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How to hire a good home contractor

Don't hand your home-remodeling project to an unreliable or dishonest contractor. Here are 6 things to look for.

Increasing your property value often entails remodeling. Whether you have a fixer-upper or a great house that you plan to stay in indefinitely, you'll probably hire a contractor sooner or later to finish the basement, remodel the kitchen, or renovate other rooms.

Decisions on home improvement should be made in a judicious manner. If you want to recoup your investment, choose projects that are likely to add value to your home, such as a new kitchen or an extra bathroom.

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Madlynn is Kid of the Month

Have home prices bottomed out?

The latest housing data indicate home prices may be stabilizing, although butterflies over the economy could keep many potential homebuyers on the sidelines.

By MarketWatch

Home prices are closer to stabilizing today than at any time in the past nine years.
Based on the latest data, median selling prices for new and existing homes combined now equal 2.9 times median household incomes, nationwide. This is exactly the ratio that prevailed during the halcyon days of the 1980s, when sales and construction of housing were booming.
Three years ago, just before the housing bubble burst, this ratio was 4.5 times incomes.
Add in the fact that interest rates are much lower today than they were two decades ago and housing is even more affordable.

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10 tips on staging your home to sell

It doesn't take long for a prospective buyer to form an opinion about your house. Here's how you can tilt the odds in your favor by making your home appeal to the widest clientele possible.

Christopher Solomon, MSN Real Estate

Prospective home buyers form an opinion about the home you're selling in 15 seconds, by one estimate.
And the clock starts ticking at the curb -- even before the home buyers get in the house. So how do you tilt the playing field in your favor? Increasingly, it's by staging your home.

Generally speaking, staging means making your home as appealing as possible, as quickly as possible, to the broadest clientele you can.

There are techniques to pulling this off -- some of them obvious, and some not so apparent. We polled the experts to get some of their top tips.

Staging as un-decorating

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Home Affordability Calculator

How much house can you buy?

Enter your income, the monthly minimum payment on your debts and the amount of cash you can put toward a new home. You'll need to choose an interest rate and estimate your credit rating. We'll calculate the maximum house you can afford, the size of the loan and an estimated payment, making some basic assumptions about taxes, insurance and closing costs. We'll also adjust for your credit history. These are guidelines. Lenders may approve a loan for more, but that doesn't mean the loan is a wise choice.

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Many Mortgage Delinquents Still Unaware There Is Help

mortgagenewsdaily.com

Freddie Mac has found that homeowners are becoming increasingly aware that there may be help out there should they run into problems paying their mortgage loans but there is still a long way to go in spreading the word...

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How to hit up your landlord for cheaper rent, perks

Treats help. But so do sleuth work and building a solid case for why you deserve a break, whether you're midlease or ready to move on. Here are 15 tips

Christopher Solomon, MSN Real Estate

It's both a tough time and a great time to be a renter out there, America.
Across the country, the recession is putting the squeeze on people's pocketbooks, making every expense painful...

Whatever perk you're after, you need a plan. Landlords are business people and you need a solid business case for why they should sweeten your deal. In the following 15 tips, more than a half-dozen people who toil daily in the renting field help you build your case...

The key to having any luck in reducing your rent is communication...

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7 home-buying traps

First-time home-buyers face an unfamiliar road and risk purchasing the wrong place at the wrong time. Here's a guide to the potholes.

by Liz Pulliam Weston

Buying your first home is an exercise in faith. You don't really know what you're getting into, you're awash in unfamiliar terminology and everyone you meet seems to have strong (and utterly contradictory) ideas about which way the housing market is headed.

You may not be able to avoid every home-purchase mistake, but you can keep your regrets to a minimum by avoiding the following traps:

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Single Moms - find here resources on financial aid, scholarships, help with basic needs, food, prescription drugs, health care, housing, legal info, and much more...

 

Many Mortgage Delinquents Still Unaware There Is Help

By mortgagenewsdaily.com

Freddie Mac has found that homeowners are becoming increasingly aware that there may be help out there should they run into problems paying their mortgage loans but there is still a long way to go in spreading the word.

The mortgage corporation has just released a survey done in cooperation with Roper Public Affairs and Media, a leading international market research firm that shows 57 percent of borrowers who are behind in their payments are unaware that their lenders may be able to offer them workout options. This, however, is an improvement from 2005 when the first such survey revealed that 61 percent of delinquent borrowers didn't know that such help was available.

