Mortgage Connects an MGIC Podcast

How to prepare borrowers for sustainable homeownership

• MGIC MI

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We sit down with Heather Bowman, the manager of Education and Housing Counseling for Finally Home!, to discuss the power of education for homebuyers and homeowners throughout the purchase process and beyond. Heather unpacks the advantages of traditional homebuyer education, post-purchase education and life-of-loan counseling, emphasizing how these resources equip families with the tools needed to navigate the complex homeownership journey.

In this episode, we discuss the: 

  • Best time for borrowers to take an education course
  • Critical differences between homebuyer education and housing counseling
  • Trend toward accessible online education and counseling
  • Importance of post-purchase education for sustainable homeownership 

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Concepcion Guerrero:

Welcome to Mortgage Connects by MGIC, bringing you the latest insights from top mortgage professionals around the industry. I'm your host, oncepcion Guerrero. In today's episode, we're going to explore the ways homebuyer education programs benefit both mortgage lenders and borrowers. That's where our guest today comes in, eather Bowman, manager of Education and Housing Counseling with Finally Home, finally Home's homebuyer education course provides a solid foundation for understanding the homebuying process. By taking this course, future homebuyers gain the knowledge and tools they need to be a successful homeowner. Welcome, heather, glad to have you join us today.

Heather Bowman:

Thank you, Concepcion. I'm so happy to be here and to share more information about Finally Home! and our services with all of the community that's out there that's supporting the MGIC and the mortgage industry as a whole, excellent.

Concepcion Guerrero:

Well, I'm excited for the topic on hand as well, because I think it's one that many of our listeners will learn a couple of things when it comes to homebuyer education. MGIC is a proud partner of Finally Home. Due to our belief, the power of homebuyer education helps set future homeowners up for success. Let's start by having you tell us more about Finally Home and what sets them apart from the competition.

Heather Bowman:

Well. Thank you. We really appreciate the partnership and the support that MGIC provides for these valuable services. At Finally Home, we're proud to offer a unique and innovative approach to homeownership through education and housing counseling services. We've created comprehensive resources to help individuals and families achieve their housing dreams and keep them. We really want to help people throughout their entire housing journey, so Findly Home provides a range of services. The main feature is our first-time home buyer education course, which meets national industry standards and is provided by a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. We've built the online course from the ground up to meet the overall needs of homebuyers. In addition to homebuyer education, we also offer services such as post-purchase education and in-house one-on-one housing counseling, which is for all types of housing needs, including pre-purchase all the way through reverse mortgage counseling.

Heather Bowman:

I'd say the first thing that sets Finally Home apart from other providers is our staff and our overall customer support that we provide. Our team is made up of experienced housing professionals that have practical knowledge of the challenges individuals and families face when trying to meet their housing goals, and we're versed in the mortgage industry and stay up to date on the real estate market. And we're accessible If somebody has questions throughout the homebuyer education course or throughout their housing journey. We're here to help. We're accessible by phone, live chat, email. I really think that sets us apart, because we have staff available to help people when they need it.

Heather Bowman:

Secondly, our curriculum covers all aspects of homebuying, from affordability of homeownership to information about loan types, closing costs, budgeting, home maintenance.

Heather Bowman:

By educating homebuyers before they purchase, we're setting them up for success. In addition to the education course, we also offer life of loan housing counseling, which means that our clients have access to ongoing support and guidance for the duration of their loan or throughout their homeownership journey. This can be a huge benefit for people new to homeownership or who may encounter unexpected challenges along the way. Our housing counselors are available to provide guidance on everything from home repairs to ongoing budgeting, and they can really help the clients navigate other issues as they come up too. So we're committed to ongoing upgrades and improvements, and this is another reason that sets us apart with home buyer education is that we're regularly updating our program and services to reflect the changing needs of our clients and the mortgage industry. This means that our buyers and homeowners alike can be confident that they're getting the most up-to-date information and support available. We think it's a value add to the industry as a whole and to anyone needing housing assistance.

Concepcion Guerrero:

Thank you, Heather, for going a little bit deeper into the services, the wide range of services that Finally Home offers, and also, you know, mentioning the team, you know, behind all that success, all that effort and all the magic that comes about Finally Home. But, heather, tell us what is your role at Finally Home and, most importantly, what do you love about it the most? Sure?

