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Are you fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to be on the move in 2011?  If the answer is yes then you’ll eventually have to consider whether or not you want to buy.  And if you don’t want to buy then is renting really the better option for you?  Here are just a few things to consider when making your decision…

- The Market is Still in Flux – The housing market is still a disaster and the end doesn’t appear to be in sight yet.  Seriously, is there ANY good newsing out of the housing market?  HAMP is a disaster, buyers are finding it hard to qualify, sellers can’t sell, short sales are destroying credit scores, and people are actually choosing to walk away from even affordable monthly payments because they realize they’re throwing good money after a bad investment.  Are we done falling or do we have more to go before we bottom out?  I think we’re still years from the true bottom of the market.

- Is Your Ie Secure – Can you afford a home?  Better yet, can you afford a home without a job?  Of course you can’t afford your home without a job.  But, in better times it was okay to buy a home and not give your job security much thought because you could sell your home fairly quickly and for pretty much what you needed to get out of it to cover your loans.  Those days are gone.

-Don’t Fall For Tax Incentives – It’s not a good idea to buy a home simply to take advantage of an incentive, such as the first time homebuyer tax credit.  Spend $200,000 to save $8,000…that math doesn’t make any sense, ever.  It’s even worse than cash for clunkers…buy or lease a $30,000 car and get a $4,000 tax credit.

According to Trulia, cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Kansas City, Memphis, San Diego, San Jose, and Boston are more affordable for renters than they are for buyers.  In cities like Atlanta, Houston, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Charlotte, Miami, San Antonio, Dallas, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia it’s either affordable or very affordable to buy versus rent.

The problem, as I see it, isn’t just affordability…it’s the lack of portability.  Do you really want to lock yourself in and buy a home in Las Vegas where, according to personal finance expert Carmen Wong Ulrich, author of The Real Cost of Living, “At one point in 2009, 81% of all homes in Las Vegas, NV were underwater?”  Sure, it’s affordable to buy a home in Vegas but who in their right mind would choose to do so?  Wouldn’t you rather have the portability to walk away, clean and easy, after 12 months if you don’t want to be there any longer?

I recognize that in 30 years you may look back and say “I’m so glad I bought in Vegas in 2011” but that’s a very long time frame and most of us don’t stay put that long.  Plus, you might be spending the next 5-10 years (or longer) living without neighbors considering the number of homes that are bank owned foreclosures.  I avoid that market and others like it.

And finally, why buy while the market is still on the way down?  Why not wait until the market is on the way back up?  If you really think you can time the purchase of your home to be at the bottom of the market then you’re smarter than, well, everyone.  There is no indicator for a real estate market bottom and do you want to know why…because we haven’t seen a real estate market bottom in our lifetime.  But, we can tell when the market has recovered because we can track the price of homes, number of new loans, the employment rate, and the number of foreclosures.  Point being, it won’t be a secret when the market has recovered.

If you want my two cents…I rent!!

Tags: Buy, Buy Rent

By now, you probably know about your right to get a free credit report each year through AnnualCreditReport.com. Until this year, there was no law granting anyone a free credit score. Starting January 1, 2011, a new law will require some lenders to give free credit scores to consumers who are either turned down for a credit card or who are approved but with less favorable terms.

For now, lenders can choose to give a free credit score or to give another detailed notice about the negative decision. Come July, every lender will have to give a free credit score whenever your credit score is used in an adverse lending decision.

Read more about these new Risk-Based Pricing Notices to learn when you would receive a free credit score.

Tags: Free Credit, Year

ideeli is a members-only shopping site featuring limited-time sales of designer apparel, accessories, home, beauty, travel and kids products. Until March 2, 2011 or supplies run out, Citi is offering a free $25 credit at the site. It’s a chance to get something for free (as they stock some items at or under $25), or to purchase something more expensive at a nice discount.

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Tags: 25 Credit, Ideeli

If you rely more on credit cards than cash to pay for everything from gas to groceries to dining out, you can quickly earn a sizable cash-back bonuse with the Chase Freedom® MasterCard – $100 Bonus Cash Back. In fact, if you use your credit card often, you’ll earn $100 in bonus cash in just a short amount of time.

Chase is offering a cash-back incentive to all new Freedom MasterCard members. You’ll have to spend $800 with your new card within three months of activating your account. If you do this, Chase will automatically credit your account with $100.

This isn’t the only perk that comes with this card. The Freedom card offers a host of rotating categories each month — everything from home repair purchases to travel to dining out. Whenever you make a charge in the right category, you’ll earn a cash-back bonus of 5 percent. For all other purchases, you’ll earn a cash-back bonus of 1 percent of every dollar that you charge.

The Freedom Card also comes with an introductory interest rate of 0 percent for six months on all new purchases and 0 percent for 12 months on balance transfers.

Your purchase interest rate wih this card depends on your creditworthiness. If you have a

Read more…

Tags: Chase Freedom®, Chase Freedom® Mastercard, Freedom® Mastercard, Mastercard

The FCRA, or Fair Credit Reporting Act, is the Federal law that, among other things, controls the access to our credit reports.  The law was originally enacted in October of 1970 and has since been amended at least 19 times.  And while the law is over 80 pages long, there are some highlights that we need to understand.

1.  Consumers have the right to a free credit report – The FACTA amendment (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003) to the FCRA is what gave us access to our credit reports via annualcreditreport.  We can claim one free credit report from each credit bureau once every twelve months.

2.  Credit reports can only be accessed under certain conditions – This section of the law is called Permissible Purpose and it defines when our reports can be shared.  For example, collectors can pull our reports.  Insurancepanies and employers can pull them as well.  We can pull them, of course.  And, lenders can also pull them.  There are several other examples but these are the mostmon cases.

3.  Consumer explanations can be added – The law allows consumers to add a short statement to their credit reports and give their side of the story regarding the information on their file.  This is called a Consumer Statement and it can be 100 words long for residents of most states.  So, if you want to give a brief explanation why you filed bankruptcy then you are allowed to do so.

4.  Negative information can only stay on file for so long – Most negative information can only stay on your credit reports for 7 years, according to the FCRA.  There are some exceptions to that rule.  Chapter 7 bankruptcies can stay on file for 10 years from the filing date.  And, unpaid tax liens can stay on indefinitely.

5.  You have the right to challenge information – The FCRA gives us the right to challenge information we don’t agree with.  If you contact the credit bureaus with a dispute they must investigate the data by contacting the source of the information.  They have 30 days, in most cases, toplete their investigation.  If they determine that the information was incorrect then they must either remove it or amend it accordingly.  If they determine that the information was correct then they can leave it as reported.

Tags: Fcra, Fcra Protect