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It used to be that “people” made decisions about your credit worthiness. You knew your banker and your handshake was all the collateral you needed. Those days are long gone, and now a single number – your FICO score – determines your credit worthiness.

Several credit models can be used for this article, however we are going to focus on the Fair, Isaac Company model. Better known as FICO.

Your FICO score is the method used to determine the interest rate as well as how much credit a bank or lender is willing to give you. the cleaner the credit…the lower your rate and larger the sum you qualify for.

Getting and improving your credit score is not hard at all, just takes time. Here is a tip or two that will help you improve and increase your score.

FIRST: You need to get a copy of your credit history

There are many reasons you may have no credit history. Maybe you’re just starting out, maybe you pay cash for everything and have never needed a loan. In any case, if you have no credit history, your FICO score is likely to be low.

The easiest way to raise your score is acquire a loan, and pay it off on time. In general, installment loans are weighted more heavily than credit cards. In other words, you will improve your credit score faster if you buy goods with an installment loan, rather than acquiring a credit card.

Another option is to take a $1000 and open a 6 month CD at a bank. Now turn around and get an installment loan using the CD as the collateral. You then take that $1000 loan and do it again at another bank. Do this for a total of 3 times.

Now what you have is 3 loans. Pay the minimum payment for 6 months. In the last month, cash out your CDs and pay the loans off. You now have a credit history, and did not go into long term debt to get it.

SECOND: Keep your credit history clean.

Ok…now you have a good history. No major debt…now to keep the FICO as high as you can.

You don?t need to close old accounts. (Unless you?re being charged a fee to keep the account open.) Part of the FICO formula is based on the amount of credit available vs. how much you have used.

Another thing to be aware of is how you manage your money. Here?s the scenario: you have a $2000 credit card. Every month, you charge about $1800 to that card. And, every month you pay it off. But here’s what happens – your credit card company reports your credit information monthly to FICO. However if they report it on the day before you pay it off…the credit agency sees you carry a balance every month. If you can try changing the days you pay off your credit card.

THIRD: Fix your bad credit

At some point there is a very good chance you will have something that causes your credit rating to drop. Don’t panic…poor credit can be fixed. Understand however that the process takes time. In some cases you may need to talk to a credit counselor to assure you address the reasons for the drop as well as remove any future habits that may cause it to drop again.

The most heavily weighted part of your score is based on your payment history. The first thing to do to start repairing your credit history is to pay your bills on time. The mortgage is the most important, followed by installment loans, and finally credit cards.

The next largest factor on your credit is how you have used it. You can improve it by paying off your credit cards.

One final thing to look for is errors in your credit report. Get a copy of your credit report from all three primary agencies, and look at all the entries. You can find the agencies here: experian.com, equifax.com, and transunion.com. If there are any errors, start the process to have them removed. Call your creditors – sometimes they will remove negative information.

A strong, healthy, and clean credit score is a major part of your financial world. Keep it clean and don?t risk it. A good score can factor into things you can’t imagine. Don?t damage your score if you can help it.

Is flipping houses a legitimate business in the current economy? For the street smart real estate investors, flipping houses has become even more lucrative, even in the current market conditions.

However, for some, the dream to flip houses full time has become a real life scenario. And to these few, they understand that there’s more to flipping homes than just fixing up the property to resell. For those that are successful, there are three steps to making the business work for you.

1. Getting leads in your pipeline.

Be sure not to confuse leads with deals. Constantly promote your business to get more leads into your funnel. This is where it all starts for real estate investors that want to flip their way to wealth.

This involves marketing and constantly being on the lookout for potential properties. And without actively promoting and marketing your business, then you’re going to never get involved. You’re going to be left sitting on the sidelines while the people around you are profiting from red hot, smoking deals every month.

2. Converting the leads.

After you’ve began marketing your business, you’ll see leads began to come to you! And now, you’ll need to pre-qualify these leads to make sure it’s worth your time to pursue. Make sure the seller has motivation – in other words a real reason to sell, not just because they want to.

3. Time for the payoff.

This should be what you think of before ever presenting the offer. Although, this is the last piece of the puzzle, you should began the entire process with the end in mind – how you plan to get out of the deal and get paid?

You should consider the following when flipping your home:

a. You can sell it fast to another investor that will fix it up then resell to a homeowner.

b. Do you plan to flip the deal to a landlord/ investor that buys property for the long term?

c. Do you have any established relationship with any other investors that would be interested in the deal?

In order to succeed in this business, you’ve got to flip the home as fast as possible. Build solid relationships with other real estate investors in your own area because these investors are always looking for more deals.

Investor buyers don’t care if you make a profit as long as the deal is a win for them. Remember, you’ve got to negotiate a good enough deal so that you can leave some money on the table for your buyer. These three areas are the keys to your real estate income soaring.