{"id":38280,"date":"2022-11-17T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T12:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=38280"},"modified":"2022-11-14T15:07:18","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T20:07:18","slug":"osu-extension-increases-keys-to-homeownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/osu-extension-increases-keys-to-homeownership\/","title":{"rendered":"OSU Extension Increases Keys to Homeownership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Susan Colbert and Amber Broadus stand outside Broadus’ new home. Photo: Amber Broadus.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Knowing is half the battle \u2014 especially when it comes to home-buying. That\u2019s where Ohio State University Extension comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OSU Extension educators specializing in healthy finances offer homeownership education and homebuyer counseling to assist Ohioans throughout the homebuying and homeownership process. Extension is the outreach arm of The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already, some 2,200 people in Franklin County have attended classes offered by OSU Extension and have received a HUD-approved completion certificate, said Courtney Warman, an Extension program specialist that works with the homebuyer education program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And an additional 497 homebuyers were served across Ohio through the Ohio Housing Finance Agency phone-based homebuyer counseling sessions, which, upon completion, allow low-to-moderate income homebuyers in Ohio to purchase homes, with the average home\u2019s appraised value being $161,416.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The classes and subsequent counseling sessions allow consumers to ask questions and get answers about their home purchases, Warman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can provide information about budgeting, foreclosure prevention, home maintenance costs\u2014all of the details that go beyond being approved for financing,\u201d she said. \u201cSo many people, whether first-time buyers or those selling and purchasing a new home, are entering an unfamiliar market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis education provides information about topics ranging from how to identify signs of predatory lending, to understanding how to work a mortgage payment into their budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the educational sessions, participants learn:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 how much they can afford to spend on a home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 ways to fix or improve their credit scores before the homebuying process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 tips to choose the right professionals for their homebuying journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 how to succeed during the mortgage process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 strategies to make the most of a home inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 steps to prepare for the closing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother advantage is that once completing this course and having a conversation with one of our HUD-certified housing counselors, homebuyers will have confidence that they have the tools necessary to navigate any housing market,\u201d Warman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the case for Columbus-native Amber Broadus, who, thanks to homebuyer education and counseling offered by OSU Extension, was able to go from living in a low-income, subsidized apartment complex, to building and owning her own home in the Weinland Park neighborhood, directly east of Ohio State\u2019s Columbus campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadus\u2019 relationship with OSU Extension began when she met Susan Colbert, the former Franklin County Expansion and Engagement program director, who, at the time, was teaching a computer literacy class at the Godman Guild Association Community Center in the Weinland Park neighborhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colbert helped Broadus enroll in multiple Extension programs, including the homebuyer education and counseling program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done so, so many things through OSU Extension,\u201d Broadus said. \u201cI\u2019ve taken computer literacy, financial literacy, homebuyer education classes, and a business class where I learned how to write a business plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorking with OSU Extension enhanced my leadership skills and helped make me successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the homebuying market across Ohio and nationwide continues to see record sales, programs such as these help create more educated homebuyers, particularly as part of Extension\u2019s family and community stability efforts, said Pat Bebo, assistant director, family and consumer sciences, OSU Extension.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBringing unbiased, evidence-based education to Ohioans is at the heart of what OSU Extension does,\u201d Bebo said. \u201cWe hope by offering these classes, future homebuyers will feel confident that they have the information they need to make informed decisions about this large investment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about Extension\u2019s homebuyer education and homebuyer counseling, visit go.osu.edu\/newhome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Knowing is half the battle \u2014 especially when it comes to home-buying. That\u2019s where Ohio State University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2301,499,7],"tags":[16360,16361,5767,5919],"class_list":["post-38280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-general-news","category-health","category-school","tag-college-of-food-agricultural-and-environmental-sciences","tag-homebuyer-education-program","tag-osu-extension","tag-the-ohio-state-university"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/OSU-Ext-Homeownership-photo-by-amber-broadus.jpeg?fit=666%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-9Xq","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-27 00:11:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38282,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38280\/revisions\/38282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}