More than 90% of the homeowners created by NeighborWorks ® network organizations for at least the last five years have been first-time homeowners, a statistic NeigborWorks America’s Business Intelligence team has been highligting. In fiscal year 2025, the share of first-time homebuyers who bought a home through the NeighborWorks network reached 94%.
What’s more, this comes at a time when the national share of first-time homebuyers is much lower than usual, at 21%.
What’s behind the network’s much higher percentage?
In part, say leaders from the network of nearly 250 local nonprofits, it’s the result of the down payment assistance and homebuyer education that many clients receive. The education component helps clients buy a home, and also shows them how to keep it.
When clients come to a network organization, “they're asking for help in understanding and achieving homeownership,” said Michael Butchko, vice president of Business Intelligence at NeighborWorks America. “And they’re getting that help.” In other words, network organizations help clients find the path to what’s next.
Network organizations know how to answer questions and how to navigate challenges through financial coaching and housing counseling, Butchko explained. “I think a fair amount of the people that come to the NeighborWorks organizations are surprised to learn that homeownership's a possibility for them. So that’s one of the things this 90% number could be saying: that there’s an untapped market of people out there who could become homeowners but for education, intervention or some level of help to iron out a few things.” That includes improving credit scores, learning more about the homebuying process, and identifying sources of down payment assistance that help get a would-be homeowner across the finish line.
An example in Colorado
Neighbor to Neighbor in Fort Collins, Colorado, a NeighborWorks network organization that reported the largest number of homeowners created in the network last fiscal year, offers group homebuyer education , eHome counseling, and one-on-one prepurchase counseling.
More than 90% of the nonprofit's clients are first-time homebuyers. Last fiscal year, Neighbor to Neighbor created 884 homeowners and provided homebuyer education to 1,250 residents.
“Colorado is very fortunate to have a lot of down payment assistance programs, funded through different avenues whether that be local governments, employers contributing to down payment assistance and more,” said Janese Lesoing, director of programs at Neighbor to Neighbor. To access the assistance, homebuyers must be first-time homebuyers or not have owned a home for at least three years. They also need certification showing they’ve completed homebuyer education. That contributes to some of the first-time ownership numbers. So does the housing climate in the region, where rentals can be hard to find.
“The cost of rent in Colorado is really high, so if they can make homeownership a possibility, it may still be more expensive but not by a significant margin,” she said. If people can buy a home and build equity, they will. To make that happen, more families are coming together to make a purchase. “We had a group of three brothers that went in and bought a house together.”
Miranda Minton, senior homeownership manger at Neighbor to Neighbor, said the organization is seeing more multigenerational families joining forces. Occasionally, roommates will join together to make a purchase as well.
Homes in Larimer County average close to $700,000. “So a lot of people cannot afford it unless they can group together to afford it,” Minton said.
The people who take Neighbor to Neighbor's courses are more prepared going into homeownership and are also more prepared for the things that happen once they buy a home.
“I think they have a better understanding of how financing works and what to expect throughout the process,” Lesoing said.
When Minton teaches classes, she explains the importance of saving for a new roof or a water heater malfunction.
People going through the homeownership courses are on a continuum, ranging from just starting out to ready to buy. On surveys, “a lot of people at the end of the continuum who are ready to close write: ‘I wish I had taken this class sooner,’” Minton said.
Cross-country agreement
At a webinar sponsored by NeighborWorks and led by the National Housing Conference this summer, leaders from community development organizations and real estate companies agreed that housing counseling made a huge difference in a person’s readiness to buy a home.
Katie Naftzger , senior vice president and community investment officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, said homebuyer education and counseling help households become mortgage ready, creating opportunities for future lending.
“Many households aspired to homeownership but were not prepared for that lender stage yet,” she said. “They often needed help building credit, increasing savings, understanding mortgage options, and piecing together the down payment assistance that might be needed – and also just determining whether homeownership was the right solution for them at that point in time.”
That’s where housing counseling agencies come in, she said. “Housing counseling organizations help consumers take those steps.”
Brenda Lopez, president & CEO of Trellis, a NeighborWorks organization in Phoenix, Arizona, is one such organization. “The clients we work with are primarily first-time homebuyers,” she said. “That’s how we market our programs.” The biggest driver, she believes, is down payment assistance. To get that assistance, you have to be a first-time homebuyer; you also have to take homebuyer education courses.
“Homeownership counseling is a required piece for any of the down payment programs. We also try to work with lenders who put a value to our counseling and education.” She sees more lenders referring clients to her organization for this reason.
It’s a story that’s echoed throughout the NeighborWorks network. “The combination of programs and services is what brings them in initially,” said Shane Powers, CEO of NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania. “Our programming is targeted at first-time home buyers and housing counseling is a component meant to keep people in the house they buy. Local lenders also have loan products that require housing counseling.”
Lenders also send her nonprofit potential homebuyers who are not quite ready to buy a home, but are ready to begin credit or budget counseling. From there, they may move on to housing counseling. Her organization does several workshops a year for homebuyers, offered in English and Spanish. “That’s another pathway for bringing people in.”
Daniel Sansary, executive director of NeighborWorks Housing Services of Greater Berks in Pennsylvania, said his organization, which provides down payment and closing cost loans to first-time homebuyers across Pennsylvania, receives referrals from banks and real estate agents alike.
Of the 289 homeowners who purchased through his organization last year, he said, “all of them were first-time homebuyers.”
Over 90% of the new homeowners who go through The HomeOwnership Center in Elkins, West Virginia, are first-time homebuyers, too, said Kate Somers, executive director. “That’s who we try to speak to. We really prioritize and emphasize the counseling and education and the importance of that to become not just a homebuyer, but a successful homebuyer.”
