The Financial Fairy Tales Blog

Shopping for a Home? Here Are 6 Ways to Save Money

July 15th, 2021 Posted in Money Tips, Property Investment

A home is one of the best investments you can make in life. For most people, this is also the biggest single purchase they make in life. With your own home comes freedom, and this is one reason most people save right after getting the first job. If you’re shopping for a home, you want to get the best value for your money. This post explores some simple ideas to help you save money buying a home.

Work With a Local Real Estate Agent

If you want to make the home purchase process easier and save money, use a local realtor. These real estate professionals have an intensive knowledge of the market. They know everyone selling and have different properties in the area at varying prices. If you want to save money, the real estate agent can find you a house suited for your needs and at the price range you want.

Look for Features and Additions

When shopping for a home, look beyond the structure and instead look at other features which add value to the property. From solar panels, water and hardscape features, oil tanks, outdoor additions, air conditioning to skylights, there are many features which can save you money. Once you move in, you don’t have to invest more money to improve the property.

Shopping for a Home? Here Are 6 Ways to Save Money - house for sale image — Photo by **Pavel Danilyuk** from **Pexels**

Boost your Credit Score

The higher your credit score, the more affordable your loan. As you continue saving towards the down payment of your home, make sure you improve your credit score. Evaluate your finances and make sure you repay all bills on time. Pay down your credit card debt and avoid taking up another loan in the meantime.

Shop for the Right Mortgage

Don’t rush to buy the first mortgage you come across. While your bank might look like the obvious source of financing for your home, consider other options on the market. The mortgage structuring also determines how much initial capital you need and the total cost of the loan.

Working with a financial advisor helps you identify the mortgage options on the market and also determines whether you need a fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgage. For such a huge investment, take your time to get the best deal. The last thing you want is to struggle with repayments or lose your home.

Save More Down Payment (Deposit)

If you want to enjoy the freedom that comes with homeownership, save more towards the down payment. This is the biggest secret to accessing affordable loans. If you have over 20% of the mortgage, you won’t have to pay for extra costs such as mortgage insurance.

Be Flexible

Everyone wants to buy that dream home, but it might not always be possible. For a start, you should be more flexible when shopping for a home to get the best deal. Don’t look for the grandest property on the listing, but also consider those that need some reworking. With some compromises, you can save on the home purchase and still get a good property.

Buying a home is not an easy process but with the right information, you can ace it and save money in the process. Use these tips to start your home buying process.

moving home, property investment, real estate, saving money

4 Quick Ways To Save That Are Often Overlooked

June 26th, 2021 Posted in Money Tips

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Are you thinking about ways to save money in your budget? You might think that this is going to take a lot of work, sifting through your personal finances. But the reality is that it’s probably easier to save money than you might realize. Here are some of the key options that you shouldn’t overlook and that could make a big difference. It could mean you’ll have more money to spend each month on little luxuries as well as things you need.

4 Quick Ways To Save That Are Often Overlooked - coin and piggy bank image — Photo by **maitree rimthong** from **Pexels**

Don’t Buy New

First, you need to make sure that you are avoiding buying new if you can help it, particularly for expensive items. Most items that are expensive will absolutely obliterate your saving options because of the high level of depreciation. A classic example would be a car. If you buy a car, it’s important to know that cars depreciate the most in the first three years after they are purchased. That’s why it’s so much better to look at used cars. You just need to make sure that you check out used cars and ensure that there are no expensive issues lurking underneath the surface that could cost you more in the long term. Remember, you can take anyone you want with you when checking out a car including a trained expert.

Go Green Where You Can

You might also want to think about going green with your lifestyle choices. If you cut down the costs of your energy usage, then you’ll be surprised by how much you can save each month and even year. There are lots of ways to go green. For instance, we mentioned cars so you could think about buying a hybrid. Or, you might want to just make smaller changes around your home such as LED lights. These use a fraction of the energy compared to the typical lights in your home.

Workout For Free

There are certain things that we tend to pay for and there’s really no need. We can get the same benefits for free. One example worth exploring here would be the bill that you pay for your gym membership. While this might not seem that expensive, this is money that you could spend on other things or even just save. Instead of heading to the gym you could work out at home. All you need is an app that will show you the workouts you can complete without any equipment at all.

Set Your Budget

Finally, you might want to think about setting your budget. It’s easy to forget this step but if you set your budget then you’ll be able to keep track of your savings and ensure that you are meeting your financial goals.

