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Should you buy or rent? It depends on your circumstances, and the real estate market where you are going to live. Years ago, I sold a home for a young couple who owed almost as much as the sales price on their house. They needed to take money from savings to pay the closing costs and sales commission. You can bet that they wished they had rented for the couple years they lived there.

This brings up the first thing to consider when comparing buying versus renting: the amount of time you'll be there. Buying and later selling a home will usually cost about 10% or more of the value of the home. These costs mean that if the home only went up in value 10% or so in the year or two you lived there, you won't be gaining anything (equity gain from principal pay-down is very little in the first years). You'll often be better off renting if you'll be in a town for less than a few years.

What about towns with faster rates of appreciation? Have you done some serious homework? If not, to assume appreciation will be more than the rate of inflation is just gambling. The sellers in the example above sold for the same price they bought the house for two years earlier – and this was in a decent and growing area. You can't count on fast appreciation just because it has been that way recently.

To Buy Or Rent – Cost Comparison

Looking at buying versus renting, you have to take into account that in many places it cost much more to buy. In Tucson, Arizona, for example, a small home can cost $200,000. The mortgage payment, taxes, insurance and maintenance will add up to about $1,600 per month, but you can rent the same size home for about $800.

What does that mean? Many real estate fanatics will say you're at least buying something for your money, and renting is throwing your money away. Of course in this example more than $1,000 of your payment will be going towards interest alone, and that's not buying you anything.

Suppose you can afford the $1600 per month, but instead you rent for $800 and put the other $800 into a decent safe investment that makes you 5%? In three years you'll have over $30,000 in this account. If the home appreciated at 6% per year (it has been more like 25% per year recently, but that can't continue, and assuming so is not planning, but gambling), it would be worth $231,000. The costs of initially buying it and then selling it would be around $13,800 (2% buying and 6% selling), leaving you with a gain of about 19,000 once we include your principal pay-down.

In other words, you would be at least $11,000 better off if you rented and banked the difference. Every market is different, of course, so you have to do the math. Compare the total costs of owning versus renting, and then make safe assumptions about the rate of appreciation for homes.

If you'll definitely be in one place for a long time to come, it will almost always be better to buy than to rent. In the last example, buying becomes a better bet after about four or five years. Also consider that if you get a fixed rate mortgage, your payment will never change, a benefit landlords won't offer you that on your rent payment.

To sum up, look at the time you'll be there, the comparison of total monthly costs, whether rents are going up fast, and whether you have good reason to believe home prices will be going up fast. Then look also at all the personal factors. Do you want to be responsible for the maintenance, yard work and unpredictability of ownership problems?

To buy or to rent? In the end, you have to work this one out by yourself.

Many people take pride in the fact that they have no credit – eg, no credit cards, no car loans, no student loans etc. However, this can be as bad as having bad credit. Lenders are as hesitant to lend to a person with no credit history as one with a bad credit history. Why? Let me explain.

When I was a loan officer (mortgage consultant), sometimes I would pull an applicant's credit and no score would pop up. This usually meant that there was no established credit history.

To illustrate, consider this: would you loan money to a stranger on the street? If someone just came up to you and asked you for $50, would you trust them to pay you back?

Now, would you loan money to a friend you've known for the last three years? This friend has borrowed from another mutual friend and has always paid back the money in a timely manner, just like she promised.

How Lenders Work: Why You Need a Credit History

The message I'm trying to get across? Lenders don't like to loan money to strangers. And, without a credit history, that's what you are to them – a financial stranger; an unknown; an unproven.

They have no background to judge you on. So, a person with no credit is in essence asking the lender to “trust them.” Lenders are not in the trust business. They assess, based on past behavior. They follow the old idiomatic expression, “the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.”

So, how do you rectify a nonexistent credit history?

How to Establish a Credit History

Open Some Accounts: When you are applying for a mortgage, for example, lenders like to see at least three revolving accounts that are at least 3-5 years old.

If the account is younger than this, they might want to see five accounts at least 24 months old. NOTE: Every lender is different; these are just general guidelines.

What are revolving accounts? Revolving accounts are those that you pay every month, like credit cards, furniture accounts, car payments, etc.

I always advised clients to open two secured credit card accounts and another type of account, eg, furniture, jewelry, home depot (one you can really use if you're buying a home).

Why open secured credit card accounts: Because you can only spend what's in the account. So, if you put $500 in an account, you can only spend up to that amount. No one will know that it's a secured card but you, and your card will look just like a regular credit card.

CAUTION: If you are new to using credit, be careful how you spend. It is so easy to get in over your head, reaching your credit limit before you even realize it. To combat this, use your new credit card for necessaries only (eg, gas). Remember, your goal is to build credit, not destroy it.

Pay on Time: Be sure to make all payments in a timely manner all the time.

Late payments ruin your credit almost as quickly as a judgment, or even bankruptcy (which is considered about the worst that can happen).

If you consistently pay your bills late, your credit score will be consistentlylow and it will be extremely difficult for you to obtain credit. And, even if you do, it will be at interest rates much higher than those with good credit – costing you thousands of dollars over a lifetime.

In short, we live in the age of technology where a handshake is no longer the norm. You need a paper trail (eg, a credit history) to prove your trustworthiness. Establishing one – and using it wisely – will go a long way towards helping you achieve your dreams.

