New home-buyer education seminars beginning Aug. 28

In her six years in the real estate industry, Indy Wallace has seen the need for home-buyer education.

"People get so frustrated with the whole process because they don't know what to expect," said Wallace. This perceived need for consumer education prompted Wallace to develop a series of monthly homeownership workshops, which will begin Aug. 28.

Wallace's homeownership workshops involve presenters from in a variety of fields related to home buying: finance, inspection, title work and insurance.

These seminars combine the expertise of several companies in addition to Indy Wallace Realtors. Among these are Lincoln-Evans Land Title, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, American Family Insurance, Wise Inspection and Advanced Home Inspections. Representatives of these companies will give lectures on topics of concern to home buyers.

The homeownership workshops will be held 6-8 p.m. at Indy Wallace Realtors, 3023 S. Fort Ave., on the last Thursday of every month.

"We will be continuing these for the next one to three years," said Wallace.

Wallace and the affiliates hope the seminars will ease the stress of purchasing a home.

"We have a variety of experts who will share their opinions and their expertise on the dos and don'ts of buying a house. There are so many things you can do to make the process easier, and sometimes the little things people tend to overlook can make a big difference," she said.

Lincoln-Evans President Kelly Jones has seen the need for buyer education for quite a while.

"I think public demand has created a need for this because of all of the information we have access to. Buyers are looking to gain more knowledge about the process and look for better value," Jones said. "I feel it will be beneficial to educate the public on these matters, but land title is just one spoke in the wheel. This is an opportunity for us to educate consumers on the total package."

Kathy Grodi, sales manager for one of Wells Fargo's Springfield branches, will speak about financing, including what factors could damage potential home buyer's credit.

"A basic knowledge is lacking in the general public on what affects your credit. I think that this topic is important to younger people, even those right out of high school," Grodi said.

The format of Wallace's seminars will include a brief lecture by the panelists, followed by a question and answer session. "We will touch on the same topics every month but not the same aspect of that topic," said Wallace. "It will be new information every month."

Jones encourages those considering a new home to attend the seminars.

"Buying a property is not something we do on a weekly basis, so most of the time the home buyer is just not aware of all of the choices they have," said Jones.