Begin Clean & Green

Swing Into the School Year Clean and Green

RISMEDIA, August, 2009-For parents, back-to-school season is a blur of shopping for school supplies, coordinating schedules for extracurricular activities, and preparing children for a fresh start to the school year. The school year also brings with it extra laundry and stains from cafeteria spills, recess and sports game tumbles. When it comes to clean-up, nearly half of home laundry shoppers in a recent survey said that “environmental friendliness” was an important factor.

“I look for solutions that make sending my kids back to school convenient, easy on the wallet, and in line with the environmentally responsible way my family is trying to live,” said Jen Singer, lifestyle expert, author and founder of Mommasaid.net, an online resource for moms.

Mom’s Back-to-School Checklist

Singer hears from many moms concerned with making the transition from summertime to school time an easy process for the whole family, which is why she recommends the following convenient, affordable and green tips:

1. Give the environment and yourself a break. Make a deal with other parents to carpool the kids to dance or soccer practice. Not only will it save fuel and money, it will give each parent a break from sing-alongs and post-game muddy cleats.
2. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Laundry stains from sports games or running on the playground are inevitable, so use a stain remover that is trusted to eliminate stains.
3. Be smart with school supplies. Make a big difference with small changes. Buy recycled paper products, such as notebooks, notepads and pencils, and refillable pens.
4. Be a savvy shopper. Determine what’s necessary to buy new, what can be used from the last school year, and what hand-me-downs the younger ones can use. Don’t buy a new Cubs Scout hat if your neighbor has one to lend. And, spread out the shopping trips throughout the season when there’s a sale.
5. Carve out study space. Make sure your kids have an uncluttered spot where they can study without distractions. Whether your kids do math at the kitchen table or social studies in their rooms, they need a place where they aren’t interrupted by siblings or wooed by video games.

Copyright© 2009 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Services, All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

Add Value to Your Home

Perk up Your Home in a Weekend

RISMEDIA, August 25, 2009-(MCT)-As summer draws to a close, home owners have home improvement on the mind. If you have been avoiding your around the home to-do list for fear that home improvement projects will take up too much time (that you don’t have), ShopSmart magazine has put together a list of projects that can be done in a weekend and for a relatively low cost.

-Replace house numbers with oversize numbers in a style that complements your home’s architecture. Cost: $1 to $40.
-Put out a welcome mat. You can change it with the seasons or use it to show your individuality. Cost: about $30.
-Clean up the landscaping by seeding bare spots in the lawn and pruning overgrown foundation plantings. If you decide to add shrubs around the house, choose varieties that won’t grow bigger than 3 or 4 feet, and plant taller bushes and trees at the edge of the house to frame it. Cost: about $150 for a small-scale planting.
-Paint the front door. Consider a bold color such as high-gloss red, forest green or black to call attention to the entry or complement a color on the trim or in the masonry. Cost: about $30.
-Hang a door knocker. You can choose from classic designs, bold rings or whimsical motifs. Cost: about $75.
-Put up window boxes. Wood boxes can be customized with paint or stain; synthetic boxes require no maintenance. Cost: about $50.
-Add some potted plants near the door and along walkways. Cost: $50 to $100.
-Replace the doorknob. If you stick to the same size as the existing handle, it’s an easy do-it-yourself job. Cost: about $100.
-Upgrade the lighting. A hanging or wall-mounted fixture near the door is like jewelry, and lighting in the yard adds interest. Cost: $25 to $150.
-Replace the mailbox, or touch up the rust spots with paint. Cost: $50 to $100.

(c) 2009, Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio).
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

2nd Quarter Sales Rise

2nd Quarter Existing-Home Sales Rise in Most States, Helped by Affordable Metro Prices

RISMEDIA, August 18, 2009-Existing-home sales in the second quarter showed healthy gains from the first quarter in the vast majority of states, and price declines have increased affordability in most metro areas, according to the latest survey by the National Association of Realtors®.

Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, rose 3.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million units in the second quarter from 4.58 million units in the first quarter, but remain 2.9% below the 4.90 million-unit pace in the second quarter of 2008.

