Real Estate (Residential)

Prepare to Purchase: How Future Homeowners Can Build a Stronger Credit Score by Katie Conroy

Look at how future homeowners can build a stronger credit score for purchasing a home. Raising your credit score is a pivotal step toward securing a mortgage and buying your dream home. It’s not just about having a good number; it’s about demonstrating financial responsibility and trustworthiness to lenders. By understanding the key factors that influence your credit score and implementing strategic changes, you can significantly enhance your creditworthiness. Let’s explore practical and effective ways to boost your credit score, paving the way for a smoother home-buying journey.

Pay Your Bills on Time

The foundation of a strong credit score is punctuality in bill payments. Each on-time payment signals to lenders that you’re a responsible borrower, which can positively influence your credit score. Consider setting up automatic payments or calendar reminders to ensure you never miss a due date. Even payments that seem insignificant, like utility bills or a small credit card purchase, contribute to a pattern of reliability that lenders favor.

Manage Your Debt with a Budget

Establish a meticulous budget to master your debt management efficiently. Tap into the myriad of free online templates to forge a precise monthly household budget. Select from a variety of template designs that align perfectly with your unique financial situation, allowing for necessary adjustments to optimize your spending and savings. Give this a view and see how a well-crafted budget serves as the cornerstone to reducing your debt and elevating your credit score.

Consult Financial Experts

Navigating the complexities of credit repair often benefits from expert guidance. Engage a financial advisor or credit repair agency to receive customized strategies that enhance your credit score effectively. These experts are adept at pinpointing critical areas needing improvement and can steer you through intricate challenges such as credit disputes and identity theft. Their support ensures you don’t face these hurdles solo, providing a clearer path to restoring your financial health.

Reduce Your Credit Utilization Ratio

Your credit utilization ratio — how much credit you use compared to your limits — is crucial. Aim to keep this ratio under 30% to show lenders you aren’t overly reliant on credit. If possible, pay down balances to lower your utilization, or ask for higher credit limits without increasing your spending. This adjustment can significantly improve your credit score, demonstrating your ability to manage credit wisely.

Pay Down Debt Strategically

Another vital strategy is aggressively paying down outstanding debts, especially those with high interest rates. Focus on debt with the highest rates first, often credit card debt, as reducing these balances can lead to noticeable improvements in your credit score. Consolidation loans might also be an option, combining multiple debts into a single payment with a lower interest rate, making it easier to manage and pay down faster.

Dispute Credit Report Errors

Regularly examine your credit reports to identify any potential inaccuracies or outdated information. Should you find errors, promptly challenge them by filing a dispute with the corresponding credit bureau. Rectifying these errors can significantly boost your credit score once resolved. Continuously track the status of your disputes to confirm that all erroneous entries are completely removed from your credit history.

Utilize Different Types of Credit

Broadening the range of credit types you manage can significantly elevate your credit profile. Should your financial portfolio be predominantly composed of credit card debt, acquiring an installment loan — perhaps an auto or personal loan — might be advantageous. Such a mix demonstrates to credit scoring systems your adeptness at managing varied financial responsibilities. This varied credit experience can lead to an improvement in your overall credit score.

Elevating your credit score is a strategic process that demands attention to detail and disciplined financial practices. By implementing these strategies, you not only improve your credit rating but also enhance your overall financial health, making your dream of homeownership more attainable. Remember, each step you take to improve your credit is a move closer to securing the best terms for your future home mortgage. Start today, and watch how each positive change builds a stronger financial foundation for tomorrow.

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Garden almanac

In the Garden this Week

Iron chlorosis on an Amur Maple leaf

Some shrubs and lawns are yellowing in the garden this week. The leaf or blade is a yellow color with green veins. Iron chlorosis is a tie-up of iron in the soil due to higher temperatures. While the iron is in the soil, the plants cannot take it up into their leaves. Some varieties like silver maples, amur maples, some of the viburnums, and some lawns with heavy clay soils are more prone to this condition. The use of hose-attached liquid chelated iron helps reduce the condition.

Apple maggots

On apples and pears, there has been a lot of coddling moth larva damage in the fruit. Usually, they start at the stem end and burrow through the center. There is an apple maggot out there that burrows in the side of the fruit. It may be too late to do anything about it now. Next year if you have apples, get on an orchard spray schedule reading the directions starting early in the season. This also helps with scab and rust fungi.

Rust fungus on grass blades

If you are walking through the lawn and stir up dust, it is a rust disease. Rust has been troublesome this year. Rust causes orange to black spotting on grass blades and leaves. If you are watering, let the area dry out completely, reducing the spores. Fungicides prevent this, but it is too late now.

Powdery mildew on squash leaves

Another fungus is powdery mildew which looks like talcum powder sprinkled on the leaves. Lilacs will get this; however, it rarely harms the plants. In the garden is another matter. I get it on the vine crops every year is I do use a fungicide as a preventative.

With the coming cooler temperatures, September is a good time to use a parameter barrier spray around the home. It helps to keep the bugs and spiders from finding shelter in your house.

Onions are ready to store when the tops fall over and 2/3 have turned yellow. Dig up and allow them to dry for a couple of weeks in the shade before storing them. I set them on a window screen under a tree and bring them in if it is going to rain.

Coneflower
Lead plant
Liatris
Yarrow

Last week I wrote about grasses making a good planting in hot, dry areas with poor soil. Some perennials to use if you want flowers are yarrows, lead plants, cone flowers, and Liatris. There are many other tough perennials you can buy. 

Interesting note: did you know apples and pears descended from one fruiting tree. They separated and through generations became two fruits.

Garden almanac, Garden Pests

In the Garden this Week

A couple of things have been going on in the garden this week with the tomato fruits. One is the skin cracking. The cause is a sudden influx of water to the fruit causing it to expand splitting the skin. A mulch of organic matter like straw helps to cool the soil and consistent moisture. Some varieties like cherry tomatoes and the early maturing varieties are more prone to this condition.

The other is blossom end rot where the bottom of the tomato fruit turns brown and leathery. This is caused by a tie-up of calcium in the soil due to inconsistent wetness and dryness with high temperatures. Again, mulching helps, and it seems the tomato will grow out of this condition when it gets cooler. Some varieties are more prone to blossom-end rot like Early Girl.

With the higher moisture we have been getting and now cooler temperatures, mushrooms are popping up in some lawns. What you see is the fruiting structure of the fungus; the fungus itself is under the ground. It grows on old, rotting tree roots left in the ground. It is a part of nature and there is nothing you can really do but wait a few years till the tree roots are gone. Mowing them off is good, if you have pets think about removing them from the lawn at ground level.

The aphid population has exploded with the high temperatures. Aphids are species specific meaning aphids on asters will not go to roses. You get full-pressure water from a hose and wash them off. If the infestation is bad, you can use insecticide soap, Neem oil, or Malathion. Apply when the temperature is cool, read the instructions on the label. The ants herd the aphids like cattle, “milking” or collecting the honeydew secreted by the aphid as food. The same sticky stuff falling from the trees on your car.

If you use a plastic sprayer for a herbicide like Roundup or 2,4-D, do not use it for a fungicide or insecticide. It is very hard to clean the sprayer to remove the herbicide residual. Get another sprayer for nonherbicide applications.

Blue Fescue
Blue Gamma Grass
Big Blue Stem
Miscanthus

Lastly, if you have an area that you cannot get anything to grow in, try native grasses. I have used Big Bluestem, Miscanthus, and Blue Fescue, and they turned out great. They take heat, drought, and poor soil in stride. Others are Switch Grass and Blue Gamma Grass.