Media Coverage

How to get real advice on buying first home

Seattle Times

Northwest Life: Sunday, February 08, 2004

By Elizabeth Rhodes
Seattle Times staff reporter

Q: I'm a first-time home buyer searching for special programs for people like me. But when I search for information about first-time buyer programs and deals, all I get are commercial sites. Where can I go to get the information I need, and not some middleman or company?

A: Try the Seattle-based Community Home Ownership Center, or CHOC for short. A clearinghouse for home-buyer information, this nonprofit organization exists to be "an unbiased, neutral source of information," says Amy Duggan, CHOC's executive director. "We're there to support the potential home buyer. We're not there to sell any services."

Through CHOC you can get information on free, first-time home-buyer classes sponsored by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. Duggan strongly suggests you take one of these five-hour classes because the teachers are all commission-trained to give you the basics you need to make an informed home purchase — and even though some are real-estate agents or lenders, they've agreed not to use these classes to snare clients. (Nonprofit organizations also teach the commission's classes.)

The classes also have information on special programs for first-time buyers, as does CHOC's Web site: www.homeownership-wa.org.
Among them are low-down-payment options, down-payment assistance programs, reduced mortgage-interest deals and the few outright grants out there for first-timers.

Buyer hopefuls also can call CHOC to get information sent and questions answered. "People can call back as many times as they want because buying is a complex process," Duggan says. "We really want people to feel they're in a position of power rather than the lender or Realtor being in the position of power."

The number to call is (866-600-6366)