Roper contacted 2411 homeowners, 1,407 of whom said they had never been more than one month late on a mortgage payment and 1,004 who were (currently we assume) more than one month late.

According to Ingrid Beckles, vice president of servicing and asset management for Freddie Mac, the study was motivated by the fact that "lenders are unable to contact borrowers in more than half of the foreclosures we see at Freddie Mac. That's why it is imperative to closely track borrower awareness of workout options so the industry and the government can evaluate and enhance their efforts to get more borrowers talking to their servicers about avoiding foreclosure."

The results, she said, "show[s] efforts to get borrowers to call counselors are starting to work but that too many at-risk borrowers are still unaware their servicers routinely provide alternatives that can help them stay in their homes. This fact underscores the importance of convincing borrowers to pick up the phone, call their servicer, and find out whether they can avoid foreclosure.

The survey found an increase in the percentages of delinquent borrowers who recall their lenders reaching out to them (86 percent) and who in turn reached out to their lender (75 percent) to discuss workout options and that the percentage of delinquent borrowers aware there are housing counselors they can talk to about their mortgage has increased from 36 percent in 2005 to 44 percent today. A majority (59 percent) of delinquent borrowers said their contact with their servicers was helpful although one in four said the experience was "intimidating" or "confusing"...

The survey was conducted after the HOPE hotline was established but before the rate freeze was announced by President Bush in December. Still, even before the recent flurry of media stories about 888-995-HOPE, word was out there. According to the survey, nearly one in four delinquent borrowers (23 percent) report seeing ads for the hotline and 9 percent who were aware of it had actually made the call. The sponsor, Homeownership Preservation Foundation., says the toll-free number now receives between 1500 and 3000 calls per day, up from 250 per day one year ago. More than 200,000 homeowners have called the hotline since June 25 of last year.

The study concludes that mortgage servicers can do several things to improve communication and possibly debt resolution with their borrowers:
Since homeowners say they open correspondence from their financial institutions (as opposed to screening or not returning calls), mailings should detail the options available and encourage borrowers to pursue them.

Encourage borrowers to fully understand those options and the range of resources available;

Emphasize options that would allow homeowners to keep their homes and avoid mortgage foreclosure scams;

Use the internet as an education tool to promote responsible workout options for delinquent borrowers. (The survey also found that troubled homeowners were increasingly likely to look for helpful information on the web.)

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Utility Prices are Significant Expenses

by Randi Lynn Millward

I don't know about you, but my electric bill is sky-high. I've been running around the house unplugging everything in sight so as not to incur charges from my appliances using "phantom energy".

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Because you are somebody special!

by Annette Bridges

Since my trip to Italy, my husband and I have enjoyed a delicious breakfast routine that often includes French toast, fresh fruit and a yummy cup of cappuccino.

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Our Friendships

by Laurie Cesario-Overton

We all have those days when we get overwhelmed and it seems like every time we turn around there is another problem.

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3 Money Rules for Stay-at-Home Moms

As we all know, life is unpredictable. We lose jobs, get divorced and even become widowed...
Here are three steps stay-at-home parents should take to better manage their own and the family’s finances.

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You May Have Too Much Debt But You Also Have Options

How Life Works

If you feel like you're in over your head with personal debt, you're not alone. Millions of Americans have become overextended, many as a result of easy credit and the recessions. Credit cards, medical bills, personal loans and raising interest rates do not make a good financial mix.

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Could fat babies mean fat toddlers?

A new study from Harvard Medical School found that babies who gained weight quickly had a sharply higher risk of obesity. The study followed close to 600 babies and found those in the top quarter of weight for their length at 6 months had a 40 percent higher risk of obesity by age 3 than smaller babies.

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Offer to barter

Dr. Marie - Advice for Pet Owners

A vetʼs office is a business that requires a lot of services. In many cases your vet may be willing to barter in exchange for veterinary services.

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How to Find the Best Car Loans for Single Moms

Financial Advice for Single Moms

The best car loans for single mothers might be just around the corner at your local car lot.

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Crystal Bowersox - A Single Mom And A Real American Idol

Read how the amazing Crystal Bowersox. the runner-up of American Idol Season 9, handles fame and life as a single mom, raising her 17 month old son.

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5 Ways for Single Moms to Save Money

Single moms are always looking for ways to save money, and for good reason... It’s important to find ways to cut corners on the little things that perhaps you don’t think about too often, because those are usually where your biggest money drains are.

