Foreclosure relief Home buying Counseling for Mid-Michigan

As I walked into Lance Queen’s office he is just hanging up the phone and states that for the last few weeks he has been swamped with phone calls like that one. It was a person whose home was going into foreclosure. Unfortunately for that couple the sheriff sale has already taken place so there was nothing that the Center for Financial Health could do to help the situation.
“Helping working families and individuals build assets through home ownership” is the Mission statement of this non-profit organization, and when it comes to helping people you rarely find a person as passionate as credit counselor Lance Queen. Lance is a certified counselor for HUD (Housing and Urban Development) and MSHDA(Michigan State Housing and Development Authority). The Center for Financial Health where Lance is employed provides five main services for people; pre-homeownership counseling, post homeownership counseling, money management skills, a home education workshop, and foreclosure prevention. The last one is where he has been the busiest with phone calls in the current market.
His goal in foreclosure prevention is to look the whole picture with the individual through a sit down meeting, try to negotiate with lenders, or in the right circumstances use government programs to help families stay in their home. “The key is people have to call me when they are starting to get in trouble, if they wait until a week or two before Sheriff sale there is really nothing I can do.” This is the message Lance really wants to get out.
Besides the foreclosure work, there are many more programs for people to take advantage of. If someone is considering buying a home the education courses can be invaluable. There are credit management programs to learn how to budget, a four class seminar on the entire home purchasing process, if you have bad credit you can learn how to become mortgage ready again in the future. The skills taught here are what everyone in the future will have to become very adept at. As gas and food increase our Mid-Michigan families purchasing power is eroding fast. These classes can help those who are already well into the crunch, and also help others who want to get a jump on the cycle and start planning now. The best part is, these services are free to Michigan Residents. This is a government sponsored program. You are already paying for it, you might as well use it.
I asked Lance what the advantage was of coming here, instead of going directly to a lender. “The center has no interest in it when you get a mortgage. That allows me to pull credit, assess the situation, and find the best deal for someone. It takes the pressure away from the individual wondering if the lender is really looking out for their best interest. Not all banks have all programs, so we can tell them the right questions to ask when they start interviewing banks for a loan. We may even find money through financial aid and grants in the right situation.”
Lance is very knowledgeable in the banking industry having spent 10 years doing mortgages. I met him when he worked for a bank and knew that he did things right when he worked with people, and him and I know all to well, that there are some companies out there who try to push people into the product that makes them the most money. This has caused part of the problem that the housing industry is currently in. This is really a good fit for him, in the fact that it really allows him to help people with no strings attached. If you need to get a hold of Lance his number is 517-319-1309 and his email is lanceq@centerforfinancialhealth.org.