Last night we sat in a short meeting with ACORN Housing.

ACORN Housing Counselors make the home buying process more accessible to first-time buyers. Instead of having to approach bankers or contend with brokers, first-time homebuyers can meet our counselors in the local ACORN Housing office to pre-qualify for a mortgage.

The advantage of going through ACORN is that homebuyers can gain access to mortgage programs with lower interest rates, lower down payments, flexible underwriting guidelines and lower origination fees. And the biggest advantage is that you do not have to pay Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) regardless of how much you need to finance, even if it is 100%. I’m not sure if I stated everything correctly or not, but so far the program seems to be worth the $20 it costs. Perhaps Kim will add a comment sometime since she is the one with the finance degree. :)

Since we already had an approved contract for a home and all of the paperwork filled out, they had us stick around so that we could be pre-approved (which we already were) and receive the certificate of completion. That has to be some sort of record! We completed their entire program in about an hour, although there is a required class towards the end of the month. Luckily the lender that Kim had already talked to was also at the meeting, so just about all of the paperwork has now been completed. I think today we will be locking in a rate and then from there we are almost done.

Hopefully that wasn’t too boring. The sad part is I know very little of what I just said, although I have learned a bunch this past week. Seriously though, if you are considering your first home, I would highly recommend this program. Sorry bro, it doesn’t look like they have any offices in Ohio.