Thirty-nine states experienced sales increases from the first quarter, and nine states were higher than a year ago; the District of Columbia showed both quarterly and annual rises.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the sales gain appears to be sustainable. “With low interest rates, lower home prices and a first-time buyer tax credit, we’ve been seeing healthy increases in home sales, which are a hopeful sign for the economy,” he said. “There have been sustained sales gains in Arizona, Nevada and Florida, as well as diverse areas such as Maryland, the District of Columbia and Nebraska. More recently, we’ve seen strong double-digit gains in Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Washington, Hawaii, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, Wisconsin, Indiana, South Dakota and Montana.”

Yun explained housing’s impact on the overall economy. “Given the need for related goods and services, each home sale pumps an additional $63,000 into the economy- that’s how the housing engine traditionally pulls us out of recession. In addition, sales are drawing down inventory and that will help stabilize home values, which in turn will lessen foreclosure pressure and boost credit availability for other sectors of the economy.”

During the second quarter, 129 out of 155 metropolitan statistical areas reported lower median existing single-family home prices in comparison with the second quarter of 2008, while 26 areas had price gains. Distressed sales - foreclosures and short sales - accounted for 36% of transactions in the second quarter, which continued to weigh down median home prices because they typically are sold at a 15% to 20% discount; first-time buyers accounted for one-third of transactions. The national median existing single-family price was $174,100, which is 15.6% below the second quarter of 2008. The median is where half sold for more and half sold for less.

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate on a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage declined to a record low 5.03% in the second quarter from 5.06% in the first quarter; the rate was 6.09% in the second quarter of 2008.

NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth, said there are unique opportunities in the current market. “Housing affordability is hovering near record highs and there’s a wide selection of homes, but first-time buyers need to move quickly to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit because they have to finalize the transaction by November 30,” he said. “Various state, local and nonprofit programs target first-time buyers, and a Realtor can help you identify the programs and financing options that are currently available in your area.” The largest sales gain between the first and second quarters was in Idaho, up 67.5%; followed by Hawaii which rose 24.2%; New York, up 22.3%, Wisconsin; with a 21.7% gain; and Nebraska with a 20.3% increase. Twelve other states experienced double-digit sales increases from the first quarter. Year over year, California, Minnesota and Michigan are showing double-digit gains from the second quarter of 2008 but are off from the first quarter of this year.

The largest single-family home price increase in the second quarter was in the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island area of Iowa and Illinois, where the median price of $113,200 rose 30.6% from a year ago. Next was the Cumberland area of Maryland and West Virginia at $123,500, up 21.7% from the second quarter of 2008, followed by Elmira, N.Y., where the median price increased 11.3% to $85,000.

“The sharpest price declines continue to be concentrated in metros with high levels of foreclosures, including areas in California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada, where distressed homes comprise many of the transactions,” Yun said.

Median second-quarter metro area single-family home prices ranged from a very affordable $55,700 in the Saginaw-Saginaw Township North area of Michigan to $569,500 in Honolulu. The second most expensive area in the second quarter was the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area of California, at $500,000, followed by San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at $472,900.

Other affordable markets include the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman area of Ohio and Pennsylvania at $71,500, and Lansing-East Lansing, Mich., at $81,200.

“Recently sold homes are concentrated in lower price ranges. The median price may not be representative of overall values in a given area because many middle priced homes are not on the market,” Yun clarified.

In the condo sector, metro area condominium and cooperative prices- covering changes in 57 metro areas- showed the national median existing-condo price was $176,900 in the second quarter, down 19.8% from the second quarter of 2008. Four metros showed annual increases in the median condo price and 53 areas had declines. The metros with condo price rises were the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News area of Virginia and North Carolina at $195,000, up 2.6%, followed by the Wichita, Kan., area, where the median price of $109,500 rose 2.0% from the second quarter of 2008, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, at $137,800, up 0.7%, and the Colorado Springs, Colo., area, which rose 0.2% to $145,200.

