Improving credit (part II)

(This is in continuation of my previous post titled "Improving credit". I thought of adding few more points)

Once you have created a monthly budget with all your expenses laid out you can start working hard so as to continue saving money and thereby paying back any remaining debt in order to improve your credit. The key here is to stay focused and not going back to your old habit of using credit card for purchasing items, which are not essential. You must always try to pay your expenses in cash unless they are life dependent. You must remember to use credit cards only if you are certain of paying the credit card bill off on time.

In the route to improve credit you must make sure to pay all your bills on time. Even if it is your telephone bill or electricity bill making a habit of paying them off on time surely helps in the long run. If you frequently default to pay off monthly bills or pay them late your credit standing will drop drastically. You must remember the time when you bills are due and make the urgent payments on time.

Improving credit

If you are trapped in poor credit situation because of unpaid bills resulting from past financial discrepancies you must check out the most common ways to repair bad credit. Your past experience with credit borrowing does influence your credit and credit score. Your credit history mostly reflects the way you use credit card and take out loans. If you have the habit of buying merchandise on credit cards at a greater rate than your earning is able to cope with you will finish up in debt. If you keep on buying items further on credit you will dig yourself into debt trap and eventually build up a bad credit score. Similar will be the outcome if you lend from bank and don’t repay off according to the pre-loan terms.

There no need to worry because no matter how deep the debt may be, your credit situation can be repaired and improved with a little bit of hard work. First thing to do for repairing your credit is to stop indulging on credit card merchandising. Creating a monthly budget of your expenditure and noting down your expenditure in correlation with your current earning is a great way to begin improving your credit. Downloading online spreadsheets may help you with deciding how much you need on a monthly basis.

In this way you will know very well how much will be left after your mandatory expenditure. While creating a budget of your necessary expenditures you must keep in mind to pay the left over to any company you owe money to with the oldest debts paid off first.

How to Make Money by Buying a Duplex and Renting Out Half of It

You can make money buying a duplex and living in one unit, and renting out the other. However, you need to take the time to find the right property, the right location, and it helps to have some mechanical ability.

Housing Market and Location

Your first concern is the housing market. At the present time it’s a buyers market, but you may live in an area that is currently bucking the trend. Drive through different areas in your town and note the number of houses for sale. Then, call the listing agent for some of them, and find out how long they've been on the market. This let’s you know whether houses are selling, and what to offer.

Location is of paramount importance. Investigate an area through the eyes of someone looking for a place to rent. Is there a mall in the area and are the schools undergraduate or graduate, what are the ages of homes in the area? Do you see children or their toys in yards? All this tells you what you can expect in the way of renters.

Budget Work

Even though you spend more for a duplex than for a single family unit, your monthly expenses should be less. In order to accomplish this, you need to rent the other unit for a minimum of half your monthly expenses. To figure what you need for rent include money for upkeep, insurance, taxes, utilities, mortgage payments, and any other expense you may think of.

By living in your duplex you will be able to save money on insurance, because you will not need a commercial policy. All you will need is a simple homeowner’s policy, which is less expensive.

Another advantage is some cities have grants, or low interest loans, available only to homeowners who live in the home. Because you live in your duplex, you can take advantage of these programs for improvements not only in your unit, but in your tenants unit.

In addition, a money saver is your odds increase to find responsible renters. Often, when a potential irresponsible tenant applies, and they find out the landlord lives in the same building, they may decide to look elsewhere for a place to live.

Summary

As a matter of logistics, living in your duplex makes you money. If you’re mechanically inclined and do repairs and maintenance, you don’t have far to travel, and all your tools are at hand.

The secret to making money living in your duplex, is the money you save compared to living in a single dwelling. A final suggestion is to keep track of all expenses. Let your accountant make the decision if an expense is deductible, or not.

- This article was contributed by Jane Sanders from Debt Management. Visit her site for more financial tips, such as how to create the perfect debt management program.