1) How bad will foreclosures hurt your credit? – What I find most interesting about this is how things effect your FICO score different based on where your FICO score starts.

2) Carpeting – It’s time to add it as a disclosure topic to the AAR seller property disclosure statement – Lorti makes a great case on why carpet and other flooring should be added as something the seller discloses to the buyer.

3) The move-up buyer’s gameplan – So much attention has been given to the first-time homebuyer market because of the $8000 tax credit. With the addition of the $6500 move-up buyer credit we could see more people looking to get a bigger house with today’s deflated prices.

4) Climategate posts – With the news this week that climate scientist were fudging the numbers to make the data say what they want on climate change, here are two posts on the effects of the climate change debate and real estate. Climategate & you: The real estate edition and a video Will fraudulent climate changed revelations effect housing?

5) How to safely text and email while driving – What does this have to do with real estate? Nothing, unless you are a real estate agent who spends as much time as me a day in the car and finds yourself wandering daily because of texting and emailing.

6) 640 is the new 580 – 580, 620 now 640, minimum FICO scores continue to rise for a mortgage.

7) President Obama Calling Lenders to the Carpet Today – Obama is expected to try to shame banks into moving faster on saving houses from foreclosure (they are talking about you Bank of America). My take is just stop giving them my money (TARP) and if they don’t want to approve loan mods or short sales and would rather make the poor economic choice of foreclosure let them sink.

8) A question that needs to be asked more often… – When deciding how long you are going to live in your home are you considering the variable of what interest rates may be then?

9) Should we put our home on the market during the holidays or wait until spring? – One thing is for sure, anyone looking at your house during the holiday season is very likely a serious buyer.

10) Evaluating professionals: Imperfect solution for an imperfect world – Agent ratings, always a fun and popular topic.

Top 5 real estate posts of the day for 5/21/2009

1) Trulia CEO Pete Flint on CNBC talking about increased home buyer interest in foreclosures – This video talks about how first-time home buyers and investors are snatching up the foreclosure properties.

2) NAR – Welcome to the Waffle House – Whenever Russell Shat takes the time to write or talk you should stop and listen if you are in real estate. Very few agents in this country are more successful than Shaw. Here Shaw weighs in on the IDX indexing issue and comes down on the side of agents, not the NAR.

3) Do you have to close your loan at a title company – Mortgage guru Justin McHood takes a look at where and how you can and cannot sign your mortgage paperwork.

4) It’s still about relationships – If you are reading this you are more than likely into technology as a real estate agent. John Tuccillo takes a look at how the key to business is still relationships and how we should not forget that.

5) Does FHA have a minimum FICO score requirement? – While FHA does not have a minimum FICO score requirement, that does not mean you can get a FHA loan if your FICO score is 500. This informative post takes a look at the why and how.

Earlier today I discussed how your FICO score works. The one questions I did not answer was what is a FICO score that you need to get a mortgage when buying a house.

Justin McHood of the Arizona Mortgage Team added a comment that discussed just that issue. Here is his comments for everyone.

Many times people I speak with ask me “what is the minimum FICO score that I can have and still get approved for a loan? In today’s mortgage world, many investors are requiring a minimum FICO score of 580 for a FHA loan – so if there is currently a “magic minimum FICO score”.. think “580.”

Thanks Justin. Justin and his wife Tammy are currently on our blog roll which you can find on the right side of this page.

Chart from myfico.com

Your FICO score is based on 5 different categories:

Payment history is 35%
What they are looking for here is if you pay your bills on time. Also any past history of judgments, bankruptcy or collections will effect this number.

Amounts owed is 30%
What is your ratio of debt owned to debt available? The higher the percent of debt owed to debt available the lower your FICO score will be.

Length of credit history is 15%
How long has your account been active? If you have had an account for ten years that will help your score more than an account that has only been open one year. If you have many credit cards and are considering closing some, this is a factor to consider.

New credit is 10%
This includes the number of new accounts compared to accounts that have been opened for a longer time and also new credit inquiries.

Types of credit is 10%
What type of accounts do you have, credit cards, retail stores, mortgages, installment loans etc.

Remember when you hear those ads on the radio trying to sell you something, there is no magic pill or fairy dust to repair your credit. Paying your bills on time and not carrying to large of a balance is the best way to keep your score high. Those tactics will be the best ways to keep your credit score healthy and get the best finance rate you can when buying a home.

For more information take a look at myfico.com