If you’re currently stuck at home, quarantined, or simply looking at ways to improve your fitness, then it may be time for a financial fitness routine.  Much like physical fitness, our finances need some attention as well.  Starting simply, being consistent, and working towards goals are all great ways to boost your financial fitness and get in the groove of improving your finances.

Here are our tips to improve your financial fitness for home buying.

Start Simply

Improving your financial fitness with the goal of buying a home can be simple.  Much like starting a new workout program after some time out of the gym, financial fitness should start by dipping your toes into the water instead of diving in rear-end first.

Start by getting your finances in shape by evaluating the basics: your spending, income, and budgets.  You don’t have to establish a Fortune 500 quality personal budget, but it helps to have an idea of your monthly income and expenditures.  A 30,000-foot snapshot of your finances can help you see the big picture when it comes to buying a home.

Be Consistent

Starting new physical or financial habits and making them lasting and profitable requires consistency.  If you only go to the gym once a month, then you can’t reasonably have high expectations to improve your physical well-being.  The same goes for your finances.

Begin by establishing a goal.  It can be something easy like putting away an extra $10 per week or forgoing dining out or getting coffee once or twice a week.  In other words, find a way to save or find a way to cut back and stick to it!  A little money each week can add up to big dollars over time, and that liquidity and consistency looks good from a lender’s perspective.

Pay Your Bills on Time

One thing that can be sneakily detrimental to your credit and be a major negative to potential lenders is poor payment history.  Even if you pay your bills every month, not paying them on time can and will ding your credit over time and make lenders much leerier of giving you money for a new home.

Instead, start paying your bills on time.  Practically all vendors have autopay features available online and some may actually discount your bill for setting up automatic payments.  Additionally, most major banks allow you to set up automatic payments or bank drafts to specific vendors or specific accounts.

Just by paying your bills on time you can boost your credit score rather noticeably and take the guesswork out of bill paying.  Couple all of that with a rewards credit card (assuming you don’t have any credit card debt), and you actually end up paying yourself!  How’s that for a fitness boost?

Start Working with a Lender

A great way to get a benchmark for where your finances stand is to start by working with a lender before you start searching for a home.  It’s easy to apply online and get a quick response from most lenders which is why Tidewater Mortgage Services, Inc. is one of the leaders in helping new home buyers get into the home of their dreams.  Apply online and get pre-qualified in as little as 24 hours!