Average Homebuyer Score Rose from 700 in 2005 to 732 in 2016

 

Welcome to the 2018 home-buying market: Rising demand and an extremely tight supply of homes, especially in the critical starter-home market, make it difficult to realize your goal of home ownership.

In this market, you’ll need two important things to land your dream home – more money and a higher credit score.

Data from the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) at Harvard University highlight the credit score issue.

According to the 2017 JCHS study, “The State of the Nation’s Housing – 2017,” the median credit score for successful mortgage loan applications increased from a FICO score of 700 in 2005 to 732 in 2016.

Lenders are still conservative in their risk assessments – aided in part by regulations put in place during the housing crisis.
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Friday the 13th is one of my favorite “holidays.” You never know when one will pop up, but it is typically a day of spooky movies and snacks around my house. However, if you’ve looked into the history of Friday the 13th, you know many people consider the day to be full of bad omens. I’ve learned over the years that some people do truly just have bad luck, but most of our misfortune can be avoided. Whatever you do, don’t do these three things with your money.

1. Overpaying for Housing

One of the biggest things you can do that will screw up your finances is overpaying for your housing. With rent prices like they are, it can be challenging to find something within your price range, but it’s not impossible. Here are a few things to consider.

• As a general rule of thumb, no more than 28% of your income should go towards rent or mortgage payments. Right now, that may seem hard to do. Nationwide, the average rent payment sits at $1,164 and with the housing crisis, it is hard to find anything to buy without a bidding war. Ignoring this budgeting rule can really hurt your finances though. When you overspend on housing, you wind up taking on debt to cover your other expenses. It’s a vicious circle (been there, done that).
• Consider relocating if you can. At the end of 2020, we made the decision to relocate to save money and be closer to our family/support system. This was a really great move for us. It’s not feasible for everyone, but if you can relocate somewhere that is cheaper to live, do it! The financial weight lifted off your shoulders is worth it.
• Look for roommates or live with extended family. Living with other people is another great way to reduce your housing costs, and more people are doing it than ever before. A lot of my friends live with extended family (parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles). They have a larger home, but everyone lives under the same roof. It reduces the overall cost of housing for each individual and helps with things like childcare, transportation, and other expenses too. Roommates can be great too, just make sure you know who you are moving in with.

2. Neglecting to Budget

Neglecting to budget will also cause you bad luck with your finances in the long run. As mentioned above, only 28% of your income should go towards housing. There are recommended budget percentages for just about every budget item you can think of. Don’t forget to include these things in your budget.

• Some fun money! You have to have a line in your budget for fun or entertainment. If you don’t, you are less likely to stick to your budget as a whole.
• Sinking funds! Sinking funds are another important budget line item. You need to have sinking funds for things like car repairs/maintenance, property taxes, vacation, etc. Make sure you have this in your budget!

3. Not Buying Insurance

Insurance is another biggie when it comes to protecting your money. While a lot of people will tell you insurance is a racket (it is), it is totally necessary unless you have some crazy amount of money. Even then, you’d probably want to insure it. When it comes to people without bucket loads of cash, you should hold a few different kinds of insurance, including:

• Health insurance
• Renter’s or home insurance
  • Flood or other weather-related insurance for your area, if not covered in home insurance
• Car insurance
• Life insurance

These four types of insurance will protect you in the event you are in any kind of accident, your health declines, or something happens to your property (assets). It also helps protect your family and provides them with a way to take care of things if you can’t. Without it, you can quickly eat up your emergency fund and then some. You’ll find yourself pulling out a loan or using your credit card to cover the costs.

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“What gets measured, gets improved.”

If you haven’t seen my debt freedom progress reports before, each month I bring you a recap of the previous month’s progress on paying off our debt.

This serves two purposes — to keep my husband Mike and me accountable to our financial goals and to give you a look behind the scenes of our strategy for paying off our debt.

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When you are trying to pay off debt and save toward financial freedom you can get pretty creative in trying to save money. But sometimes taking [Read more…]

Where You Can Make the Best of a Bad Credit Situation

It’s no fun having a bad credit score. You pay higher interest rates for your credit – if you can get credit at all. You have little room for financial error. A small, unexpected bill can cause big problems.

At least your hardships may not be as bad if you live in certain states.

RewardExpert, a site that helps users optimize credit and debit card reward programs, examined factors that affect residents with poor credit – such as typical expenses, usury laws to limit predatory lending, and the status of debt collectors – and how those factors vary in each state.

Where is bad credit more tolerable? Consumers with bad credit should avoid the coasts and stick to the Midwest – not surprising, given the typically high costs of living in coastal areas.
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In the debt-free community, a lot of people shy away from sharing stories about the mistakes they’ve made. To me, that’s toxic behavior. By not sharing where you fell short, you may be taking the information away from someone who really needed it.

Recently, we fell behind. Things were getting harder to keep up before my husband took on a full-time job. My gas bill somehow stacked up to more than $300 and other bills were starting to pile up too. I knew once he started his job we would be able to catch up on everything fairly quickly. The end of the harder times was on the horizon, but it got me thinking about what we need to do in order to really catch up. If you’ve fallen behind, don’t worry. It happens to the best of us. Here’s what you can do.

