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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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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.
read more...
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
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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...
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by Kelly Kennedy
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If you recently became a single parent and see your dreams being washed away because you feel all alone, you aren’t alone. There are single parents that face future endeavors alone like dating again, living on one income, and buying the home they’ve always imagined. It is possible to do things on your own, be successful, and enjoy every bit of getting to where you want to be in life.
Being a single parent can be an everyday struggle but don’t feel you have to give up your goals in life just because you are on your own. At some point in life, people think about moving whether it is into an apartment, condo, or type of house. With raising children you usually need a little more space than living alone so a house is an ideal spot for many families either single parent families or both parent families. Don’t feel as a single mom that you wont be able to afford a house on your own. Here are a few guidelines to get you started on fulfilling your dreams.
Mortgage Lenders 3 Preferred Tests to Use to Determine House Budget
First you need to figure out how much money you can spend on a house. Look for prices of houses two and a half times your annual income. Mortgage lenders normally use these three tests so they make a good starting point to follow:
Test 1: The monthly house payment, including property taxes and insurance should not exceed 26 percent of your gross monthly income.
Test 2: All monthly debt payments plus the house payment should be no more than 38 percent of your gross monthly income.
Test 3: As the homebuyer you should have two to three months worth of paychecks in an emergency fund.
Lets look at an example to get a better understanding. Let's assume your annual income is $26,000. This would qualify you for approximately a $60,000 mortgage. The monthly principal and interest payment would add up to about $400 a month; taxes and insurance would then add up to another $100 to $150, depending on the area. Lastly if you put less than 20 percent down, you'll have to pay private mortgage insurance as well, making your total monthly payment come out to be around $575.
Your Cash Flow
Once you figure out how much of a mortgage you can qualify for your next step is to know your own cash flow. It's up to you to make sure you can make the monthly house payment, pay for child care and still look out for your long-term goals such as your retirement fund and your children's education. Be sure to track your spending for several months so you'll know how much you can spend on a house that really fits into your budget.
Houses don’t come cheap and you’ll have to figure the next expense, which is figuring in your taxes. Houses are often known as great tax breaks because mortgage interest and property taxes are deductible, but that is true only if you itemize.
Save!
Of course you are going to want to make sure to save wisely. Let's assume you find the house of your dreams and it just so happens to be a $64,000 house. You figure that you can put 5 percent down, or $3,200. With closing costs and not washing out your emergency fund, you'll need to save about $5,000. If you invest $100 a month in a conservative no-load mutual fund, you should reach your goal of $5,000 goal in five years.
So if you need to start saving up money to be able to afford a house, with a five-year timeframe, the best place to invest the money is in a mutual fund within a Roth IRA. Usually after five years, first-time homebuyers can pull out all their initial investments plus all the earnings of up to $10,000 tax-free.
Alternatives to Single Mother’s Dream
Be sure to consider all alternatives. Five years may be too long to wait or $64,000 may or may not buy the house you’ve always dreamed of having. If you simply can’t afford a house in the desired time you might like to consider other ways to obtain a home such as buying a home along with another family member or someone you can trust. You then could divide all costs, childcare, and chores that come with owning a home.
Take advantage of any tax breaks. If you are filing as the head of the household, claiming childcare expenses and the $500 tax credit for each child under the age of 17, you can save up to hundreds of dollars off your federal tax bill. With the assumed income bracket of $26,000 used before, it will make you eligible for an $850 earned income credit. Keep in mind this is one of the few times the IRS will pay you.
Last but not least keep in mind funding for your retirement.
With these guidelines in mind and examples given of how much money you need having a certain income, you can achieve purchasing the home you’ve always dreamed of. Stay motivated, don’t lose hope and you and your children will live the dream you’ve always dreamed of having, your very own home!
About Author:
Kelly Kennedy is the Communications Specialist for MindComet Corporation, a full service marketing agency for Fortune 500 companies and international conglomerates. Kelly specializes in public relations strategies focused on single mother's financial guidance. Kelly has been author to hundreds of articles focusing on single mother financial concerns. She also acts as a contributing author for a wide variety of websites and newsletters. Kelly holds a Bachelors degree in Marketing from the University of Central Florida.
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Top 8 Tips for Reducing Kids Screen Time This Summer
Reducing time spent in front of televisions and computers is one of the easiest ways to improve your family's health. Here are eight simple ways to limit screen time so you can help crank up your kids’ energy, re-charge their minds, and improve their health.
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What would you change?
Weekly Column, by Annette Bridges
Change -- some people dread it, and others can’t get enough. It may be much like the idiom, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” When it comes to what we would alter or why we would make a modification, the answers vary because we all have different things we value, want, need and consider important.
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Being a Role Model
by Laurie Cesario-Overton
If I had to choose one sentence that would best describe what I feel parents need to learn, it would be this: Be your child's BEST ROLE MODEL in all the ways that truly count. Be your child's HERO. Whatever you do, do it for all the right reasons.
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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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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.
read more...
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.
read more...
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.
read more...
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.
read more
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...
read more...
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?
read more...
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.
read more...
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.
read more...
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.
read more...
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.
read more...
TheOnlineMom.com offers parents and consumers a guide to the top-rated, age-appropriate, kid-tested and parent-approved tech toys and gifts.
read more...
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...
read more...
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:
read more...
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.
read more...
Mortgage help: Do you qualify?
Les Christie, CNNMoney.com
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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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