Protecting Your Realestate Investment Safe from Disaster
Natural disasters in disaster prone areas are to be expected and the ways of curbing them should be put in place, to see your realestate investment disaster free and good looking.
Once you’ve finished searching for that real estate investment of a lifetime, you’ve gone to the open houses, you’ve gotten the financing, made an offer, sat at home worrying if it’s going to be accepted, had the celebratory dinner once it was and then moved in, you’re faced with the chore of protecting it. The number of threats that your property faces can be staggering. It’s not just termites and crude neighbours that are looking to sink your land value, natural disasters are a part of owning land, too.
It doesn’t seem to matter where you live in North America, there is a natural disaster with your name on it. The south has their hurricanes, the northeast and Midwest has blizzards and the west has earthquakes. A quake is the most sinister of all natural disasters. People in the rest of the country can see a hurricane and blizzard coming days, sometimes even weeks away and properly prepare their property for the coming storm. With quakes, there is no warning (usually), there is no report on the news that morning saying you’re scheduled to get one. They just happen. So, how can you protect your investment from getting a bad case of the shakes?
Steps to take.
1. Pick up the phone or log onto the company that carries your home insurance. Almost no homeowners policies cover earthquakes. If you have the extra cash every month, earthquake insurance is a very good idea, but be warned, it is considered catastrophic insurance, so the deductible is going to be very high, usually between 10-15 percent of the amount of your policy. It’s still a good thing to have. Check the website of the US Geological Survey to see if you live in a high enough risk area to warrant extra insurance.
2. A quick quake-proofing of your home is another good idea. This won’ so much protect your house as it will protect you if one strikes. Use latches to keep cabinets closed, always make sure you have fresh water around and working batteries in all flashlights. These are common sense steps that anyone who lives in any sort of disaster area should follow, whether it be earthquakes, hurricanes or blizzards.
3. Safeguard your home by knowing where your utilities shut offs are. Fires are common after earthquakes and you’ll want to know where your gas main shut off valve is so that you can turn it off and hopefully keep your house safe after a major quake. Also, do not turn the gas back on until you are told it’s safe to do so.
Keeping your investment safe from natural disasters can seem impossible, but with a little common sense planning, you can minimize the damage.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Realestate and Refinance Decision
Refinancing is a major decision during one’s life and it shouldn’t be entered into lightly. But if you approach it with eyes wide open and you know the process, it can be rewarding and help you meet your financial goals.
For homeowners, a great way to get some quick cash is with a home refinance loan. They are usually easy to get based on the amount of home equity you have and they are usually at a lower interest rate than most credit cards, making them idea for debt consolidation and paying for college for the kids. But with the recent hikes in mortgage rates, is it still a good choice or would you be better off seeking extra cash from other avenues?
Steps in Seeing if a Refinance is right for You
1. Take a look at your current mortgage.
The Federal Reserve has raised rates 15 consecutive times, and if you already have an adjustable rate mortgage, or if you’re looking to refinance to get one, you may want to think twice. The best thing you can do is to check out the promissory note that came with your original loan and see when your locked in interest rate expires, how much the bank is allowed to raise your rate per year, and how much your rate can go up for the life of the loan. For almost all loans, there are caps on how much it can be raised. Make sure you know your limits since market analysts aren’t predicting mortgage rates will be going back down anytime soon.
2. Calculate the Costs
If you’ve crunched the numbers and you see that it’s worth it, than the next step is to calculate the costs. Refinancing can get pricy with all the fees, so once you see how much you would be saving per month, if it’s not significant, you might just want to stick to the loan you have, since closing costs on some refinancing loans can be as much as 3,000, and that doesn’t even include things like appraisal fees and originating fees.
3. Start shopping around.
With desire and interest , start shopping around and don’t be afraid to use the home computer to do so. There are great sites that will offer lower rates than your local bank, and even sites that will get multiple offers from many different banks for you. It’s a buyers market right now, make sure you take full advantage of it.
Refinancing is a major decision during one’s life and it shouldn’t be entered into lightly. But if you approach it with eyes wide open and you know the process, it can be rewarding and help you meet your financial goals.
