The road to what's likely the largest and most financially and emotionally trying transaction you'll ever make just got smoother.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a $6.5 million grant to 12 national, regional and multi-state home ownership assistance agencies to help them educate would-be and existing home owners.

Consumer advocates say a key to home ownership is education that teaches consumers the ins and outs of mortgages, provides the financial preparedness skills consumers need to buy a home and backgrounds consumers in the home economics necessary to own and keep a roof over their head.

Predatory lending in today's market, an ever increasing array of mortgage products, and the changing economy's impact on the housing market all make home buying education virtually mandatory.

Knowledge gives consumers the power to read the small print, the insight to know predatory lending tactics, the foresight to watch economic indicators and the wisdom to be alert to unsavory market practices before they become victims.

The grants went to agencies that distribute HUD funding to grassroots level affiliates and branches that provide low- and moderate-income home buying hopefuls with advice about buying and owning a home.

Anyone -- current homeowners, prospective buyers or renters -- can get the counseling they need to improve their housing conditions and be responsible owners and renters.

HUD says by improving renter and home owner education, families make better, more informed home purchase decisions; improve their ability to budget for needed home expenses and regular mortgage or rent payments; and it makes the lending process less intimidating.

Housing counselors offer consumers advice and guidance on a wide variety of housing topics, ranging from providing information on the home buying process and financing a home to personal budgeting and credit repair; from default assistance and foreclosure avoidance to fair housing rights; from meeting the responsibilities of tenancy to obtaining a home equity conversion mortgage.

Home buyers, owners and renters are advised to look to these agencies and others like them for housing education they should obtain before buying or renting.

The 12 HUD-approved intermediaries receiving grants are:

Detailed grant project summaries are available on HUD's Web site.

Published: December 29, 2000

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.