Setting your budget just requires you to add up all your income options and then take off any bills that you have through the month. The amount you have leftover is the amount that you can spend on whatever you want. If this isn’t as much as you hoped, then it’s important to think about a side hustle choice.

4 Quick Ways To Save That Are Often Overlooked - a fan of 100 dollar bills image — Photo by **Alexander Mils** from **Pexels**

budget, save money

Everything You Can Do To Improve Your Business’ Public Image

June 24th, 2021 Posted in Business

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When your business is starting to come into the spotlight, you want people to be able to see you in a positive light, rather than the lesser option when compared to your competitors. There are many reasons that a business might gain a poor reputation, and it’s because of a lack of care when it comes to how they represent themselves and their values. For example, higher-up members of your business being involved in controversy can be a serious issue to how the public views you, and it depends on how you handle it as a business.

Everything You Can Do To Improve Your Business Public Image - attractive store front image — Image by Scott Webb from Pixabay

Work on the appearance of your business

The appearance of your business is about more than how you act and show your values, but your physical appearance. It’s the way that you dress for work and the money and time that you’ve put into your workplace. Your physical presentation both as an individual and a business says a lot about your business. While it might not be an important attribute to everyone, there are many people who will take their first impressions from what they are presented with. Spend some money on your appearance, and your business will be rewarded for it in the long run – it will practically pay for itself!

Pay attention to your employees

If you have people representing your business, it’s important that you make sure they’re doing things according to the company values. Having a publicly known employee being outspoken on social media can be bad for business, and you want to make sure that there aren’t any individuals within the business who are bringing you a bad reputation. While you can’t control everything everyone does, you should at least make sure that your values are held up and you take that seriously through all aspects.

Evaluate employee satisfaction in the workplace

While your main focus might be on the things that are externally visible, it’s vital to make sure that your employees are happy and satisfied while they work for you. Not only is it crucial to their motivation and morale while at work, but it will help you become the desired business to work for. If people see your vacancies as great opportunities, you’re going to have a better pick of candidates, and your current employees are going to work hard to ensure they keep their job. Customer service isn’t always the most important factor, and people will favour your business more if you’re treating your employees properly.

Everything You Can Do To Improve Your Business Public Image - handshake image — Image by Adam Radosavljevic from Pixabay

Work on your online presence

If you’re going to grow as a business, you want to be present in as many markets as possible. If it doesn’t put you out of pocket, it helps to make sure you’re making the most of what you have. Having an online presence can increase your reach significantly, and there’s a lot you can do with it. For example, if you’re running a social media account, you can use it as a tool to bridge the gap between you and your audience. Putting yourself out there to interact with your consumers can help to create a stronger level of trust overall.

If you have a website, you want to make sure it’s well made and easy for your customers to use, otherwise it could lose you sales. Making use of usability testing tools and services can help you to make sure that your website is well-made enough for your consumers, and if not you can figure out what you should be improving! These tools are important if you’re going to find out what changes you can make to overall improve your business and customer experience.

Hold fundraisers

One thing that’s great for reputation is giving back. People love to see good deeds, and when you’re running a successful business, you’re in the perfect spot to give something back. Holding fundraisers so that people can gain from donating money to charities can not only help you to gain a better reputation by giving a lot of your profits to charity but also incentivizes customers to invest in you as they’re doing a good deed at the same time. There are plenty of charities to choose from, and it would be no challenge at all to find one that aligns with your company’s values.

Open more avenues for feedback

It’s important to know and follow the direction you want to take your business overall, but you should still take the time to listen to what your customers have to say too. While they can’t give you too much insight on major changes, their feedback can still be of great help when it comes to making changes in small areas. Whether it be customer service, the quality of your product, or the kind of product that you sell. Listening to your customers can help you give your business the edge it needs over your competition, and there’s no one who knows what your customers want more than the customers themselves.

Don’t cut corners on quality

The products and services that you sell are going to be what contributes to the majority of your reputation. You’re known for what you have to offer when you’re running a business, and having the best presentation in the world isn’t going to stop your customers from noticing the quality of your products and services. Ensuring that the quality of what you’re selling is up to standard is key to gaining customer favor, and people will happily shop with you again knowing that they’re going to be satisfied with what they get.

