How Homeowners Can Beat The Credit Crunch
Have you felt the pressure caused by the credit crunch yet? Depending on how high your mortgage payments are, you might well start to before long. Some people are already finding that the mortgage they took out when everything looked rosy is starting to look like a nightmare. So what can you do to turn things in your favour?
Luckily there is an irony in the whole situation that home owners can take advantage of. A lot of people who were looking for their first property have now decided to wait for a more improved financial climate – and that means more people are thinking of renting instead.
Furthermore, if you have a spare room you can turn it into cash by inviting a lodger to stay with you. This could mean you enjoy a tax free income, and of quite a large proportion too, which would provide a healthy boost to your income and take the pressure off those bills too.
But if that doesn’t suit you, what else could you do?
Many people can increase their income by selling possessions they no longer want to raise some extra cash. It is thought that most people can raise several thousand pounds by doing this. That’s enough to help with the mortgage payments for the next few months in many cases.
The task here is clearly to raise whatever extra cash you can. This may not always be possible to achieve from your job, since overtime is being refused in many companies as they tighten their own belts. You can however be pro-active and find a solution yourself. Even in the current climate, you will find part time jobs locally that could help you out. In fact, you can look at online job and classified ad sites to find solutions to your income needs.
Of course, the other way to increase your income is to make sure you reduce your outgoings. One woman recently admitted to getting through a whole year by living on ?1 a day. You don’t need to go to those extremes but if you budget carefully you can save more money than you might think.
Make sure you keep all your household bills as low as possible as well. The less you spend on payments like this, the more you will have to put towards that mortgage payment. Therefore, keep an eye on your phone bill, home insurance and contents insurance in order to help reduce your costs.
In the end, many people simply don’t take enough measures to solve their problems. But, there is a lot that you can do to make sure your home doesn’t become a victim of the credit crunch – no matter how bad it might get.
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Adam Singleton writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
