You got pre-approved, went through the exciting house hunting process and finally found a home you love and negotiated a fair price… We’ve been there ourselves! It can be a uneasy time awaiting financing approval. Knowing many of our clients experience this during the home buying process, we reached out for some advice from a seasoned professional, Sherry Jenkins of Axiom Mortgage Solutions, who has been in the industry for twenty years. We asked Sherry for some advice on how to increase your odds of turning that pre-approval into a firm approval so that we could share this info with our valued readers and followers.

Pre-Approvals
While pre-approval will give you a great idea on a price-point to shop for that will fit with your budget and align with your income and debt-to-equity ratio. Unfortunately, they are not a guarantee that you will be approved for financing if you find a home under the pre-determined purchase price. When you put an offer on a home, you will need to get approved from both the bank and the mortgage insurance company and go through another credit check.

Once you get Pre-Approved, Avoid Changing Your Financial Foundation

A number of factors influence your mortgage application. Your credit score is of the upmost importance when it comes to financing, the higher the score the stronger your application. With recent changes in the industry and our economy, lenders are most comfortable lending to individuals who score in the high 600’s or greater. With that being said, here are important factors to consider during the time you are shopping for a new home:

Credit
With credit scores being a major component to your application it is important to ensure you:

• Make your payments on time, especially your credit card, cell phone and income taxes
• Keep the balance on your credit cards below 50%
• Avoid opening new credit cards

New Debts
Opening new accounts and borrowing funds will effect your debt-to-equity ratio, reducing the strength of your application, be sure to:

• Wait to purchase a new vehicle, RV, etc…
• Avoid co-signing on any loans
• Avoid opening new lending accounts

Job Changes
House hunting can take months and while we know things can change, however it is best to avoid switching jobs prior to purchasing a home. Banks like to see that you have been with a company for three months or more, and clear of the probation period. With that being said, if your new position is in a related field this becomes less of a concern. It can be worthwhile to take on better position, but speak with your mortgage representative and consider the impact on your mortgage application.

Lastly, if you have been declined, Sherry encourages you to get a second opinion. Mortgage brokers have access to a large number of lenders and are not all created equal, experienced mortgage professionals have the expertise on how to strengthen an application and to choose lenders that would be the best fit.

We hope this helps, happy house hunting!

Thank you to Sherry for sharing her expertise with us!

Let’s face it, every Spring our homes need a top to bottom clean, reorganization and freshening up. Last year we wrote a blog on some tips on how to purge un-needed items from your home, In addition, Marie Kondo has an excellent book and Netflix show called ‘Tidying Up’ that has started a great trend. This year we will focus the spring cleaning tips around the garage organization. Plus… we personally need to clean our garage, yet again!

We hope to provide you with some inspiration and organization tips so that you too can avoid the embarrassment of opening your garage door showcasing your mess to the neighborhood. Remember, cleaning and house projects are always more fun with help, music and some refreshing drinks! Set the mood to have a great time reorganizing your garage. For Adam and I, working together on projects is one of our favorite things to do as a couple as we enjoy getting our hands dirty, working together and seeing the finished results!

STEP ONE: THE PURGE
The best way to begin is to remove all the items you do not want, need or have been meaning to get rid of. As Marie Kondo would suggest, ask yourself whether the item “brings you Joy?” Purging doesn’t need to involve a trip to the dump as some items can be sold, donated, and gifted to others in the community. We really enjoy using the ‘Airdrie Cool Giveaway’ Facebook page. Search Facebook or your online community for one of these type of pages in your area. When you give away items for no charge people will come to your home to pick up the item, talk about a win-win! Don’t worry about going through EVERYTHING at this first step, I recommend focusing on removing the big stuff and obvious things to make some space.

Items to purge may include:

• Recycling
• Garbage that needs to be taken to the dump
• Outgrown baby & kids items
• Toys
• Broken tools & equipment
• Old, unloved flower planters and pots
• Items you haven’t used in two years
• And more!

STEP TWO: GROUP ITEMS TOGETHER
After you remove all the extra stuff in your garage you don’t love, the next step is to group like items.  As you continue to group items in your garage you will likely find more items that you can purge- move those to the discard pile.

Make a pile or section of the garage for the different genres of items, such as:

• Recycling, Compost & Garbage Bins
• Yard tools
• Power Tools
• Handyman tools
• Gardening Items
• Sports Equipment
• Christmas Decorations
• Winter Supplies
• Cleaners, oils and other chemicals
• Etc…

STEP THREE: USE ALL YOUR SPACE!
The storage space of your garage can be amplified by creating shelving, hooks and storage systems from the ceiling and walls.

Here are some ideas:

• Hooks to Hang Bikes
• Tire Storage Rack
• Add Overhead Storage Space
  The space above the garage door is a great spot!
• Sturdy Shelving
• Old Dressers & Bookshelves
• Build Garage Cabinet
  Could use old kitchen cabinets too!
• Install Wall Shelving and Hooks
• Create a Foldable Workbench
• Install storage near the man door for quick access to commonly needed tools/items
• Install pegboards and hooks

For special items draw an outline it hanging in its proper spot to encourage family members to return it to the correct spot.

