What goes into creating your FICO Score?

Most people (74%) believe your credit score is based on your income.  Not True!

• 35% is payment history
  • The most important factor in your credit score is your payment history. Making payments on time is key in keeping and getting your score as high as possible.
• 30% is the amount owed
  • Keep your credit card balances low, at the most have 30% owed and 70% available credit.
• 15% is the history of your credit
  • How long have you had credit established? If you have all new credit, this could hurt you.
• 10% is new credit (less than 6 months old)
  • Getting new credit can help someone with little or no credit, if all of your credit is established, not to worry
• 10% type of credit
  • Diversity is best, a car loan, home loan, and a couple of credit cards.

Great credit requires a delicate balance.  Not too much on credit cards, not only a home loan;  But a balance, on time payments and the time to prove you are credit worthy.

It’s Raining in Arizona - Things to know

The average rain fall in a year for the Valley is roughly 8″. But what is normal truly. Last year we had less than 4″ for the whole year. This week we have already had over 1 1/2 inches and more is coming, possibly 3″-5″ tonight.

What should you know…

• First don’t drive thru any rushing water, or huge puddles, you don’t know how deep they are, and it takes only inches for rushing water to pull your vehicle down stream
• Be extra careful on the roads.  We don’t normally get this amount of rain.  There are lots of months with no rain, and nothing to wash the oil off the roads from cars.  When the rain does come, our roads are more slick than you are accustomed to even if you come from a rain soaked area.
• The roads dip down to allow the water flow across:  A wash; is any dip in the road where water accumulates, it’s not just a puddle and could be deceivingly deep.
• The Stupid Motorist Law: (that’s really what it is called) has the driver pay for the cost of rescue services if needed to get you out of your car to safety.

Driving in the rain, always be more alert.  Driving in the rain in Arizona; be even more careful.

PFChangs rock and Roll attitude

PFChangs rock and Roll attitude

Originally uploaded by IreneHammond

I wish I could get out to the festivities this weekend. I have clients in from out of state and will be missing it.

The PF Changs Rock and Roll Marathon is always fun to participate in as well as encouraging the athletes. With the same 6 bands returning again this year, the course will keep you moving. The post race concert is featuring Everclear and should finish out the afternoon with a splash.

Come out and cheer these amazing athletes on! Check out the spectator info, and there may still be time for you to volunteer and help out. It takes a ton of volunteers to make an event like this one come together.

Have fun!

All credit reports are not created equaly

I discovered a few new things at a class on Credit recently.

I had always thought a credit report is a credit report. That is not true. A consumer credit report and a lender credit report are two different critters. If you go to any of the credit reporting services, the score you get today, and the score your loan officer will get on the same day will not likely be the same. The lenders score will be lower.

Why? Well it has to do with the purpose for getting your credit scoring in the first place. For your personal information, for qualifying for insurance, and other smaller concerns, your score will be higher. If you are applying for a loan, especially a loan to purchase or refinance a home, the factors they take into consideration are weighted differently.

If you have excellent credit a few points either way won’t make a difference. With mediocre credit, a few points either way could increase your payment, or keep you from purchasing a home all together.

Why Social Media makes me a better Realtor

When I got started writing Scottsdale-Blog.com I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into. What I have discovered now is that my blog lead me to several other Social Media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and more. It also connected me to many, many other Realtors who were also writing blogs and Twittering.

What happened when I started my blog is I started paying closer attention to what would be useful or interesting to write about. I read the other blogs, listened with a new attentiveness to the continuing education classes I took, followed links on Twitter, and learned more about what was happening with real estate in my area and around the country.

I may not write every day, I may not have a huge following on my blog, I do have more knowledge than I had before and because of this I feel I am a much better Realtor today than I was before I came to Social Media.