Ok so I have helped hundreds of people but and refinance homes, and there are things that may make no sense to you, but will totally jack up your home loan plans. Don't buy a new car!!!! I realize sometimes it is unavoidable. But typically a person's car payment is the second highest monthly expense besides housing. I have seen in some cases car payments higher than their mortgage. This affects back end DTI (your total debt to income ratio when all expenses are taken into account.). Try to be smart about it if you must buy a car and don't go buying a Benz or Tesla. If you can put off the purchase until after the home purchase, do it. Car leases are tricky. So let's say that you are close to the end of the lease and that expense may go away. The assumption is that you will still need a car, so you will still be hit for that expense. Most likely you will just trade that lease for another. Don't start a new business. For self em...
Hello out there! so like a lot of people, I had an idea of what I wanted to do with my life, an idea of a career path, and things went a different direction. I graduated with a degree in English and a minor in Spanish, thinking that I was being practical and forward-thinking, and went on the literature/writing track rather than just literature. I was hoping to be a writer, but after graduation student loans came a knocking. So, I got a job about a month after graduation in finance. I've been working for 19 years in some form of sales, finance, customer service, etc.--and once you get in, it's hard to get out! I cannot imagine how to derail this train and what to do. Also, I just finished watching Julie & Julia on Netflix, and here we are. I bought a domain name and I'm going to see if in some roundabout way this leads to a movie deal. I mean, I am in LA. But honestly this is something to do for fun on the side, and if I can push this into a...