“It was just Invaluable”
Michelle Leonetti and her husband Nate Rocheford were immediately drawn to the old rustic style charm of their home in Essex.
“It’s quirky. Definitely not your standard suburban house. It’s a mix of modern and historic,” says Michelle.
Like so many people entering the home buying market for the first time, it was a bit frightening. Vermont’s expensive housing market was one barrier, but so was navigating the complicated process of buying a home.
Michelle knew a first-time homebuyer course would be helpful. A quick internet search brought her to Champlain Housing Trust’s Basics of Buying a Home. Attending this free one-and-a-half-hour class was a quick and simple first step, and it gave her a much better idea of what the process would mean and how the couple could make it work.
“I was little bit overwhelmed at first,” Michelle said. “There was so much shared in one class, but it really helped give us the outlines of what to know and what to be prepared for. It was a full year or two before we were ready to start the process, but we wanted to make sure we were on the right track,” she says.
Once Michelle and Nate got started, they stuck with it, eventually taking a more in-depth course from CHT on buying a home. The day-long program answered their questions and aspects of the homebuying process, overcoming the initial fear that made owning a home feel out of reach.
“Homebuyer education was a much more immersive experience and gave us the specific information that we needed,” Michelle explains. “We had the outline, but having the specifics made our goal of homeownership something tangible.”
At the same time, she and Nate started to spend more time casually browsing homes for sale in the area. Eventually they took what they learned and realized they had sense of what they wanted in a home and what they could afford. They identified what their priorities were and made compromises on some things they realized they couldn’t afford.
“We utilized the resources and foundation we had from CHT and combined it with our own research. It felt like we really had a clear plan,” she says.
That foundation was helpful for the couple when complications arose during the purchase of their home. Inspection issues with their barn and a lien on the property delayed the closing. Michelle credits the perspective she gained from CHT’s Homebuyer Education as something that helped her navigate the stress.
“I appreciated that the course helped prepare you for the fact that your offer being accepted isn’t the end of the process. Buying our home wasn’t the smoothest process, but it was good going in knowing that things could go wrong and we could work through it,” says Michelle.
For that reason, she recommends CHT Home Education classes to anyone.
“It was such a stressful process. Have the resources available to you and the experts to walk you through it was just invaluable.”