Program Summary
At Lighthouse, we are committed to fulfilling our mission of providing financial counseling, education and assistance to those with unmet needs or limited resources. Therefore, we are pleased to announce that a new service of individualized counseling on housing-related issues will be offered locally to Pinellas County residents and nationally to seniors in need of reverse mortgage counseling and assistance. Lighthouse’s Housing Counselors will advise and educate first-time home buyers through the sometimes overwhelming process, and will assist current homeowners with housing matters as well. Lighthouse’s relentless efforts in counseling, and more importantly, educating consumers has been the major contributing factor in both client satisfaction and our success, and we are certain our new endeavor will provide equally positive results.

Lighthouse’s Housing Counseling Program focuses on issues relevant to purchasing and maintaining a home. The strategies and procedures currently utilized within the existing credit counseling and debt management program have been modified to provide effective housing education to clients. These include an emphasis on one-on-one counseling sessions, as well as frequent seminars on topics such as pre-purchase counseling, mortgage delinquency, loss mitigation, post-purchase and home equity conversion mortgages. Lighthouse provides its clients with educational workbooks, credit report analysis, periodic money management mailers, informational e-mails, letters addressing individual needs, and down payment assistance program eligibility through partnerships with local municipalities.
Housing Counseling at the Education Center
The Housing Counseling Program is located at Lighthouse’s Education Center in Largo, Florida. The Education Center has a large conference area, where we hold weekly group counseling, educational seminars and informational training sessions for First Time Homebuyers. In addition it is equipped to use various types of visual media and contains nine computer workstations for testing and access to our web-based Money, Debt, and Credit Curriculum. The Center also features two confidential offices in which clients seeking one-on-one counseling sessions will be assured of privacy. And, to guarantee that we reach all seniors who seek our services, Lighthouse’s HECM Counselors will travel to residents’ homes or decide upon a convenient location to meet if these residents cannot find transportation to arrive at the Education Center.

Our First Time Home Buyer classes are currently offered every Wednesday from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm and our Housing Counselors are available to schedule one-on-one counseling appointments Monday-Thursday from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm Monday through Thursday and 8:30 am to 5:30 pm on Fridays. However, because we understand the many demands on our client’s time, we offer some flexibility and will try to accommodate all scheduling requests on an as-needed basis.

Class Location:	8550 Ulmerton Rd, Largo Florida Suite 125
Reservation Line:	535-9653 or toll free at 1-866-544-4851
Class Calendar:	Click here

Counselor Qualifications
Our Housing Counselors are certified through the Neighbor Works Reinvestment Corporation and the National Foundation for Financial Counseling Education. In addition we have two Reverse Mortgage Counselors certified through HUD and the AARP’s HECM Counseling Network respectively, which allows us to offer this Reverse Mortgage Counseling nationwide via telephone.

Additional Information/Needs
In January of 2006 Lighthouse Credit Foundation became an officially recognized Housing Counseling Agency certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The HUD Certification benefits are two-fold: Lighthouse has the endorsement of the United States government, which will support our efforts, and this, in turn, will enable us to provide greater services to a larger population. Lighthouse plans on expanding its Pre-Purchase Housing Counseling program in the future to reach other Florida counties and also plans on further developing and enhancing its overall Housing Program through the addition of a Foreclosure Prevention counseling component.

To view our listing as a HUD-approved counseling agency: click here

We at Lighthouse look forward to helping all individuals and families who struggle to find the means and methods of obtaining safe, affordable housing.

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