When you rent an apartment, here are some tips, and thing to look for in a new place before signing a new lease.  Some of these questions may need to be addressed to other tenants in the building, and some of these will apply to the management team, or landlord.

Expenses:

Who is responsible for gas, heat, electric, cable, water, etc?  Make sure it is on the lease, and get it in writing.

Laundry facilities:

Do people share the laundry facilities?  Where are the facilities located in the building?  It might be a good idea if it is a small building and only 1 or 2 laundry units, ask other tenants when they do their laundry, so you can arrange a schedule with them.

Computer/Wi Fi Access:

Is there high speed internet available?  Where are the jacks/outlets in the building units, etc so you know where you can set up your computer?

Transportation:

Where is the local train, bus, cab service, etc?

Parking:

Is there designated parking?  Is there a fee for parking?  Ask tenants if there is any problem with finding parking? Is there guest parking available?

Repairs:

Who is responsible for repairs (dishwasher quits working), If there is a flood? etc.  Ask other tenants if the landlord or maintenance team responds to repair problems in a timely fashion.

Noise:

Are there any noise restrictions?  How are the rules enforced?  If your unit is on a bottom floor find out if there are kids in the floor above you, or if younger adults who have parties, etc

Getting these questions answered ahead of time can save you from moving into an unpleasant environment, and having to break your lease or contract.

Financial Hardship

These days many homeowners are struggling with paying their mortgage or are facing financial difficulty on the verge of foreclosure.  www.knowyouroptions.com is a site built to help everyone in need.  This site can help you with where to go if you are facing financial difficulties before it is too late.  There are many scam artists out there trying to take advantage of those who are already victims of hardship.  If you receive any correspondence or information where someone is acting as a bank, the government, etc and is requiring a fee up front, most likely it is a Scam!

The site has information on options for staying in your home, leaving your home, mortgage help center, understanding credit scores, housing counselors available to meet with you, and much much more.  The site can help home owners with loan options owned by Fannie mae, and will even have their staff direct you. 

Military Hardship

For those involved with the military, active or inactive, in case of death or injury, you may be eligible for military forbearance.  Benefits can include lowering or deferring house payments up to 6 months, and options to stay in your home and not go into foreclosure.

Facebook and Twitter

www.knowyouroptions.com is the best site out there at this time to help those in financial hardship.  Check them out, and you can also find them on facebook, and twitter for convenience!

The Local Market Monitor can help you with housing market reports and the economic outlook for your specific area.  The information it provides can help you make a home selling or home buying decision depending on which way the housing market in your area is going.  The local market monitor uses a formula called the Equilibrium Home price to determine whether the homes in your area are currently overvalued or undervalued.  This can help when pricing a home in your area.  The information provided covers over 300 local markets and can prove to be a very useful tool.  Top 10 best and worst projected housing markets for the following year are listed along with related articles and press release from publications like The Wall Street Journal, and MSN Real Estate.  So whether you’re a home buyer or home seller, go to ww.localmarketmonitor.com to help make an educated housing decision.

It’s called curb appeal. Owners whose houses are attractive and inviting on the exterior stand far better chances of getting potential buyers through the front door to look at the home itself.

Most of us know the importance of making a good first impression, and the value of landscaping in closing a sale cannot be overstated.

Many potential buyers won’t even bother to step inside a house that’s unappealing at first glance, so dressing up a property from the outside increases the odds that it will sell, and for a price attractive to the seller.

“Selling a property for the highest possible price in most markets is always a challenge,” Director Miles Shipside of the Rightmove said in the agency’s April House Price Index . “When there is a glut of properties on the market, however, it is the properties which stand out as exceptional examples of their ilk which tend to attract higher values.

“What is certain is that a property’s location and the way it is presented, both interiorly and exteriorly, are the key factors in influencing buyers.”

Fortunately for sellers, experts offer a number of tips on how to sell a home, including how to improve house value and how to sell your house faster. All of them say work on the exterior, from landscaping to the actual house, pays dividends, and good landscaping can increase a home’s value by 10 to 15 percent.

