Jennifer Larson

On the Blog

This is your one stop destination for money and savings, credit score tips, real estate, lending advice, and more. If it’s finance and helps you buy a house, it’s here!

  • What’s the Difference Between a Charge Card and a Credit Card?

    They’re not the same? Nope! And they affect you very differently if you apply for one without realizing. One can be horrific on your finances and credit for years if you make the wrong choice. A charge card actually has to be paid in full every month. They are NOT revolving and recurring debt. You…

  • 3 Things Your Income Must Show

    When you apply for a home loan your lender is going to look at three key components for determing your Usable Income, the number we use to qualify clients on their application. This is the number we take from the last 24 months (two years to the date) and compile the gross income needed. The…

  • What Should I Do Before Listing My Home?

    Most sellers need to do more than tidy and fluff pillows before putting their home on the market. Since you’re planning to move anyway, one thing to do is look into a storage unit and doing a purge room by room. As you’re packing up things you won’t need for the next six months (or…

  • Should I Pay Off My Debts Before Buying a House?

    Experts give different answers but this is truly a personal choice. Do you have to pay all your debts off? Usually, no. The issue some people has is their income isn’t high enough to carry much debt and a mortage so lenders will tell them to pay down debts first. I recently had a client…

  • How to Much Do I Need to Save for a Down Payment?

    Let’s calculate it for a variety of different home prices. Regardless of mortgage rates, this is how much you need to save for a down payment at 3% or 7% because they’re based on the math of the sale price, not the interest rates. How much you need to make though IS dependent on rates…

  • What is Credit Utilization?

    This one gets people mad because so many use credit cards and such for points, miles, rewards, airport lounge access, cash back, etc. I’m not knocking those when I explain your utilization rate! All I’m saying is when lenders pull your credit, at any given time we might see that you have charged up almost…

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