Energy Efficient Homes This New Year: Top 5 Must Do Tips

We took it upon ourselves to find the best advice for having energy efficient homes this New Year and we came up with our top 5 must do tips for 2013 1.

1.Tankless water heaters

Unlike old fashion water heaters that waste energy maintaining 50 gallons of water in constant heating for a week's time, these types of eco-friendly heaters only start operating when you need them to, saving lots of energy.

2. Filtered water

Another solution is to install a water filteration system in your kitchen. This gets rid of the bad habit of opening a water bottle every time you get thirsty. Think of all the money you'd save!

3. Led light bulbs

Led light bulbs can seem costly at first going around $40dlls a bulb, but they utilize about a third of electricity compared to regular light bulbs and will practically pay themselves in a few years as they last between 18 to 40.

4. Unplug Electrical Appliances

Notice how your electrical bill still manages to build up even though you've been gone for vacation a whole week? That's because all of your electrical appliances are plugged in 24 hours a day. Unplugging these devices will reduce the expenses and also help reduce the release of CO2. For a more accurate estimation use a home appliance energy calculator.

5. Insulate Ductwork

Over time, various leaks and holes can form in your duct system leaking your heating and cool air, costing you some money. You can repair the damage by sealing and insulating your system with duct sealant or metal black tape, not to be confused with "duct tape" which won't fix anything. The majority of the leaking occurs through connections at vents or floor registrations so make sure to cover those first. After sealing you can wrap them in fiberglass insulation which you will find for sale in the majority of hardware stores.

For more information go to DIY Guide to Sealing and Insulating with Energy StarInsulating your ductwork may qualify you for refund from your state or local government so what are you waiting for!

For more information visit the www.windmillergroup.com:

 

Tick-tock. What’s taking your refi so long?

Many homeowners seeking to refinance are learning that the process is taking longer than the 30-day period they had been expecting.

Here's why:

Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) continue to be a sought-after investment in these economic times, providing safe, conservative returns compared to stock. Following suit, mortgage rates remain historically low, with the 30-year fixed rate interest rate around 3.17 percent.

In turn, lenders, banks and credit unions are experiencing higher aggregated volume than their normal operational capacity supports during this time of year. Daily, lenders are dealing with a radically increased demand for refinance money over purchase money requests.

Will your refinance close? Yes, but it will probably take more than 30 days.

Lending institutions

Given the increased appetite for debt restructuring, deciding which company will support your transaction the most efficiently can help you stay ahead of the curve.

Large depository banks and financial institutions: Mortgage loan origination, including both refinance and purchase activity, is only a single division of their business. These banks are also looking for other credit products — deposits, credit cards, etc. — and focus on all banking products collectively. Refinance turn times of 90 days are not uncommon.

Mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers: By specializing in residential mortgage loan origination only, these institutions facilitate faster operational turn times, typically 45 days in most markets .

Refinance tips

While longer turn times should be expected, there are a few things homeowners can do to make the refinance process go more smoothly:

Pick the right mortgage lender by getting numbers in writing upfront and deciding if the product and costs are reasonable enough for you.

If your current mortgage lender/servicer is soliciting you to refinance your loan, obtain in writing how long it's going to take and keep them accountable. Most of the time they're in the same boat as large banks and will require all of your financial documentation. It's best to research a second option.

Let the mortgage professional pull your credit report and review your financials to make sure you have the best possibility of qualifying for the home loan. The last thing you want to do is wait a few weeks for an underwriting response and then get a suspended loan or worse, a denied loan.

Don't take a 30-day lock if your loan will take 45 days to close escrow. The lender or you will have to pay the 15-day cost to extend the interest rate into the future. It's best to consider taking the 45-day rate lock for a slightly higher cost. Many lenders offer 45-day locks for 30-day pricing.

If you do have to extend your rate lock, ask the lender to waive the extension fee. Most mortgage lenders will gladly accept the cost of extending a mortgage rate lock for the opportunity to close your loan. (If your loan is approved with underwriting, the lender will be more likely to extending your loan and absorbing the lock extension fee.)