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Suze Orman's Recession Rescue Plan - helps you survive in times of financial crisis

OPRAH.com

Do you know what your family would do if you lost your job - or worse, your home? Financial expert Suze Orman is ready to help you devise a recession rescue plan to survive - and possibly thrive - during this deepening financial crisis...

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Your Just-in-Case Emergency Plan

by RealSimple

Who do you call if you can't make it home in time to meet the kids' bus? Who do you trust to take in your mail when you're on vacation? Who do you trust with the extra set of keys to your house?

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How to save $10,000

By Liz Pulliam Weston

If you were hoping for a list of small tweaks you could make in your spending to save $10,000 a year, sorry. The reality is that $10,000 is a lot of money. And saving big money usually means making big changes in the areas where we spend the most, such as: Housing, Transportation, Food.

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The Super, Sexy, Single Mom on a Budget

by Renee Rayles

A quick reference guide designed for the busy, single mom who has

little time to read while running the mom taxi, cooking dinner, helping with homework, and trying to fit in a date night every now and then.

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Single Mothers &
Male Role-Models / Mentors

Single mothers carry an enormous load of responsibility, especially those having sole and/or primary custody of minor children. They nourish, they nurture, they teach, they discipline, they shelter, they protect, and they provide… all without the assistance of another equally-invested adult.

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Mom's Obesity Raises Newborn's Heart Risk

from the National Institute of Health

The more obese a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the likelihood that her newborn baby will have a congenital heart defect, a new study suggests. The finding raises concerns because 1 in 5 women are obese at the start of pregnancy in the United States.

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The 10-Ingredient Shopping Trip

By Tara Parker-Pope and Mark Bittman

... In his latest “How to Cook Everything” segment on the Today Show, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman makes it surprisingly easy to cook a week’s worth of dinners with just a 10-ingredient shopping trip.

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Your 5-minute guide to protecting your identity

20 steps to protect yourself from identity theft, and seven ways to clean up things if you become a victim.

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Single Moms in the News

6 Best Celebrity Single Moms
Read about Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Kimora Lee Simmons, Mary-Louise Parker... read more

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

by Jeff Kinney

For those wondering why tween boys don’t read very much, the answer is that more books aren’t like this...

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10 ways to avoid moving scams

Horror stories about sketchy moving companies abound. Don't let one take you for a ride. Here's expert advice to help.

by Fred Minnick, Bankrate.com

You've heard the stories. Movers load up your stuff one day and hold it hostage the next, demanding more money and threatening to dump your precious treasures if you don't pay.

You believe you've agreed upon a price, only to find out it's going to cost you a lot more than that.

...some of these outfits give the impression that "you are dealing with a moving company, but you're really dealing with an online broker who passes the job off to some local moving company in some region for a commission. So you're not even dealing with the end user. You have no control over who ends up in your home."

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18 easy ways to save on your move

Many people overlook obvious ways to lower the cost of schlepping stuff to a new place, but you can save hundreds of dollars.

by Christopher Solomon

If you're among the millions of people pulling up stakes this year and resettling in a new home, getting your goods to a new location means digging deep into your wallet, right? Not so fast.

Moving can be expensive ... steps that can save them hundreds or even thousands of dollars, moving experts say.

We've done some of the, ahem, heavy lifting for you already, by assembling these 18 tips:

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Your 5-minute guide to home buying

Home shopping is a high-stakes, stressful venture. Here are 24 tips to help you through the biggest purchase of your life.

Seriously consider this question: Are you really ready to buy a home?

It's an expensive, long-term commitment. If you change jobs or the neighborhood declines, you can't quickly get up and go. Selling a house can take months and cost lots -- likely 10% of a home's value -- in agent fees, closing costs and moving expenses.

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Mortgage help: Do you qualify?

Les Christie, CNNMoney.com

Help for those seeking refinancing: This part of the program targets borrowers who have kept current on their mortgages. Many of the homeowners in this group have been unable to lower their housing costs through refinancings because of falling home prices.
Who's not eligible: Homeowners whose property values have dipped severely, putting them underwater by more than 5% are out of luck.

Mortgage modification help for at-risk borrowers: Homeowners in default or at risk of default may qualify for loan modifications, which restructure the terms of loans. Anyone with high combined mortgage debt compared to income or who is underwater may be eligible for a loan modification.
Who's not eligible: Speculators, those who bought homes for investment purposes, do not qualify for help; all homes must be owner/occupied.

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