Download Library

Free guides and worksheets.

Plain-English PDFs you can keep, print, and fill in with your own numbers. Every guide is free and arrives by email, along with OfferPrep's monthly educational newsletter. Unsubscribe anytime. No credit check, no phone number, and no one will call you.

Topic guides

Each topic guide has its own page with a free article and a short form. Pick the one that fits where you are.

First-time buyers

The Down Payment Assistance Guide

How assistance programs work: grants vs. second loans, income limits, occupancy rules, and a rent-vs-own worksheet.

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Home equity

Questions to Ask Before You Borrow Against Your Home

A checklist for any lender plus a worksheet to compare a HELOC, a cash-out refinance, and a home equity loan.

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Renovation loans

The Renovation Budget Workbook

FHA 203(k) and HomeStyle paths side by side, plus scoping, bid-comparison, and contingency worksheets.

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VA loans

The VA Loan Handbook

Eligibility and the COE, the funding fee and who's exempt, occupancy, reusing the benefit, and a documents checklist.

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The Download Library

Ten short guides for buying, closing, owning, and investing, with a North Carolina focus. One form sends you all ten.

North Carolina

NC Due Diligence Fee, Earnest Money & Escrow

What each payment is, who holds it, when you can get it back, and the NC deadlines that matter.

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Step by step

How to Shop for a Mortgage

How to compare lenders on the same day with the same facts, and what to ask each one.

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Loan costs

How to Read a Loan Estimate

The three-page federal form, section by section, and how to line two estimates up.

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Loan costs

Lender Credits vs. Discount Points

How the tradeoff works and a break-even worksheet you fill in with your own numbers.

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Negotiating

Seller Concessions by Loan Type

What sellers can contribute toward your costs under each loan program, and how to ask.

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First-time buyers

Prequalified vs. Preapproved

What each letter means, what it checks, and which one sellers expect.

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North Carolina

NC Closing Costs for Buyers

The typical line items in a North Carolina purchase and who usually pays them.

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Under contract

Contract to Closing: Dos and Don'ts

The moves that can delay or derail a closing, from new credit to job changes.

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New homeowners

Your First 30 Days After Closing

Records to keep, the first payment, escrow, homestead and tax items, and scam warnings.

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Investing

DSCR Investor Guide

How debt-service-coverage loans qualify a rental on its income, and the questions to ask.

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Get the whole Download Library

One email, ten PDFs: due diligence and earnest money, shopping for a mortgage, reading a Loan Estimate, lender credits and points, seller concessions, prequalified vs. preapproved, NC closing costs, contract-to-closing dos and don'ts, the first 30 days after closing, and the DSCR investor guide.

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The OfferPrep Download Library

Ten PDFs, delivered by email.
Delivered by email. No credit check, no phone number. Privacy policy. Prefer to grab them now? Open the download library.

When you're ready

When you're ready, compare Loan Estimates from two or three licensed lenders you choose. You can check any lender's license at nmlsconsumeraccess.org. A HUD-approved housing counselor is a free, no-sales option.