Chris writes, Last year we had Orkin come and get rid of a termite problem in our 60 year old house. It is a small three bedroom house and we were putting concrete siding on and discovered some termite trails.
homes
Subprime Meltdown Makes Foreclosure Websites Great Places To Shop
By 2.9.08
If you’re ready to buy a home and don’t mind a little ghoulish bargain-hunting, now is a great time to hit the various foreclosure sites online, reports Reuters.
The Best Big Cities For Renters
By 1.19.08
Do you love big city livin’, but you’re tired of spending 65% of your monthly salary on a 45-year-old studio apartment with a bathroom that feels like it was transplanted from an RV? (Yeah, we’re talking about NYC.) BusinessWeek lists the results of a recent survey of rental prices in cities with populations larger than one million. The best deal is (drum roll): Oklahoma City, with an average rent of $520 a month!
Build An "Upgradeable" Home
By 12.27.07
Wired has a short article subtitled, “How our technolust helped bring down the housing market.” The article is more sensible than the headline, however—it really focuses on new developments in the housing market, and how expensive it is to retrofit even newly built homes with new (or future) technology: “‘[Remodeling] can be done, but you really need to want it,’ says Kermit Baker, a Harvard economist who studies the remodeling market.” What’s needed, the author argues, is an approach to new home construction that treats homes as dynamic spaces that can be more easily reconfigured to meet the requirements of new owners. Not that anyone is building a home right now, but it’s an interesting thing to keep in mind when you’re ready to leave your shantytown and re-settle in the suburbs.
Record Decline In U.S. Home Prices
By 12.26.07
It was the largest drop in more than 16 years and marked the 10th consecutive month of price depreciation and 23 months of decelerating returns.
Freddie Mac: Don't Let Fraudsters Steal Your Home
By 12.16.07
Con artists use publicly available foreclosure notices to find victims for their equity stripping scams.
Buying A Home? Don't Rack Up Debt Between Approval And Closing
By 11.15.07
Don’t open any new lines of credit or go crazy with the credit card purchases between your home loan’s approval and the actual closing date, warns Ilyce R. Glink (doesn’t it look like we just tapped a bunch of keys at random to spell that name?) at Inman Real Estate News. Your lender will pull a second credit report before closing to make sure that you’re still capable of paying your loan—so if you’ve done anything in the interim that could impact your ability to pay, rest assured it will show up.
Sorry, Your House Isn't An ATM Anymore
By 11.8.07
For years homeowners have been using their soaring-in-value homes as ATMs, drawing money out to finance whatever they wanted. No more. Falling home prices mean that your house is no longer a source of cash.
Investigate Neighborhoods Online With Real Estate Gossip Sites
By 10.4.07
You find a home you love, and the asking price makes it practically a steal. But you wonder: how do you know it wasn’t built on top of a “relocated” cemetery? Or what if it’s only a few blocks away from the city’s longest-running crackfest? Thanks to several websites and blogs, new home shoppers can now collect “real world” data about prospective neighborhoods and real estate from actual residents, other buyers, and anonymous brokers out to sabotage the competition.
Worst Month For New Home Sales In 6 Years
By 9.27.07
Here’s a cute but meaningless graphic from ABC News that illustrates a very important statistic: New home sales are down. Way down. 8.3% down. It’s the worst month for new home sales in 6 years.
The Optimal Mortgage For The Rational Borrower
By 9.22.07
Two professors have released a paper branding adjustable rate mortgages, which are responsible for the subprime meltdown, as the optimal mortgage type for rational borrowers. As we know all too well, few borrowers are antiseptically rational. According to Columbia professor Tomasz Piskorski and NYU professor Alexei Tchistyi, ARMs hold several unrivaled advantages:
Checklist: 5 Ways To Rate A Retirement Home
By 9.14.07
SmartMoney is trying to spin it as a “take care of yourself” article, but we know that the real reason you’re in the market for a good retirement home is because Dad has gotten older and he’s nowhere near the madcap character Abe Simpson is on TV. Luckily for you (and your dad), they’ve put together a brief guide of 5 things you should look for when choosing a retirement home. You know, for “yourself.”
Facing Foreclosure? Take A Deep Breath And Don't Panic
By 9.8.07
The ongoing subprime meltdown will claim its next victims in October, when adjustable rate mortgages worth over $50 billion reset, but homeowners facing foreclosure can keep a roof over their head by following a few common-sense tips. Above all, don’t panic, and don’t ignore the problem – instead, try the following:
Take Advantage Of The Subprime Meltdown
By 8.19.07
Prospective home buyers shopping for houses worth around $500,000 are taking advantage of rising interest rates caused by the ongoing subprime mortgage meltdown. Buyers and sellers alike are becoming increasingly mindful of one magic number: $417,000. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will only guarantee mortgages worth less, forcing some sellers to lower their asking price to accommodate buyers looking to avoid so-called jumbo mortgages. From the Wall Street Journal:
What To Do If Your Mortgage Lender Goes Bankrupt
By 8.9.07
Panic! Burn down your house! Ha ha, just kidding. Actually, you shouldn’t let your mortgage lender’s death pangs interfere with your payments, says Gerri Willis of CNNMoney, because your loan will just be sold to another lender. However, make sure you review the details of your mortgage agreement; the terms should remain the same no matter who buys your loan, and you have a 60 day grace period to get your payments to your new mortgage lender.
Fed Issues Guidelines To Prevent Subprime Implosion Redux
By 7.1.07
•Refinance Opportunities: Prior to any rate increase, consumers will have 60 days to refinance the loan.
Trade groups find fault with the regulations because they will prevent risky borrows from receiving credit:
