Next Step and eHome Release Prefab Homebuyer Education Course

LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Today, Next Step Network, a nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to increasing access to affordable housing, launched a factory-built homebuyer education course to help create awareness and educate prospective home buyers about prefab housing options.

"Education is critical for individuals and families making the choice to buy a home," said Stacey Epperson, president and founder of Next Step Network. "Factory-built housing is an often misrepresented option for hardworking Americans struggling to purchase, finance and own a sustainable home in the midst of our housing crisis." 

The course is publicly available on eHome America, a premier provider of Web-based education programs for prospective home buyers. By taking the course, prospective buyers learn the basics of factory-built housing – including how to shop, finance and maintain their new home.

Next Step's Factory-Built Homebuyer Education Course is also a key component of the organization's SmartMH program – a pilot initiative launched in partnership with Freddie Mac supporting the government-sponsored enterprise's Duty to Serve plans. The program connects educated homebuyers with financial institutions and manufactured home retailers to increase access to affordable, ENERGY STAR® manufactured homes with fair financing.

News Facts:

• Both first-time and repeat home buyers who receive pre-purchase housing counseling and education are one-third less likely to become 90 or more days delinquent during the two years after they obtained their loans (Department of Housing and Urban Development).
• Factory-built housing is the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the U.S.
• Nearly 22 million Americans live in factory-built homes nationwide (Manufactured Housing Institute).
• Homes constructed in a factory represented 10 percent of all new single-family home starts in 2018 (Manufactured Housing Institute).
• In no state, metro area or county can a worker earning the federal minimum wage or prevailing state minimum wage afford a two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent by working a standard 40-hour week (National Low-Income Housing Coalition).
• As of February 2019, the U.S. homeownership rate was 64.8 percent (U.S. Census Bureau).

About Next Step® Network, Inc.
Next Step® Network, Inc. is a national, nonprofit housing intermediary that works to promote expanded use of factory-built housing as a viable solution to address housing affordability. Our organization mobilizes a national network of mission-driven nonprofits, leaders in the manufactured housing industry and lending institutions serving home buyers and homeowners in their communities. Next Step's system – Manufactured Housing Done Right® – connects responsible financing, comprehensive homebuyer education and delivery of high-quality, ENERGY STAR® manufactured homes at scale, creating a model that brings more value to the homeowners and communities. Learn more at www.nextstepus.org.

About eHome America
Working with over 500 non-profit partners across the nation, eHome America has been endorsed by the USDA and numerous state housing finance agencies, and is accepted by most lenders as well as ten of the eleven federal home loan banks.  eHome America is a nationwide program with offices in Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati and Washington D.C.  For more information on eHome America, visit us at www.eHomeAmerica.org.

Contact: Grant Beck, Marketing and Communications Manager    
Phone: (202) 851-7550
Email: [email protected] 

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SOURCE Next Step Network