Real Estate by Alicia Discusses 5 Credit Myths

Lenders are constantly changing their requirements and over the past several years many would be buyers have been disqualified because of their credit score. There has never been a more crucial time to take some time out to educate ourselves on credit scores and how they affect our everyday lives. If you're looking to buy, refinance or even rent a home, variances in credit score can stop you from qualifying for the home of your dreams, and can either cost or save you thousands of dollars in interest over the life of your loan.Let's get right to it with five common credit myths:

Myth #1 Having lots of cash, a great income or tons of equity makes your FICO score less relevant.Fact: No matter how much cash you have, if you want to qualify for a mortgage, you must meet the lender's FICO score guidelines. Lenders don't look at your credit score on the theory that your other assets diminish your credit riskiness. Lenders want to avoid having to foreclose on a home, it's a costly and lengthy process.How you've handled your credit in the past is the best predictor of whether you'll default on a loan in the future. Your credit score will determine whether or not you will qualify for a loan and what interest rate you will be charged to borrow, no matter how much money you make.

Myth #2 Having NO debt or NO late payments means you have great credit.Fact: Being financially responsible and having good credit are two different things. Your FICO score is designed to be a measure of your responsibility when it comes to managing debt. Using credit regularly and responsibly is wise.Having no credit accounts or debts doesn't give you good credit- it gives you no credit. The term used by the lending industry for consumers with no credit is "Ghost" how is a lender going to prove to an underwriter and investor wanting to purchase the loan if there is no recorded documentation? On the flip side, being maxed out on various credit accounts all the time, submitting lots of credit applications can actually depress your score. The best practice is to have several accounts that you actively and responsibly use on a monthly basis.

Tip: FICO gives a top score to accounts with balances that are 30 percent of the credit limit

Myth #3 Checking your own credit score in advance prevents surprises when you apply for a mortgage.Fact: Your mortgage originator must pull their own version of your credit report. It may have a very different score, rating scale or even different line items. That is why it is imperative to start working with a mortgage professional as early as possible. This way you can detect any errors or issues and work to get them resolved as soon as possible.

Myth #4 If you've had a foreclosure or short sale, your credit report will be damaged for 7 years. Fact: Derogatory credit items, ie. late mortgage payments, foreclosures and short sales, appear on your credit report for 7 years. However, your credit score can be rehabilitated enough to buy a home or obtain other credit in less time. The type of loan you will be seeking to purchase your next home with, how much cash you can put down and whether or not there were extenuating circumstances involved in losing your home in the first place; some loans will allow for immediate purchase, others require a waiting period of 2,4,5 or even 7 years of a home.Your FICO score is also a huge component in a post home loss purchase. The length of time it takes your FICO score to recover actually depends on how high it was beforehand. The higher the score was, the longer it takes for full recovery. As the foreclosure or short sale ages, its impact on your score will decrease too.

Myth #5 Short sales have much less impact on your credit score than foreclosures.Fact: Short sales and foreclosures actually have the SAME impact on your credit score, according to the FICO folks themselves. (Exceptions are for short sales or deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure where the property was not upside down)Also, the number of missed payments you had before your home was lost to foreclosure or short sale might weigh on how gravely injured your FICO score is in the process. On average there are 2 years of missed payments before a home is repossessed by the bank.If you're looking to buy, sell, refinance or just have some real estate questions. Please feel free to give me a call, I'd be happy to assist you!Sources: Trulia, FICO websites

Alicia Snowden Brunson

Real Estate By Alicia

10 Not to miss holiday picture ideas

The holiday season is now upon us and you won't want to miss a minute. There are many traditions that was like to keep during the holidays, and passing them down to our children is a very special thing. Documenting them through pictures will help keep those memories alive and the traditions extra special. So, keep your camera handy, with plenty of fresh batteries and memory cards, or film for you old school shutter bugs out there. ;)

Here is a list of some of those "not to miss" moments:

1. Putting up and decorating the Christmas tree.

2. Decorating the house with Holiday/Christmas decor

3. Wrapping presents

4. Baking and decorating cookies (this is one of my favorite traditions!)



5. Special Holiday events such as Christmas Time in Aledo or Christmas on the Square in Weatherford.

6. Family gatherings. Candids and posed pictures (where everyone gathers around and smiles at the camera) will capture your time together. Make sure to get a group photograph including you! ;)

7. The table decorations. If you are having a fancy dinner, or just have the table decorated for the feast, be sure to grab a picture of it all dressed up. You can even capture individual dishes and entrees.