STEP FOUR: CLEAN
How clean do garages need to be really? A good sweep is usually clean enough for us. A shop vacuum is another great tool to use, while it is noisy it can prevent dust from getting spread into the air like a push broom might. Wash off open shelving and your man door too – you will be shocked to see how dirty they can get!

STEP FIVE: ORGANIZE
Now that all your unwanted items are clear, organizational spaces and storage has been created and the garage has been cleaned – it’s the time to put everything back and find it a permanent home that it will belong to and be returned to time and time again. Here are some tips:

• Store the groups items together. However, certain groups will have both small and large items which will require different storage solutions, though try to keep this nearby in a section of the garage if possible.
• Alternate seasonal items, arranging spring/summer items into easy to reach areas, while Fall/Winter items can be up higher and switched out in the fall.
• Store commonly used items near the entrance of the garage for extra convenience.
• Use color coordinated bins and clear bins to create help with ease of finding your items later on.

I recommend to walk your family through the garage and share where certain items now belong. Keeping a clean and organized garage requires everyone to be committed to returning items to where they belong. Nonetheless, every season it will likely need a quick refresh as seasonal items need to be brought out and others can get put in storage until needed again.

Lastly –enjoy your newly clean garage, A.K.A. man cave!

How to Turn Your Hectic House to a Stress-Free Sanctuary
After spending an entire day at work, you probably want to race home, prop your feet up and spend the rest of the day relaxing. However, if you are like most people your home is far from being a place of rest. From the smell of dirty socks near a pile of shoes to the stacks of dishes on your kitchen counter and your uninviting bedroom slash laundromat it’s time to turn things around.
Here are five ways to turn your home into a place of sanctuary.

Add a splash of color to the walls
Did you know that the color of your environment greatly impacts your emotional state of mind and overall mood? Much like how people trust someone dressed in blue as opposed to someone dressed in red, you can impact your mindfulness by changing the paint in your home. For a soothing feel to your home try a soft or neutral color such as white or lighter shades of tan, and then add a bold, yet attractive splash of color to an accent wall such as a deep blue.

De-clutter
Few things can create more stress at home more than walking into a cluttered living and bedroom or a kitchen counter stacked with dishes. De-cluttering is one of the best and first things you should do to add a little peace to your home. First things first, toss out everything you can. While a general rule of thumb is to throw away anything you haven’t used in the past six months, more realistically you can give yourself an honest gut check when it comes to throwing things away.  File or toss excessive papers, find a place for everything or, if you really want to feel great about yourself add some unique shelving, drawers, and cabinets to have a place for everything.

Optimize your bedroom for sleep
The one room in your home that has a direct link to your mental health is your bedroom. A quality sleep doesn’t always come easy and if you aren’t getting at least seven hours of sleep each night then you may be suffering from sleep-deprivation disorder which can lead to a lack of focus, fatigue, a lack of motivation, and insomnia. You can optimize your bedroom for sleep by adding a few items and creating a nighttime routine. Items such as black-out curtains, essential oils, fresh blankets and even a new mattress that fits your sleeping style are a great start.

Add plants
When people think of sleep, the last thing on their mind might be adding plants. But, it’s true, plants can help remove toxins in the air while providing an oxygen-rich environment. Adding plants throughout your home will help create a fresh and clean-air home as well as a little splash of color. Want to find the right variety that is both attractive and keeps your home feeling fresh? Try out Aloe Vera, English Ivy or Bamboo Palm.

Appeal to your senses
Have you ever walked into an interior decorating store and wondered why your senses were suddenly attracted to everything around you? Much of that probably had to do with the placement of essential oils. Essential oils are used in a variety of ways from calming your nerves to adding a boost of energy. With over ninety different essential oils available you can create your own home-spa by adding an inviting scent like cinnamon to your entry, lemon to your kitchen and a pleasant jasmine to your bedroom. Essential oils are cost-friendly, effective and proven to help with much more than just making your house smell nice.

With all these tips combined, you’ll turn your hectic house into a stress-free sanctuary in no time!

Article Written by Laurie Larson
Laurie Larson is a freelance writer based in NC. She enjoys writing on home, health, and lifestyle topics to help others make the most out of their lives.

The 10 Best Places to Hide Valuables in Your Home

Depending on the size and type of item, the best places to hide valuables are those that burglars don’t want to search through or wouldn’t bother with, including places that are inconvenient or difficult to search, messy, or uninteresting.

