Here are some tips on how to increase your FICO score from the Financial Planning Association:

For those who are considering taking advantage of low interest rates, your Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) score will determine whether you’ll be able to obtain a home loan and the interest rate you pay on a loan. FICO scores range from 350-850. Lenders today will give the best interest rates to those with 720 (preferably 750) or higher.

First, let’s look at the average negative point deductions for specific activities so that you can avoid them over the next year:

1. Bankruptcy: -130 to -240 points
2. Foreclosure: -85 to -160 points
3. Debt Settlement: -45 to -125 points
4. Late payments: -60 to -110 points
5. Using too much of your available balance: -10 to -45 points

Strategies to improve your scores over the next year are:

Use old cards: We were told for years to cut up or cancel old credit cards. Now, it’s better to periodically dust off those old credit cards sitting in a drawer and use them for small purchases. Pay off the balance within a month to avoid interest charges. The key is to show activity on the card, since 15 percent of your score is based on your credit history.

Increase available credit: The old 50/50 rule we used in the past is long gone. Today, creditors want to see that you are using no more than 20 percent of your available credit; less than 10 percent is even better. Since 30 percent of your FICO score is based on the percentage you owe divided by the total amount available, keeping your spending under 20 percent is a great way to increase your credit score.

Pay on time: Sounds pretty obvious, but unfortunately many people think paying a day or two late is no big deal. Thirty-five percent of your FICO score is based on credit history, so paying on time is crucial. As noted above, making one late payment can reduce your score as much as 110 points!

Avoid co-signing for others: This will show up on your credit report and could negatively affect your score if the individual goes over 20 percent of the credit limit or fails to make a payment on time. Just one incident could reduce an “Excellent” rating down to a “Poor” rating, and increase the interest you pay on loans and insurance.
Caution: While the new credit card rules require a co-signer for minors under 21 who apply for a credit card, many companies are not adhering to the new rules. Be sure to warn the young adults in your life of the hazards of applying for and misusing credit cards during their early years. A couple of mistakes may prevent them from finding a place to live, purchasing a car, buying insurance at a reasonable rate, or even obtaining a job.

Limit applications for loans or credit cards: Since 10 percent of your score is determined by the number of new applications, inquiries, or credit you apply for, if you don’t need additional credit this year, avoid signing up for new cards or giving approval to anyone to look at your credit score. Just sit tight and gradually watch your score increase.

FPA member Cathie Restivo, CFP®, is the Regional Client Relationship Director/Certified Instructor at LFE Institute, Inc.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

There are several reasons that it is important for a buyer to work with a good realtor to ensure they are making the best possible purchase.

A good Real Estate Agent with be an expert in the area and know home values and be able to help you pick an area that will be more likely to either hold its value or go up.  In today’s market with the real estate marketing being somewhat volatile, the information you get from a good agent is priceless.

Perhaps the greatest factor in getting the best value on your next real estate purchase is your ability to negotiate. Now, unless you are a pro at this game, you will likely leave money on the table with your next purchase. A good realtor can make sure you negotiate the best deal on the property. They will tell you what a good opening offer is, and how much you should be willing to ultimately pay

A down payment is the amount that the lender requires you to put down on your loan.  The amount required for the down payment will vary depending on what type of loan you are getting.  If you are applying for an FHA loan the typical down payment is currently 3.5% of the purchase price.  A conventional loan may require the buyer to put anywhere from 5 to 20% down.

The amount it costs you to get the loan and also any fees associated with the home purchase are the closing costs.  These costs will often consist of prepaid items such as your property taxes, insurance and also often PMI, which is Private Mortgage Insurance.  There is also typically transfer fees and loan origination fees.

Typically a lot of the fees of the purchase are split between the buyer and the seller (however the seller will not usually pay your origination fee for your loan), this is where a good agent is an asset in helping you negotiate these fees and ensure you are able to get the lowest closing costs possible.

Get a new door

The front door is the first thing people notice and is the most telling detail of your house. Turn the front door into an exclamation point that makes a statement. A new door will give your home’s entryway an instant lift. When upgrading the front door matching the light fixtures and hardware will achieve a complementary look. Symmetrical compositions of light fixtures and front door accents create a welcoming entryway.
Windows

 Windows are very important to a home and the condition and appearance can have a huge impact on the curb appeal of your home.  Have all of your windows cleaned and if needed perform any repairs to latches and frames.  It is also a good idea to make the trim around your windows and maybe even add shutters to make them stand out and make the house look welcoming.

