January 31st, 2008 categories: Finances, Moving
RISMedia recently reported that the two key factors driving more than half (55%) of renters to move in 2008 are relocating for a job and reducing the cost of rent, according to a national survey from Apartments.com to current renters. Almost half of renters (48%) surveyed said they are moving to another city or state.
These 2008 moving trends also collaborate with recent workplace findings that fourteen percent of employers are willing to pay to relocate new employees, from another area to their company location, this year compared with last year, according to a joint survey by CareerBuilder.com and Apartments.com.
For renters planning to relocate this year, Forbes, in its 2008 report of the Best And Worst Cities For Renters, lists the following cities as the most affordable for renters:
1. Columbus, Ohio
2. Indianapolis, Ind.
3. Kansas City, Mo.
4. San Antonio, Texas
5. Cincinnati, Ohio
6. Saint Louis, Mo.
7. Cleveland, Ohio
8. Houston, Texas
9. Dallas, Texas
10. Salt Lake City, Utah
Ninety-five percent of renters surveyed plan on moving in 2008. Only seven percent are moving to buy a home, and almost all are scaling back on overall moving expenses. Seventy percent will not hire a professional moving service. Story
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January 31st, 2008 categories: Home Buying, Home Ownership, Home Selling
According to RISMedia, another batch of dismal housing data hit the economy Tuesday, including worsening foreclosure rates, piling more pressure on the government to take action that could help pull real estate out of its tailspin.
“We’re still in the middle of all this,” said Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Home Loans in Livonia, Mich., “I would expect the data to get worse before it gets better.”
The numbers, in three reports released Tuesday, showed that:
- More than 1% of all U.S. households were in some stage of foreclosure last year, a significant increase, according to RealtyTrac, a housing data firm;
- Home values took a major swoon, with prices in a 20-city index tracked by Standard & Poor’s declining by a record 7.7% in November. The study said Chicago-area prices that month were 3.9% lower than the year before;
- The rate of homeownership saw its biggest one-year drop on record, and the number of vacant homes climbed to 2.18 million from 2.07 million, the Census Bureau reported.
The numbers likely mean that the decline has further to go, observers said. Full Story
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January 30th, 2008 categories: Home Ownership, Mortgages
Arson is nothing new in Detroit. It’s a time-honored weapon of the angry, vengeful, distressed and dispossessed in a city that gets hurt harder and sooner than others, making it a perfect place to spot early evidence of stress from the real-estate meltdown.
The Detroit Fire Department can’t draw a definitive link between its rising arson rate (151 arrest warrants in 2007), rising foreclosures (up more than 65% last year) and falling housing prices (the region’s median house price dropped 17.3% in the past four years, to $145,173).
But Capt. Steve Varnas of the department’s arson section says he sees a connection: In 2005, the city issued only 80 arrest warrants for arson — about half the number last year. “Things were going great,” Varnas says. “There were fewer desperate people in 2004 and 2005.”
Across the U.S., homeowners are searching for ways to escape from mortgages they can’t pay — or don’t want to. A few are turning to arson, but it’s too soon to turn anecdotes into meaningful statistics. Consumer pressure and state laws require speedy settlements, which means insurance companies are quick to pay up and slower to complete complex arson investigations. Definitive answers will come later.
But the signs of trouble are there if you’re looking for them:
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January 30th, 2008 categories: Finances, Home Ownership
You can save money on homeowners insurance if you know how. Discounts from your insurance company are available for a variety of reasons, ranging from the type of building material used to build your home to how close you live to a fire station. Here are 12 tips from Insure.com to help you save money on your homeowners policy:
Shop around. Check with several different insurance companies to get rate quotes. Do your friends or family members like their insurance company? Get online quotes from sites like MSN Money.
Raise your deductible. The deductible is the amount of money you have to pay toward a loss before your insurance kicks in. Typically, deductibles start at $250. Increase your deductible to:
Just make sure you can afford to pay the higher deductible if something should happen.
Buy your home and auto policies from the same company. Many companies will give a discount if you buy both homeowners and auto coverage from them.
Consider insurance consequences when buying a home. If you’re looking at buying a home, think about the cost of insuring the home. A newer home’s electrical, heating and plumbing systems, and overall structure are likely to be in better condition than those of an older home. This can lead to a discount on your premiums.
Also consider the construction of the home and your geographical location. If you live on the East Coast, you’ll want the house to be able to stand up to wind damage; on the West Coast, you need to keep earthquakes in mind.
Insure your home, not the land. Although your home and its contents are at risk from fire, theft, windstorms and other perils, the land your house sits on is not. Don’t include the value of the land in deciding how much homeowners insurance you need to buy.
Improve security and safety. Items such as deadbolt locks, burglar alarms and smoke detectors often bring discounts of 5% each, depending on the company. Your insurance company may also offer a significant discount of 15% or 20% if you install a sophisticated home-security system. If you’re thinking about buying such a system, check with your insurer to see which systems they recommend and which will earn you a discount.
Stop smoking. Smoking accidents account for more than 23,000 residential fires every year. Some insurers offer to reduce premiums if no one in the home smokes.
Senior discounts. Insurance companies have found that retired people stay at home more and spot fires sooner than working people. Older people also have more time for maintaining their homes. If you’re at least 55 years old and retired, you might qualify for a discount of as much as 10%.
Group coverage. Alumni and business associations often work out insurance deals with an insurance company, which includes a discount for association members. Ask your association’s director about any such deals.
Stay with an insurer. If you’ve kept your coverage with a company for several years, you may receive special consideration. Several insurers will reduce their premiums by 5% after you’ve been with them for three to five years, and some companies will discount you as much as 10% after six years.
Check your policy annually. You want your policy to reflect the value of your home and belongings. If you review your policy every year, you will be able to make the necessary adjustments. If, for example, you just sold a valuable painting, you won’t need the same amount of coverage. But if you added a garage, you’ll need to increase your coverage.
Look for private insurance first. If you live in a high-risk area (one that is especially vulnerable to coastal storms, fires or crime) and think you’ll be forced to buy homeowners coverage from your state’s high-risk insurance pool, check first with an insurance agent. You may find that you can still buy insurance at a lower price in the private insurance market than from the insurer of last resort. Story
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