Eric Mitchell Real Estate

  Ending Small Talk: Tips for More Meaningful Conversations Having more meaningful relationships with friends both new and old is a great goal, and it can start with your conversations. Below are five tips for those of us frustrated with small talk. Skip the weather.  As tempting as it may be to springboard off the weather, this can lead you down the empty-conversation rabbit hole and into a twenty-minute dialogue about rain. Asking about almost anything else should yield more interesting results. Think of base questions.  So, what should you talk about, if not the weather? Come up with a short list of base questions you can turn to in a flash. If you’re talking to a stranger or new acquaintance, try “have you done any traveling lately?” or “are you reading any good books?” These more personal questions show genuine interest and will actually reveal something about your conversation partner. Make eye contact.  Regardless of what you’re discussing, work to maintain or...

Fast and Easy Ways to Improve Your Credit Within Months Improving your credit score can take a few months. So if you’re looking to get an auto or home loan, or want to apply for a new credit card, an early start can give you time to raise your credit score and then get a loan or new credit card at a better interest rate. Here are some ways to improve your credit within a few months: Pay your bills on time Payment history is the most important factor in FICO scores, accounting for up to 35 percent of a credit score. Paying your bills on time — from credit cards to utility bills — can help a lot. Late payments stay on a credit report for seven years. The longer ago they happened, the less they affect credit scores. If a bill goes unpaid long enough the debt can be sold to a collection agency, which will be reported to credit bureaus. Set up online alerts when a bill is due, look at your balances online and set automatic payments for a credit card. Low credit utilization...

Hanging on to Your Sanity While Working From Home At first, it may have seemed like a dream come true; sleep a little later…skip the commute…work in your pajamas if you feel like it.  But working from home can quickly outstay it’s welcome. You miss the routine – the coffee breaks and kibitzing, the face-to-face meetings, all those busy, ringing phones – and given the uncertainties of the COVID-19 crisis, there’s no way to know how long your work-at-home status will continue.  Psychologists and productivity experts provide these tips for making the most of the time you are working remotely: Choose a permanent workspace –  It may be tempting to work on the living room sofa. Don’t do it. Create a workspace at a desk or at the dining room table and make that your dedicated workspace. It will help keep you on track and may even help remind family members to avoid unnecessary disturbances.  Get dressed for work –  Whether it’s office casual or shorts an...

Signs You're in a Lousy 401(k) Retirement Plan Many Americans just aren’t prepared for retirement. Two-thirds of families fall short of conservative retirement savings targets to retire at age 67, according to a 2015 study by the National Institute on Retirement Security. The median retirement account balance — including money in a 401(k) retirement account — is $2,500 for working-age households, and $14,500 for near-retirement households, the study found. Even for workers who contribute to their employer’s 401(k) plan, they may not be saving enough money to get them to the often recommended retirement income goal of having 70 – 80 percent of their pre-retirement income, or they may be in a 401(k) that isn’t doing a good job of making money for them. Here are some signs that you may be in a lousy 401(k) retirement plan: Low results:  Poor performance is an easy indicator to spot, and it doesn’t mean you have to stay with that 401(k). Moving to another retirement pla...

Save for a Home with a Dollar-for-Dollar Match Program A federal program helps low-income families buy a home with a unique method meant to encourage saving: It matches dollar-for-dollar what they save to buy their first home. The Individual Development Account, or IDA, doesn’t offer a lot of money to help with a down payment — up to $2,000 in federal matching funds with more contributions possible from local IDA programs — but it’s a start. Participants can start by saving as little as $25 — matched to as much as eight to one, depending on the program, though most offer one-to-one matches. Income levels must be 200 percent below their state’s poverty level. With an 8:1 match, IDA participants can raise much more than the $4,000 total with federal matching, and could have $10,000 or so for a down payment on a house. Most IDAs are funded by the federal government and are run by nonprofit groups and financial institutions, and grantee programs are required to raise an equ...

Is Granite on its Way Out? According to the National Kitchen and Bath Association, granite countertops are in less demand today, while the use of quartz is on the rise. Why? For one thing, man-made quartz countertops are offered in a far greater range of looks and feels. Reason number two: it’s a bit easier to maintain over the long haul, and it’s deemed a better environmental choice because it emits lower levels of radon—a potentially cancer-causing agent. To be fair, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains the radioactive materials in granite countertops are far too minuscule to pose a health threat. So what, exactly, is a quartz countertop? It’s made of engineered stone, composed of at least 90% ground-up quartz mixed with a binder (like resin) then molded into a slab. Because pigment is added during the manufacturing process, the sky’s the limit when it comes to color. And quartz is non-porous and fairly resistant to stains, mold and bacteria. Unlike grani...

