CNN Feature Demonstrates Importance of NeighborWorks Counseling

According to the IRS, 1.4 million people have taken advantage of the homebuyer tax credit, and Valatisha Jacinto, a Waco, Texas school teacher, was one of them. Jacinto and the credit counseling she received from NeighborWorks Waco were featured in a CNNMoney.com article on how the homebuyer tax credit has helped individuals buy a home.

NeighborWorks America supports the homebuyer tax credit and urges all homebuyers to seek homeownership education from a HUD-approved nonprofit organization — like NeighborWorks Waco — before purchasing a home. Jacinto’s story demonstrates the importance of this counseling. By working with NeighborWorks Waco to clean up her credit, Jacinto was ready to take advantage of the homebuyer tax credit when it was announced last February. She now owns an affordable three-bedroom, two-bath home, which she purchased with a 4.9 percent FHA-insured 30-year loan.

The tax credit was set to expire in December 2009, but it was expanded and extended through April 30, 2010 so more individuals could take advantage of the program.