Short Sales, Foreclosures and Your Credit

If you’re in trouble with your mortgage, Lisa Blaylock, a Diamond Certified  Coldwell Banker realtor and certified distressed property expert, suggests you look closely at all your options. It’s best to get legal advice before you stop making payments if at all possible.

Ms. Blaylock says homeowners should know the impact that a foreclosure or short sale will have on their credit. A foreclosure will make you ineligible for a Fannie Mae loan for 5 years, your credit score will be lowered anywhere from 250 to over 300 points for 3 years, and recorded on your credit report for 10 years. A short sale allows you to get a Fannie Mae loan after 2 years, your score will go down as little as 50 points, for only 12 to 18 months, and is not reported to credit bureaus. Your attorney can help you decide what your best course of action is, given your circumstances.

Should You Flush Your Water Heater?

The answer may be yes, and it may be no. According to Frans Cartwright, owner of Better Water Heaters a Diamond Certified company, you should either flush your water heater regularly (once a year) OR don’t do it at all.  Here’s why. Sediment builds up and calcifies over time. This makes the water heater less efficient and shortens its life. Regular flushing clears the sediment and prevents build-up. If you haven’t bothered to do the maintenance regularly, you won’t be able to wash out the calcified material and may do more harm than good.

To flush out a water heater, attach a garden hose to the drain valve, leaving your water and gas on. Open the drain valve for 2 to 3 minutes, and then simply shut off the valve. No special product is needed, just your garden hose. If your drain valve is plastic, handle gently so not to break.

Wise Tip: Clean Your Oven Now, Before the Holidays

Before you know it, you’ll be making your to-do list and shopping list for Thanksgiving. One item to add to the list is to clean your oven well in advance of the holiday season. This advice is coming from Diamond Certified’s appliance experts, Paul Gwilliam and Chris Wilhelmsen, co-owners of Asien’s Appliance, Inc.  They get overwhelmed with service calls Thanksgiving week from people who’ve used the self-cleaning feature on their ovens.

When you use the self-cleaning function of your oven, the temperature heats up to 800-900 degrees for a few hours. The high heat might trip the safety thermostat, which can cause the oven to shut down. The door may lock shut or the oven may not heat up at all when this happens. You could also set off smoke alarms. Asien’s recommendation is to do your oven cleaning well in advance of the holiday, so that if something goes wrong, you won’t be scrambling to get an appliance repair done during one of the busiest weeks of the year. 

Credit Card or Charge Card?

Although many of us call any piece of plastic that allows us to spend now and pay later a “credit card,” there are important differences between an actual “credit” card and a “charge” card.

A credit card allows you to borrow money up to a pre-determined limit. You can choose to pay your entire bill when it arrives, and avoid finance charges, or pay just a portion of it and pay interest on the remaining balance. The major credit cards are Visa, Mastercard and Discover.

Like credit cards, charge cards allow you to make purchases now and postpone payment. But a charge card requires you to pay the entire balance each month. American Express is the most widely used charge card.

So, which card should you use? That depends on what’s most important to you.

If you want the option to finance your purchases over time, then a credit card is the way to go. Many also offer rewards programs that enable you to earn things like airline miles or cash back. (Detractors warn that rewards cards encourage overspending and can cost more in fees and finance charges than the value of the rewards themselves.)

Choose a charge card if you want to avoid the risk of racking up a lot of high-interest debt and you’re sure you won’t charge more than you can pay off each month. Charge cards typically have an annual fee, but you may be able to offset that through better rewards programs and freebies such as roadside assistance, hotel upgrades and rental car insurance.

Wet Roads and Cruise Control

Driving on wet roads with your cruise control on can be very dangerous. Lyde Waitley, owner of Olsen’s Automotive Repair, a Diamond Certified company, says the concern is that if your car begins to hydro-plane and tires lose contact with the surface, the cruise control will take some time to react. When your car begins to get traction again, it will accelerate, making you take off too quickly. You may lose complete control of your vehicle.

The early part of the rainy season is especially hazardous. It hasn’t rained in a long time and oils have accumulated, making it difficult for your tires to stick to pavement.  Some newer cars won’t let you set cruise control while the windshield wipers are on. The safest thing is to avoid using the cruise control setting when rain and inclement weather are in the forecast. Also, be sure to replace worn tires before the first downpour.

Scammers Take Joy Out of Gift Giving

A gift card can be the perfect gift for the holidays or any occasion—if you protect yourself from a variety of scams that leave gift card recipients with little more than a colorful piece of plastic.

Before you buy a card, inspect it to make sure it hasn’t been tampered with and that the PIN, if there is one, is still hidden under the protective, scratch-off coating. And beware of using one of the online card exchange services that allow visitors to buy, sell or trade gift cards. The opportunities to pay less than the face value of the card may be tempting, but there have been cases of buyers receiving stolen, expired or counterfeit cards. If you want to buy a gift card online, reduce your risk of being ripped off by buying only through a secure Web site. Reputable companies go to great lengths to protect you from fraud.