Heather Bowman:

My role is really to oversee our homebuyer education and housing counseling services. I work on program development, partner and consumer relations and I identify areas where we can improve our overall services and make those changes happen. We really value consumer feedback and I'm often going out and soliciting feedback and trying to implement those suggestions that we've received from both participants housing counseling clients, as well as our industry partners to improve the course and our offerings and any opportunity that we have to add value and content and improve the user experience. We're doing that. What I love most about my role oh, there's so much.

Heather Bowman:

I really am fortunate. I have such a great opportunity that I've had with with Finally Home, really knowing that the products and services that I'm working on on a daily basis are helping people to reach their housing goals. It's it's incredibly rewarding. I'm lucky to have a team that's invested in helping others and I feel like, at the end of the day, we're making a difference. We're helping people through tough times. We're helping people have the happiest moment of their lives when they're getting into their first home and they're able to create a foundation that's secure and safe and sustainable. It's pretty impressive and I'm very fortunate.

Concepcion Guerrero:

That's amazing. That's amazing that you get to experience all those the feelings, the making homeownership a possibility up front with those customers that you help. But, Heather, now is it safe to say that homebuyer education has a huge impact on homebuyers, really no matter what stage of their home buying journey they are in? But tell me, when would you say would be the best timing to receive or go through the homebuyer education?

Heather Bowman:

Sure. Well, I always say the earlier the better, but honestly it really just depends on numerous factors that are influencing that individual that's looking to buy a home. You know, it can be really hard because a lot of times people don't know that our services exist until they've already put an offer in on the property and then the lender calls them up and says oh, by the way, the loan product that you're getting requires homebuyer education, and so we don't like to see that. That's not ideal. We want people to have the education and the resources up front so they can really be prepared for what they're getting into. Although I strongly believe that borrowers at any stage will gain knowledge from our course, it's going to be much more useful if they take it before they start the process. The one concern we often hear is that people wish they would have started much earlier, ideally well before they started shopping for a home. So you know, we really encourage our lenders and our realtor partners to let their first time homebuyers know that Finally Home is available as soon as they start working with them. You know, it's a great tool for the lenders and realtors and other industry professionals because it really can make for a much smoother experience for both the homebuyer and the industry professionals. When the buyer understands the process upfront and knows what to expect, really it's a win-win for everybody.

Heather Bowman:

So really, to answer your question, I would say the ideal time I would say would be about six months before they want to buy. This gives buyers the time that they need to prepare their finances, maybe work on credit scores if they need to improve them a little bit. They have time to do some research and then really take the time to make educated decisions on what they want to buy, where they want to buy and the resources that they need. So sometimes people need less time, some people need more, but really six months seems to be a good benchmark.

Heather Bowman:

And, as I mentioned earlier, Finally Home is always working on ways to improve our offerings and one of the areas that we've seen interest in is overall financial literacy. So our Finally Home first time homebuyer education course it covers budgeting and credit. But we've really seen an interest in more of an in-depth offering on budgeting and credit and overall financial literacy. So I'm pleased to announce that Finally Home will be launching a new financial literacy course to add to our lineup of services this fall and we see this as a resource to help those needing a little bit more assistance to get prepared for homeownership or really just to help them in their housing journey, and we think it's a great place to start when maybe homeownership might be a few years out and we'll be able to integrate some of the tools that were offered in financial literacy to boost our finally home course as well. So we're really excited about that.

Concepcion Guerrero:

Now let's talk more about those, that of who receives the homebuyer education. Now, you mentioned counseling is provided in either English or Spanish. So I'm curious do you go about offering the training differently to either set of group due to the language differences?

Heather Bowman:

No, we've really tried make the course as interchangeable as possible. We want Spanish speakers to have the same exact experience with Finally Home that English speakers receive, and so we have worked to make sure that it truly is an interchangeable experience between English and Spanish.