Making Financial Lessons a Family Tradition Teaching children manners and how to tie their shoes is one thing, but financial lessons are often pushed to the wayside until it’s too late. Budgeting and financial planning should be a focus in every household. Whether you are passing along your lessons to your children, nieces or nephews, keeping financial sense in the family can have longstanding benefits. Here are some financial lessons you can teach children before they leave home: How to Budget Whether it’s through a household budget that you let them become a part of, or a weekly allowance on which they have to determine how to spend and save, budgeting is a skill they will be able to use throughout their lives. Show the younger generations how to budget for monthly expenses, such as a mortgage, groceries, utility bills and other expenses, and then show them what your monthly income is. If the expenses are higher than the income, then work together to cut expenses and l...

5 Financial Tips for First-Time Parents So a babe is on the way? Congrats! Along with the chaos of, well, everything that is to come, your finances are about to experience an upheaval, as well. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it will cost upwards of $245,000 to raise a child born in 2013 to the age of 18—and this does not include college. Feeling that bank account burn already? Below are five tips for rocking your budget as a new mom or dad. 1. Tweak the budget.  Your new little one is going to cost a pretty penny. From hospital costs to diapers and child care, budgetary stress is an added strain on you as a new mom or dad. Look for any unnecessaries you can slash to make room for more baby dollars. The more prepared you are, the better. 2. Track your spending.  Don’t just make that budget and set it aside. Set a monthly meeting with your spouse to look over your spending, make sure you’re on track, and identify any problem areas or potential savin...

When A House Doesn't Sell So what happened? The house has been sitting on the market for 180 days, had a few showings, feedback wasn't bad, you even lowered the price by $20,000...what happened? It's a frustrating situation for sellers and their agents. It happens all the time.  "Oh, it's just the market. A buyer will come along eventually". Is it just the market? What about those homes that sold in a week just around the corner? The market was fine for that home. "It's over-priced. We need to cut the price by $10,000 to get to the next buying level". Could be. But if you've done the research and found the right comparable home sales and you know the price is right...what then? Marketing is the key ingredient to selling a house when it's priced right. A good marketing strategy can even overcome a house being a little over-priced by attracting a larger buying pool. Many agents look at marketing as putting a home in MLS, puttin...

Building Credit Without Credit Cards A credit card is one of the main ways to build credit. By using a credit card wisely and not running up huge bills and paying them off in full on time, consumers can improve their credit score. A good credit score can make getting a home, car and other loans easier, and at better interest rates. Some people who have poor credit may have difficulty improving their credit score fast enough, and others may not even want a credit card. A credit card isn’t the only way to build credit. Here are some other ways: Get a small loan Apply for a small loan from your bank or credit union. If you’ve had an account in good standing for a few years, you should be able to get a small loan. Some banks may only offer secured loans, meaning you’ll have to come up with some collateral such as a car to qualify for the loan. However you get a bank loan, pay it back on time and your credit score should improve. Monitor student loan payments You shoul...

Understanding Car Title Loans, and Why You Should Avoid Them If you’ve seen advertisements by lenders saying “No credit, no problem,” then you may have heard of car title loans. And chances are, you could end up with a problem. Like their maligned brethren payday loans, car title loans prey on the poor and underbanked, offering loans of $1,000 or less with an annual percentage rate of 200 percent or more on the loan. A car title loan does just what the name implies — it uses your car as collateral if the loan isn’t paid, which means that a missing payment could lead to repossession. Worse yet, the loan can be rolled over monthly indefinitely as the borrower pays only interest each month. If you own your car outright, you can sign over the title to the lender and then get it back once your loan is repaid. Typically, up to 25 percent of the car’s value can be borrowed in a title loan. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, the typical car title loan is $1,000. Payment is...

