It is very important that you do not have a lot, or any, inquires into your credit. Especially if you are recovering from a major credit issue such as a bankruptcy, foreclosure, short sale or multiple late payments. These inquires may bring down your credit scores significantly. Yet it is also very important that you know what is on your credit report. You can run your own credit report through some sites and it will not affect your credit score.
Start with;
www.annualcreditreport.com
This is the site that the federal government had the 3 major credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion and Experian) set up so we could each pull one free credit report per year at no charge. If you want your credit scores you have to pay for them but not the report itself. You can also challenge any incorrect information on your report right online. This is a great feature! The creditor can not ignore this challenge. If they do the entire credit reference will be removed by the credit bureau. Call me and I will personally walk you through this process.
If you want to know more about credit scoring, go to this site;
www.myfico.com
This is the website for the Fair Isaac Corporation. They provide the credit scores you see on your report. If you have already used up your one free report, this is a great site to run another report without losing points.
I’ve always been a fan of this site. It will help you find a modular home builder in your area;
http://www.modulartoday.com/MI
Frank Garay and Brian Stevens are mortgage brokers in the San Francisco area. They have a podcast almost every business day. The topics cover current mortgage and real estate issues and are delivered with a good dose of humor. Most of the content is intended for professionals but can be useful to consumers as well. I rarely miss a show;
http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/
This is Carl Heldmann’s website. He is an author and home builder. Most of his site deals with being an owner/builder (which you can not do with the FHA Construction Loan) but it also contains a great deal of information about the home building process.
http://www.byoh.com/
If you want to get an idea of what kind of land is available in the area you want to build, I’d suggest you start at;
http://www.realtor.com/
When you get to the site you will be prompted to input the city and state you are looking in. You will then be asked to input a price range, the number of bedrooms/bathrooms (ignore those options) and a button labeled “More Filters”. Click on the “More Filters” button and then click the box marked “Land”.
If you see some listings you might be interested in, give me a call. I will hook up with an experienced Realtor in that area.
If you’re like me and have a home office here’s a good article on how to prep for cooler weather. Check out who got quoted in it! 🙂
www.rombourne.co.uk/blog/preparing-your-office-for-autumn-and-winter/