Among their advice:

• Start with the lawn. A lush, green lawn (or attractive xeriscaping) tells home shoppers that the inside of the house probably also is well-maintained. Conversely, if the outside isn’t well kept, they may assume that the interior has been neglected as well. Stick to a strict watering and cutting schedule for the grass. If the yard is ragged, resodding is worth the investment.

• Use mulch. Mulch is comparatively cheap, easy and quick to apply to plant beds and really makes the greenery stand out. Some mulch even smells good, providing a subtle influence.

• Accent the positives with color. A few well-placed flowers or colorful plants can draw a potential buyer’s eyes toward aspects of the home that you want them to see.

• Edge, trim, rake and weed. Grass growing over sidewalks, overgrown shrubs and trees and gardens that look like weed patches are turnoffs for potential buyers, as are dead leaves either piled or strewn. Eliminating such distractions directs a home shopper’s attention to the house itself.

• Use lighting strategically. Potential buyers often will drive past a house at night to see how it looks. Low-voltage lights lining immaculate sidewalks and driveways surrounded by lush vegetation can win you points. Traditional and colored lights also can be used to highlight exceptional particulars of a property.

• Consider xeriscaping. Xeriscaping is the use of native plants in the place of traditional grass lawns to reduce the amount of watering needed. Attractive xeriscaping appeals to a buyer’s pocketbook and makes a house stand out from those around it.

• Wash away the grime. Pressure wash sidewalks, driveways, patios, decks and fences (as well as the outside of the house itself). You’ll see right off what a difference it makes.

• Check out the competition. Drive around and look at area houses on the market that are comparable to yours. Steal their landscaping ideas at will, whatever it takes to make sure that your home stands out from the rest.

“Landscaping makes a huge difference in how people perceive your home,” prominent personal finance columnist Liz Pulliam Weston said. … “Some of the most effective fix-ups are also the cheapest.”

(keywords: curb appeal, how to sell a home, value of landscaping, how to sell your house faster, how to improve house value)

The first thing to do when downsizing from a house to an apartment is make a list of what characteristics you desire in your apartment.  Location, proximity from work, proximity from friends and family, proximity from public transportation (if necessary) storage option, parking (parking space or garage) size of apartment, access (elevator or stairs) laundry facilities (in unit, on floor, basement, etc) cost (rent, fees, security deposit, etc) yard space or deck, patio space, building security, etc. are some choices you will have to decide on.  You can see there are a ton of choices to make so prioritize all different aspect of your potential new apartment and it will narrow down your search or nudge you to modify it.  If your due diligence is performed properly downsizing can be an uplifting fresh start.

Once you decide on the location, characteristics, and amenities of your new apartment, the next thing to do when downsizing is decide what to do about all the stuff in your current home.  Go room by room and make a wish list of have to take, want to take, store at a storage facility, donate, sell, discard or a good option of loan (a piece that may not fit in your place but you are fond of can be loaned to a family member or friend until you are ready to take it back).

Make sure you bring things that are not only functional but comfortable and make you feel at home.  Little things like artwork, lamps and knick knacks can help you stamp your new apartment with your identity. 

Once you make your list, get a floor plan of your new place and make a model to scale off what you want to bring and how it will fit.  This is a little time-consuming but helps avoid surprises on move in day.  It can also help reveal some open spaces that you can fill with new stuff.  Stores specialize in efficient vertical furniture for apartments so you can maximize your space.  Use hooks, walls and the space above your head and you’ll be glad you did. Don’t be afraid to get feedback from family and friends.

If you follow these 2 steps of identify your apartment/condo, and decorate your apartment/condo, you can make downsizing from a house to an apartment or condo anywhere from less stressful to downright pleasant.

Finding the right neighborhood for you and your family is not the easiest thing to do.  Choosing the neighborhood is just as important as the house /apt you live in.  Here are some things to consider before you choose your next home.

First you need to ask yourself, is “What are you Looking for In a Neighborhood”?