8. Christmas outfits. We as parents love to dress our kids up in fancy outfits that they sometimes don't love. I enjoy getting at least one of their frowny faces in the outfits. A smiley one of all the kids is somewhat hard to come by. If you are having trouble, try bribery (like ice cream or a small treat if they cooperate with you, or an extra half hour of tv time) with the older kids. Younger ones usually respond to peek-a-boo or other games you play with them. If all else fails, get them individually and collage the pictures in a multiopening frame.

9. The milk and cookies for Santa. Get pictures of the kids leaving cookies and milk out for Santa, and then one in the morning of the empty plate and glass.

10. Christmas morning chaos. Try to capture the kids' excited faces as the run to the tree to see what presents they got. Other ideas are to get them opening presents and their reactions to them. Gather all the presents they got to get a "group" picture with them to remember what they got this year.


Pamela Powell is a photographic portrait artist in Parker County Texas. Pamela received her BFA in art-photography from Sam Houston State University and is a member of the Professional Photographers of America and the Texas Professional Photographers Association.
You can view more of Pamela's fine portrait work by visiting: http://pamelapowellphotography.com
Follow Pamela
on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pampowellphoto
on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pampowellphoto

So you took all these pictures, now what? | Photography Tips

So you took all these pictures, now what?

Hopefully now, you have been inspired to take many pictures of your family. But have you done anything with those images? Are they still on your memory card in your camera? Do you show people your vacation pictures on the back of your camera? It's time to get them off your memory card and onto your computer!

"But, I have soooo many pictures! It will take hours to figure out when and where everything took place!" That's okay! There are plently of computer programs to help you organize your pictures.

If you are working on a MAC, then iphoto is great for that I hear. I have no experiance with it personally. Ask one of your MAC friends, or go to the Apple store and ask an assosiate there for help.

I personally use Adobe Lightroom. It is a program designed specifially for photographers to help them organize their images. When downloading, you chose where you want your images to go, can name the folder, and can choose weither you want the images to be organized by date, or all into one folder. There is also a meta data setting so you can copyright your images, tag them, explain what, where, when, why and how the image was taken. You can also rate them with a 5 star rating and a color coding rating. You can even edit the image without damaging the file. It saves the steps you did to the image seperatly from the original so you can always go back and undo everything you did to the image. And that's not everything. I could go on all day... If you are seriouly into photography, and shoot with your image setting to RAW or you like to do lots of editing and playing, then this would be a program you would be interested in. If you have no idea what RAW is, or not all into the editing and tagging and such, then do not fear, there is a program for you! (and it's cheaper!)

My Creative Memories Consultant, Deb Brittain, told me about one of their products called Memory Manager. This is what she says about it: "Memory Manager is a fabulous PC program that helps you organize and find your images quickly! It automatically imports and organizes your photos by the date they were taken. It offers additional simple organizational techniques and ways to cross-reference and fine tune edit your photos. It also allows you to rate your photos with a star system and works in conjunction with StoryBook creator plus which helps you create digital albums. One of my favorite features is it allows you to title each photo and tell the story for each one so you don’t forget those precious memories. To find out more information or to see a demonstration contact Deb Brittain at debbrittain@att.net or 817-907-4087."

So there are no more excuses! Get those images off your memory cards and onto your computers! But wait! You're not done yet. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, back up your images! Burn them to a CD, copy them to an external hard drive, save them to an online data backup service, whatever it is, PLEASE be sure to have AT LEAST two (2) copies of your pictures digitally. You just never know WHEN (not IF) your hard drive will fail and you will lose ALL your precious memories.

Best thing to do about not losing all those digital images is to get them printed. But getting them into a program like Memory Manager or Lightroom will make it a little easier to sort and prioritize the images you really want to print.

Pamela Powell is a photographic portrait artist in Parker County Texas. Pamela received her BFA in art-photography from Sam Houston State University and is a member of the Professional Photographers of America and the Texas Professional Photographers Association.
You can view more of Pamela's fine portrait work by visiting: http://pamelapowellphotography.com
Follow Pamela
on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pampowellphoto
on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pampowellphoto

Photo Challenge | A Day in the Life of...

