Financial Literacy is a fundamental and essential step to creating wealth for you and your family. Many families have the same dreams: a secure and stable home, a better quality of life, and excellent education for their children. NEW’s Financial Literacy department offers four vital programs; First-Time Homebuyers, Home Preservation, Individual Development Accounts and Smart Consumer programs that help families re-think their spending and saving habits and take steps toward a better financial future. NEW’s education workshops and one-on-one counseling services are bi-lingual and open to the public.
NEW provides full-cycle homeownership services to help low and moderate income households to become and remain successful homeowners.
Learn how to take advantage of homeownership in today’s market!
Many of you know that buying a home is one of the best investments you can make, but feel intimidated by the high cost of housing in Los Angeles. Did you know that can purchase a home for as little as 1%-3% down and that you can receive $100,000+ for downpayment assistance for first time homebuyers (income restrictions may apply) through federal, state, city and county programs?
NEW is a HUD, Fannie Mae, City and County of Los Angeles certified homeownership counseling agency. NEW provides full support, advocating on your behalf, until you move into your new home. Our bi-lingual homebuyer counselors are well-versed in what money is available to you from government programs to assist first-time homebuyers, have longstanding relationships with trustworthy loan officers and realtors, and provide tools to help repair credit if necessary.
NEW’s Homebuyer Program assists all families, including low and moderate income families, throughout the process of buying a home by offering one-on-one counseling and educational workshops. There is a $20 charge for ordering a credit report and pre-registration is required for workshops.
Individual Counseling Covers:
• Personal credit & debt review
• Budget & money management
• A customized action plan toward homeownership
• Assess what mortgage payments you can afford
• Loan packaging with first-time homebuyer’s assistance program ($100,000+ down payment)
• Lender or agent referral (if qualified)
Homebuyer Education Workshop Covers:
NEW is certified by both the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County to provide English and Spanish homebuyer education workshops. Pre-registration is required by calling 213-483-2060 ext. 106.
Los Angeles County requires an 8 hour homebuyer education workshop for first-time homebuyers who are accessing first-time homebuyer’s subsidy programs and purchasing in the county of Los Angeles to put 3% downpayment.
 8 Hour Workshop, Session 1 Pre-registration is required.
• Assess your readiness to buy a home
• The home buying process
• Budgeting
• Credit
• Insurance & property taxes
• Real estate & lending terms
• Interest rates
• Loan products on the market
• First time homebuyer assistance programs ($100.000+ for down payment)
The City of Los Angeles requires a 12 hour homebuyer education workshop for first-time homebuyers who are accessing first-time homebuyer’s subsidy programs and purchasing in the city of Los Angeles to put 1% downpayment.
4 Hour Workshop, Session 2 Pre-registration is required.
• Home maintenance
• Predatory lending
• Foreclosure prevention
2007 Homebuyer Workshop Schedule
Call the Homeownership Department: (213) 483-2060 ext. 106 to request additional information about our program or reserve a spot in a workshop. For those who would like to speak with someone before attending a workshop, you can request a counseling session by calling the same number.
You must attend a workshop to qualify for first time homebuyer assistance programs.
NEW is committed to keeping families in their homes. Through our Home Preservation program, NEW offers one-on-one counseling and workshops designed to protect your most valuable asset, your home. Financial tough times may occur during the course of homeownership and put you in jeopardy of foreclosure. The best way to avoid foreclosure is to budget and plan for emergencies. Post purchase counseling provides general suggestions and ideas on how you can prepare for and work through the tough times.
NEW’s home preservation counselors will analyze your situation, identify resources to address the situation, develop a plan for addressing your individual issues and identify your options for preventing the foreclosure of your home.
NEW can provide early delinquency intervention, budgeting, credit recovery, anti-predatory lending, lender negotiations on your behalf, refinancing and foreclosure prevention. Learn what to do when you fall behind in your payments and notices begin to show up from your lender. Don’t lose your home to procrastination. There is help!
