Money Musings 💭 We accidentally sold our condo 🤪
What you’ll find below:
Reflection: How and why we sold our condo
Money Move: The last (and juiciest) step in the credit score series
You Gotta See This: Understand credit utilization and why it matters
Reel of the Week: An important conversation about unpaid labor
I know… how do you accidentally sell your home?!
A few years ago we were approached by a broker asking if we’d sell our apartment. It’s a very unique unit (at least I think so!) because it has a large backyard and parking spot in Hoboken (a pretty urban area).
We were very happy in our home but said we’d be open to sell for a “make us move” price so he created an off-market listing.
In an off market listing you don’t actually list your place so it never goes up on the MLS (or sites like Zillow). Our agent just told clients and other realtors about it. There was no pressure or rush. Every few months he’d text us with an offer and we’d turn it down. They were never high enough to make us move.
As inventory in our area continued to go down, the offers went up and eventually he texted with a potential buyer who wanted to look at our place.
I remember the weekend very clearly because my youngest son was in the ER with J (he was fine but it was scary!) and I decided to take the morning to make our place look nice.
Looking back, these were probably the most financially valuable 2 hours of my life . The key? 😂 I put a lot of our stuff into our neighbors apartment so it looked less cluttered. Thanks Dave!
They put in an official offer and we said yes. 😮
We had been in our home for 6+ years. It was where we brought home our babies, we loved our neighbors and had a mortgage interest rate under 3%.
That being said, we were also excited for a change and did know that eventually we’d want a place with more space.
At the end of the day, the biggest factor was financial. While your home doesn’t have to be an investment and in a lot of cases shouldn’t be, we had the opportunity to multiply our largest investment to date, and we did. 💵
Many asked “where will you go?” And that’s a really good question. We definitely want to stay in the same area and I’m excited to take you along for our apartment search and moving journey.
What questions do you have about buying / selling a home, real estate in general or moving? I’d love to dive in with you!
MONEY MOVE OF THE WEEK
INCREASE YOUR CREDIT SCORE SERIES - STEP #4 - Use these strategies (if they’re a fit)
You now know your credit score, have checked your credit report for errors and know what determines your score.
Now for the best part. 🥁 🥁 🥁
Here are 6 ways to increase your credit score
Remedy errors on your credit reports. Review for free once per year at annualcreditreport.com
Pay your bills on time. On time payments make up the largest component of your score. I like to set up automatic payments so I don’t have to think about it
Decrease your credit utilization (and keep it low). This is the amount you owe on your credit cards (at any given time the agencies check) divided by your credit card limits. One way to do this is to pay off your card multiple times throughout the month
Decrease your overall debt. Make a plan to do that here
Use a service to get credit for recurring payments. We pay a variety of bills on time every month yet historically, these haven’t been factored into our credit scores. Not fair! The first two I’ve seen are Experian Boost and UltraFICO
Open a credit card (or secured card) if you don’t have one. Read chapter 13 (All About Debt) in Financial Adulting first!
What has helped you increase your score? Hit reply and let me know.
In the press
THE FINDING MR. HEIGHT PODCAST
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
DEFINE CREDIT UTILIZATION.
How much of your credit you are using (or utilizing).
You can calculate your own credit utilization by adding up your total credit card balances and dividing the total by your total credit card limits.
If you have two credit cards, one with a $500 balance and a $1,000 limit and one with a $250 balance and a $500 limit, your credit utilization would be $750 ($500 + $250)/$1,500 ($1,000 + $500), 50%.
The lower your credit utilization the better.
Paying off your credit cards in full each month doesn’t mean your utilization will be 0%. The calculation is based on your balances at whatever point the credit card company reports it to a credit bureau (like Equifax).
your weekly money wins
Here are all the amazing money moves you made this week
Amy S: Started doing No Spend Mondays. I'm averaging out what I would "normally" spend (I've been tracking for months) and putting that money into savings for an eventual (albeit small) debt payment.
Haylie C: I got creative with the stuff I already had in my pantry/freezer - made a game out it & saved $!
Courtney: Asked my work for a maternity leave 'top up" and they said yes!
Nela: I finally have $ in my rainy day fund!!!
Ana P: Finally achieved saving for my emergency fund!
Amanda W: I had my first call with a certified financial planner today.
Rachel K: Hugely successful 2nd money party with hubby!
Thor: Not caving into pressure to spend money. It's hard for us people pleasers, but I am doing it now
Amanda: I finally see my budgeting habits paying off!!!!
Emma: Finally confronted my fears, sat down, made a budget. It's tight but I feel like an adult finally!
Jessi B: Decided to build our budget for our 10 year anniversary trip by investing in some index funds
Paige S: Bought your book! I have yet to open the Amazon box, but it's there when I'm ready!
Lucy: Being able to pay a caregiver a good fair daily wage for caring for our son 1 week out of 5 (we work at sea!)
Stewardess G: Cooked dinner at home. (It's been a minute)
Madeline: Went FT at my job & immediately increased my wkly Roth IRA deposit to $125
Katy T: Took my totally unexpected bonus (half year) and paid off my credit card.
Caroline P: Planning on eating lunch out tmrw at work and no stress because it's budgeted
Camille: Pulled my leftover paycheck into savings - haven't touched it since.
Audrey B: I paid my first semester of law school tuition today. In full. No student loans.
Melissa: I am 3 payments away from paying off my car