Here Are the Top 10:

1. hollowed-out books.  Criminals tend to be uneducated, which is why they’ve turned to crime to  make their living.  They’re practically allergic to books!  But if you have only a couple of books on a bookshelf, this may be a clue that they’re actually hiding places for your valuables, so make sure your library is large enough to serve as a tedious place to search.
2. a false VHS tape or VHS carton.  Who watches VHS tapes anymore?  Again, follow the rules above for books.  A few can be a clue, but many can be a time-consuming distraction.
3. false containers in the kitchen cupboard, under the sink, and in the bathroom, such as fake food cans and boxes, false cleaning product bottles, and personal hygiene items, and even in a heavy tub of “cat litter.”  Some false containers available on the market today actually look like false containers, so you might want to save yourself the expense and create your own.
4. in the false bottom or under the plastic liner of a bathroom or kitchen trash can.  No one wants to go pawing through your trash in the slim hope of finding something worth pawning.
5. wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil and stored in the back of the freezer.  This is also a good place to store documents and paper currency in case of a house fire.
6. in a floor safe in the bedroom closet.  While this location may be obvious, a burglar would have to exert a lot of time and energy—and create a lot of noise—trying to break into a floor safe, which is also generally of the heavy variety, making it not only hard to open, but hard to steal whole, if the thief had plans to break into it later.
7. inside a house plant.  Using the same method as for trash containers, a plant’s soil can be contained in a waterproof liner that can be lifted up to hide items underneath.  Just make sure the items you’re hiding are in a waterproof container, too.
8. inside a false wall outlet.  Make sure it’s not a live receptacle or in the way of any electrical wiring.
9. within hollowed-out/removable building components, such as wainscoting, floor panels, door jambs, window sills, and cabinet doors.
10. in the garage inside boxes marked with mundane labels, such as “Xmas Ornaments,” “Kid’s Clothes,” “School Projects,” etc.  Again, the more boxes you have, the longer the burglar will have to search—if he’s so inclined—to find something worth stealing.

Hiding Places to Avoid:

1. areas that can damage your valuables with water or invasive matter, such as the water tank of a toilet, inside a mayonnaise jar that still has mayonnaise in it, or a paint can filled with paint.  There are high-quality waterproof containers on the market that will allow you to hide items in water (and possibly other places), but err on the side of caution.  Documents, jewelry and electronics that become wet or permeated with chemicals or food matter may be damaged beyond repair in your zeal to outsmart a tenacious burglar.
2. a jewelry box.  This is a good place to store jewelry that you can afford to lose, but not your diamond tennis bracelet or your grandmother’s antique wedding ring.
3. your desk drawer, bedside drawer, or underwear drawer.  Too obvious.
4. inside CD cases.  It’s true:  burglars still prefer CDs to MP3s.
5. inside DVD cases.  DVDs and Xbox-type games are worth between $2 and $10 at pawn and re-sale shops; count on being cleaned out of your collection during a home burglary, regardless of the titles.
6. a wall safe.  Unless it’s high-end and professionally installed, a wall safe can be dislodged by cutting the drywall seam around it, and wall safes are typically small and light enough to easily transport off site to be opened later.  Opt for the heavier and harder-to-access floor safe.
7. inside picture frames with false backs/interiors.  These tend to be thicker than typical picture frames, so they’re easy to spot as a hiding place.
8. a cookie jar.  Put cookies in it, not your grocery money.
9. an electrical item or heated area, such as a lamp base, toaster oven, or HVAC duct.  You could accidentally ignite your valuables and put your entire home at risk for a house fire.
10. any locked box or locking file cabinet.  A box that has a lock on it will be stolen regardless of what’s inside, and the lock on a file cabinet can be popped out with the right tool and a little effort.

Other Precautions

For valuables that you can’t hide or lock up, such as a flat-screen TV, stereo system, and computers, make sure they’re insured through your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.  Unless you invest in a home security system (and sometimes even if you do), it’s not possible to protect every item in your home.  But you can take precautions to password-protect and GPS-activate laptops and smartphones so that their recovery is more likely, should they be stolen.

Also, firearms should be properly locked in an approved gun safe that is stored out of reach for the safety of the home’s occupants, as well as to deter theft.

Place a pole in the bottom track of your sliding glass patio doors so that they can’t be forced open wide enough to permit the entry of an intruder.  Install burglar-proof window locks that will allow you to leave your windows open slightly for fresh air, but not wide enough to allow a person to get through.

Remember that burglary is a crime of opportunity, so don’t tempt fate by leaving any exterior doors unlocked (including sliding glass patio doors, and the door between the garage and the living area), hiding a spare house key outdoors (under the “Welcome” mat, a large potted plant, statuary, or a solitary or fake rock), leaving the doors to your attached garage open (even when you’re home), or leaving the curtains or drapes open so that your valuables are in full view of prowlers and passersby.  Your personal safety is at risk as much as your personal property.

Also, don’t over-share personal information with the world by advertising your absence from home on social media.  When leaving on vacation, have a trusted neighbor, friend or family member monitor your home and bring in the newspaper, mail, and random take-out menus hung on your doorknob.  Install light timers indoors and security/motion detectors outdoors to illuminate your property’s exterior.  And go ahead and apply security company stickers to your windows/doors that advertise that your home is professionally protected, even if it’s not.