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St. Patrick's Day is all about green and the luck of the Irish. It's less than a month away. You may want to have a St. Patrick's Day wedding and need ideas of how to pull it off in such a short time frame. First and foremost, RELAX.

Relax because you have more than two weeks and almost anything can be done in two weeks unless it involves the government. To have a St. Patrick's Day wedding here is a list of things you will need for the wedding. The first thing you need for any wedding is a bride and groom so check with him too.

How to have a St. Patrick's Day Wedding:

1. Guest List – Every wedding needs a guest list. Even if you are eloping you will have to have witnesses. So do you want to have someone you know as the witness or leave it to chance with perfect strangers? If you want guests at your St. Patrick's Day wedding the first thing to do is to make a guest list with addresses so you can send invitations. Make sure to number the guests on the list so you know how many invitations to buy and send.

2. Colors – Every bride has special colors she wants to include in her wedding. Since this is a St. Patrick's Day Wedding, emerald green should be included. You have to choose the colors, let's say green and gold, before anything can be done. Once the colors are chosen you will be able to buy invitations to send to the people on your guest list. Colors can be substituted. If you don't want emerald green and gold, some type of green will be good for a St. Patrick's Day wedding.

3. Invitations – If your colors are emerald green and gold you may want to buy invitations with the emerald green and gold on the invitation. You can either have a gold paper with emerald green writing or maybe an emerald green border on a white card with gold writing. Any colors could be substituted for the invitations that are the colors of your wedding.

4. Place to have the wedding – You will need to have somewhere you can get married. Whether you want a church wedding or a wedding under the stars, you will need to reserve the area or place you would like to be married at on St. Patrick's Day. If you are planning a wedding on a budget you may want to check prices before a final decision is made. Remember it might be more inexpensive to have the wedding at your residence or your parents' residence. A friend or family member may even offer their property.

5. Decorations – Once you have a location for your St. Patrick's Day wedding then you can buy appropriate decorations. If it is outside you may want to have an arch. If you like balloons you can still tie them down if you are outside. If you are inside you won't need an arch. If you still like the idea of an arch by all means either buy or make one. You can decide on flowers and where to put them once you have chosen a location for your wedding. Make sure to map out your decorations so you don't go overboard and so you won't feel like you don't have enough. If it is easier for you put something where you want decorations to go even if it is a piece of paper until you decide what and how many decorations you are buying. Don't forget about the reception area.

6. Preacher/Notary – It will be a personal choice as to whether you want your officiator to be a preacher or a notary. You may have a notary that is a personal friend you would like to perform the ceremony at your St. Patrick's Day Wedding. Either person you choose will probably charge a small fee so be sure to ask up front about the cost.

7. Dresses – Wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses are fun to choose. For your wedding gown, if you are going traditional but want to include your St. Patrick's Day wedding colors, have gold and emerald green trim on the dress and veil. The flowers that the bride and bridesmaids carry should also be green and gold. For the bridesmaid dresses the emerald green will be beautiful and the maid and matron of honor can have gold dresses. The dresses will be lovely in the colors you have chosen or you can make a rainbow of all different colors on the bridesmaids. If you do that it may be pretty for the flower girl to throw gold coins instead of flowers.

8. Reception area – When you are planning on where to have your St. Patrick's Day wedding you also have to decide on where to have the reception. The reception can be held in the same location as your St. Patrick's Day wedding or in a different venue. Where ever you choose to have the reception you will want it convenient to the location of the wedding so your guests will be able to get there. Since you are having a St. Patrick's Day Wedding you may want to rent a Pub for your St. Patrick's Day wedding reception.

9. Decorations for the Reception – When purchasing decorations for your St. Patrick's Day Wedding don't forget to decorate the reception area. The decorations should be Irish themed like green clovers, a rainbow with a pot of gold, and green, green, green. An emerald fountain with gold coins on the bottom will be a nice touch for the reception area. If you are decorating on a budget and doing it yourself you can buy balloons and flowers to decorate with as well as draw a rainbow and put a bucket of “gold” at the end of it if your reception is going to be inside where you can hang a drawing.

10. Food – Food for your reception should be themed for St. Patrick's Day. You can find green juice easy enough. Hawaiian Punch has a Green Berry Rush for under $2 a gallon. For the other food, you will want to make a list of the food you are going to have. Whether you are making the food or if a cater is making it, someone can add green food coloring to the different dishes to have green food. This will be a St. Patrick's Day Wedding feast of green.

11. Music for the Reception – Don't forget the music for the reception. Choose the songs you want to have played or hire a DJ or band for the event.

12. Escape Route – Make sure to include an escape route after your St. Patrick's Day Wedding. You may want to have a green get away vehicle rented for your St. Patrick's Day wedding. You could also just “go green” and walk or even take a horse carriage away from the St. Patrick's Day wedding festivities.

13. Honeymoon Spot – When you are planning your St. Patrick's Day wedding remember to pick somewhere you want to go for your honey moon. If you have the money to stay with the St. Patrick's Day wedding theme, you should fly to Ireland. If not the next best thing is to ask for a green room at a local hotel. You won't care where you are at anyway since it is your honeymoon.

I've been checking out some sites on the internet to find some site to base mine on.

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I think its a fresh blog and like the writers style.

The topics on the site are my type of thing and I have read them with much interest. I can't seem to decide if i should try to write posts like them or write in my own style. Hmmm too much to think about!