Mortgage Loans

You can’t buy a home without the ability to pay for it. Usually this takes a mortgage loan.

To obtain a loan, you must apply for it and wait for the lender to determine if you are an acceptable credit risk. They want to know:

1. That you pay your bills promptly.
2. You can afford the amount of debt you are applying for.
3. Your employment history.

It is possible to have a good credit score and still be declined for credit. Handling your credit should be a lifetime project. Over time you can increase your credit score. Improving your score can help you:

1. Get better credit offers.
2. Get better interest rates.
3. Make the approval process happen quicker.

Potential creditors look at your credit report. This report tells them what type of credit you use, how long your accounts have been open and if you pay your bills as agreed.

You should check your credit report yearly. I found a free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com You should obtain your report and review it carefully. In accurate information can affect your credit adversely.

Well, this has been Mortgage Financing 101. Stay tuned for more information on this subject and Real Estate.

Financial Statements

How to analyze a financial statement
by Nan Wood

It's obvious financial statement have a lot of numbers in them and at first glance it can seem unwieldy to read and understand. One way to interpret a financial report is to compute ratios, which means, divide a particular number in the financial report by another. Financial statement ratios are also useful because they enable the reader to compare a business's current performance with its past performance or with another business's performance, regardless of whether sales revenue or net income was bigger or smaller for the other years or the other business. In order words, using ratios can cancel out difference in company sizes.

There aren't many ratios in financial reports. Publicly owned businesses are required to report just one ratio (earnings per share, or EPS) and privately-owned businesses generally don't report any ratios. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) don't require that any ratios be reported, except EPS for publicly owned companies.

Ratios don't provide definitive answers, however. They're useful indicators, but aren't the only factor in gauging the profitability and effectiveness of a company.

One ratio that's a useful indicator of a company's profitability is the gross margin ratio. This is the gross margin divided by the sales revenue. Businesses don't discose margin information in their external financial reports. This information is considered to be proprietary in nature and is kept confidential to shield it from competitors.

The profit ratio is very important in analyzing the bottom-line of a company. It indicates how much net income was earned on each $100 of sales revenue. A profit ratio of 5 to 10 percent is common in most industries, although some highly price-competitive industries, such as retailers or grocery stores will show profit ratios of only 1 to 2 percent.

Nan is an Accountant with a Real Estate info and resource site at
RealEstateLady and her blog to provide basic info to the real estate newbie -
BusinessandRealEstateTips

Nancy's Real Estate Blogging

I have been enjoying writing and reading blogs for a while. I've used my own writing and researched other's.

Today I'm writing to give the Bloggers I know some freebies. I joined an Xmas Giveaway for Bloggers. You have ten days to get your goodies - all free.

Visit BloggingGifts and grab your goodies. For more real estate information on a basic level, visit
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