Landscaping

When it comes to curb appeal landscaping is very important.  If you have any over grown trees or bushes make sure you take care of them right away.  Ensure the lawn is free of weeds and looks well kept.  Little updates to your landscaping can make a huge impact.  Depending on the season great improvements can be made by planting flowers or adding hanging planters or large pots.

Exterior Surfaces

It is always a good idea to power wash your home and porches and decks and even repaint or stain if needed.  A fresh coat of paint or stain can make a huge difference in your curb appeal

Knowledge – Local real estate agents often have access to information about homes and neighborhoods that are not available to the general public.

Information – The housing market is constantly changing and the people best placed to advise you on local housing issues is a local real estate agent. They will certainly be in a good position to point out over priced and good value homes.

Scheduling – Local real estate agents know each other and often work closely with each other when scheduling home viewings. You can set aside a day or half day and travel with your agent to view homes that have caught your eye.

Risk - There are a lot of risks associated with buying a home. Real estate agents can help you minimize risks by ensuring home inspections are done by reputable inspectors, and that title searches are performed by the right people.

Stress – Purchasing a home can be very stressful.  Having an agent that has your best interest in mind will help decrease this stress.

Highlands Ranch is a great place to live with over 8,000 acres of open space, over 20 wonderful lush parks and many activities available for an active life style.

If you are currently considering relocating to Highlands Ranch Colorado here is some additional information for you so that you can see what a great location it is:

Highlands Ranch Community information

The festival will start on Friday evening at 5pm and the evening will close out with a fireworks show that starts at 9:30pm.  Saturday will start at 7am with a pancake breakfast and close out the evening with a concert by the Nacho Men from 6:30 – 9:00pm.  The festival will end on Sunday with a 7am Fishing Derby in the morning and close out the day at 4pm with many events scheduled.

The complete schedule can be seen at the Summerset web site

If you would like more information on the Littleton area I would love to help you out.

Time magazine reported that 16 percent of all sales contracts failed in July because the buyers could not secure a mortgage, according to figures from the National Association of Realtors. In other words, one out of every seven contracts is going down due to problems that buyers are having getting mortgages. To look at it another way, writer Alison Rogers says, there are tens of thousands of people who are trying to buy homes but can’t because they’re denied a loan.

In her article, Rogers – a Manhattan Realtor and founding editor of the New York Post’s real estate section – concedes that it’s possible that the system is doing its job, and that those denied buyers shouldn’t get loans. “Maybe they’re poor credit risks, or their employment isn’t stable, or they’re trying to overpay for their target properties,” she said. “But I doubt that’s the only thing going on because the percentage of denieds spiked so suddenly, from 4 percent in May to 16 percent in June.”

While July turndowns are steady from June, it does look to Rogers like that quadrupling earlier this summer reflects that, “a credit spigot was shut off very, very suddenly.”

Cash purchasers, on the other hand, haven’t fled the market. Some 29 percent of July sales were all-cash transactions.  NAR reports that “the bulk” of these are investors.  “Those with means, it appears, still believe in housing, perhaps lured by the slump’s relative bargain pricing. (Or they’re fearful of the daily rollercoaster of the global equities markets),” the Time article noted.

Difficulty in securing financing isn’t the only hurdle buyers are facing today. Local Realtors are reporting that surprisingly low appraisals are preventing many sales from going through. Colorado agents aren’t the only ones who are experiencing this issue. The Wall Street Journal, in a recent front-page article, noted Realtors all across the country are running into the same problems.

According to the Journal’s reporters, real estate appraisers, who were criticized by some for being too generous in their property valuations before the housing market fell, may be going overboard in the other direction.

“One of the conclusions from the housing bust: The appraisal system was broken,” the Journal said. “One of the conclusions some have drawn from the struggling recovery since then: The appraisal system is still broken, but in a different way. There is little doubt that home values have depreciated sharply in recent years for the most basic of economic reasons: excess supply of homes on the market and weak demand. But some realtors, home-sellers and economists believe low-ball appraisals also are undermining a housing recovery.”