Metro area median existing-condo prices in the second quarter ranged from $66,400 in Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., to $405,700 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont. The second most expensive reported condo market was Honolulu at $318,400, followed by Boston-Cambridge-Quincy at $277,400. Other affordable condo markets include the Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville area of California at $101,200 in the second quarter, and Tucson, Ariz., at $102,500.

Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast jumped 15.0% in the second quarter to a pace of 797,000 units but are 8.4% below a year ago. The median existing single-family home price in the Northeast declined 9.7% to $246,000 in the second quarter from the same quarter in 2008. After Elmira, the best gain in the region was in Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., where the median price of $115,400 rose 6.7% from the second quarter of 2008, followed by Syracuse, N.Y., at $124,600, up 0.8%.

In the Midwest, existing-home sales rose 3.2% in the second quarter to a pace of 1.06 million but are 5.3% below a year ago. The median existing single-family home price in the Midwest was down 8.6% to $146,800 in the second quarter from the same period in 2008. After Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, the next strongest metro price increase in the region was in Bismarck, N.D., where the median price of $157,800 was 3.5% higher than a year ago, followed by Springfield, Ill., at $116,200, also up 3.5%, and Topeka, Kan., at $113,300, up 2.7%.

In the South, existing-home sales increased 3.9% in the second quarter to an annual rate of 1.76 million but are 7.2% lower than the second quarter of 2008.

The median existing single-family home price in the South was $158,600 in the second quarter, down 10.3% from a year earlier. After Cumberland, the strongest price increase in the region was in Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas, with an 11.0% gain to $138,600, followed by, Jackson, Miss., at $140,100, up 8.2%, and Shreveport-Bossier City, La., at $146,800, up 3.0%.

Existing-home sales in the West declined 2.3% in the second quarter to an annual rate of 1.13 million but are 11.8% above a year ago.

The median existing single-family home price in the West was $212,600 in the second quarter, which is 26.6% below the second quarter of 2008. The best metro price performances in the West were in Kennewick-Richland-Pasco area of Washington, where the median price of $163,900 rose 0.3% from a year earlier, and Yakima, Wash., at $162,800, also up 0.3%. No other areas covered in the region reported increases.

For more information, visit www.realtor.org.

First-Time Homebuyers Have Unique Advantage in Mortgage Market

First-time homebuyers and those thinking about refinancing are in a great place.

Mortgage rates just fell for the third straight week, according to mortgage finance firm Freddie Mac.

“The credit markets are still tight, but they have loosened up significantly from 90 days ago,” said Scott Norman, vice president of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association.

So is this a good time to enter a mortgage transaction? It might be, if you can qualify. “The two biggest issues are going to be credit and down payment,” Norman said. “Those are really going to trigger your ability to get a mortgage in a decent amount of time.”

Here’s what you’re up against in specific mortgage situations and what you can do to increase your chances of getting a deal done.

If you’re buying a home
Get ready for paperwork. Have your bank statements, W-2 wage and tax statement and pay stubs organized.

“Overdocumentation is the name of the game right now,” said Linda Davidson, senior loan officer at Service First Mortgage in Garland, Texas.

Having all the documents upfront will speed the application process.

Check your credit score. The most widely used score is the FICO, which ranges from 300 to 850. Your score, based on information in your credit report, helps lenders predict how likely you are to make your payments on time. The higher the number, the better the chance you’ll be approved for a loan at a low interest rate. “Clean up your credit score,” Norman said. Catch up on any late payments and pay off or pay down your debt.

First-time buyers have a sweetener in the form of an $8,000 credit on federal income taxes for homes purchased before Dec. 1.

It’s critical that you have a down payment because lenders want to see that you have skin in the game. Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration require a 3.5% down payment, which can come from a family member, employer or charitable organization as a gift. For a non-FHA-insured loan, lenders are requiring a 10% down payment, said real estate agent Brenda Rogers of Coldwell Banker Apex, Realtors in Plano, Texas.

If you’re refinancing
“Have plenty of equity,” Rogers said. Equity represents the ownership value you’ve accumulated over time by making payments, and lenders want you to have a financial stake in the refinancing. “The lender doesn’t want to lend 100 percent of the value of the property,” said Norman, of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association.

