Hello Everyone!
I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season! Now that New Year's Day has come and gone, I for sure am thinking one thing: I am ready for summer now! No longer do I need the cold and snow for my White Christmas; I am ready for green grass and sunshine. What comes along with green grass and sunshine? The busiest season for real estate transactions.
If you're at all thinking of buying a home within the next six months, I'm sure there are several questions going through your head like, "How much can I spend?", "Where should I move to?", "How far am I willing to commute for work?", or "Will I even qualify for a loan?"
As this is going to be a short blog, I want to tell you about one thing that will help you get toward buying your dream home: YOUR CREDIT!
Do you know what your score is? How much debt do you have? Do you pay your bills on time?
All of these questions can have an effect on your credit score and for what you can qualify for a home loan.
Recently, Truila sent me a fantastic email about 5 Credit Habits to BREAK. Here they are:
- Being Disconnected: Make sure to check your credit report regularly to know where you're at.
- Overspending: Set a budget for yourself; don't max out your credit cards! Just because the money may seem available to you, it's very easy to get buried in debt-- especially during the holiday season.
- Managing Balances: Stop paying just the minimum balances on your credit cards. All that money you waste on paying interest could go into an account to save for your future needs, i.e. a new home! I'm not saying to have to pay in full all the time, but try to make a goal to pay above the minimum each time.
- Seeking Too Much: Credit cards are way tempting.. It's easy to get drawn in with all the benefits. Credit rewards, advanced notification of sales events, VIP discounts, blah, blah, blah. Accept new credit AS LITTLE as possible. Lenders won't like to see that your credit utilization rate is high. Also, having all kinds of credit cards makes it that much easier to overspend.
- Getting Behind: Quit it with the late payments! Lenders want to see that your responsible and reliable with your debt. They want to know that you're going to make your payments on time. Each and every late payment hurts you.
Now, I know it may seem daunting to try all 5 of these. Maybe try one at a time, or try and make the easiest change first.
TRUST ME. You'll be happy you were credit conscience when you go to buy your next home.
If you want to read the full Trulia article, you can find it here:
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