A one-stop, comprehensive tool that will simplify your home buying process!

Naomi never gave buying a home much thought because she thought she could not afford it. One night, while watching one of her guilty pleasure reality TV shows, her young toddler pointed to the screen and asked bluntly, “Mommy can we have one of those?” They had been tuned to HGTV’s House Hunters. The screen featured a cozy looking home with a big yard.

Later that night, the question nagged at Naomi, and she began to imagine her daughter and her infant son playing in that yard and inviting friends to a sleepover in their own home.  She searched online and discovered the NeighborWorks homebuyer education class. She learned about mortgage financing, budgeting, and at what price she could afford a home. For the first time, owning a home seemed within reach.

The staff of NeighborWorks of Western Vermont helped her make a plan to pay for and find an affordable home that fit her needs. Naomi and her family no longer have to fantasize about owning a home; they can make plans to decorate and to host family functions, they can make their own memories.

Their new yard can play host to the formative milestones of childhood and family life. Naomi’s daughter can play tag and hide-and- seek with her school friends, jump rope, play catch and store her bicycle. Summertime means water fights, play pools, and a vegetable garden. Perhaps best of all, their new patch of green means Naomi and her family can finally have a yard with plenty of room to play with their Italian mastiff, Ruger.

Neighborworks of Northwest Vermont strives to  strengthen our community by helping residents attain sustainable homeownership. That means helping you make the decisions that will set you on a path to financial stability, finding the right home for you, and helping you maintain your home. We use every tool in our arsenal to get you in your dream home right now.

Now, we have one more: A way to streamline and store the pieces of your home buying process in one place.

The path to buying a home can be overwhelming, especially for first-time homebuyers. Whatever channel you use to achieve your goals, be it through education classes, down payment assistance programs, and Neighborworks Realty, we have the tools and resources you need to purchase an affordable home.

Don’t you wish you had a simple and effective way to keep track of finances, goals, paperwork, and the educational resources you need when preparing to purchase or make improvements to a home? You are in luck because we have such a tool! It is called Compass.

Getting Started with Compass

How do I get started and how does it work?

When you enter Compass, you will be asked to securely provide information about your income, debt, and savings, as well as your status  in the buying process and what you are hoping to purchase.

Please be patient. Initially, you will need to spend a bit of additional time to get all your information in one place. However, once you’ve set up your Dashboard, it couldn’t be easier to keep track of your progress!

You only need to know a few things to get started: how much money your household brings in every month, how much of that income goes toward expenses like car loans and credit cards, how much money you have saved so far, and a good estimate of your credit score. Don’t worry, your information is secure.

A novice user we asked to test drive Compass took just seven minutes to answer all the questions. But, be advised, if you are storing your important records under your bed, you might have to allot yourself a few extra minutes to locate them! Give yourself a pat on the back, we’ve all been there!

Compass Tool – Step-by-Step

Questions about You

The questions are presented in a clear and easy-to-use format. Simply fill in the answers to the required fields and Compass will create a financial profile that includes how much you need for a down payment, and what price range is affordable for you.

Dashboard

Now you can access your Dashboard ,  a home base for all of  your important  information. It looks like this:

Your Dashboard will help you track your financial profile  and log classes you are attending, as well as connect you to other sources of Neighborworks of Western Vermont financing services, such as down payment assistance, home repair loans, and energy assistance loans.

Menu Options

In addition to your Dashboard, this bar is always visible and accessible at the top of your screen:

When you are ready to talk with a Realtor, lender or home buying coach, you can upload all your documents (W-2s, bank statements, loan documents, etc.) to  one secure location using “My Documents.”   

The “Training Center” option will keep track of any classes for which you have registered , in addition to keeping you in the loop about all upcoming trainings and workshops that are available to you:

The “Resources” tab will take you to a comprehensive list of all that NeighborWorks of Western Vermont has to offer – you won’t have to navigate away from the Compass site to have access to the wealth of NeighborWorks’ resources.

Give it a try!

Purchasing a home is big commitment, and you are most likely  grappling with this new project while juggling all of your other responsibilities: work, family, personal obligations, etc. Compass can help lighten your load.

It is not simply a helpful financial tool, but it is a mini personal assistant!  Simply log in and find everything you need in one place.

Where are you on your path to Homeownership?

Wherever you are on your  path to owning a  home, we are here to help. You can sign up for Compass and work with us whether you have just begun  the process or have been working toward this goal for some time.

Questions? You can always contact us at 802-438-2303 or [email protected]