1. Pay the Most Important Bills First

Assess the bills you’ve fallen behind on and decide what needs to be paid first. These things would typically be necessities: rent/mortgage, utilities, food. Make sure you get your basic needs addressed first. Once you’ve done that you can move on to the other money you may owe.

2. Call Creditors and See How They Can Work With You

When it comes to debt payments, most companies are willing to work with you on a plan to pay off your account. If you have a credit card and have fallen behind, give them a call and explain your situation. Usually, they will be able to work out a payment plan that better suits your current needs or push your payment date back so that you have more time. This can be said for loans, some utilities, phone bills, etc. You’ll never know if you don’t ask and it could make all the difference in how you bounce back from falling behind.

When you are ready to tackle your debt again, read more about the Debt Snowball Method here.

3. Set a New Budget

Once you’ve caught up on everything that you’ve fallen behind on, set a new budget. Obviously, the last one wasn’t working for you. Not to mention, you may have had some significant changes that impact your earnings, spending, etc. Don’t forget to include budget lines for any of the subscription services you have, entertainment/fun money, and recurring costs like car maintenance.

4. Get More Money in Savings

After you have set a budget that works for you, make sure you have enough left in your plan to stash some money away. Having savings to fall back on is a huge help when you fall behind or are having any kind of financial trouble. You always know you have that money in savings to take care of what you need in the mean time.

5. Address Personal Needs

Chances are, if you’ve been behind for a little while, you’ve been ignoring a lot of your own personal needs. Take a small amount of your budget and spend money doing something you enjoy. This can help you feel more positive and motivated about your financial journey.

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Contact lenses are those items that you need but hate to buy because of the price. Every time I buy them it hurts, especially if I can get them cheaper elsewhere! My husband and I both wear contacts and our vision insurance covers our yearly eye appointment and one of the following: up to $300 for glasses or up to $130 for contacts. Because of the better deal, we always opt in for using the insurance for glasses when our vision changes. So, that means we are paying out of pocket for contacts for the entire year.

My husband wears the 1-Day Acuvue contacts because he has a lot of allergies year around and his eyes are really sensitive. Before switching to the 1-Day Contacts from the 30-Day he would have to get prescription eye drops as well.

We normally order his contact lenses from the eye doctor and they were costing around $170 for a 3-month supply. Ouch! About 2 years ago we began ordering them through 1-800 Contacts and they normally run around $145.00 ($72.25 per eye) with free shipping.

After researching Walmart.com and Walgreens here is what I found:

Contacts Comparison
Store	$ Per Eye	Shipping	Additional Steps	Misc. Information
Local Eye Doctor	$90	Pick Up	Order on-site	N/A
1-800 Contacts	$72.25	Free Shipping	Submit Prescription	Price match guarantee and you can also get a discount when you buy larger quantities. ($61 for 4+ boxes)
Walmart.com	$66.00	Free Shipping	Submit Prescription	Can get a discount if you buy larger quantities. ($56 per box for 4+ boxes)
Walgreens.com	$49.50	Free Shipping	Submit Prescription	Currently offering 25% discount on any contact order.

Walmart.com always has very competitive prices on almost any item they carry. I also found that Walgreens.com in now selling contacts as well. Walgreens always has promo codes to add to online orders and they have been having a 25% promo code for the last 2 months on contact lenses. Their contacts were originally $66 per eye, but after 25% off it came down to $49.50 per eye!

After much research, I ordered my husband’s contacts through Walgreens. I submitted his doctor’s name and fax number. Walgreens was able to verify the prescription that same day! I ordered his contacts on Monday afternoon and we got his contact in the mail that Friday and saved about $45 compared to our last contact purchase from 1-800 Contacts! That means we will be saving $180 a year on my husband’s contacts alone!

1-800 Contacts has a price match guarantee and you can also get your contact lenses cheaper via rebate if you buy 4 or more boxes. I normally don’t purchase more than a 3 month supply for my husband’s contacts because they are so pricey to begin with. Also, if I don’t have to deal with rebates to get the best deal I gladly decline. The price match guarantee also seems like a lot of trouble. Especially if you are in a hurry to order more. It’s always important to read the fine print with these.

When it comes to saving money I don’t mind going the extra mile in getting the prescription verified as long as I order ahead of time just in case there is any delay. $180 is a lot of money to save in a year on a product you can buy somewhere else and it’s the same brand. Right now ordering our contacts through Walgreens.com is a no brainer!

For more ways to save check out these great articles.

8 Ways to Save Money at Target
Save Money at the Grocery Store with this Quick Tip
52 Week Challenge: Save $1,404 By Saving No More Than $52 a Week!

What about you? Do you wear contacts? If so, where do you purchase them? do you know of any other places that have great deals?

Are you having difficulties paying off your student loan debt? If you don’t qualify for other methods of help, refinancing your student loan might be a suitable option.

Consider these seven questions to see if refinancing makes sense in your case.
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