Heather Bowman:

Now when it comes to one-on-one counseling that's going to be individualized for the client themselves. So that's a bit different. And there seems to be in the industry a lot of confusion out there between what the difference of education and housing counseling is. Many people think it's the same thing, but it's really not. So just to clarify for our audience the purposes of home buying and for the purposes of home buying and meeting lending requirements, homebuyer education is a class that covers the home buying process and that can be taken either in person or online. Our Finally Home first time homebuyer education course is just that. We provide an online class that covers the whole process and then at the end of the class the graduates receive a certificate of completion that they can then provide to their lender to meet homebuyer education loan requirements. But overall, education is provided as a set curriculum and it's more at a higher level.

Heather Bowman:

On the other hand, our housing counseling services is working with a housing counselor to receive one-on-one individualized assistance. So this can be done in person, over the phone, via Zoom. Housing counselors help clients create an action plan to meet their housing needs and goals. So if the goal is homeownership, then a housing counselor can help someone with debt ratios or improving their credit score. It really just depends upon what that individual's goals or needs are. And then that's the great thing about the one onone housing counseling is it's customized to that individual person.

Heather Bowman:

So at Finally Home, we offer both of these services. We have the first-time homebuyer education course, but then we also offer that one-on-one assistance as a complement to anyone needing a little bit more help. The great thing is, our counselors can help all throughout someone's homeownership journey. So whether it's when they're first starting out with renting, preparing for home buying, or after they've purchased and they've been in the home for a while, or even at the end of their homeownership down the road, when they're looking at downsizing, or maybe they're looking for a reverse mortgage, Our services can help with that as well. And again, all of these services are available in both English and Spanish.

Concepcion Guerrero:

Well, nowadays the home buying journey looks different for everybody. I've heard cases where the home buyer never really meets their loan officer in person, since really all that communication is done electronically. Do you see something similar when it comes to the preference of those going through the home buyer education process, and has virtual training really superseded the traditional in-classroom method?

Heather Bowman:

Yes, absolutely. Online on-demand training, we found, is preferred. Essentially, since 2020 with COVID, a lot of the preference has really changed to more online. It's also a lot easier for people, especially with busy schedules, and whether it's convenience, accessibility, it's easier for people in rural areas across the country. If they can't drive to a live class site, then the online really is preferred. It can be reduced distractions because people can take the class at their own time, you know, after they've got their household settled and when they have time to focus on it.

Heather Bowman:

Online education can be a great tool for homebuyers. You know, we see the difference. You know, a lot of times people are audio learners and they learn better in a classroom environment. So we've tried to make the course as interactive and fun as possible. Plus, we've added an audio component to the course so that, as people are going through and working through the lessons, that they can listen to it as well. So this provides a really quality learning experience.

Heather Bowman:

Whether you're a visual learner or an audio learner, you have both options. And then, when people register to take the course, we give them the option to get a textbook mailed to them, which is essentially the course rolled into a book, and, if they'd like a paper copy, we'll send that to them, or they have the option of downloading it to their computer at any point during taking the course. This gives them some additional resources that they can refer to. Now, digital is great, but sometimes you need a real person, and so that's why we've worked really hard with our staffing and with our model to make sure that we meet the needs of all of our students. So we've added things like live chat. We have housing counselors that are available to provide support when people need it, and we just want to make sure that we're accessible for all.

Concepcion Guerrero:

Thank you, Heather. Now my next question is around a myth that many really assume housing counseling is needed only when you're ready to buy a house, or really for those that it's a requirement for. Can you share some of the obstacles you see from those going through the counseling, and how does Finally Home help them not only achieve the home ownership dream but really also make sure they continue to keep the home post-purchase?

Heather Bowman:

Sure, that's a great question, uh, and it's incredibly important. Um many people see buying a home and moving in as the end goal. Um, it's. There's so much going into just getting into that home to begin with. Um many people don't realize that there's a lot that goes on, goes into owning and maintaining that home. So don't get me wrong it's incredibly rewarding, but it's important to be realistic and have the tools needed to succeed at owning.

Heather Bowman:

There's always going to be ongoing maintenance and things break when people least expect it. Um, I example, my microwave broke last week and we had to deal with that. I mean, it's just there's stuff that comes up all the time. We all know that, but with our course we try to prepare people for that. But what we found during the home buying process is that people really are focused on closing.