Instead of tips and tricks to photography, I thought I'd offer a photo challenge to all you mama's. This challenge involves having your camera on you at all times. Throughout the day, you will be taking pictures and documenting what you are doing. The goal is to have enough images to tell the story of a day in your life.

What to do with the images you say? If you are a scrapbooker, make a scrapbook page or two with journaling. Blog it on your personal blog and share with friends and family. Or make a mini photo album and tuck it away in a time capsule of sorts and take it out again in 10-15 years and compare your life then to how it was now. It would be neat to see if it is more hectic or peaceful.

This is a commitment, and it might be easier to have a point and shoot camera so it is more portable, and yes, the phone on your camera will work too! And let the kids get involved too, if they have their own camera. It would be fun to compare your day you had together to see it through each others eyes.

Here are a few images from my day September 1, 2011:

Wake up



Car pool line


Dropping off my daughter at school


Leaving with my son


Ready for stroller Strides


Fearless Stroller Strides leader! (Come out and join us! Info here: http://classes.strollerstrides.net/aledoweatherford/location/index.aspx)


At the Recycling center


Making dinner


Ready to eat!


Clean up...


Play time!


Me time!



Nighty Night!

(my husband does not like to have his picture taken, so that is why he is not in any images! Just so rumors don't start...)

I hope you enjoy this little challenge! Leave a comment here to share your day in the life of... post it to your blog!


Pamela Powell is a photographic portrait artist in Parker County Texas. Pamela received her BFA in art-photography from Sam Houston State University and is a member of the Professional Photographers of America.
You can view more of Pamela's fine portrait work by visiting: http://pamelapowellphotography.com

It's such a great time to buy or refinance!

Interest rates are at an all time LOW!! Now is the time to buy the house you've been dreaming of or refinance your current home! Currently rates are 4% for a 30 year fixed conventional loan. The 20 year average rate is 6.93% To break it down simply, if you borrow $300,000 from the bank your montly payment including principal and interest only will be:

4% - $1432.25.

5% - $1610.46

6% - $1798.65

6 7/8 - $1970.79

If you lock in an interest rate of 4% you will save big time bucks over the life of the loan.

4% vs 5%- You save $178.21 each month, $2138.52 each year and $64,155 over the life of the loan!

4% vs 6%- You save $366.40 each month, $4396.80 each year and $131,904 over the life of the loan!

4% vs 6 7/8% (the average interest rate over the last 20 years)-
You save $538.54 each month, $6462.48 each year, and $193,874 over the life of the loan!

There has never been a better time to buy, build or refinance! If you have any questions about buying, selling or refinancing I'd be happy to help!


Special Thanks to Parker County Mama Alicia Brunson
Phone: 817-441-7707 | Cell: 817-680-7786
Fax: 817-441-7993 E-mail: alicia@pamsnowden.com

http://aliciabrunson.imxagents.com/
http://myrealtoralicia.blogspot.com/2011/06/parker-county-mama.html

Starting to save money with coupons

Coupons save consumers millions of dollars every year. Only 3% of all coupons that are printed every get redeemed. Why is that? I have found through the years of couponing it has to do with time and not knowing how to truly coupon and make it worth your while.

I would like to introduce myself to all of the present and future couponers. My name is Krista Cole I am a resident of Weatherford, Texas. My husband and I have lived in Weatherford for about 8 years we have three children. I work full time in the metroplex and commute daily. Couponing started out as a hobby but has become a necessity in my household. My story is no different than most households in America my husband lost his job late last year so we have had to learn to live on one income and I had to be crafty in doing do. I initially started couponing with a few in hand saving a couple of dollars on a shopping trip and would always stare in wonder at the woman at the store that would come out with two baskets of items and spending a few dollars after coupons. How do they do that? I will first tell you that if you just want to save $20.00 or $30.00 a week on your grocery tab that this is a very quick and easy process. However if you want the mega savings you will have to invest some true time into doing this.



To start with you will need to know the “Lingo” and get your stores coupon policies. I suggest pick one grocery store that is going to be your main store as well as a pharmacy. Go to the websites of each of these stores and print out the coupon policy. If the policy is not on the webpage send an email to the corporate office requesting a copy of the policy. Make sure you are specific to your area since most corporate offices handle many regions and policy and pricing does vary. And if all else fails pick up the phone and give them a call they will normally email it to you. Make sure that you print them out and keep them with you on your shopping trips. As you truly get into the mega savings you will need the policy with you. Keep in mind Wal-Mart will ad match and the Coupon and Ad match policy is online. I would choose another store as your primary grocery store simply because they do not double or triple coupons to maximize your savings. Myself personally I don’t shop at CVS or Walgreens. I simply don’t have the time to keep up with the extra care bucks and register rewards. I know others who do and I will share with you how to save this way as well. Now for the “LINGO” these will be key words you will see on website blogs and wonder what these people are talking about.