Another reason to build equity is that you don’t want to owe more on your home than it’s worth, a situation some homeowners face today.

Also, consider how long you plan to remain in your home, because you need to stay long enough to recoup closing costs associated with refinancing. Those costs typically will total $3,000 to $5,000, said Davidson, of Service First Mortgage. “If you’re going to move out of your home in five years or less, then typically it’s not going to be worth your doing,” she said. “If you plan on staying longer than that, then we need to look at the costs vs. the monthly savings to see how long it will take to recoup that cost.”

Sometimes things outside your control can affect your attempt to refinance.

Rachel Kelley of Plano said she’s been trying to refinance with Bank of America, which last year acquired her original lender, Countrywide Financial Corp. Kelley, a medical writer, ran into financial trouble after her work was cut to part time. “I cannot afford my house payment anymore,” she said. She said her repeated attempts to get more information from Bank of America on how to refinance her home through the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable refinancing program have been unsuccessful. “I spoke to several people, trying to get information about the program and what I needed to do to refinance,” Kelley said. “It is very likely I will be behind on my payments in the near future due to their inability to get me the proper information on time in order to refinance.”

Loan modifications
A loan modification is when a lender changes the terms of your loan so you can afford your payments.

That can be done by lengthening the term of your loan, lowering your interest rate or allowing you to skip payments and adding those to the end of your loan.

The Obama administration is prodding mortgage-servicing companies to bolster their efforts to modify troubled loans. The servicer is the company that collects and processes your mortgage payment. It may or may not be your original lender.

If you’re having trouble making your payment, contact your servicer immediately and ask about a loan modification.

By George W. Mantor for RISMEDIA

Market Issues: Rock, Paper, Scissors…Which Bills Should I Pay This Month?

RISMEDIA, August 13, 2009-As our economy continues to stagnate, more and more Americans are faced with the challenge of picking which bill(s) they should pay or not pay because they just don’t have enough money to cover them all. The question often revolves around which bill(s) is the most important to pay “now:” their mortgage/rent, car payment, utility bills, cable bill or credit cards? Although this seems like a fairly straightforward answer, for many Americans, it’s not as black and white as you would think.

Many different things impact these decisions, such as necessity, amount of money owed and perceived consequences of not paying. Intuitively, paying your mortgage/rent and car payment first seems like the easy answer. However, many Americans are faced with the dilemma that the value of their homes and cars are currently less than the amounts they owe. As a result, many believe they have no alternative but to turn the keys over and walk away.

We believe it’s important that consumers are fully educated, prior to making these decisions, regarding the impact these decisions may have on their credit profile in both the short- and long-term. All too often, an uninformed decision can result in a worse-than-expected result and a negative impact to their credit score.

There may be several steps a family can take to tighten their belt while strategically considering the best options that meet their needs and have the least negative credit score impact. In many cases, it all starts with making a list of their debts as they are today and then building a plan. Each debt is reviewed to identify any and all options for reducing the monthly payment (interest rate change, term change, debt consolidation, selling of respective asset, etc). Several reputable services offer a personal coach and online tools to help consumers with tips on building their plan. It takes a little work, but when it’s all done, it is typically well worth the time and effort.

In the majority of foreclosures/defaults occurring across the United States, one of borrowers’ biggest mistakes is that they never contacted their lender. Home loans typically have the biggest overall impact on credit scores. If a consumer is struggling to maintain their house payment, the first steps should be to:

1) Contact their home loan servicer or lender
2) Explain their challenge
3) Ask them to assist with finding any available solutions

Home interest rates are at their lowest point in years and, for some homeowners, simply refinancing their first and/or second mortgage will be the best option. However, lenders have more options at their disposal today than ever, including HASP (the Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan), so there are multiple ways they can help consumers in lieu of foreclosing.

Regardless of their personal situation, each individual has an opportunity to take the guesswork out of the process and then begin to understand their options to more effectively manage their credit and debt. The key to the process is to become proactive because the importance of building a plan to evaluate and optimize your existing debt and credit has never been greater. The good news is that options and services exist to help you weather this storm.