Learn homeownership withLeigh Lester.
Buying a home is too important for jargon, pressure, or a pile of videos you barely remember. Learn live with a nationally recognized housing educator who helps you understand the numbers, ask the uncomfortable questions, and make a decision that fits your life.
Class meets once a month — the first Saturday, 9:00 AM ET. The live class is one part of approximately 8 hours combined: live instruction, educational videos in English and Spanish, and your one-on-one counseling session.
You finish with proof of completion—and the confidence to use what you learned.
Your certificate documents successful completion of this course, aligned with HUD and the National Industry Standards for Homeownership Education and Counseling. Acceptance rules vary by lender, assistance program, housing finance agency, and location, so confirm your program's requirements before enrolling. More importantly, you leave able to explain the numbers and decisions behind your next step.
certificate
You want a home—but you also want the truth.
You do not need perfect credit, a huge down payment, or every answer before class. You need a starting point and a willingness to look honestly at your options.
See the whole route. Know exactly where you are.
Your education class comes first. Then counseling, pre-approval, shopping, appraisal, closing, and the work of sustaining the home after the keys are yours.
Six learning blocks. Approximately 8 hours combined. No mystery left behind.
You cover these blocks across the live class, the video lessons, and your counseling session — not in one eight-hour sitting. HUD guidance and the National Industry Standards set the floor. We build above it with realistic cases, reflection, practice, teach-backs, and a personal homebuying action plan.
Is homeownership right for you—right now?
Start with your reasons, your responsibilities, and the full road ahead. Readiness is not a moral grade. It is information you can use.
- Benefits, tradeoffs, and responsibilities of ownership
- Renting versus buying for your actual life and timeline
- Your reasons for buying now—goals, pressures, and non-negotiables
- The purchase process from preparation through closing
- The 4 C's lenders use to evaluate mortgage readiness
- Housing affordability versus maximum loan approval
- A readiness self-assessment you complete honestly, without shame or comparison
- Your homebuying team and what each professional does
Build a spending plan that can carry a home
A budget should reflect your real life—not punish you for having one. Connect your money habits to the goals that matter most.
- Goal-setting that turns “someday” into specific next steps
- Tracking income and expenses without judgment
- Creating a realistic spending and savings plan
- Down payment, closing costs, reserves, and moving expenses
- Reducing expenses, increasing savings, and planning for irregular costs
- Emergency savings and the true first-year cost of ownership
- Practice: Money Story to Money StrategyIdentify an early money message, notice how it shows up today, and choose one new behavior that supports your homeownership goal. Insight meets action—that is where change starts.
Understand credit without letting a score define you
Your credit report is a financial document—not a character reference. Learn how to read it, protect it, and improve what is within your control.
- Credit bureaus, reports, scores, and mortgage scoring models
- How to obtain and review your credit reports
- What affects a score and how to protect it
- Correcting errors and responding to fraud or identity theft
- Debt-reduction strategies and the order of operations
- Consumer rights and what to do when credit problems appear
- Practice: Credit Report DetectiveWork through a realistic sample report, spot errors and risks, and create a 30-60-90 day response plan. You will explain your strategy back in your own words.
Compare financing—and recognize costly traps
A loan is more than a rate. Learn how lenders make decisions and how to compare the full cost, risk, and fit of competing offers.
- How lenders evaluate capacity, capital, credit, and collateral
- Mortgage lenders, brokers, banks, credit unions, and how to shop responsibly
- Conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, and portfolio loan features
- Interest rate, APR, points, fees, mortgage insurance, and total cost
- Down payment and closing-cost assistance resources
- Prequalification, preapproval, required documents, application, and underwriting
- Approval, denial, your right to ask why, and practical next steps after a denial
- Fair lending protections, high-risk loans, fraud, and pressure tactics
- Practice: Loan Offer ShowdownCompare two Loan Estimates, find the tradeoffs, and defend your choice. The “lowest payment” does not automatically win—mortgages love fine print.
Select the right home, team, and offer
Move from browsing to evaluating. Learn how to choose professionals, assess a property and neighborhood, and protect yourself in the contract.