Do you want the city life or are you looking for a country setting?

Do you want to be within walking distance of store/shops and restaurants or are you fine with doing the drive?

Are you looking for a well established neighborhood or are you looking for a newer development?

Do you have children or pets that need to be taken into consideration, where parks/playgrounds, etc can be an important factor?

Are you looking for quiet or  busy urban area?

Once you have answered these questions, you want to look at a map and see where you are looking to go and narrow down some suburbs/cities.  Google maps is a good resource to get an aerial view of the neighborhoods you are looking at.  Now figure out whether you will be purchasing or renting, and if you want to live in a house/townhouse, duplex, apartment/condo, etc.   Here is a list of things to look at when you are finalizing choosing the right neighborhood for you.

SAFETY:

It’s important to check the crime rates in your potential area.  Is the neighborhood safe?  Are the streets well-lit at night, are the streets well-kept? Is there graffiti or broken windows everywhere?  It’s a good idea to drive around at night to make sure you feel safe.  Also it’s a good idea to call your local police department and inspect firsthand what the percentage of robberies, muggings, etc that have occurred in the area.  Are there police officers patrolling neighborhoods? 

SCHOOLS/PARKS:

If you have children, you want to check out the schools in the area.  You can call the school board and receive information like test scores, graduation %’s, how many students go onto college, etc.  Check and see if the school has sports, after school activities, different committees that your children/teens can get involved in.  Do buses run from your house to school if needed?  For parks do they appear safe, clean, well kept?  Do the park districts have activities and programs? 

HOSPITALS:

Find out how far your new location will be from the nearest hospital, (doctors offices, etc).  Is there a local pharmacy?  You can check the internet or doctors facility to see what hospital they work out of.  Know the route to and from your home for emergency purposes.  Is it a well established facility?

COST OF LIVING AND VALUE:

Find out what the average cost of living is in the neighborhood you are investigating.  Check with your local Chamber of Commerce, they can usually provide information such as taxes, cost of living, things to do in the area, and information on businesses.  They will most likely have a welcome packet of the area you are looking at.  Check and see what the values of homes are, if property values have increased or decreased in last 5-7 years, and if there is a high % of people moving out of the area.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:

Does your neighborhood have close access to trains, buses, cabs?  How far will it be to and from work if you drive?  How is rush hour traffic if you have to travel distances?  How far are airports if you travel from your area?

RESTAURANTS/SHOPPING:

Are they walking or driving distance?  Do they have parking, kid friendly places, etc?

OTHER AREAS TO INVESTIGATE:

Other things to consider before choosing your new home are, do the neighborhoods have sidewalks?  If you like to exercise or have kids is this efficient to get your children around?  Are there many dog walkers?  Does your area have a local pool/homeowners/condo association?  Are the neighborhoods well-kept?  Are there a lot of bikes around/bike paths?

All of these areas are important when choosing the right neighborhood for you.  The internet and your local Chamber of Commerce can provide you with much information.  Make sure you do your homework so you pick the best place for you and your family.

Overdiversification

Example: a person makes their 401(k) contributions annually and every year he (she) puts the new money into the top-performing equity fund on Forbes’s Honor Roll.  Twelve years later, this person owns a hodgepodge of 12 mutual funds, because-like Miss America-nobody wins twice.  This will result in an expensive index fund with gaps, redundancies and fee inefficiencies.

Underdiversification

The fatal narrowing of a portfolio down to essentially one idea.  Holding the preponderance of your equity “portfolio” in one stock is not investing.  It is Russian roulette.  Every day when the market opens, you point that gun at your head and pull the trigger in what economists call “creative destruction”.

 Euphoria

It is the complete loss of an adult sense of danger.  Your only concern is that somebody somewhere owns stocks that are going up more than yours.

 Panic

There is a consistent relationship between the height of the “mob’s” euphoria at the top of a big bull market and the depth of their panic-induced capitulation at the bottom of the concomitant bear market.  Panic is the pure essence of a loss of faith in the future.

