Neighborhood Housing Services Of Orange County Inc

Programs: A. Education and counseling:nwoc's education and counseling program provides seminars, workshops and one-on-one counseling for individuals in need of assistance with the purchase of a home, increased knowledge of personal finance, or help in working with lenders and loan servicers to avoid foreclosure of a primary residence. Operating within nwoc's neighborworks homeownership center, the education and counseling program provides myriad strategies to ensure successful and sustainable homeownership for orange county families of modest means. As the recent foreclosure crisis demonstrated, successful homeownership begins with educated consumers who have the tools, capacity and information to make good choices about their homeownership decisions, financing options and home maintenance. In fye 2017, nwoc provided homebuyer education and counseling to several households with continuing one-on-one counseling, helping create several first-time homebuyers. Neighborworks orange county assisted several households that participated in nwoc homeownership preservation education or counseling programs, with a multitude of clients avoiding foreclosure. These programs were conducted in english, spanish and vietnamese. Nwoc provided financial education to various individuals, targeting low-income minority individuals, the homeless and abused women.

b. Down payment assistance lending:nwoc offers a variety of down payment assistance loan and grant programs to qualified applicants. Nwoc's lending staff matches buyers with affordable and safe community loan programs offered by major financial institutions. These down payment assistance programs are funded by a variety of sources including the federal home loan bank of san francisco wish and idea program, nsp 1, nsp 2, calhome, and local cities. In fye 2017, nwoc provided down payment assistance to first-time buyers.

c. Property acquisition and development program:the goal of this program is to develop real estate projects and oversee real estate services that support the needs of the communities served by nwoc. Through the homeagain initiative as well as the neighborhood stabilization program (nsp1 and nsp2) administered by the u. S. Department of housing and urban development (hud), nwoc is engaged in the purchase, rehabilitation and resale of foreclosed homes to help stabilize targeted neighborhoods and to make home purchases affordable to buyers who meet certain income limits. Nwoc launched the homeagain initiative in january 2008. The homeagain initiative turns vacant, distressed properties into affordable homes for working families. Nwoc also spearheads the homeagain consortium, a partnership of seven local non-profits, to access nsp2 dollars through hud. The home again consortium was the first nsp2 recipient to draw down 100% of its funding. The property acquisition and development program has been successful in preventing urban blight by focusing on targeted communities. Nwoc works with cities, lenders and donors to acquire the capital to operate the program. In fye 2017, nwoc acquired several reo properties and sold rehabilitated homes to qualified buyers.

nwoc has various other programs which provide assistance to first-time homebuyers in achieving their dream home.