How to Negotiate a Clean Credit Report A late payment on a credit bill or other debt such as a mortgage can have a significant impact on your credit score. And the higher your credit score is to begin with, the more it can fall after a late payment. Paying your bills on time is the best way to avoid this. If you don’t make your payments and your account is turned over to a collections agency, you won’t be able to get that account current again. Late payments can stay on a credit report for seven years. Before it gets to that point, there are four ways to remove late payments from your credit report so that your score isn’t affected: Ask for a Goodwill Adjustment Creditors can remove a late payment as a “goodwill adjustment” if you write a forgiveness letter explaining why you were late and asking that they forgive it and adjust your credit report. You’ll likely be successful if you have a good payment history with the creditor and haven’t asked for an adjustment previou...

Money Matters for Millennial Parents As a young parent, you may just be learning about all the responsibilities parenthood requires. When it comes to financial planning, setting your sight on the future can help immensely. Demolish debt.  Slaying your own debt will positively impact your family’s financial future. While it may take years to pay off those student loans or credit card debt, creating a plan can help. Tackle your lowest balance first to gain momentum then take on the next smallest. Additionally, pay attention to higher interest rates that are costing you a lot of money. Build a budget.  Creating a budget doesn’t have to be hard. There are many budgeting apps available on the market to help you track your expenses, or you can try the trusty envelope system with monthly allowances for groceries, entertainment, utilities, etc. Build an emergency fund.  Setting a fund for potential emergencies will never backfire. Aim for a small, achievable goal as...

6 Small and Easy Steps to Improve Your Credit Score The best way to improve your credit score is simple, but not always that easy: Reduce your debt. Paying off your credit cards, or at least paying them down substantially, will not only increase your credit score, but having less debt will probably be more satisfying than a great credit score. And not using your credit cards anymore and paying off the balances is easier said than done. But there are smaller, easier steps that can improve a credit score. Here are six: Set payment reminders:  Making credit payments on time is one of the best ways to improve your credit score. Set payment reminders on your phone or whatever calendar you use, and check if your bank offers online reminders through email or text messages. Don’t open new accounts:  If you have a short credit history, then opening a lot of credit accounts too rapidly will lower your average account age and can drop your scores if you don’t have a lot o...

The Home-Buying Equation Buying a home for the first time can seem daunting. One way to alleviate the process is to organize your finances before embarking on the house hunt. Unsure how to get yours in order? Remember A + B + C + D + E: Ask + Budget + Check + Differentiate + Estimate Before you start searching for a home , ask  a real estate professional for guidance. He or she will have expertise related not only to financing, but also to negotiating a deal in your favor. Next, set a  budget  that takes into account your down payment, your anticipated monthly mortgage payment (with interest), and your closing costs. These figures are all important considerations in the home-buying process. Prior to house-hunting,  check  your credit report and score. Your credit is a determining factor in a lender’s approval or denial of your mortgage loan application, as well as your mortgage interest rate. Take steps to correct any errors on your report, or im...

Why Title Insurance Matters This comes up with just about every transaction. An owner’s title insurance policy protects your property rights as a homeowner. Those purchasing a home should obtain a policy to insure against defects associated with the title of the home. Owner’s title insurance is worthwhile because… …it protects your investment. A home is likely the largest investment you’ll make. Insuring it, says the American Land Title Association (ALTA), is like insuring any other valuable asset. Owner’s title insurance protects the rights of the property owner for as long as he or she (or heirs) owns the home. …it mitigates your risk. Issues inevitably arise for every homeowner, but title discrepancies shouldn’t be one of them. An owner’s title insurance policy will cover you in the event a title claim occurs. According to the ALTA, these include a tax lien against the property, an outstanding mortgage or a pending legal action related to the property. …it goes be...

Your New Homeowner To-Do List You’ve handed over a sizable chunk of cash in return for those shiny new keys—and in the first flush of happiness over owning your own home, you want to be ready to show it off. But money may be tight, and you are facing bills—like water and trash pick-up—that you’ve never had to pay before. The financial advice team at Investopedia.com suggests five steps new homeowners should take: Watch your wallet . Don’t overspend on furnishings or remodeling during your first few months as a homeowner. Give yourself time to adjust to a new budget and to rebuild your savings. Friends and family will understand if you take your time to fix-up and decorate—and the stores will still be filled with new furniture when you are ready to spend. Don’t   ignore maintenance items . While you can hold off on furnishings, there’s no longer a landlord to call when simple repairs need to be made. Investing in a basic tool kit, if you don’t already have one, and/or in...