March 2007
Monthly Archive
31 Mar 2007 05:53 am
For mortgage market, it is prime time
 |
The meltdown in the subprime mortgage market is making it tough for many potential home buyers to find financing. Home buyers with damaged or thin credit histories may be shut out. But what about people with the best credit? Will the problems in subprime have any impact on how costly or easy it is to get mortgages for so-called prime borrowers? In 2004, 2005 and through early 2006, housing was still hot and home loans of all kinds were easy to come by. Investors were pumping money into the mortgage markets and they were willing to buy riskier loans in return for high yields; sometimes, it now seems clear, the risks were over the top. |
click here for article
search for : subprime mortgage market, financing, Home buyers, subprime
30 Mar 2007 07:31 am
New-home moisture raises red flag
| We’re having some serious problems with the windows in our new house. They sweat, let dust blow in, freeze up, and are drafty — even the picture windows. In cold weather, water is running down the windows, and they won’t open. Our heating bill went from $30 dollars in December to $295 in January. The contractor has been out a couple of times, and I also had a representative from the window company come out. They are trying to tell me that this is “normal new-home moisture” and that the house needs a few more months to dry out. We paid for upgraded windows, and we’re also worried because the one-year warranty on the house is about to expire. Now the contractor won’t return my calls. What else can I do? |
 |
click here for article
search for : contractor, new-home moisture
29 Mar 2007 07:20 am
Unlicensed contractor affordable but risky
 |
I am planning a kitchen remodel. Based on all the bids, I have short-listed two contractors. One is a licensed general contractor who has given me good references; the other is an unlicensed one who says he will get the job done by himself and his family members. His bid, for the exact same materials that I want him to buy from my chosen wholesale suppliers, is almost 30 percent less than the licensed contractor’s. The unlicensed guy has given me good references as well. If I employ the licensed guy, he is willing to do all the permit work himself and has given me a full quote including those costs. The unlicensed guy says I can get the homeowner-builder permit myself, and he will ensure full building-code compliance and that the work passes inspections. |
click here for article
search for : kitchen remodel, licensed contractor, homeowner-builder permit, uilding-code compliance
28 Mar 2007 07:45 am
Consumer Mortgage Ignorance Hurts
| Evidence consumer ignorance is also contributing to the growing number of foreclosures, more than one in three home owners couldn’t tell you what type of loan they have if their home ownership counted on it. And sometimes it does. A new Bankrate, Inc. poll “Mortgage Ignorance Rampant” found 34 percent of home owners do not know what type of mortgage they own. Other findings include: nNearly one in three, 28 percent of those surveyed, worry either regularly or sometimes about how they will afford their payments next year, a similar percentage, 34 percent of homeowners with ARMs, do not know what they will do when their loan readjusts. “Given that homeowners could be looking at an increase of several hundred dollars each month, this is a staggering statistic,” the report, written by personal finance and real estate author Elizabeth Razzi, said. |
 |
click here for article
search for : foreclosures, Mortgage Ignorance Rampant
27 Mar 2007 07:19 am
Lobbyists begin campaign against real-estate taxes
 |
One of the state’s most powerful lobbying groups began a campaign yesterday to block legislation that would give counties the power to tax real-estate sales, arguing that the tax would harm working families. The N.C. Association of Realtors began running radio and television ads in major North Carolina media markets against the so-called “home tax.” The ads counter increased interest among some legislators who are trying to find new revenue sources for infrastructure needs in growing areas of the state. |
click here for article
search for : tax real-estate sales
26 Mar 2007 07:20 am
The Window Box Gets Some Tough Competition
| It is the green season, when the rains give way to a landscape of renewal, and gardeners clutching copies of Sunset magazine’s Western Garden Book emerge exultantly from their winter dens. In this place where the political climate, too, is green, it is perhaps not surprising to encounter a hardy new perennial in the world of horticulture — the green roof gardener. It is a growing movement that originated in Germany and now includes, to name a few, bottlebrush grasses and wild rye atop Chicago City Hall, succulents on the 10-acre roof of Ford’s River Rouge truck plant in Dearborn, Mich., flowering chives and dianthus on the Bronx County building in New York, and, at an office building for the Gap in San Bruno, Calif., a coastal oak savannah landscape. |
 |
click here for article
search for : green roof gardener, flowering chives, dianthus
25 Mar 2007 08:03 am
I wanna be a home inspector
 |
I’m preparing to start a new-home inspection business. My background is in aviation maintenance and home remodeling. In researching the topic, I see many more negative comments than positive ones concerning the effectiveness and competence of home inspectors. I believe the national average is 30 percent of new inspectors go out of business in the first year due to litigation. It also appears that many home buyers are unaware of the number of unqualified inspectors. Is there any good news out there for us potential inspectors? |
click here for article
search for : home inspection business, home remodeling
24 Mar 2007 06:33 pm
3 steps to take before buying a home
| A little time spent shoring up your credit, crafting your budget and organizing financial documents will go far in smoothing the way to a home purchase. Ideally, you can start working on your home-buying project before you even start shopping for homes. Keep in mind that most buyers take eight weeks to actually shop for a home, according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors. Your financial prep work should start well ahead of those eight weeks. |
|
click here for article
search for : home-buying project, National Association of Realtors
23 Mar 2007 07:25 am
Paying Your Taxes and Insurance Through Escrow
 |
When you pay your mortgage, do you know everything that’s included in your mortgage payment? Oftentimes, it can be more than just the standard monthly principal and interest. When you own a home, you are also required to pay for your annual property taxes and home insurance. But this can become tedious. So lenders require you to deposit money into an escrow account to make sure your taxes and insurance are paid. It is possible to avoid escrow and pay your own taxes and insurance. Usually, this is done if your loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is less than 80 percent. If it is more than 80 percent, you may be required to escrow until the mortgage is paid down to less than 80 percent LTV. |
click here for article
search for : mortgage, escrow account, loan-to-value, LTV
22 Mar 2007 07:45 am
How to Earn Money Off Campus As Rest of Housing Market Cools
| The real-estate slowdown has forced some investors to change tactics. Gone are the days when an investor could buy a single-family home or condo, flip it, and walk away with a sizeable profit just weeks or months later without much effort. But there’s one niche that continues to show promise for investors undaunted by the slumping housing market: college-town real estate. U.S. college enrollments are expected to increase by a minimum of 13% to 19.5 million between 2004 and 2015, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Meanwhile, tighter budgets at many state schools are likely to limit construction of new on-campus accommodations. “Colleges don’t have the capital they need to develop student housing,” Mr. Bayless explains. Already, students are increasingly being forced to find housing elsewhere — a major advantage for investors looking to get into the rental market, says Mr. Zaransky, author of “Profit by Investing in Student Housing; Cash In on the Campus Housing Shortage” (Kaplan Publishing, 2006). |
 |
search for : real-estate slowdown, U.S. college enrollment
— Next Page »