March 2007
Monthly Archive
30 Mar 2007 05:54 pm
It’s prime time, or no-time for mortgages
 |
The meltdown in the subprime mortgage market is making it tough for many potential home buyers to find financing. Home buyers with damaged or thin credit histories may be shut out. But what about people with the best credit? Will the problems in subprime have any impact on how costly or easy it is to get mortgages for so-called prime borrowers? In 2004, 2005 and through early 2006, housing was still hot and home loans of all kinds were easy to come by. Investors were pumping money into the mortgage markets and they were willing to buy riskier loans in return for high yields; sometimes, it now seems clear, the risks were over the top. |
click here for article
search for : subprime mortgage market, financing, Home buyers, subprime
30 Mar 2007 07:32 am
Moisture in our new home
| We’re having some serious problems with the windows in our new house. They sweat, let dust blow in, freeze up, and are drafty — even the picture windows. In cold weather, water is running down the windows, and they won’t open. Our heating bill went from $30 dollars in December to $295 in January. The contractor has been out a couple of times, and I also had a representative from the window company come out. They are trying to tell me that this is “normal new-home moisture” and that the house needs a few more months to dry out. We paid for upgraded windows, and we’re also worried because the one-year warranty on the house is about to expire. Now the contractor won’t return my calls. What else can I do? |
 |
click here for article
search for : contractor, new-home moisture
29 Mar 2007 07:21 am
Assessing The Risk With Using An Unlicensed Contractor
 |
I am planning a kitchen remodel. Based on all the bids, I have short-listed two contractors. One is a licensed general contractor who has given me good references; the other is an unlicensed one who says he will get the job done by himself and his family members. His bid, for the exact same materials that I want him to buy from my chosen wholesale suppliers, is almost 30 percent less than the licensed contractor’s. The unlicensed guy has given me good references as well. If I employ the licensed guy, he is willing to do all the permit work himself and has given me a full quote including those costs. The unlicensed guy says I can get the homeowner-builder permit myself, and he will ensure full building-code compliance and that the work passes inspections. |
click here for article
search for : kitchen remodel, licensed contractor, homeowner-builder permit, uilding-code compliance
28 Mar 2007 07:45 am
Your Money : Mortgage Ignorance Hurts
| Evidence consumer ignorance is also contributing to the growing number of foreclosures, more than one in three home owners couldn’t tell you what type of loan they have if their home ownership counted on it. And sometimes it does. A new Bankrate, Inc. poll “Mortgage Ignorance Rampant” found 34 percent of home owners do not know what type of mortgage they own. Other findings include: nNearly one in three, 28 percent of those surveyed, worry either regularly or sometimes about how they will afford their payments next year, a similar percentage, 34 percent of homeowners with ARMs, do not know what they will do when their loan readjusts. “Given that homeowners could be looking at an increase of several hundred dollars each month, this is a staggering statistic,” the report, written by personal finance and real estate author Elizabeth Razzi, said. |
 |
click here for article
search for : foreclosures, Mortgage Ignorance Rampant
27 Mar 2007 07:19 am
NAR campaigns against real-estate taxes
 |
One of the state’s most powerful lobbying groups began a campaign yesterday to block legislation that would give counties the power to tax real-estate sales, arguing that the tax would harm working families. The N.C. Association of Realtors began running radio and television ads in major North Carolina media markets against the so-called “home tax.” The ads counter increased interest among some legislators who are trying to find new revenue sources for infrastructure needs in growing areas of the state. |
click here for article
search for : tax real-estate sales
26 Mar 2007 07:21 am
Rooftop Gardens For You
| It is the green season, when the rains give way to a landscape of renewal, and gardeners clutching copies of Sunset magazine’s Western Garden Book emerge exultantly from their winter dens. In this place where the political climate, too, is green, it is perhaps not surprising to encounter a hardy new perennial in the world of horticulture — the green roof gardener. It is a growing movement that originated in Germany and now includes, to name a few, bottlebrush grasses and wild rye atop Chicago City Hall, succulents on the 10-acre roof of Ford’s River Rouge truck plant in Dearborn, Mich., flowering chives and dianthus on the Bronx County building in New York, and, at an office building for the Gap in San Bruno, Calif., a coastal oak savannah landscape. |
 |
click here for article
search for : green roof gardener, flowering chives, dianthus
25 Mar 2007 08:03 am
So you want to be a home inspector
 |
I’m preparing to start a new-home inspection business. My background is in aviation maintenance and home remodeling. In researching the topic, I see many more negative comments than positive ones concerning the effectiveness and competence of home inspectors. I believe the national average is 30 percent of new inspectors go out of business in the first year due to litigation. It also appears that many home buyers are unaware of the number of unqualified inspectors. Is there any good news out there for us potential inspectors? |
click here for article
search for : home inspection business, home remodeling
— Next Page »