Free outer East Portland ‘Fair’ to help turn renters into homeowners

If you pay rent, discover why you may want to plan spending part of Saturday, April 18 at the East Portland Homeownership Fair. Learn about how to avoid foreclosure, also …

LHI’s Amie Diffenauer and Christine Rhoney, SUN Site Manager at Kelly Elementary School, welcome folks to last year’s Homeownership Fair.

Story and photo by David F. Ashton
Saturday, April 18th, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, is the day and time of the free, 4^th East Portland Homeownership Fair!

“The purpose of the Lents Homeownership Initiative is to help renters become homeowners,” says ROSE Community Development’s community organizer, Amie Diffenauer, about the organization putting on the fair. “The more families who own their home in a community, the stronger and more vital it becomes.

Diffenauer notes that this year’s East Portland Homeownership Fair, again at Kelly Elementary School, 9030 SE Cooper St. (west of SE 92nd Ave. and a couple blocks north of SE Flavel St.) offers both informational exhibits and informative seminars.

Specifically, you’ll find:

Free raffle for a $4,000 home buyer’s assistance grant (you must attend at least one workshop to enter the Grant Raffle)
Home Buyer and Home Owner Workshops
Free Burgerville lunch
Youth activities, and raffle for prizes
Vietnamese, Russian, Spanish, Cantonese and Mandarin interpreters available
Information on community organizations and resources in East Portland
Realtors, lenders, home buying counselors, and businesses sharing their products and services

Check out the free workshops offered:

Steps to Home Ownership – Learn about the key steps you’ll likely take on your way to a home of your own.
Improving Your Credit Score – Find out why a good credit history and score are crucial for buying a home in today’s lending environment and how to build better credit.
Homebuyer Re$ources – Discover the many financial assistance and tax credit programs for first-time homebuyers. Many buyers never even hear about these programs and miss out!
Ask the Home-buying Experts Panel – Learn everything you want to know about buying a home. Bring your toughest questions and get answers from experts.
Homeownership Preservation – In this workshop you’ll hear from one of the best local foreclosure prevention counselors in town. Don’t guess, get the facts.
Should I Re-fi? – Take this workshop to learn all the details around refinancing your home, tapping the equity to do improvements or paying critical bills.
Age-In-Place with a Reverse Mortgage – Learn from a local lender how specializes in helping show seniors how they can tap this equity without selling their house creating income for themselves so they can afford to stay in their home.
Ask the Experts (for Homeowners) Panel – What is on your mind? Everything you want to know and more about home loans, the real estate market, the current financial crisis, refinancing options, changes in lending practices, special programs for homeowners, short sales, foreclosures, real estate scams and more is fair game this workshop.

This fair is hosted by the Lents Homeownership Initiative partners: ROSE Community Development and Kelly SUN Community School (Impact Northwest’s SUN Community Schools are a collaboration of Multnomah County Department of Human Services, the City of Portland Parks and Recreation and Portland Public Schools.)

Sponsors: Portland Development Commission, Bureau of Housing & Community Development, Standard TV and Appliance, Burgerville, Fred Meyer, Univision, Wells Fargo, Unitus Community Credit Union, US Bank, HomeStreet Bank, Tracy Brophy with REMAX, & National City Mortgage

For more information, contact Amie Diffenauer at (503) 788-8052 x105 or see www.rosecdc.org.

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