Housing Counseling Services

Are you a North Carolina First Time Home Buyer?

The CESI Homeownership Center assists North Carolina first time homebuyers with HUD Housing counseling services to help you achieve the dream of homeownership. We provide access to housing opportunities, individualized housing counseling, and homeownership workshops to educate and enable individuals to understand and enjoy the benefits of homeownership.

Our housing counseling services will help you assess your financial situation, evaluate your homeownership options and find out if you qualify for down payment assistance program.

What is HUD Housing Counseling?

A HUD-approved housing counselor is a trained professional who can advise you on preventing foreclosure, buying a home, protecting your credit, and other issues related to homeownership.

Housing counseling services can help you figure out the details of your financial situation and help you decide what options are best for you, whether you are concerned about falling behind on your mortgage or are preparing to become a first time home buyer.

CESI’s Housing Counseling Services

The CESI Homeownership Center provides an extensive program of counseling and educational services including:

• Homeownership Workshops for First-Time Homebuyers -- Register for an upcoming workshop
• Reverse Mortgage Counseling
• Downpayment Assistance Programs for NC Homebuyers
• Envisioning Homeownership Program

North Carolina First-Time Homebuyer Education

Purchasing a home is one of the largest investments you’ll ever make. If you’re planning to purchase a home, you owe it to yourself to take advantage of CESI’s Homebuyer Education counseling and Homeownership workshops.

Our homeownership workshops will walk you step by step through the process of prepare yourself for homeownership, including:

• Reviewing your budget and credit report to help you determine what you can afford.
• Providing information on the advantages and disadvantages of the various financing options available to you.
• Educate you on how to avoid predatory lending practices.
• Help you identify down payment assistance programs that may be available to you.

To register for an upcoming homeownership workshop, visit our Housing Workshops page. We hold homebuyer workshops for North Carolina first time home buyers each month.

Learn About Our Homebuyer Education Workshops »

Reverse Mortgage Counseling

If you are aged 62 and over, you may be eligible to use the equity in your home as income. If you are interested in obtaining a reverse mortgage, you must first participate in a one-on-one counseling session with a HUD housing counseling agency. This counseling is required as a condition of receiving the reverse mortgage.

Our counselors are HUD-approved to provide reverse mortgage counseling to help you understand the process and issue certificates required to obtain a reverse mortgage.

Down Payment Assistance Programs

If you are a first-time homebuyer and your household income is below 80% of the county’s median income, you may be eligible for downpayment assistance programs.

The Community Partners Loan Pool (CPLP) provides qualified homebuyers in select North Carolina counties with down payment assistance. Eligible participants can receive up to 20% of the purchase price of the home if combined with an N.C. Home Advantage Mortgage, and up to 10% of the purchase price if combined with a USDA Section 502 loan.

Learn more about the downpayment assistance program available to you as a North Carolina home buyer.

Envisioning Homeownership

Let our experts work to get your mortgage ready and navigate the home buying process with you. Stop dreaming of owning a home and get the support you need to achieve your goals. The Envisioning Homeownership program is your path to buying a home safely and affordably!