It’s no secret that San Francisco and the surrounding towns and cities, like San Jose, San Mateo, and Palo Alto, are home to one of the hottest real estate markets in the country at this moment. With Silicon Valley right in the heart of it all, gorgeous landscapes all throughout the Bay Area, and fun happenings popping up around every corner, it’s no surprise that the market is booming and that homes are swept away in an instant.

The average FICO credit score hovers around 695, but if you fall below the average, all is not lost. There are still ways that you can buy or refinance a home. Through persistence, planning, and financial strategy, you can achieve your goals and refinance your home.

While it’s no secret that having a good credit score can improve your chances of getting approved for a mortgage or refinance, understanding the meaning of your score and how it can influence your eligibility —as well as your interest rate— isn’t as easy as it sounds. Here’s a quick guide to how your credit score impacts getting approval for a home loan.

The last few years have brought historically low interest rates, making refinancing a popular option for many homeowners looking to save money. After all, the promise of lower payments, a locked-in interest rate and added savings each month would entice anyone to at least research it, right? Yet a recent study shows that American homeowners passed up more than $5.4 billion in potential savings because they failed to refinance their mortgages when they should have!

Your credit score can have this sneaky way of making you feel either really amazing or really insufficient. Knowing it can impact everything from the deposit you give to the energy company to your ability to finance a car or a home...sitting on the sidelines while your credit score falls off into the abyss is just not an option. It’s time to step up your credit game!

Thanks to the Internet and the wealth of information available to us, we can window shop from our couch with convenience and comfort for everything from toilet paper to Louis Vuitton handbags. We know how to research the best deals, hunt down coupon codes, and find the fastest, free shipping.

In the state the real estate market is nowadays, it is not easy to sell a house. But there are always houses to be sold, and people to buy them. You either need to be patient and wait for that one buyer to come along, or you can be proactive and try to speed up the process.

Good news! Lenda recently expanded to The Lone Star State and The Centennial State -- that’s Texas and Colorado in case you’re not a state nickname expert.

You are finally ready to purchase a home – congrats! You know the down payment is important. Did you also know that your credit score is just as critical, and perhaps even more so? If you have an average or poor credit score you’ll probably pay more – or you might not qualify at all.

My inspiration for this story came from a recent experience buying a home that was so horrible I felt compelled to write about it. (Lenda is not yet licensed in my home state, so I had to go through an internet lender that I’m sure you’ve heard of, but will remain unnamed.)