The Clayton County first-time buyer workshop

What this workshop is, and what it is not

Clayton County requires an 8-hour HUD-approved homebuyer education class before you can use the county down payment assistance. That class is the requirement. This workshop is not that class, and it does not replace it. You still have to take the county-approved course.

This is the session about what to do with the certificate once you have it. The required class teaches you how mortgages work in general. It does not tell you which Georgia Dream tier you qualify for, how the county program layers on top of it, or what the Clayton application is actually looking for. That gap is the part that decides whether you walk away with $17,500 or with nothing.

I am a REALTOR with Epique Realty. I am not a lender, and I am not a HUD housing counselor. What I bring is the local half: which approved lenders actually close these deals in Clayton County, what the $270,000 county price cap does to your search in Riverdale, and the order to do things in so you do not lose a house waiting on paperwork.

What we cover

• Which Georgia Dream tier fits you, Standard, PEN or CHOICE, and why only one applies per purchase
• How the Clayton County DPA layers on top, and the 80 percent of area median income ceiling that decides whether it can
• The real stack math: $17,500 for a standard first-time buyer, $22,500 for a public-service buyer, and who actually lands where
• The $270,000 county purchase price cap, and what that buys in Riverdale right now
• The order of operations: credit, then lender, then class, then county application, then houses
• What the county application wants, and the timing mistakes that cost people their funding
• Where this money is a second mortgage you repay, and where it is forgiven

Every number above is on this site already, with the source and the date. The workshop is where you find out which ones apply to you.

Who should be in the room

Come if you are somewhere in the first year of thinking about buying. Most of the people I talk to are 6 to 18 months out, still working on credit or savings, and quietly trying to work out whether any of this is possible for them.

You do not need to be pre-approved. You do not need a credit score you are proud of yet. You do not need to have taken the county class. Come before all of that, because the order matters more than people realize and most find that out too late.

If you already have a contract on a house, this is not the right room. Call me instead and we will work with what you have.

Three things to do before you come

1. Pull your own credit so you know the number. Checking your own does not hurt your score.
2. Write down your household size and your gross household income. Both programs get decided on those two numbers.
3. Bring your questions written down. The ones you are embarrassed to ask are the ones everybody in the room has.

If you want to read ahead, start with the first-time buyer hub, then Georgia Dream and the Clayton County DPA.

Or start with the two-minute program matcher. It gives you the shortlist of programs to ask about before you ever get in the room.

Dates

Dates are not set yet. I am building the list first, so the first session lands somewhere convenient for the people who actually want to be there.

Put your name down and you will hear before it goes public. It costs nothing, and it does not obligate you to work with me.