Brick – This is a printable coupon from online normally found on different coupon source sites.

BOGO – Buy one get one free

Cat – Catalina LOL this is what some people throw away L When you get your receipt at the register these also print out they are coupons for your next purchase.

Blinkie – These are the plastic coupon dispensers in the store that you take one and another spits out behind it.

Peelie – This is a coupon that is on an item on the shelf and you can use at the time of purchase.

Hangtag – These are coupons that are around the mouth of bottles that can be used at the time of purchase.

Q – Coupon

Dbl – Double

Trp – Triple

RP – Red Plum coupon circular in the Sunday paper

SS – Smart Source coupon circular in the Sunday paper



This is your main lingo that you will see and if you have any questions I will be happy to help. So let’s get started. You need either a binder with the clear plastic baseball sheets or you can use a shoe box of some sort. The little plastic coupon dividers will not hold all the coupons. I personally go by my memory which is like a lock box so I use a plastic box and bought a sheet of poster board cut it into dividers and wrote the different sections with marks a lot on the top. I cut my coupons organize and paperclip them and put them in the proper section. If you are going to use the binder you need to have the tabs on the pages to separate each section. Example: Frozen foods, Cold foods/Dairy, Canned foods, Boxed meals and pasta, Drinks, snacks, Baking goods, cereals, etc. don’t forget household items health and beauty, cleaning supplies baby items and pets. You may also want to have a section for store specific coupons as well. Once you figure out what system you want to use then you need to begin collecting your coupons. I myself by 3 double Sunday Fort Worth Star Telegrams you can also buy the Weatherford democrat and get coupons as well. Clip the coupons you are going to use and organize them in your coupon holder. You can match up to what is on sale at the time for this week or wait till the new ads come out on Tuesday for the sale starting Wednesday. Your first trip you will not save a lot of money it is going to take some time to build up your coupon cache. Plan on about 2 months before you have a big supply. I will give you the matchups that I find for the week and supply you with any links for printable coupons as well. Good luck happy and Happy Couponing.

Thank you for your post Krista. If your ready to start couponing you can also join the Coupon Queens of Parker County on facebook
couponqueen@groups.facebook.com

Tips for taking pictures for on-line Auctions

Tips for taking pictures for on-line Auctions

So, you no longer need those dishes or that old toy, and you want to sell them on an on-line auction. Having a great photograph really improves your chances of making the money you were hoping for. If your pictures are too dark, or too light and don't show the item well, then it might not be bid on like you would hope.

1. Use a digital camera or borrow one if you don't have one. This will make it easier to upload the images on-line. Also, use a smaller image size so you won't have to resize your images before uploading them. If your image is too large, people will have trouble viewing it. Read the guidelines on the auction site to see what their specifications are. I used a simple point and shoot camera for the images on this post.

2. Simple backgrounds work best. You want the buyers eyes on your item, not your cluttered living room. Use a plain wall or even set up a simple backdrop. Towels and sheets clamped to the back of a chair work well. Just be sure to keep them smooth and with as little wrinkles as possible.





3. Good lighting. It is important to have the item well lit. Simply adding a few spotlights might be all you need. If you are photographing something white though, be careful with incandescent light, it gives off a yellowish hue and can make the item look dingy. See if there is an incandescent setting on your camera to help. Shooting the object in the shade or on a cloudy day takes advantage of soft lighting and shows more of the detail. Use window light for a softer look.




4. Show detail. This means get in close. Get as close as you can and have the item still in focus. A sturdy tabletop tripod might come in handy if your hands are shaky. Try out the macro mode on your camera and see if that lets you show off the details. It is okay to take more than one image. Take a picture of the entire item, then get in close to show one of it's distinct features that make it unique and appealing to buyers.





Pamela Powell is a photographic portrait artist in Parker County Texas. Pamela received her BFA in art-photography from Sam Houston State University and is a member of the Professional Photographers of America.
You can view more of Pamela's fine portrait work by visiting: http://pamelapowellphotography.com