These days maintaining a stable credit score is more important than ever. So you try to do everything right. You pay off credit card debt, avoid new loans, close unused credit card accounts, and make sure that you pay all your bills on time. Then you check your credit score, only to find that it fluctuates by as much as 50 ... Continue Reading »

Successfully obtaining a mortgage requires meeting certain numbers. There's the amount of the down payment that you must have in your bank account. The amount of annual earnings you must show to prove you can manage the mortgage. And then there is your credit score. Right now, that credit score needs to be in the mid ... Continue Reading »

Trying to determine the best time to jump into the housing market is always a bit of a gamble. But in this market, with the news see-sawing between stalled housing prices and falling interest rates, it's even harder to gauge whether today is the right day to buy a house. "There are all kinds of ways to look at it," says ... Continue Reading »

When you spend too much time in your home, you are bound to find a home improvement project or two that can keep you busy. And that's usually what happens during the winter, when long hours inside give you time to wonder why you decided to paint the walls avocado green. For Heydi Cribben and her boyfriend, Jesse ... Continue Reading »

Of all the home improvement projects Hyedi Cribben and her boyfriend had on their to-do list, building a patio was one project they were looking forward to completing so that they could it enjoy it during the summer months. So why then did they get started in the fall? "No one likes to do that kind of work in hot ... Continue Reading »