What is a FICO Score? Most credit bureau scores in the U.S. are calculated from software developed by Fair Isaac and Company. They are commonly referred to as FICO scores and include a rating based on information found in credit reports.
If you're planning to finance the purchase of any investment properties now or in the future, then knowing what make up your credit score and how to improve it are critical.
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The housing market may be coming back, but a growing number of policy makers have expressed concerns recently that it’s still too hard to get a mortgage.
Federal Reserve governor Elizabeth Duke outlined some of these concerns and their causes in a speech last month. She was quick to note — as is anyone else who has sounded similar alarms — that she doesn’t want the market to return to the go-go days of 2005 or 2006 when anyone who could fog a mirror could get a loan. “But I also don’t think it would be a good idea to go back to the quite restrictive credit conditions of the early 1980s,” she said in the speech to mortgage bankers.
If you're self-employed or have a small business, the idea of a 401(k) may make you jump to two conclusions: “My company is too small” or “I can’t afford it.” Well, you’re not too small and you can afford it!
A Solo 401(k) is inexpensive to set up and easy to maintain – and it delivers substantial tax and saving advantages. Use a Solo 401(k) plan if you’re self-employed or run an owner-only business. You could add multiple owners and a spouse to a Solo 401(k) plan, but if you add full-time employees you’ll need to convert it to a more traditional IRA plan.
Are you a target for tenant lawsuits? Are your assets easy to locate? Do you own rental properties in your own name?
You wouldn’t walk around with a financial statement taped to your forehead would you? So why would you have your most valuable assets exposed to public scrutiny? Anyone can go down to the county courthouse or recorder’s office and look up the owner of any property. Real estate records are now computerized, so all of your real estate holdings can be located at the touch of a button! Lawyers, creditors, IRS agents, newspaper reporters, tenants and other “snoops” can find out what you own and whether you are worth going after.
Don’t give them the ammunition – make your real estate ownership hard to find!
Last week, the Federal Reserve announced a new round of “quantitative easing,” or QE3, meaning the Federal Reserve will fire up the printing presses to buy $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) every month on an open-ended basis in an effort to further drive down historically low interest rates.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said QE3 should put downward pressure on mortgage rates, helping the housing market. By lowering borrowing costs and spurring banks to lend more, the Fed hopes to induce more spending and eventually set the stage for more hiring. The Fed tied its bond-purchase program explicitly to jobs, saying it will keep buying bonds until it sees a substantial improvement in the labor market.
Who benefits from QE3?
