The Market

The Market

There are some good trends in the market with one being that the housing is recovering even with the tight credit approval we are facing.  With still low down payment on FHA at 3.5% and a 5% down on conventional, it is a good market to buy.  If mortgage accessibility opens up (it is cyclic), we may just have a booming year in sales!

Now the downside is that Washington may change their policies and require more money down, like 20%.  They may trim or take away the mortgage interest deduction which is an advantage of owning over renting.  They also add capital gains on the home sale which we have not had for some years.  All of these would greatly halt the progress in home sales.

There will still be more unequal wealth distribution according to accondomist.  Homeowners are building wealth after buying at low prices.  Renters do not accumulate wealth and the renter population is rising simply because tighter credit hinders “good” renters from becoming homeowners.  Now we are seeing an increase share of property owners as investors and as a rule, too many investors in a neighborhood will bring the neighborhood down since properties are not usually maintained as well.  Owning a home is really down right now at a rate of 65.5% of the population which is the lowest in 15 years! Homeownership has always been the avenue in accumulating wealth for people. 

If you are renting, check out the possibility of owning a home and give us a call. 

5 Ways to Raise Your Credit Score

Most of us don’t even know why or how a credit score can change or what affects the change. Perhaps we can help you figure this out with these 5 ways you can use some expert know-how to boost your credit rating:

1. Pay bills before the statement date. How much you owe is 30% of your score and your utilization ration is a large part of that.

2. Make multiple payments. To make periodic payments throughout the month you are lowering your balance. Basically, the lower the balance on your credit report, the better. Make sure your card will handle multiple payments.

3. Ask for a ‘good-will deletion’ If you have one or two bad marks on your credit record, you may be able to them expunged if you ask the lender to “cut you some slack.” You might be surprised when it works by just asking.

4. Pay for removal. If you have an account that has gone into collection, the lender might remove it if you agree to pay it off. “You’d be surprised how many collection agencies will stop credit reporting in exchange for payment.” Get the arrangement in writing.

5. Protect yourself in a short sale. After a short sale, the lender often will report to credit bureaus that the me loan was settled for less than full amount or deficit as balance owed. Short sale will damage your credit score dramatically, you can mitigate the damage by arranging with the lender not to report a balance owed. Negotiate before or during the short sale not after it’s been paid!

Check Your Credit Scores!

Did you know that four out of five credit reports contain errors? If you are trying to get a loan or buy a house, that could be a problem. There are three major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. Be sure to check all three. You can do so free at annualcreditreport.com.

Examine the report since common mistakes are that an account has been closed when reported active and/or accounts mistakenly are in your name. You can contest any mistakes right there on the website at annualcreditreport.com but a letter to the bureau is also a good idea, as well as sending a letter to the company involved. The credit bureau must investigate within 30 days by law.

You have seen the ads in the newspaper and read the signs nailed to telephone poles: “Credit problems? We erase bad debt.” Sound easy, huh? Just call the number and pay a fee, and your credit woes will disappear.

Bad credit does not vanish by paying someone to remove it. There are legitimate credit repair organizations to help remove inaccurate information from credit reports.
The first step in fixing credit report errors is to identify what’s wrong by getting ga copy of your own credit report. (everyone is entitled to one free report per year from each fo the credit bureas: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Then review it for its accuracy.
· There should be no late pays on it! 35% of your credit score is based on timely payments.
· There should be no any collections or charge-offs more than 7 years old.
· Best to keep balances on available credit under 50% of the available limit, 30% is even better. Debt accounts for 30% of your score.
· Length of credit accounts for 15% of a credit score so check the original dates.

Think twice before closing that credit card which will shrink the available credit listings on your report and hurts the credit utilization ratio.

Good credit is key to just about everything today, including getting home owner’s insurance as well as buying anything you want with credit. Credit scores need to be at least a good 680 or higher. Maybe removing any little ding and any mistake made on your credit scoring would be worth the effort.

How Do You Fix Credit Report Errors?

You have seen the ads in the newspaper and read the signs nailed to telephone poles: “Credit problems? We erase bad debt.” Sound easy, huh? Just call the number and pay a fee, and your credit woes will disappear.

Bad credit does not vanish by paying someone to remove it. There are legitimate credit repair organizations to help remove inaccurate information from credit reports.
The first step in fixing credit report errors is to identify what’s wrong by getting a copy of your own credit report. (everyone is entitled to one free report per year from each of the credit bureas: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Then review it for its accuracy.

• There should be no late pays on it! 35% of your credit score is based on timely payments.
• There should be no any collections or charge-offs more than 7 years old.
• Best to keep balances on available credit under 50% of the available limit, 30% is even better. Debt accounts for 30% of your score.
• Length of credit accounts for 15% of a credit score so check the original dates.

Think twice before closing that credit card which will shrink the available credit listings on your report and hurts the credit utilization ratio.

Good credit is key to just about everything today, including getting home owner’s insurance as well as buying anything you want with credit. Credit scores need to be at least a good 680 or higher. Maybe removing any little ding and any mistake made on your credit scoring would be worth the effort.

Is Your Credit Good Enough To Buy A House?

You have seen the ads in the newspaper and read the signs nailed to telephone poles: “Credit problems? We erase bad debt.” Sound easy, huh? Just call the number and pay a fee, and your credit woes will disappear.

Bad credit does not vanish by paying someone to remove it. There are legitimate credit repair organizations to help remove inaccurate information from credit reports but be careful.

The first step in fixing credit report errors is to identify what’s wrong by getting a copy of your own credit report. (everyone is entitled to one free report per year from each fo the credit bureas: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.)

Then review it for its accuracy.
• There should be no late pays on it! 35% of your credit score is based on timely payments.
• There should be no any collections or charge-offs more than 7 years old.
• Best to keep balances on available credit under 50% of the available limit, 30% is even better. Debt accounts for 30% of your score.
• Length of credit accounts for 15% of a credit score, so check the original dates.

Think twice before closing that credit card which will shrink the available credit listings on your report but hurts the credit utilization ratio.

Good credit is key to just about everything today, including getting home owner’s insurance as well as buying anything you want with credit. Credit scores need to be at least a good 680 or higher. Maybe removing any little ding and any mistake made on your credit scoring would be worth the effort. Call us and we will help!