The Journal said some real estate professionals believe that lenders are pressuring appraisers to come in with lower estimates. Banks also are using less-experienced appraisers, who often don’t appreciate factors that make a home worth more, they say. And valuations are being heavily influenced by distressed sales priced at a discount to the rest of the market.

Lenders are “instructing appraisers to be a little conservative, and that responsibility on the one hand is seen as credit tightening and, on the other, as exacerbating the housing problem,” Columbia Business School economist Chris Mayer told the Journal.  A research paper last year titled “How Much Is That Home Really Worth?” by economist Leonard Nakamura at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, cited a downward bias in appraisals.

In talking with my own agents around Colorado, I’ve heard many anecdotes about sales being slowed down, renegotiated or even lost due to appraisal and mortgage financing issues. It does seem to be happening more and more these days.

While it’s important for lenders and appraisers to be cautious and prudent given the problems of the past, they also need to be reasonable in their approach and make sure that the pendulum hasn’t swung too far in the other direction. The recovery of the housing market is too important to throw more hurdles in its path

Below is a market-by-market report from our local offices:

Boulder – The last two weeks in August tend to slow down due to parents getting kids back to school.  While the numbers are down when comparing these numbers to two weeks ago they are not significantly down from the same period in 2010.  Only new listings taken are down significantly during the same period in 2011 & 2010.  This is a continuing trend in 2011 of the lowest inventory levels in the past ten years when comparing month to month levels such as August to August.

Colorado Springs – Our showings and sales have been staying steady overall.  Most of Colorado Springs’ school districts have started back to school over the past few weeks.  This is keeping our listing inventory at a steady level, as buyers have tried to make the transition into the district of choice by now.  Buyers are still in the market to purchase homes with interest rates in the local market still at historic lows for a 30 year loan.  Foreclosure activity has shown a sharp decrease in our market.  Overall, we currently see a very steady Real Estate Market.

Denver Central – It still looks like we are holding our own in the market.  For the last couple of months everything seems to be pretty steady.  I feel a lot of move-up buyers are still on the fence right now waiting to see what the politicians do and to see what happens with the stock market.

Larimer County – Our median sales continue to creep upward with the July median sales price for single family homes in Fort Collins, tipping over $250,000.  With the majority of closed units in the $250,000-$299,000 price range, it is readily apparent that this price point is the hot ticket and stabilizing prices for well-maintained homes in desirable locations.  There are still lots of great deals out there both below & above this range – but the qualified buyers are fewer and farther between.  Investors continue to snap-up investment properties as the rental market continues showing market strength with vacancy rates in the low 6% range.  With the days getting shorter and autumn quickly approaching – there is some great inventory in the marketplace with super-favorable interest rates.  Don’t wait until the newspaper or CNN or Case-Schiller tells you that the market has turned for the better.  It may be too late!!!  Contact your Coldwell Banker agent today for a market snapshot of your home and see where it sits in the current marketplace!

North Metro – The Coldwell Banker North Metro office continues to help buyers & sellers close on homes. We are set to close 110 properties in August, which is up slighlty from a year ago at the same time.  We put 40 new homes on the market in August with prices ranging from $80000 to $1,500,000.  We experienced a little slow down the first part of August in the number of showings our listings were having.  Was it vacations? Getting the kids back to school?  We’re not quite sure what to attribute that to, but in the past week we’ve seen an increase in the showing activity & at open houses.  If a home is priced “to sell” in this market, we’re seeing multiple offers.

Parker – Finally, we are seeing more homes hitting the market again.  With the increasing listing inventory, the showing activity is going up as well.  Our sales activity is holding steady on a higher level than the recent months.  Because of the stable, low interest rates and with the steady buyer activity, values have stabilized in most of Douglas County!  Parker is preparing for the big Ride the Range event, Monday September 12th.  We are expecting the riders around 2:15PM.  What a great experience it will be!

Denver Central – Our agents are very busy with buyers.  Believe it or not, we are lacking good, saleable properties.  When we contact a neighborhood directly with a request to sell to a qualified buyer, we get several responses from potential sellers.  The sellers seem to be hesitant to place their homes on the market, yet they want to sell.  I would encourage sellers to contact a CB Real Estate agent for a market analysis to see if it makes sense at this time to sell.

That’s it for now!  Make it a great week!