 Leverage

This is when you borrow money, maybe against your home equity or on margin from a broker, to purchase an investment.  In practice, most people borrow at the wrong times and on the wrong terms, in order to buy the wrong things at the wrong times for all the wrong reasons.  The loan actually reduces the investment gain (if there is one) and increases the amount of the investment loss (if there is one).

Speculating When You Think You’re Investing

All short term trading is speculation, in that fundamental values do not change quickly.  An investor is always interested in long-term improvements in earnings, cash flows and dividends.  A trader is interested in quick changes in price, and is therefore always a speculator.

 Similarly, all options and all futures contracts are speculation rather than investments because their ending value after expiration is zero.

 Investing for Current Yield Instead of for Total Return

This is a mistake made by many American retirees.

 Investments which have the highest current yield (such as interest or dividends) have the lowest total return, while investments with lower current yield (such as interest or dividends)  must-in an efficient market-compensate by offering the higher long-term return.    The only rational test of an investor’s long-term income-producing potential is its long-term total return. 

 Letting Your Cost Basis Dictate Your Investment Decisions

Your cost in an investment has nothing to do with its objective value today.  Your investments do not know what you paid for them, and would not perform any differently if they did.

 One way this will show up is the refusal to migrate back toward proper diversification because one very successful investment would, were it sold, generate capital gains taxation.  This will then lead to Underdiversification since that successful investment becomes a greater percentage of the overall portfolio.

The other way this will show up is when an investor decides they cannot take the loss on an unsuccessful investment even though the fundamental have completely changed: indeed no objectively verifiable fact matters.

Note 1: Eight Great Investment Mistakes taken from the book “Behavioral Investment Counseling” by Nick Murray

 Note 2: Illustrations by Lauren E. Broderick and Sandra Glenn

Thomas L. Broderick, C. P. A. is the Treasurer of Pickens-Kane Moving & Storage Co. in Chicago, Illinois. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Movers’ and Warehousemen’s Risk Management Trust since 1996. He has also served as president of the West Central Association Chamber of Commerce for the years 2007 thru 2009. Many individuals, small businesses and non-profit organizations consult him for various accounting, investment, insurance and tax issues

The financial regulatory reform that is taking effect will have an impact on everyone including borrowers and mortgage lenders in many different ways.  The Bill is 2319 pages long, and will cover many areas that will affect everyone in the months to come.  Not everything is covered in our synopsis of the bill, but this will give you an overview on changes you can expect to see over the next couple years.

This bill is to aid with the changes that are being made to mortgages.  This will help consumers to avoid high fees, and do away with bad loan terms.  Prepayment penalties will also no longer be allowed. 

Before a borrower will be able to get a loan, mortgage brokers and lenders will be required to determine if the borrower can actually pay back the loan by checking all borrowers income, and assets prior to approving the loan.  The stricter verification process will make it more difficult for self –employed individuals or those who earn their salaries from commission to obtain a loan or qualify for a loan.  On the other hand, it will give borrowers more leverage on contesting foreclosures if they are approved for a loan they cannot afford.

The bill will also prevent lenders from offering mortgage brokers bonuses or incentives for giving unfavorable loan terms to borrowers (like increased interest rates).  This will have an effect on mortgage brokers (who are the middle men) by eliminating YSP (Yield Spread premiums-this is where the mortgage broker gets the loan at a lower interest rate, and sells the loan at a higher rate to the borrower, keeping the profits) With this being eliminated, they will lose one of the ways they make their money since the mortgage brokers make money 2 different ways, by YSP, and origination fees (% of loan size, usually fixed rate).  Since the YSP’s will be eliminated, the only other way they will be able to make their money will be by increasing origination fees.  This may mean borrowers will be avoiding the use of mortgage brokers more, and going directly to lenders. 

With mortgages becoming less profitable to the lenders, it will also become harder for a consumer to obtain a loan, (lenders are already starting to require higher down payments).  Anyone denied a loan or credit, will be eligible to get a free credit report through one of the major credit unions. 

