8 Steps to Getting Your Finances in Order
May 28th, 2008 by The Rita Scott Group | no responses
Vancouver Washington Real Estate Blog By Rita Scott
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8 Steps to Getting Your Finances in Order
- Develop a family budget. Instead of budgeting what you’d like to spend, use receipts to create a budget for what you actually spent over the last six months. One advantage of this approach is that it factors in unexpected expenses, such as car repairs, illnesses, etc., as well as predictable costs such as rent.
- Reduce your debt. Generally speaking, lenders look for a total debt load of no more than 36 percent of income. Since this figure includes your mortgage, which typically ranges between 25 percent and 28 percent of income, you need to get the rest of installment debt—car loans, student loans, revolving balances on credit cards—down to between 8 percent and 10 percent of your total income.
- Get a handle on expenses. You probably know how much you spend on rent and utilities, but little expenses add up. Try writing down everything you spend for one month. You’ll probably see some great ways to save.
- Increase your income. It may be necessary to take on a second, part-time job to get your income at a high-enough level to qualify for the home you want.
- Save for a downpayment. Although it’s possible to get a mortgage with only 5 percent down—or even less in some cases—you can usually get a better rate and a lower overall cost if you put down more. Shoot for saving a 20 percent downpayment.
- Create a house fund. Don’t just plan on saving whatever is left toward a downpayment. Instead decide on a certain amount a month you want to save, then put it away as you pay your monthly bills.
- Keep your job. While you don’t need to be in the same job forever to qualify, having a job for less than two years may mean you have to pay a higher interest rate.
- Establish a good credit history. Get a credit card and make payments by the due date. Do the same for all your other bills. Pay off the entire balance promptly.
If you need any help, The Rita Scott Group has many referrals than can help with your real estate needs. You may contact us at 360-256-4980 or email at 4RitaScott@comcast.net and we can refer you to a Financial Specialist that best suites you and situation. We would love to be your Vancouver Washington real estate consultant!
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The Author: The Rita Scott Group
About: Rita Scott is a Vancouver Washington Real Estate Agent. Rita entered into the Real Estate Market in 1979, just prior to the 19-21% interest rates of the early 80’s. This market of high interest rates has made Rita proficient on alternative financing. After her first three successful years selling real estate, Rita embarked into her 15 year career managing and coaching real estate sales professionals. Through Rita’s tutelage of new real estate agents, she produced a vast number of “multi-million dollar producers."
This entry was posted by The Rita Scott Group, on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Real Estate News, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response on the right, or trackback from your own site.