Heather Bowman:

Thinking about obstacles six months to a year, two years down the road, really isn't on the radar for most people when they're buying. So I would say probably the most common obstacle new homeowners face is adjusting to a new budget, budget. Utilities typically will vary and a lot of times there's added utilities that people weren't paying for when they were renting, that they're now responsible for and then getting comfortable with your mortgage payment. Once the taxes and insurance are added into that monthly payment, that can be quite an adjustment. Another common obstacle people face is unplanned expenses. When something breaks when you're renting like if you have a plumbing issue, you call maintenance or you call your landlord and they come and they fix it and typically you're not charged for that. But once you own your home, everything is on your shoulders to handle, which is okay and it's super rewarding because you can do whatever you like with your home. But it can be an obstacle if you're not prepared.

Heather Bowman:

So we talk about having an emergency budget and finally home. But it really is incredibly important once you own your home, having just a little bit extra set aside to cover emergencies can really make or break your budget. So to address this, a few years ago we saw this as a concern for new homeowners. So what we did is we built a post-purchase module called the Homeowners Toolkit and this is a free resource that becomes available as soon as someone finishes. Finally home, and basically it's a one-stop resource that provides practical information and answers to questions to assist new and experienced homeowners. So topics include financial management, disaster preparedness, budgeting, home maintenance, repair insurance, staying current on your mortgage, refinancing, selling a home, creating an emergency budget the list goes on. And then, of course, for additional help, we always have the one-on-one housing counseling, which is available regardless of how long you've been in that home. So this is always a great resource for people planning for a big expense, major repair or any unplanned setbacks. But overall, I would say that our resources are just as important post-purchase as they are pre-purchased.

Concepcion Guerrero:

Now let's talk about the relationship between Finally Home and the lenders. Just hearing the vast majority of education you offer and resources alongside with that, I envision the loan officers, who are the ones that really have the boots on the ground, work closely with Finally Home. So what does the relationship between the loan officer look like and Finally Home, and how are they able to leverage the resources that you offer with the homebuyers for additional guidance?

Heather Bowman:

Sure, so we really have a great relationship with lenders. We work closely with lenders and brokers across the country to help their clients meet loan requirements as well as to provide additional assistance. I would say that Finally Home is a tremendous tool for lenders to have as a resource and a referral for their clients. We've had lenders share with us that their clients really have appreciated the referral to Finally Home, have appreciated the referral to finally home because it's helped them by solidifying the information that the lender and that the lenders were providing them. Essentially, in a lot of cases it provides peace of mind for the transaction because they're getting that same information that the lender is providing them from a trusted, independent third party. So they're solidifying that information and it's helping to ease their nerves and help with the transaction as a whole.

Heather Bowman:

I'd say when lenders refer their clients to Finally Home, it gives them the ability to take the time that they need to educate themselves and then ask additional questions of the lender. It helps prepare the borrower and in many cases can make for a much smoother transaction for everybody involved. When borrowers are prepared, they know what to expect and really lenders appreciate that no-transcript. When lenders have borrowers needing extra help, Finally Home. We're here, our housing counselors can provide ongoing assistance to help them get mortgage ready and they'll end up going back to their lender and it'll be a great transaction. We found lenders really appreciate that partnership. The extra help can really make a loan go through and can set the borrower up for success long term go through and can set the borrower up for success long term. And when a borrower succeeds and is happy, it creates trust between them and their lender and they're more inclined to provide referrals to friends and families. They tend to come back to that same lender because they trust them and then, down the road they want to buy or refinance.

Concepcion Guerrero:

They've got ongoing business. Now, Heather. To wrap things up, are your services available in other states and, if so, what would be the best way for those interested in learning more about Finally Home? Get in contact with you or someone from your team.

Heather Bowman:

Sure. So Finally Home is accessible anywhere in the United States. People can access the course and learn more about our services at www. finallyhome. org. The course is available anytime and we can be reached at 877-695-2655.

Concepcion Guerrero:

Perfect. Thanks again, Heather. That brings us to the end of this Mortgage Connects episode. For a recap of this episode and a quick access to related content, visit MortgageConnects. com. There you can subscribe for email alerts so you'll be among the first to know about new episodes. Thank you for tuning in.