Slight delay

Well, I was supposed to get funding for my next LLC last week. The money was coming from an escrow which closed last Monday. However, rather than have the money wired to their bank account, my investors opted to have a check mailed to them. So we have postal delays, there will probably be a delay in waiting for the check to clear, and then I will be out of town next week. So it looks like the LLC won't be up and running until the first week of January.

How To Ensure You Get The Best Rates Possible

I've survived Thanksgiving and am now gearing up for Christmas. My weekends are booked through the end of the year and, as a result, there probably won't be much real estate-related activity going on for me. Well, at least not until my next LLC gets funded sometime after December 13th. Of course, I'll always make time for a great deal...

One year after Congress passed the FACT Act, a bill requiring the three major credit reporting agencies to give people a free copy of their credit report, those reports are just now starting to become available. Begining today, residents of Western states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) can request their copy. On March 1, 2005, residents of the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) can request theirs. Residents of the South (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas) have to wait until June 1, 2005. Those in the East (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia) have to wait the longest - September 1, 2005.

To get yours, visit www.annualcreditreport.com. They are free and you can get one every 12 months. You are NOT required to buy anything or pay any amount to get it.

There is a good article about this on the Motley Fool website.

Why should everyone do this? As Robert Kiyosaki says, your banker never asks for your report card. He asks for your financial statement. A big part of that financial statement is your credit report. Go over this report to make sure there are no errors on it. And I guarrantee you will find errors. I first reviewed my credit report over a decade ago and found at least 5 errors, including incorrect former addresses, old credit card data, and incorrect student loan information. When I got married, I reviewed my wife's report and discovered some credit card accounts that she thought she had closed were still open.

Your credit report has a major influence on the terms you can get on mortgages, car loans, insurance, credit cards and lots of other products. You want the best terms possible, so make sure your report is correct.