Counseling

Several local organizations provide counseling to individuals and families looking to purchase a home in Oakland and the Bay Area, or for individuals and families who may have received a notice of default or a foreclosure notice.

• ACORN Housing Corp - mortgage counseling and assistance. Contact ACORN Housing Corp.
  
  
• Consumer Credit Counseling Services of the East Bay - Provides counseling and assistance to homeowners with mortgage default and delinquency situations, and counseling services for persons interested in low and moderate-income homeownership opportunities.  Contact CCCS.
  
  
• Lao Family Multilingual Homeownership Center (MHC) - provides targeted outreach and homebuyer education and counseling at a neighborhood-based center to enable low- to moderate-income, limited-English communities to overcome barriers to homebuying and to establish ownership in the communities in which they live. Services are available in Laotian, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mien, Mandarin, Thai and English.
  Contact Lao Family MHC
  
  
• NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America) - is a non-profit community advocacy and housing services organization. Free services include purchase, purchase and renovation, or refinancing out of a high-rate loan.
  Contact NACA
  
  
• NID Housing Counseling Agency - Provides housing counseling solutions including pre-purchase counseling and education, rental assistance counseling and mobility counseling, delinquency/default counseling, reverse mortgage counseling, post-purchase counseling, predatory lending counseling, and community development counseling.
  Contact NID
  
  
• Oakland Don't Borrow Trouble™ Coalition - offers information and referrals for homeownership education and information about your options as a homebuyer. More information...
  
  
• Operation HOPE - is a national non-profit self-help organization and a leading provider of economic empowerment tools and services for the under-served. The mission of Operation HOPE is the eradication of poverty as we know it in America by utilizing education as the ultimate poverty eradiation tool.
  Contact Operation HOPE
  
  
• The Unity Council/Homeownership Center - promotes community awareness about homeownership opportunities and other public education issues, including electric conservation, credit counseling and other information necessary to maintain economically stable communities. SSUC conducts monthly group workshops covering a number of financial topics, educating the underserved communities about the homebuying process. Individual counseling is provided to establish a housing purchase plan. Post purchase counseling is also provided to individuals. As a member of the NeighborWorks® organization, the Unity Council is able to provide low-interest home loans, as well as do refinancings.
  Contact The Unity Council
  
  
• West Oakland Homeownership Assistance Center (WOHAC) - offers information and resource direction for area residents considering buying a home for the first time. Home ownership counselors, banks and other professional service providers maintain monthly office hours at the Center for individual counseling, group workshops and other activity
  Contact WOHAC
  
  

When buying a home, protect yourself against excessive fees, high interest rates and other predatory lending tactics.  More about Predatory Lending...