I am the first time home buyer from Portland and I am about to close my new home soon and really appreciated the Portland Housing Center and the team ,including Miss Bernice Platz and my loan officer Jessenia . I will definitely refer those who would like to buy new house in Grashem . The service is really good and perfect for those like us without knowledge and experience.

PHC helped me become a first time homebuyer. The process took a total of three years, I wasn't expecting this program to take that long, but considering where I was financially I knew it wouldn't happen overnight. I had to put a lot of work into it, such as budgeting, saving, taking the courses, meeting with my housing counselor and making sure I was submitting all the required documents. I was willing to do the work and learn as much as I could about becoming a first time homebuyer. I felt supported by the team members of PHC and they typically responded quickly to my emails and calls. They talked me through all the information I was given and let me know what next steps I needed to take to proceed with buying a home. They provided me with various housing resources, grants and saving plans. They walked me through each step. Overall I would recommend this program especially if you are looking for the opportunity to be a first time homeowner and don't know where to begin.

We're paying a significant amount of money for classes that last 8+ hours long for information that you can find with a few minutes google search. And it didn't help that the guy leading our homebuying class bragged about owning multiple homes. Supposedly he was/is a minister too. Talk about vile. The other reason for my negative review is the lack of control over my own information. I can't delete information I've given/uploaded. I can't close my account. They sell your data to local realtors and property managers. We need more control over our sensitive data. There is sense that Portland Housing Center is moreso a coalition of realtors working together to reference each other to still earn their bottom line despite giving out grants and lowering costs. We were pushed through with no real engagement. Our "counselor" was late to the meeting and read from a script. Again, it's stuff we already know how to do...which is to keep track of fiances. She didn't give us a clear idea of what we could realistically do to buy a house that was any different than if we didn't use PHC to begin with! So if you are in a lower economic bracket, PHC is predatory. They won't be able to help you anymore than you could help yourself. You need a significant amount of money saved up 50k+ to actually make use of PHC (regardless if you have good credit). And even then your mileage will vary. I aged out of foster care and was really hoping for help. Instead, my family is out a few hundred dollars.