report, so that, together, you can look at how you can enhance your scores and identify opportunities.
• Homebuyer Program Eligibility. Focus is placed in identifying and matching you with various private and public homebuyer programs and resources that can help maximize your purchase capacity while minimizing the financial impact of homeownership.

To find out which programs you are elligible for, or to begin the counseling proccess, download and print a copy of the Home Buyer Counseling Worksheet by clicking on the button below.