Potential Long Island homebuyers can attend CDCLI webinar

Community Development Corp. of Long Island will hold a webinar Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. for Long Islanders who hope to purchase a home in the future.

The goal is to provide prospective homebuyers with information about the financial steps they need to take to prepare, such as obtaining their credit scores and paying off debt, said Gwen O’Shea, president and CEO of the Centereach-based nonprofit.

“We want to make sure individuals who are interested in becoming homeowners — whether it’s in the next six months or in the next three years — have as much information as possible to prepare them for the process, which will ideally ensure their success in maintaining homeownership,” she said.

Rising home prices and interest rates have increased the challenges facing first-time homebuyers. Those buying their first home made up 26% of all buyers last year in the United States, which was down from 34% in 2021, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s the smallest percentage of first-time buyers since NAR began collecting data in 1981.

The median age of a first-time homebuyer was 36, which was up from 33 in 2021, and the oldest since NAR started its survey.

Given the cost of buying a home on Long Island — the median sale went for $660,000 in Nassau and $535,000 in Suffolk last month — it’s important potential buyers have a plan and consider all the costs of homeownership, including taxes, insurance and repairs, O’Shea said. Other topics that the nonprofit aims to cover include down-payment assistance programs and navigating the home loan process.

“We want to really work to ensure we increase the percentage of individuals on Long Island, in particular those that are individuals of color, to expand that universe of homeownership because we know there are individuals who have been left out of that opportunity,” she said.

People interested in attending the webinar on Zoom can register at bit.ly/3Z1UqyS.

By Jonathan LaMantia

jonathan.lamantia@newsday.com@jonlamantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.