Chris

With that in mind, our parent company, Realogy Corp., has issued a formal request to President Obama calling for a White House summit on housing to address some of the major hurdles holding back the housing market. Richard Smith, chief executive of Realogy, urged the President and his Administration to seek recommendations from real estate business leaders to help stimulate a sustained housing recovery.

As Smith noted, housing has an enormous impact on our nation’s GDP and given its substantial influence on all aspects of the economy, he believes it warrants special attention from the White House.

The key to the proposed White House summit on housing would be its emphasis on bringing together real estate business leaders to make actionable recommendations designed to stimulate the growth necessary for a sustained recovery in housing, which would have an ensuing positive effect on job creation and the broader U.S. economy.

Frontline business leaders from the residential real estate industry would add a valuable perspective to the process, and the summit would give the Administration the benefit of “unfiltered, real-time market feedback” from residential brokerage operators, real estate franchisors, homebuilders, mortgage lenders and other related industry groups.

In a letter sent to the President last Friday, Smith concluded by saying “your leadership on this issue would bring together the top business minds of the residential real estate industry at a time when practical business experience may very well offer the guidance necessary to stimulate housing, and thus, the U.S. economy.”

I’m proud that Coldwell Banker (through our parent company) is taking a leadership role on finding solutions to get the nation’s real estate market humming again. While there are many challenges facing our economy, much of it begins and ends with housing.

Below is a market-by-market report from our local offices:

Colorado Springs – Our showings have been increasing since July 4th and that gave us a very good sales month for July.  Our listing inventory has remained steady with quite a few sellers wanting to move up because they can still get a great deal on interest rates which remain below 5% for a 30 year loan.

Denver Central – Currently, some of our agents are very busy but showings have dropped off the last two weeks.  The thought is that people are waiting to see what happens with the government deficit ceiling vote in Washington.  Sellers are definitely more realistic on their listing prices now.  “It’s a price war to the door, then a beauty contest after that.”

Evergreen – Our listing inventory has increased with a total of sixteen new listings for July totaling $7,300,000 including seven luxury properties and ten listings sold during the month.  Showing activity has increased 18% in July compared to June with 353 showings.  Our selling activity is steady with a total of eleven listings totaling $3,800,000 going under contract including two luxury properties.  Seven buyers have also gone under contract during the month.

Larimer County – The debate over raising the debt ceiling put the brakes on more things than just our politician’s summer vacations!  Locally, we’ve seen a decline in showings that coincides with the deadlock we saw in Washington.  It also probably coincides with just-before-school-starts-again vacations or perhaps the slow-down is simply because Mercury is in retrograde….Either way, activity has slowed in the weeks prior to the back-to-school doldrums that are typical for this time of year.  Prices remain steady and inventory is still lower than in years past.  The next hurdle will be making sure that if you’re buying, you can take advantage of what still are historically (or perhaps hysterically) low interest rates!

Southeast Metro – Happy August!  The summer temperatures are still hot & the real estate market is heating up as well.  We are still in a situation where we have buyers who would like to purchase as soon as possible & the homes that they look at, that are priced correctly for the market, that are neat & clean are gone before the buyers can come back for a second look.  The upper end of the market, homes about $500,000 are seeing lots of activity also. We have had many successful sales & increased activity in this sector of the market. The ultra-luxury area, over $1,000,000 is now showing a nice increase on sales in the sector. “Slow & consistent growth” seems to sum up the numbers.  We are encouraging all sellers who are considering putting their homes on the market to do so as soon as possible since historically we will see a surge in activity as we move into the end of summer.  Happy Colorado Day from all of us at the SE Metro office.

Southwest Metro – We’ve seen our showings decrease in the last two weeks of July.  Our Open House activity has continued to be very good & has been generating great leads.  Our floor calls also continue to be a great source of business.  We are continuing to see buyers ready to move forward in purchasing homes especially second time home buyers.  We’re seeing sales continue to be very good & steady.  Our inventory is steady.  Sellers are continuing to want to get their homes listed & sold.  We are not seeing as much buyer hesitation as in previous months.  We are very busy & staying very busy.

Conifer – Our listing inventory has remained stable with four new listings & four listings closed for the month of July.  Showing activity decreased slightly with 143 showings compared to 165 in June.  Sales activity remained steady with six listings and three buyers going under contract during the month.  Activity in the HWY 285 corridor is primarily in the $200,000 to $300,000 price range.

That’s it for now. Have a good week!

Chris