- Real estate professionals, representation, and compensation
- Housing types, ownership forms, and title options
- Needs versus wants and evaluating a neighborhood
- Offers, negotiation, contingencies, and the purchase contract
- Professional inspections, repairs, and when to walk away
- What an appraisal does, what it does not do, and how it affects the transaction
- Appraisal bias, Fair Housing and fair lending protections, warning signs, and the lender's Reconsideration of Value (ROV) process
- Practice: Appraisal & ROV LabReview a sample appraisal for factual errors, omitted features, weak comparable sales, unsupported conclusions, and language that may reflect prohibited bias. Then organize an evidence-based ROV request and practice asking the lender about its process and timeline.
- Practice: Build the OfferUse a household case study to prioritize needs, choose protective contingencies, respond to an inspection surprise, and practice the questions you will ask your agent.
Close with confidence—and stay ready for real life
The goal is not merely to get the keys. It is to understand the documents, protect the asset, and know what to do when life changes.
- Escrow, title, insurance, final walk-through, and closing
- Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure: what must match and what can change
- Taxes, insurance, utilities, HOA costs, records, and home equity
- Preventive maintenance, repairs, contractors, safety, and energy efficiency
- Emergency planning and maintaining healthy credit after purchase
- Early action when a payment may be missed; delinquency and foreclosure prevention
- Practice: First-Year Homeowner Stress TestHandle a surprise repair and an income disruption, revise the household plan, and identify whom to call before a missed payment becomes a crisis.
live class, videos, and
one-on-one counseling
Built on what buyers are expected to know.
HUD guidance and the National Industry Standards call for comprehensive pre-purchase education covering readiness, budgeting and credit, financing, selecting a home, and maintaining the home and household finances. Eight hours is the recommended benchmark for effective delivery.
This course covers that foundation and goes further: appraisal bias and ROV preparation, current transaction documents, realistic practice, personal reflection, knowledge checks, and a written action plan.
rules into real-life decisions
Leigh Lester teaches the process—and the power inside it.
Leigh is the Founder and Executive Director of Ubuntu Institute of Learning and a national housing educator, curriculum developer, and facilitator. Her experience spans mortgage lending, housing counseling, fair housing, financial capability, affordable housing policy, and adult education.
Her work includes service on The Appraisal Foundation's Board of Trustees, participation in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's Project REACh, and membership on HUD's Housing Counseling Federal Advisory Committee. She brings that systems-level perspective into the room without making students speak fluent acronym.
Leigh's approach is direct, respectful, and deeply practical: no shame about where you are, no pressure to buy before you are ready, and no signing a document you do not understand.
Reserve my seatUnderstanding is measured by action—not seat time.
By the end, you will use what you learned to make and explain decisions—not simply recognize vocabulary on a slide.
Built for adults with real lives and real money decisions.
Information matters. Practice, reflection, relevance, and psychological safety are what help people use it when the stakes are high.
Start with your experience
Financial Social Work exercises connect thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and past money messages to present-day choices—without blame.
Work on real decisions
Case studies, document labs, role-play, and calculations make the class problem-centered and immediately useful.
Build courageous questions
Values clarity, curiosity, and shame-resilient discussion help you say “I don't understand,” slow the process down, and ask again.
Leave with your plan
Knowledge checks, teach-backs, and a personal action plan turn information into specific next steps after class.
Clear expectations. No closing-table surprises here, either.
$125 per registration.
Your registration covers approximately eight hours in total, and those hours are spread across three parts: the live class, educational videos in English and Spanish that you watch on your own time, and your one-on-one counseling session. The live class is not eight hours long. You also get practice materials, learning tools, and a completion certificate.
The live class runs once a month, on the first Saturday, starting at 9:00 AM ET, and it is taught in English. Your counseling session is scheduled separately and can be held in English or Spanish.
$125 includes one tri-merge credit report with FICO scores and one counseling session. A partner is welcome in the class at no extra cost. If you both want your own credit report and your own session, register together for $150.
- First Saturday of the month, 9:00 AM ET
- Approximately 8 hours combined — class, videos, and counseling
- Live class taught in English
- Video lessons in English and Spanish
- One tri-merge credit report with FICO scores
- One-on-one session in English or Spanish
- Interactive workbook and exercises
- Personal homebuying action plan
- Certificate after successful completion
Questions about the fee? Contact us before you enroll.
Starting Now Corporation · Nonprofit housing and credit counseling · Live classes in English · Video lessons and counseling in English and Spanish · (954) 833-1135
Course design aligned with HUD and the National Industry Standards, and informed by Financial Social Work, adult-learning practice, and shame-resilient learning principles; no affiliation with Brené Brown or her organizations is implied.