As far as bank bailouts go, the new bill should decrease the amount of money spent by the taxpayer if the bank goes out of business.  If a financial institute fails, the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp) will borrow from treasury to pay the costs of liquidation and get the money back by selling the financial institutions assets.  Also, if the financial institute fails, the FDIC will also have the ability to take back any compensation that has been given to the senior executives for 2 years prior to the institutions failure.

The bill will offer financial literacy study to teach Americans about fees, liens, savings and loans.  It will also require that all disclosures are to be made to investors prior to them investing any money into the institute.  The bill is not 100% perfected, but it should help the economy.  The legislations are not expected to go into effect for another 12-14 months.

If you want a home and do not want a “site built” house due to cost considerations, mobile home loans are the best option for you. Mobile homes are custom built homes which are built in factories and transported to the site where they are fixed on a permanent foundation.  Mobile home loans are much easier to obtain and such homes cost much less as compared to other traditional homes.  Mobile home loans are of two types:

•             Mortgage loans

•             Property loans

Mobile home mortgage loan

If you have set your mobile home on a fixed foundation you can ask for a mobile loan on both the land and the mobile home.  Both the cost of the home as well as the repairs, if any, are covered by the Mobile home mortgage loan. The actual value of the loan depends a lot upon the actual value of the mobile home.

Mobile Home loans are offered by credit unions, mortgage companies, banks, lenders, and local banks for purchase or refinance.  There are some hidden charges, like a credit report fee, loan application fee, origination fee, or doc preparation fee etc.  Before applying for a loan it is prudent to get an estimate from a lender about these hidden charges.  Learn about the terms and conditions to qualify for the mobile home loans.

Personal Property loan

This type of mobile home loan is meant for purchase of mobile homes which are fixed on a rented piece of land. Personal property loan can be obtained by retailers who sell mobile loans.  This is meant for purchase of homes on a rented lot as in mobile home parks.  A Personal property loan is offered by retailers who sell mobile homes. When you apply for a loan you will be asked to:

Make a down payment of 10% of the purchase price for a period varying from 10- to 30 years according to the terms of your loan. If you require improving the land around your Mobile home, like walkways’, Garages etc you can ask for a higher debt ratio and use the surplus money for your needs. If you already have a mobile home and need funds to improve upon it you can go for Title (I) loan. The maximum limit of this loan is $7500 and will be treated as a personal loan.

 You are eligible for a mobile home loan if the conditions given below are fulfilled:

•             Foundation requirements:  The house should be built after 1976

•             The HUD code requirements should be followed

•             Ownership Rights: You should have absolute right over the site

•             Credit Score: You must have a credit score of 680 or above

•             Down payment: You need to make a down payment of 10% of the actual loan amount

 RB- Mobile Home Loans are meant for those people who cannot afford a traditional home.

There are so many things to consider and so many calculations to make when you’re securing a loan.  Since your home is usually the largest investment that you make what type of loan you get and other financial decisions you make can impact you greatly.  Now there is a widget to help calculate all sorts of mortgage options (19 calculators to be exact) without the pressure and subjectivity of going to one lender.  This is free information you can use to make intelligent decisions in the mortgage loan arena.  The widget includes a mortgage principal calculator, of course, but also has many unique calculators like a “should I refinance?” calculator and a“rent vs. buy” comparison calculator.  A “what if I pay more every month”? calculator shows the effect that an additional principal payment can make on your loan and the “which loan is better?” calculator can help you decide which type of mortgage product best fits your needs.

Other calculators like an “affordability” calculator, a “how much income do I need in order to qualify” calculator and a “payment per thousand financed” calculator help you do the research on the front side so you understand the price range that you can or are willing to afford.  Like every other purchase the more due diligence you do, and the more information you have at your disposal means the smarter decision you make in the end.  There’s even a “how can I pay off my credit card debt sooner” calculator which almost everybody can use.  If you’d like to utilize these and other helpful calculators click 19 mortgage calculators to explore this helpful widget.