EHE News
Home mortgage woes?
Our housing counselors can help
Caezilia Loibl
Nancy Stehulak
The Ohio State University Extension has received approval to act as a housing counseling service agency from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Ten Extension Family and Consumer Sciences educators and two program assistants across Ohio are approved to offer three types of housing counseling:
- Pre-purchase/homebuying education
- Resolving or preventing mortgage delinquency or default
- Nondelinquency post-purchase financial education
Many of Ohio's Extension educators have offered such financial education programs in the past, but in recent years, partners have increasingly asked if the educators are HUD-approved, said Nancy Stehulak, a family and consumer sciences educator based in Henry County.
Stehulak worked with Caezilia Loibl, OSU Extension specialist and assistant professor in the Department of Consumer Sciences, College of Education and Human Ecology, to gain the HUD approval.
"We will offer counseling in several urban counties, but our goal is to target rural areas in Ohio, which are quite underserved with regard to housing counseling services and which have some of the highest foreclosure rates in the state," said Loibl, who is also a researcher with the university's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.
HUD requires that its approved counselors have at least one year's experience in conducting such sessions. The educators and program assistants provided workshops or individual counseling to several hundred clients between January and December 2009.
"Now with HUD approval, we hope to increase the number of staff devoted to this effort and the number of families served in Ohio," Loibl said.
The personnel currently approved by HUD are:
- Margaret Jenkins, Clermont County, (513) 732-7070.
- Barbara Rohrs, Defiance County, (419) 782-4771.
- Cora French-Robinson, Fairfield, 740-653-5419, ext. 12.
- Susan Shockey, Franklin, (614) 866-6900, ext. 206.
- Cheryl Barber Spires, Fulton, (419) 337-9210.
- Cindy Bond-Zielinski, Guernsey, (740) 489-5300.
- Nancy Stehulak, Henry, (419) 592-0806.
- Rose Fisher-Merkowitz, Highland, (937) 393-1918.
- Melinda Hill and Marcia Brueck, Wayne, (330) 264-8722.
- Doris Herringshaw and Susan Miklovic, Wood, (419) 354-9050.
Contact information also is listed on the OSU Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Housing Counseling Services website: http://fcs.osu.edu/cs/house-counseling.php.
Often, loan officers working with applicants who do not have the resources to put 20 percent down suggest -- and sometimes require -- the applicants take a workshop or get one-on-one financial counseling before the loan is approved, Stehulak said. In addition, homeowners who are in danger of entering foreclosure are often told to find a HUD-approved counselor for guidance.
"Our workshops are open to everyone who wants a better understanding of mortgages and finances, but normally we partner with a local housing authority, Habitat for Humanity, or other organizations that work directly with people who may be first-time homebuyers or just need some background on their rights and responsibilities before talking to a banker," Stehulak said. "We know that if people take homebuyer education, they are less likely to go into foreclosure."
On October 19, OSU Extension is hosting a HUD-led day-long training for personnel with Extension and other housing counseling agencies on providing financial education and counseling to Ohioans facing foreclosure. Stehulak said: "With this HUD approval, Extension is in a better position to offer more services to Ohioans."
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