Portland Housing Center in Portland, OR

We are now homeowners. PHC helped prepare me. I am so appreciative for their classes and instructors. Helped this dream come true.

I had no idea if buying a house would ever happen for me, especially in the increasingly crazy Portland market. Portland Housing Center looked at my financial information, gave me the go-ahead, connected me with a wonderful real estate agent (Gary Slac at Vantage Point) and three months later my partner and I were in a home that we love. All of the people that I worked with at PHC from the front desk person on were helpful, kind, and patient. I ended up going with their in-house mortgage lender, who had a great working relationship with our agent. They took all of the uncertainty and worry out of the home-buying process, and supported me throughout. If you are wondering if you can do it, there is absolutely no reason not to reach out and get some counseling. Even if you're not ready yet, they will be able to tell you what you need to do to get there.

Without PHC I would not own a home today. If you are a 1st time home buyer you need them! With their guidance I was able to fly through the process of buying a home. It's not an easy process to buy a home but PHC took the guess work out of it. Take the class, it's worth it!

I signed up to get access to Portland Housing Center's classes and counseling services and paid $99 to do so. I went to an initial counseling session and I was so disappointed. My counselor gave me misinformation, didn't have confidant answers to all my questions, and had difficulty doing simple math while calculating my affordability for a monthly payment. I was told that we would not be able to purchase a house unless you have held the same job (or field) for 2 years, which I immediately afterward found out is mostly untrue. There were still plenty of options for us. If you have common sense and access to the internet, you will be able to get all the information and more for free that they share in the initial hour-long appointment. I wanted to give the class a chance, but our plans changed and we are moving to Vancouver instead. With no help from PHC (we were actually told we would not qualify for it), we found a Down Payment Assistance program that requires a Washington specific class. Therefore we are unable to take advantage of any other services from them (not that I would want to after loosing any trust in their information and opinion). After a phone conversation with them, they offered to give us a refund, which is much appreciated.

I started the process of trying to buy a home with this program a few months ago. Though I've tried communicating with the housing specialist I was assigned to, he will not respond. After no response to my messages I received an email stating he had not heard from me in some time (really??) and I would be closed out shortly. I was hopeful that this meant communication was open and I could proceed with services. I emailed back that I wanted to start the process of obtaining a mortgage as soon as possible as the rental I reside in is being sold. No response. At this point I have absolutely no idea what the $99 fee was for. I would recommend just doing your homework and finding a lender willing to go over finances and whatnot with you. They will do this for free.