For homeowners, a great way to get some quick cash is with a home refinance loan. They are usually easy to get based on the amount of home equity you have and they are usually at a lower interest rate than most credit cards, making them idea for debt consolidation and paying for college for the kids. But with the recent hikes in mortgage rates, is it still a good choice or would you be better off seeking extra cash from other avenues?
Steps in Seeing if a Refinance is right for You
1. Take a look at your current mortgage.
The Federal Reserve has raised rates 15 consecutive times, and if you already have an adjustable rate mortgage, or if you’re looking to refinance to get one, you may want to think twice. The best thing you can do is to check out the promissory note that came with your original loan and see when your locked in interest rate expires, how much the bank is allowed to raise your rate per year, and how much your rate can go up for the life of the loan. For almost all loans, there are caps on how much it can be raised. Make sure you know your limits since market analysts aren’t predicting mortgage rates will be going back down anytime soon.
2. Calculate the Costs
If you’ve crunched the numbers and you see that it’s worth it, than the next step is to calculate the costs. Refinancing can get pricy with all the fees, so once you see how much you would be saving per month, if it’s not significant, you might just want to stick to the loan you have, since closing costs on some refinancing loans can be as much as 3,000, and that doesn’t even include things like appraisal fees and originating fees.
3. Start shopping around.
With desire and interest , start shopping around and don’t be afraid to use the home computer to do so. There are great sites that will offer lower rates than your local bank, and even sites that will get multiple offers from many different banks for you. It’s a buyers market right now, make sure you take full advantage of it.
Deciding to Move Your Home and Moving Costs to Consider
Moving is very stressful and one of the single most stressful things a person can do in this day and age is move. Not only do you have to say goodbye to a place you lived and most likely loved, you have to find a trustworthy real estate agent, or if you decide to go it alone, you have to weigh the pros and cons of what you think you can do versus the reality of what you can and can’t do. If that wasn’t enough, the process of house hunting is exhausting and frustrating, and then you have the fun of closing costs and then once that’s over with, the actual move.
Well, here is another piece of good news. According to Move Inc, a company that operates many online home- searching-and-buying sites, reports that the average home buyer spends approximately $9,000 on services and products related to their move. That’s nine grand per household, per move. If you factor that out to every move made in the United States in the past year, that’s $170 billion spent on moving expenses.
Yes, that’s billion with a b.
If you didn’t think you could spend nine grand on boxes and packing tape, let’s take a look at what exactly the average family is spending that money on.
Move Inc broke down the survey into 40 different categories, and found that about half of the total moving expenses were eaten up by fixing up your old home in preparation to move. Things like repairs, improvements and decorating costs usually end up running higher than most people thought.
The rest of the money was spent on switching services that are used on a daily basis in the home. Things like switching the cable or satellite TV, switching banks, internet access, telephone service, as well as pharmacies, insurance companies and auto mechanics. All of these moves come with costs and fees that most prospective movers don’t figure into the budget.
The study showed that most of the purchases were impulse, last-minute buys and were concentrated around the last two weeks before a move and the first two weeks after a move.
The lesson to be learned here is that when you’ve finally decided that a new place to call home is needed, you might want to review your expenses for the move to include a few extra rolls of packing tape and a few more boxes.
Moving is very stressful and one of the single most stressful things a person can do in this day and age is move. Not only do you have to say goodbye to a place you lived and most likely loved, you have to find a trustworthy real estate agent, or if you decide to go it alone, you have to weigh the pros and cons of what you think you can do versus the reality of what you can and can’t do. If that wasn’t enough, the process of house hunting is exhausting and frustrating, and then you have the fun of closing costs and then once that’s over with, the actual move.
Well, here is another piece of good news. According to Move Inc, a company that operates many online home- searching-and-buying sites, reports that the average home buyer spends approximately $9,000 on services and products related to their move. That’s nine grand per household, per move. If you factor that out to every move made in the United States in the past year, that’s $170 billion spent on moving expenses.
Yes, that’s billion with a b.
If you didn’t think you could spend nine grand on boxes and packing tape, let’s take a look at what exactly the average family is spending that money on.
