Skip to main content

Posted December 7, 2015

Where Credit is Due . . . To Improve or Not
Do you know what actions could help improve a buyer’s credit score?  Do you know how easily some of those actions are performed and how quickly they take effect?  A recent survey from TransUnion indicates that an overwhelming majority of those planning on or considering buying a home in the next 12 to 18 months have little to no idea.  This same survey found that while nearly three out of four (74 percent) of potential homebuyers believe it’s important to check the accuracy of their credit report, less than 45 percent correctly understand that their credit score measures the following:

•  The amount of debt they hold
•  The risk of not repaying a loan
•  The financial resources they have to pay back loans

“As many people across the nation prepare to take advantage of still-low interest rates and look to buy a home, it’s essential they understand their credit score before applying for a home loan,” said Ken Chaplin, senior vice president at TransUnion. Here are some other interesting statistics that came out of the survey from TransUnion although the majority of consumers recognize the importance of a credit score:

•  33 percent incorrectly thought increasing their income has the potential to help improve their credit score
•  28 percent incorrectly thought closing old accounts had the same potential

While this isn’t rocket science, looking at and analyzing credit reports is something your average buyer does not do on a regular basis (or ever).  Free of charge, we’re happy to go over a buyer’s report and not only show them how to address those issues that may be adversely affecting their credit but educate them on the why’s and the how’s.  Knowledge is power.

You’ll Find This VERY Interesting
We received a contract on November 17th.  By November 30th – a mere fourteen days later – we closed that loan and everyone was a happy camper.  Bear in mind, in that two-week period, we had the Thanksgiving holiday (November 26th), the day after (November 27th) when everyone was closed down, and the weekend (November 28th & 29th).  This wasn’t luck – it was a product of our system we put in place LONG before TRID came along.  We’re not bragging.  We’re just letting you know the facts.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An Age-Old Concept Reaping Future Rewards

W hy are social media like Facebook and Instagram so darn popular among real estate and mortgage folks?   Hint: the top reason might be an endless supply of memes, cat videos, and the chance to be snarky, but the other reason runs a VERY CLOSE second.   Give up?   Answer:   They’re free – and they really help even the playing field by enabling a one-person shop look and market like an organization who employs an army of wordsmiths and graphic artists. This new century is glorious, right?   With that in mind, let me re-introduce you to a centuries-old concept that is equally glorious – and can help IMPROVE the playing field for you, regardless of the size of your team: karma.   On the subject of “free”, I’m not suggesting that you work for free, but when you freely give of yourself and your knowledge, you’ll see a greater payoff, I promise! Recently, an agent came to us with a question: she has a client who is looking to sell his condo.   It...

KNOWING is Half the . . . Problem

If you’ve learned one thing from reading these columns, it’s this: I don’t read a ton of books by or about the French philosopher Descartes or spend large amounts of money traveling the world to view the Masters’ paintings in far-flung museums – my entertainment and sources of knowledge run to the more . . . mundane, if you will.   Well, I’m not about to disappoint.   In the movie Men in Black , the two main characters J & K (played by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, respectively) have recently met and K is trying to recruit J to join the clandestine government agency that monitors aliens on planet Earth.   Agent K has just shown J a lot of things that are hard to believe/explain and urges J to keep them secret.   At this point, J interrupts him, and this piece of dialogue ensues: J: Why the big secret?   People are smart.   They can handle it.   K: A person is smart.   People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you...

Control Your Money, Not Vice Versa

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post very similar to this - in fact, some aspects are identical - but I'm putting a slightly different twist on it to alter the perspective by a tad.   Whenever I meet a real estate investor who likes to take the fix-n-flip approach, I always ask why they go that route rather than subscribe to a buy-n-hold approach.  There are different answers to that question, but they all seem to have a common thread running through all of them: "I need the money to go out and buy another house to flip."  Sure, most people have a limited supply of cash on hand, so that makes sense.  With that said, there are three options EVERY real estate investor should know about - but, usually, they only know about the first one.  Let me set this up: Real-life example: the property in question costs $77,000 to acquire and $18,000 to rehab (total cash put out equals $95,000).  The property then can sell for $135,000.  Ready? Traditional...