Individual Counseling Covers:
• Develop a personal budget designed to help you meet the costs of homeownership.
• Negotiate a repayment plan with your lender to bring your mortgage current.
• Under certain circumstances, NEW may also be able to negotiate with your lender an agreement that could
include an extension of your mortgage or a decrease in your interest rate to help you meet your mortgage obligation.
• If you are unable to retain your home, NEW will work with you and your lender to prevent foreclosure, if possible,
by negotiating
a sale of the property or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure(short sale), and therefore help you keep your credit in better standing.
Home Preservation Education Workshops Covers:
• Foreclosure Prevention
• Financial Literacy for Homeowners – budgeting, savings and credit
• Understanding home equity and when to refinance
• Predatory lending
• Home maintenance
• Energy efficiency
2007 - 2008 Home Preservation Workshops
Call the Homeownership Department: (213) 483-2060 ext. 106 to request additional information about our program or reserve a spot in a workshop. For those who would like to speak with someone before attending a workshop, you can request a counseling session by calling the same number.
NEW has partnered with the United Way of Greater Los Angeles to help low income individuals and families build assets in one of the three areas: homeownership, post-secondary education and microenterprise businesses. Through financial literacy and asset specific education training, participants will be prepared to either purchase a home, attend college and start or expand a business. As part of the program, individuals must save money every month and funds are matched to provide incentive to achieve their goal in a specific asset. You must qualify for this program.
Accepted applicants agree to the following:
• Save a specific monthly amount in a specific bank account for either
18, 24 or 36 months
• Complete 10 hours in financial literacy, budgeting and money management
• Complete 8 hours in your specific asset:
Homeownership, Post-Secondary, Education,
Microenterprise
• Individual follow-up appointments
• Attend quarterly Saver's Club meetings.
United Way IDA Match for Homeownership
Participant saves $2667, United Way will give $4000
United Way IDA Match for Post-Secondary Education
Participant saves $2000, United Way will give $3000
United Way IDA Match for Microenterprise
Participant saves $2000, United Way will give $3000
For more information, please call Nelson Hildago, IDA Coordinator at 213-483-2060 ext. 107 or email nhildago@neworg.us.
California Bank & Trust Individual
Development Economic Account (IDEA)
NEW has partnered with the California Bank & Trust to assist low income individuals and families to save for the purchase of their first home. This matched money will be given if the first mortgage is held by California Bank & Trust and can be used for downpayment assistance and closing costs.
California Bank & Trust IDEA Match for First-Time Homebuyers
Participant saves $5000, California Bank & Trust Program will give $15,000
Accepted applicants agree to the following:
• Save specific monthly amount in specific bank account for 10 months
• Complete an 8 hour Homeownership workshop
• Individual follow-up appointments
For more information, please call Nelson Hildago, IDEA Coordinator at 213-483-2060 ext. 107 or email nhildago@neworg.us.
The Smart Consumer Program offers workshops on money management and handling your family’s finances. The goal is to educate consumers to develop good spending and saving habits, use credit wisely and develop a plan to reach your financial goals. Smart Consumer participants are provided with practical tools to help track expenses, stick to a reasonable budget, read a credit report, repair bad credit, and understand credit card solicitations and loan offers.
A NEW Resident shares her experiences...
A resident of La Villa Mariposa and IDA participant recalled a phrase that she heard at the Smart Consumer workshop: “Do not spend more money than you need to.” She mentioned that this phrase stuck in her mind even though she did not see how it applied to her. After reviewing her expenses and budget she realized where she could reduce her expenses.
As a result she has cut her expenses by $300 a month!
Currently, the Smart Consumer Program services are available to NEW residents and targeted groups from the general public.
For more information about the Smart Consumer Program, contact Marlene Alvarez, Program Coordinator, at (213) 483-2060 ext. 105 or marlene.alvarez@neworg.us.
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C. Individual Development Account (IDA)