In a prior post I spoke about Allison and I beginning to think about a purchase of a home. We are going to get the ball rolling. The first step that we took was to see what we could qualify for, for a mortgage. I contacted a friend of the family, Brian, who has been super helpful. He told me what I needed to get him for information to start things off and he turned that information around to us very quickly. We got credit reports to look over, oh joy.
What a slap of reality, seeing how many credit related items you have on your report. I’m not saying things like late payments and whatnot, I only had one of those back in 2001, which was bogus but I hadn’t learned how to fight these things yet. What I mean by the reality is seeing all of your debt and the total amount in one single file. I know I use Microsoft Money and check on the bills every day (I’m fanatical, ask Allison). I’ve tracked my net worth for the past five years on a monthly basis (again fanatical) and I have gotten my credit report on multiple occasions, but I didn’t take in the big picture till I saw that report the other day, Ouch!
Each time I get a credit report I have to dispute an account that is not mine, the account is my father’s. That is one of the drawbacks of being a Jr. or a Third, like I am, credit companies compiling the credit reports look at name and address and sometimes don’t stop to look at the social security number of the person, so I get saddled with some of Dad’s accounts. And the process for getting this fixed is a pain in the butt. You have to write a letter disputing the inaccuracy, and then you have to wait till that is cleared up.
Because I have two of my Dad’s accounts on my credit report my numbers are skewed. And that isn’t a good thing, my FICO score was still good but would be higher with the accurate accounts. And then their is a debt to earnings ratio/percentage or something that was very high because of the additional accounts. Well, I better get those taken care of before the next step. The other thing is to pay off the debt I have. I don’t know about you but does anyone else feel like they are trying to hold back the sea with a plastic beach shovel?
The other thing about homebuying is going to look at places. I’ve looked at one so far, just because the folks at work have been talking so much about homebuying. And one of them, Joanne, of Auntie-Jo-Jo’s blog is buying a condo a couple of towns over from me. I looked at the website for the condos and got curious, but we’d really like a townhouse and not a garden style condo. But I said what the heck and went anyways. I was taken into one of the remaining ‘Large’ condos. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, Kitchen and balcony over looking the ‘river’. The place is called ‘River Haven’ and so of course a river is involved. But listen to me when I tell you I could pee a stream with a more powerful flow than the ‘river’ I was shown. I almost said to the agent, why do you even show that, it certainly is no selling point.
The condo was 1000 square feet, and it felt small, very small. I guess that I have been spoiled living in our apartment. We have less than 1000 square feet but it feels bigger, plus we have some additional spaces within the house to store stuff, much to my Dad’s dismay. However the prices are good for the condos and they have some nice amenities for living there, its great for a single person but not for two people, who are closet pack rats.
So, probably after the wedding we will get out there and look in earnest for a place. We at least know that we aren’t going to be decimated by the mortgage companies because of bad credit, which neither of us have, in fact Allison’s scores were even better than mine. Not that I am bitter or this is a competition or anything.
What a slap of reality, seeing how many credit related items you have on your report. I’m not saying things like late payments and whatnot, I only had one of those back in 2001, which was bogus but I hadn’t learned how to fight these things yet. What I mean by the reality is seeing all of your debt and the total amount in one single file. I know I use Microsoft Money and check on the bills every day (I’m fanatical, ask Allison). I’ve tracked my net worth for the past five years on a monthly basis (again fanatical) and I have gotten my credit report on multiple occasions, but I didn’t take in the big picture till I saw that report the other day, Ouch!
Each time I get a credit report I have to dispute an account that is not mine, the account is my father’s. That is one of the drawbacks of being a Jr. or a Third, like I am, credit companies compiling the credit reports look at name and address and sometimes don’t stop to look at the social security number of the person, so I get saddled with some of Dad’s accounts. And the process for getting this fixed is a pain in the butt. You have to write a letter disputing the inaccuracy, and then you have to wait till that is cleared up.
Because I have two of my Dad’s accounts on my credit report my numbers are skewed. And that isn’t a good thing, my FICO score was still good but would be higher with the accurate accounts. And then their is a debt to earnings ratio/percentage or something that was very high because of the additional accounts. Well, I better get those taken care of before the next step. The other thing is to pay off the debt I have. I don’t know about you but does anyone else feel like they are trying to hold back the sea with a plastic beach shovel?
The other thing about homebuying is going to look at places. I’ve looked at one so far, just because the folks at work have been talking so much about homebuying. And one of them, Joanne, of Auntie-Jo-Jo’s blog is buying a condo a couple of towns over from me. I looked at the website for the condos and got curious, but we’d really like a townhouse and not a garden style condo. But I said what the heck and went anyways. I was taken into one of the remaining ‘Large’ condos. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, Kitchen and balcony over looking the ‘river’. The place is called ‘River Haven’ and so of course a river is involved. But listen to me when I tell you I could pee a stream with a more powerful flow than the ‘river’ I was shown. I almost said to the agent, why do you even show that, it certainly is no selling point.
The condo was 1000 square feet, and it felt small, very small. I guess that I have been spoiled living in our apartment. We have less than 1000 square feet but it feels bigger, plus we have some additional spaces within the house to store stuff, much to my Dad’s dismay. However the prices are good for the condos and they have some nice amenities for living there, its great for a single person but not for two people, who are closet pack rats.
So, probably after the wedding we will get out there and look in earnest for a place. We at least know that we aren’t going to be decimated by the mortgage companies because of bad credit, which neither of us have, in fact Allison’s scores were even better than mine. Not that I am bitter or this is a competition or anything.