Move Inc broke down the survey into 40 different categories, and found that about half of the total moving expenses were eaten up by fixing up your old home in preparation to move. Things like repairs, improvements and decorating costs usually end up running higher than most people thought.
The rest of the money was spent on switching services that are used on a daily basis in the home. Things like switching the cable or satellite TV, switching banks, internet access, telephone service, as well as pharmacies, insurance companies and auto mechanics. All of these moves come with costs and fees that most prospective movers don’t figure into the budget.
The study showed that most of the purchases were impulse, last-minute buys and were concentrated around the last two weeks before a move and the first two weeks after a move.
The lesson to be learned here is that when you’ve finally decided that a new place to call home is needed, you might want to review your expenses for the move to include a few extra rolls of packing tape and a few more boxes.
In Realestate, home staging is trying to make your home look and attractive for sale fast.
With the housing market groaning under its own weight these days, potential home sellers need every advantage they can get. One way that a family can help move their home faster is with a practice called home staging. The logic behind home staging is simple: try to make your home look as special as possible when people view it and you will have an increased chance of selling it.
Tips on Proper Home Staging
Some tips on how to stage your home properly include simple things like picking up after yourself and taking out the garbage. But there are hundreds of other things that you can do to make your house more memorable.
1. Try baking a batch of cookies about 30 minutes before you show your home. The inviting and pleasant smell can make people remember your home over others they might have seen.
2. If you have pets, try to either board them at a shelter or groomer, or at the very least, have a neighbour watch them for an hour to have the home pet-free. You never know when you’ll show the house to someone who might be allergic or someone who simply doesn’t like pets.
3 The same can be said for a baby or kids. While you can’t board your children (unfortunately), see if a friend can watch them while you’re showing your house. You don’t need little Johnny creating a mess or baby Sue crying at the top of her lungs when you’re trying to show your place.
4. Vacuum everywhere.
Although logic would suggest that the first thing you do when you move into a new home is clean every last inch, the sight of a dirty floor or carpet can lower people’s opinions of your home.
5. Do decorations
If you have rooms that are barren, spend a few dollars on basic decorations or plants to give a room a warm, inviting look. The same goes for other rooms in your house. Stay away from clutter and dark, cool colors. Try to focus on warmth. You don’t want the people viewing your property to ever want to leave.
As you can see, the idea of staging your home for viewing makes perfect sense. Take away these added touches and the home becomes just a lifeless house. But integrate these basic steps into your house-showing routine, and you can expect to sell sooner rather than later.
With the housing market groaning under its own weight these days, potential home sellers need every advantage they can get. One way that a family can help move their home faster is with a practice called home staging. The logic behind home staging is simple: try to make your home look as special as possible when people view it and you will have an increased chance of selling it.
Tips on Proper Home Staging
Some tips on how to stage your home properly include simple things like picking up after yourself and taking out the garbage. But there are hundreds of other things that you can do to make your house more memorable.
1. Try baking a batch of cookies about 30 minutes before you show your home. The inviting and pleasant smell can make people remember your home over others they might have seen.
2. If you have pets, try to either board them at a shelter or groomer, or at the very least, have a neighbour watch them for an hour to have the home pet-free. You never know when you’ll show the house to someone who might be allergic or someone who simply doesn’t like pets.
3 The same can be said for a baby or kids. While you can’t board your children (unfortunately), see if a friend can watch them while you’re showing your house. You don’t need little Johnny creating a mess or baby Sue crying at the top of her lungs when you’re trying to show your place.
4. Vacuum everywhere.
Although logic would suggest that the first thing you do when you move into a new home is clean every last inch, the sight of a dirty floor or carpet can lower people’s opinions of your home.
5. Do decorations
If you have rooms that are barren, spend a few dollars on basic decorations or plants to give a room a warm, inviting look. The same goes for other rooms in your house. Stay away from clutter and dark, cool colors. Try to focus on warmth. You don’t want the people viewing your property to ever want to leave.
As you can see, the idea of staging your home for viewing makes perfect sense. Take away these added touches and the home becomes just a lifeless house. But integrate these basic steps into your house-showing routine, and you can expect to sell sooner rather than later.
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