When you come home and realize you can’t fit your car inside your garage because of random items taking up space, you know it’s time to get organized.

Organizing your garage may seem like a daunting task, but with a few helpful tips, you’ll be done in no time!

Tips to organize your garage

Go vertical – Placing your items from top to bottom instead of side to side will save you space in your garage.

Install shelving systems – Regardless of your garage size, shelving units will help you keep your items organized and off the ground. By putting things up in the air, you’ll give your vehicles enough room to be in your garage along with your belongings.

Purchase heavy-duty storage containers – The best way to store your things in your garage is inside heavy-duty all-weather storage bins. You can find these bins at your local Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Hang items – If you own bikes, a hose, lawn chairs, or strollers, you should have these items hung on the side of your garage for easy access while keeping them off the ground. Because these items are seasonal, it makes sense to have them stored away from your vehicles and garage entry points until you need them.

Extra items

After you’ve spent time organizing your items so your vehicles can fit into your garage, you may be wondering what you should do with the extra items that you didn’t have room to store but still want to keep.

Renting a monthly self-storage unit will give you an extra ‘garage’ to hold the excess. Most self-storage facilities offer various sized units so you can choose the best one for your needs. Plus, they are affordable.

Moving your loved one to residential home care in Ventura County CA can be stressful for everyone involved. Residential care homes may not always have the best reputation but there are a number of benefits that you should consider.

Safety

Safety is one of the most important benefits of residential home care and the factor that will influence many decisions. When the vulnerable and elderly can’t look after themselves efficiently, they can become a danger to themselves. Care homes have staff at all times and there are nurses readily available. There is always someone looking over your loved one to prevent any harm.

Companionship

Your loved one will have many different opportunities throughout the day to socialize with other people of similar age and in the same circumstances they are. There should be no fear of having to go for hours without any human interaction.

Help with Stimulating the Mind

As people age, it’s important to keep the mind active. Residential homes can have activities that every resident can enjoy, such as arts and crafts, baking, shopping, light exercise, and local walks to help stimulate the mind and the body.

Still Feel at Home

Resident will have a room and space to call their own. Residents can add photographs and furniture to give it the homey feel with personal touches. It can be a cozy space where they can feel at ease and retreat to at the end of the day.

Healthy Meals

Another concern with the elderly is whether or not they are eating properly. When they are living in residential home care in Ventura County CA, you don’t have to worry about nutrition. Residents are served regular and wholesale meals that ensure they are getting the proper nutrients they need.

Supervised Medication

You can rest easy knowing that your loved one is not missing or accidentally taking too much medication. There are medication management systems in place to make sure medication is administrated at the right dosages and times and is monitored accurately.

Maintained Living Conditions

It can be hard for the elderly to maintain their current home. With residential home care, residents will be comfortable in a well-maintained environment.

Specialized Care

There can be many options for care homes that provide specialized services for needs that require a bit more attention.

Don’t Worry about Chores

Your loved one won’t have to worry about all the chores that come with living in their own home, including dealing will bills, general upkeep of the property, cleaning the home, and grocery shopping.

Keep Your Mind at Ease

When your loved one is in a care home, you can rest easy knowing that they are well looked after, have company, are not living alone, and are safe. This gives you time to tend to your own responsibilities.

You may by ready to move out of your apartment and buy a place of your own in Washington state, but providing a huge down payment and bumps in your credit score may make purchasing a home seem out of reach.

We have some news for you! Homeownership may be closer than you think. A home financing program called an FHA home loan has had a recent change to its minimum credit score requirements and the program can help you over the hurdle of paying a large down payment. In this post we’ll share the details of an FHA home loan, the minimum credit score to qualify, and how it can be helpful to you.

What is an FHA home loan and how is it useful?

An FHA home loan is a loan program that is backed by the government and supported by the Federal Housing Administration. The FHA falls under the Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD and was created in the mid 1930’s amongst the Great Depression to help foster the construction of new homes and boost employment rates. FHA loans are still extremely popular today.

FHA loans are designed to help first-time homebuyers and are accommodating for today’s buyer. One of the major benefits of an FHA loan is the down payment requirement. For an FHA loan you can use a down payment that is as low as 3.5%, unlike the standard 20% down payment of a Conventional loan. The only drawback of using a down payment that is lower than 20% is that you will most likely need to pay mortgage insurance. And recent changes have been made to mortgage insurance premiums. However, as soon as you have built up enough equity in your new home you may have the option to refinance into a Conventional home loan where you would no longer need to pay mortgage insurance.

Another benefit of an FHA home loan is that there are more lenient parameters around the debt-to-income eligibility. FHA loan requirements don’t limit the debt-to-income ratio to 43% like a Conventional loan, which could be helpful for today’s homebuyer when so many Americans are paying off student loans.

A low down payment, but what about my credit score?

An FHA home loan not only gives homebuyers a break on having to front a huge down payment, but the program can also be forgiving on credit score requirements. While credit requirements can vary from lender to lender, the FHA has recently made changes to the eligible credit score that has made the home loan even more accessible for homebuyers. With a down payment of 3.5% the minimum credit score is 580. And with a down payment of 10% the minimum credit score is 500. This is comparable to the 600 credit score minimum needed for a Conventional home loan. 

Check your credit score to see if you could meet the eligibility terms. There are three credit bureaus that you can use to find your FICO credit score; those are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Look over your credit report for accuracy and take action to make any needed corrections or improvement.

Even if your credit score meets the minimum requirement, we recommend doing your best to increase it because your credit score is a valuable factor in determining your mortgage interest rate. You can build your credit by paying down any balances that you have on your current credit cards and by not opening any other lines of credit or loans. Improving your credit score is something that takes time so make sure you factor that into your timeline before applying for home financing if you need to.

What else do I need to know about FHA loan eligibility in Washington state?

Besides lower credit scores and down payment amounts there are a few more eligibility perks worth knowing about on an FHA loan in Washington state. The FHA loan limit raised for King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties in 2019. The new limit for the Seattle area is $726,525. This means that the maximum amount that you can borrow using an FHA home loan in the Seattle area is $726,525, which is beneficial because home prices are so high in the area.

An FHA loan also allows the borrower to use gift funds to supplement with their down payments. As long as you contribute 3.5% of the down payment amount from your own funds you are able to use money that was given to you from family or relatives to increase your down payment amount and in return lower your monthly mortgage payment. Like any other loan product or program, proper documentation will be needed to explain the purpose and intention of the gift funds.

Your credit score will play into the interest rate that you will receive on your mortgage financing, however, with an FHA you can most likely expect a lower interest rate than a Conventional loan so you can plan on keeping more money in your pocket each month.

The FHA eligibility terms are also more forgiving when it comes to the time period you have to wait before applying for home financing after declaring bankruptcy. The waiting period is two years after filing for bankruptcy versus four years with a Conventional home loan.

Last but not least, the home that you are applying for home financing for needs to be your primary residence. Unfortunately, FHA home financing does not apply to second homes or investment properties.

Could an FHA loan be the right fit for me?

There you have it, all of our highlights on the FHA loan program, credit score requirements, and other eligibility guidelines that we think will be the most helpful for you. If you have any questions or think you may be ready for a place of your own, check out our first time home buyers guide and contact us today! We have been part of the mortgage industry since 1992 and are sure that we will find the best mortgage program and product to fit your situation so you can step into your new home with confidence.