Grant Hickman

Thursday, June 4-Thursday, August 27
St. Charles Municipal Band Concerts
8 p.m.
Jaycee Stage, Frontier Park, downtown St. Charles
Free

Monday, June 8
I Need a Job!-Surviving a Job Loss presented by the Missouri Career Center
6:30-8 p.m.
Linnemann Branch, St. Charles City-County Library District
Free

Wednesday, June 10
First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site, 200-216 S. Main St.
4-6 p.m.
History Series-Extreme Fire Starting-learn to start a fire for scratch.
Adults
Free

Friday, June 12- Friday, July 24, 2009
Foundry Art Centre
New Exhibitions
Reception Friday, June 12, 6-9 p.m.
Gallery I and II-Photography Unlimited 4
Gallery III-Group 4 Award-Paperworks 3
Ameristar Gallery-Emerging Artist Xiaobing Liu and her daughter Snow Yunxue Fu
Free

Thursday, June 18
Savor The Flavor Sponsored by the St. Peters Chamber of Commerce
St. Peters City Hall
5:30-8:30 p.m
Wine and food tasting of local restaurant cuisine, live music and dancing
$20

Wednesday, June 24
St. Jean Baptiste Day Celebration
5-10 p.m. with live music from 6-8 p.m.
1800 Block of North Second St., Frenchtown
Food, music, games bonfire celebrating the summer solstice and St. Jean Baptist Day
Free

Friday, June 26
Friday Night Flicks In Frenchtown
Charlotte’s Web
8 a.m.
Bring a chair or blanket for movies under the stars
Free


Friday, June 19-Sunday, June 28
Shakespeare In The Park
6-10 p.m. except Sunday, June 28 at 2 p.m.
The Tempest-Set in the golden age if piracy, The Tempest provides suspense, fantasy, comedy and romance for audiences of all ages.
Entertainment precedes performance. Bring a chair or blanket and picnic. Food and craft vendors at site.
South End of Frontier Park
Free

New home builders are feeling a bit peppy these days as builder confidence rose two points in May for the second straight month, according to a report by The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. This is the first back-to-back increase in builder confidence since February 2008.
The index gauges builder confidence in the market for newly built, single family homes.
CEO Jerry Howard says that the two consecutive months of gains in the index “are encouraging. We hope we are approaching the bottom and market stability is just around the corner.”

But wait. There’s the good news/cautious news scenario. The good news is the worst of the housing market problems may be over, but right now the housing market is improving at turtle speed. So, if you’re a bettor, place your money on the turtle and not the hare.

Sure, we want the economy to turn around, offer housing for qualified homebuyers and emerge from the three-year housing slump in good shape. Past experience has proven that sky rocketing growth with little control has not been favorable for our economy and the housing market.

Slowly but surely the housing market and the economy edge upward, and that’s the sensible way to recovery. We’ll see the beginning of a bounce back in early fall of 2009, but don’t expect to see the housing market equilibrium to stabilize until 2012.

Key to the housing industry is the first time homebuyer, who can take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. This group of homebuyers is contributing stability and growth to the housing industry. Lending is another issue, but builders and Realtors hope that historic low mortgage rates, qualified buyers and lower purchase prices will encourage lenders to jump into the housing market and make lending available to worthy buyers.

Slow but sure wins the race and that’s the way to go now. There are new and existing real estate opportunities out there for you. The Grant Hickman Team understands the St. Charles market and will help you make the right choice.

For example; a year ago in the mortgage industry a person with a 650 credit score would have received the same interest rate as someone with a 750 or even 850 credit score. But with the credit tightening that has gone on for the last several months…all of that has changed.
You can still get a mortgage loan today with a 620 credit score, but it will not be the same loan or interest rate as someone with a 720 credit score.

With that in mind, it’s that much more important that you understand how credit scores are determined. Credit scores are based on five main categories, which are as follows:

1. Payment History (Approximately 35% of your score is based on this category)
   1. Have you paid your past credit accounts on time?
   2. Are there any collection accounts, bankruptcies, foreclosures, lawsuits?
   3. How delinquent were the accounts? (60 days late, 90 days late, how many)
      
2. Amounts Owed (Approximately 30% of your score is based on this category)
   1. What type of accounts do you owe on (credit cards, installment accounts, etc.)?
   2. How many accounts have balances?
   3. How much of the total credit line is being used?
   4. How much is owed compared to the original balance on installment accounts?
3. Length of Credit History (Approximately 15% of your score is based on this category)
   1. How long have your credit accounts been established?
4. New Credit (Approximately 10% of your score is based on this category)
   1. How many new accounts do you have?
   2. How long has it been since you opened a new account?
   3. How many recent credit inquiries have been made on your credit report?
5. Types of Credit in Use (Approximately 10% of your score is based on this category)
   1. What kind of credit accounts do you have and how many of each?