Counseling and Education Services

Community Development Corporation of Utah (CDC) is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved counseling agency. CDC staff provided a full range of pre and post-purchase counseling and education services.

Homebuyer Education Workshops

CDC provides homebuyer education workshops to increase the likelihood of successful homeownership and reduce mortgage problems. These workshops are provided at CDC or at a location determined to be appropriate by the CDC counselor. Each person who attends the workshop is also required to meet with a counselor one-on-one for pre-purchase counseling so that they can ask questions in a confidential environment. These counseling sessions help prevent predatory lending and the potential homeowner feel more at ease with the homeownership process.

Pre-Purchase Counseling

Pre-purchase counseling may contain a review of credit repair, debt reduction, and current employment stability. CDC and the participant prepare a personal home purchase plan. A CDC Counselor strives to meet the needs of the client as they assist the family to accomplish the steps in their purchase plan. This may be a short-term plan if they are ready to purchase a home, or it may be long-term if they have credit and/or debt problems.

Post-Purchase Counseling

The goal of post purchase counseling is to reduce the risk for default on home loans by low-income families during the first two years after purchasing a home when the chance of default is greatest. The family is encouraged to convert the savings account that was in place to purchase the home into a home-maintenance savings account as well as keep a regular monthly budget.

Foreclosure Prevention Counseling

In foreclose prevention counseling a client’s present circumstances are examined and a plan is prepared with the mortgage institution to mitigate the delinquent mortgage. The client is taught all of their options involved in loss mitigation, alternatives to foreclosure are discussed and a plan is created.