Improve your security

If you’re a business that stores a lot of private data and information on customers and employees, it is absolutely vital that you know how to keep that information safe. Having a security breach and leaking any of that data can severely damage your image as a business, and clients can easily lose trust in you. No one wants to give their private information to someone who can’t keep it from the hands of those with malicious intent!

business image, customer feedback, online presence

Ways To Make Money Outside Your 9-5

June 10th, 2021 Posted in Entrepreneurship, Money Tips

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In the past, most households would manage and survive one person’s income and often the woman would stay at home to look after the home and raise the kids. Although outdated still a lifestyle choice for many, but the norm and most common practice is having two working adults in the home now. The cost of living has increased a lot and so has the need to generate more income into the household. Things don’t stop there, so many people are looking for extra ways to bring in more money on a monthly basis now on top of their normal jobs and salaries that they receive. If this is something you want to do then here are a few ways you can look to make money. Why not give them a go and see where you end up.

Ways To Make Money Outside Your 9-5 - think differently about things sign image — Photo by **Ivan Bertolazzi** from **Pexels**

Start An Online Business

This was a very popular choice of passing time during the lockdown. So many people have started businesses especially as their jobs were at risk it gave them a buffer. Your online business can be anything that suits you, the possibilities are endless. If you are particularly creative you can use that to your advantage. If you paint, sew, knit, or even make pottery, this can be used. By using these hobbies to then generate income is a very popular option especially amongst the younger generation.

Invest In Stocks And Crypto

Again, this is becoming a fast favorite and so many people are getting interested in the stock market and investing their money for a greater return. It can be quite daunting trying to enter the world without any prior knowledge, but there are so many books and online help to explain it to you in layman’s terms. There is Bitcoin and holding ETH all amazing options and ways to help generate more income in the long term rather than an immediate increase,

Blogging And Writing

This is a concept that takes a bit of time in order to be able to earn money but it is a nice little money bank when needed. If you have an interest in writing when starting to write a blog you need to think about the reader all the time. It is important to write about something you have an interest and passion in. It can come across to the reader if you aren’t interested in what you are writing about and can put them off. With blogging there are different ways you can make money, the main two are by sponsored ads on your website and then payment to write about a certain subject or to go alongside something you were gifted to review and promote. You can also then branch out into using the social media accounts linked with your blog to generate income through Ad posts. This is like blogging on a smaller scale on social media. You will take some photos and review and promote the products or service and receive payment for your time and reaching your audience.

investing, make money from home, new business, side hustle

Five Things To Remember Before Shopping For A Mortgage

May 19th, 2021 Posted in Money Tips, Property Investment

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The world of real estate has become more competitive than ever in the wake of the pandemic. Homebuyers need to get all the help possible to ensure that they are smart about their choices when shopping for a mortgage. You may find that the market is far tougher to get into than it was before, and that’s pretty much the case all around given that people are losing jobs and homes all over the world.

If you do manage to find your ideal house, you can use some help from Trufe to get some information on your mortgage choices. You want to present a great offer and be sure that you have the house closed ASAP. Finding the right lender is important, but it’s also helpful to find an advisor who can talk you through everything that you need to know about your mortgage and the choices that you have in front of you, too. So, what should you remember before you start shopping for a mortgage? Let’s take a look:

5 tips when shopping for a mortgage done deal image — Photo by **Andrea Piacquadio** from **Pexels**

Get referred. Ask your friends and colleagues who they chose to use to get their homes closed off and mortgages completed. They will be able to advise you on the best mortgage advisors and brokers out there, and they can give you a personal experience of getting their mortgage, too.
Know your budget. You can’t start house hunting without an idea of your affordability. It’s always wonderful to be nosey about the homes that are way past our budgets and play celebrity, but it’s not always the best option for you. Get to know your budget first and you will be able to shop realistically.
Pre-Approval is a must! If you want to skip the stress in the market today, get pre-approval for your loan before you start looking. If you know what your pre-approval rate is, you will know exactly what the budget is for your home dreams. Lenders will verify your application through your income and asset documents, and you need to have that information validated.
Get online and check reviews. Technology has revolutionized very different things in the market today, so if you get online and start researching your mortgage offers, you will be able to get to know which is the best place to look in the market for your mortgage. Research is a must!
Work well with your real estate agent. Your real estate agent is so important to your application, and you need to know someone who will give you honest information about mortgage lenders. They will be able to talk you through your mortgage options and you can use their insider knowledge to the industry, too!

When it comes down to it, it’s important to remember that your mortgage is the biggest purchasing decision you’ll make in your life. This should be done carefully so that you get the right lender and advisors on your side throughout the process. Buying your house allows you to level up in life!

money tips, mortgage, moving home