15 posts tagged “housing”
I'm very concerned about planet earth. That is why I choose voluntary simplicity and frugality. I have also given environmentalists and politicians many practical ideas to reduce carbon emissions. It seems to be working ~ a nearby town (Merrillville, IN) will disconnect every other streetlight on the town's main thoroughfares. There are more than 1,600 street lights in Merrillville, and the town is paying more than $15,500 per month to power those lights. It is a win-win situation!
But I will no longer remain silent when phony environmentalists want to take away our freedoms and tax us to death. One outrageous example is in Canada. Ontario residents won’t be able to sell their houses or condos without first getting a home energy audit – which now costs about $300 – under the proposed new Green Energy Act.
Listen to this excerpt for all the proposed taxes to combat global warming! And if you still have doubts, check out all of my clipmarks which come from news sources and proposed legislation. And be sure to read about the faked data about climate change!
I used an Excel based mortgage spreadsheet to see how the life of my mortgage would change if I paid a little more each and every month to the principal. It amazed me! By paying just an extra fifty dollars a month, I was able to shorten the length of my loan by five years and ten months and save more than $18,000 in interest!
The U.S. title-insurance industry faces increasing pressure from regulators to justify the fees charged to consumers for ensuring they have clear ownership of their homes, Title insurance can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars!
So here is what you do. Early in the process of buying a home or refinancing, let your real-estate agent and lender know you will select your own title insurer. Research title-insurance costs online and check whether there are fees on top of the premium (in many states, consumers pay separate fees to the agents for that research, on top of the premiums).
I got my homeowners insurance and the premiums rose 20%. My dwelling figure (replacement cost) went up despite lower copper and lumber prices. State Farm bases everything off this number as a percent. Personal property is 75% of the dwelling for example. BTW, the Insurance Information Institute said personal property should be 50% - 70% of the dwelling.
Then I looked at what wasn’t covered:
So after I called and said I have no intention of rebuilding
the exact same house in the exact same location, I was able to name my own
replacement cost for the dwelling! I went back to the value before the real
estate bubble (2005-2006).
If you are ever in this situation, you can try what I did or simply raise your deductible.
In yet another example of unintended consequences that make problems worse, new appraisal rules (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) are slowing the housing recovery.
The HVCC went into effect at the beginning of May. The HVCC forces a firewall between lenders/brokers and home appraisers. Now, lenders and brokers are forced to use appraisal management companies. Realtors say some of these appraisers are not only not local, they don’t even have access to the local MLS. They are doing appraisals using computer models, often incorporating distressed sales as comps, and often not even knowing that the home had extensive renovations or an addition. As a result, the appraisals are coming in far lower than the agreed-upon purchase price.
If you have saved money or made money because of this blog, tip
me.
For $3 you get to download my seminars. They teach you how to save
$130,000
over your lifetime by smarter spending, how to consistently make 7% on
your money, and how to earn $800 a month in your spare time!
From Randall Parker, Yahoo Answers
PMI protects up to 90% of the loan amount with proceeds payable to the lender.Indirectly, it allows banks to loan money when prudence might dictate otherwise.
PMI companies ARE paying out billions of dollars to lenders, but again, the lenders must foreclose first, and then file a claim to collect 90% of their losses. This is still not enough to stem the tide.
Keep in mind that a lender might only make 2-4% of the loan amount as profit, after selling the loan. If the loan goes bad, the lender has to buy it back, while making your missed payments. Then, the lender has to go through all of the expense of foreclosing or otherwise settling your case before trying to collect from the PMI firm.
If this was on a loan-by-loan basis, it might not be so bad, but that is not how it works. A lender will package $100 million worth of loans in a single offering. They might sell that bundle for $103-104 million. If the default rate goes over a certain amount, say 3-5%, then the lender has to give back the $103-$104 million all at once.
If a lender has a 5% default rate, they are out of business, because they had to pay all of their profits out to buy back those bundles. That's without even taking into account any of the lender's expenses of marketing, salaries, and operations.
If you have saved money or made money because of this blog, tip me. For $3 you get to download my seminars. They teach you how to save $130,000 over your lifetime by smarter spending, how to consistently make 7% on your money, and how to earn $800 a month in your spare time!
They are called trash-outs. Entrepreneur Magazine even picked a foreclosure cleanup business for its 2008 ''Hot 100 Fastest Growing Businesses'' list.
Some foreclosures require only exterior maintenance like snow removal and grass cutting. Some states may require a contractor’s license. Contacting banks and real estate offices are good places to start.
You can also work for someone already doing this like http://www.cyprexx.net/ or http://www.mistertrash.info/
- If you are a handy person, buy a fixer-upper or a foreclosure
- You can get foreclosures emailed to you
- Find a live-in elder care position and keep someone out of a nursing home
- If you get along with your family, have 3 generations (grandparents, parents, kids) live together
- Consider shared housing and communes
- Live in a small house
- Try Manufactured Housing
- Live in an RV
- Live in an EDAR
I guesstimate these ideas can save you anywhere from $30,000 to $130,000, so help keep a roof over my head by tipping