Should you attain mortgage approval, it will most likely be a "conditional loan approval." Some lenders will claim to have final loan approval upfront, but that is very rare in this credit market. The mortgage company will need additional information from you to sign off conditions and release your file for funding. Providing the necessary documentation to the mortgage company within 24 hours ensures a faster close of escrow.

For many homeowners the opportunity to refinance into a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, 15-year fixed rate mortgage or any other fixed-rate term with rates in the low to mid-3s provides a net tangible benefit, and most borrowers will break even in 12 months or less. Today's mortgage rates make a refi an attractive tool to help people accomplish their goals, borrow low, start debt relief and minimize interest expense.

           

Dated Issued: Dec 2012 By: Scott Sheldon Taken from: http://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/tick-tock-taking-refi-long-222935622.html

Couple Feels Taxed Out of Homeownership

If someone had told me as a kid in Louisiana that my husband and I would have a combined income of $250,000 a year in our late 20s, I would have been pie-eyed. It sounds like a crazy amount of money. But after taking into account taxes, debt and living expenses in New York City, we’re actually finding it difficult to meet our financial goals.

Why our taxes are nearly unmanageable

Last year, we paid $100,000 in taxes, which is almost exactly 40 percent of what we make. Even though we also paid $22,000 in student loan payments (we have about $145,000 in combined loans for my husband’s law school and my grad school), we don’t qualify for deductions — if you make more than $150,000 filing jointly, you can’t deduct student loan interest.

We also don’t get a deduction for home ownership — because we can’t afford to buy one. We’ve been saving for three years, and after another three years of diligent budgeting, we hope to have about $100,000, which would be enough for a 20 percent down payment on a home in a New York suburb with decent schools — the average “starter” home in these areas is about $500,000 — plus an extra $20,000 for closing costs and incidentals.

We’re in a weird place: We don’t have enough money to invest in a house or the stock market, which would get us tax exemptions. So we pay the full 40 percent of our salary in city*, state and federal taxes. People who are much wealthier can take advantage of tax loopholes, capital gains preferential tax rates and a larger mortgage deduction, so they end up paying only about 20 percent in taxes. For instance, in 2011, Barack Obama paid 20.5 percent in taxes. Mitt Romney paid 14 percent in taxes.

We find it ironic that we’d have to make more … in order to pay less.

If we’re being honest, it’s not only taxes that are killing us. Living in Manhattan is expensive — up to three times the cost of living in other cities — but I work for a private equities firm, and my husband is in securities litigation. This city is the industry hub for both of our careers.

We’ve discussed moving, but it’s unlikely that we would both be able to get jobs elsewhere. We rent a 1-bedroom apartment near our offices in a neighborhood where they go for $3,000 a month. We could move to a slightly cheaper outer borough, but we’re both called into our offices at odd hours, and we also work long days. So we pay for the convenience of living near work.

How things could get harder for us

We budget constantly. As an accountant, I’m always reviewing our spending and trying to find ways to cut back. We take the subway. We don’t buy name-brand clothes, and we don’t buy anything unless it’s on sale. We take only one fun trip a year and the most we’ve ever spent on that is $1,600.

My husband isn’t even putting money in his 401(k), so we can save more for a house. (I contribute to mine, but we have diverted all of our emergency fund to our house savings.) It’s something we argue about, but these are the choices we have to make.

Don’t get me wrong — our lives are good. We work very hard, and enjoy what we do, but I’m tired of people saying that we’re not paying our fair share. How much more are we supposed to pay?

Why the tax code needs to change

We both come from middle-class families and were taught that if you go to school and work hard, you can live the “American Dream”: own a house, have a family. It’s really all we want. We don’t live — or long for — an extravagant lifestyle.

Look, I know it’s relative. I realize there are families raising three kids on $50,000 that are just trying to put food on the table. My husband and I are very thankful for what we have. And we don’t begrudge paying taxes. We even understand why people think we’re rich. Compared to many people, we are.

We just can’t figure out how we’re supposed to make the “American Dream” work for us while giving away half of our income in taxes.

The tax code needs to change, and if it were up to me, I’d like to see the following:

• Adding a cost-of-living factor. The tax code should have a “factor” that takes into account location-specific costs, like average home price, the price of an equivalent bag of groceries, the average price of a car and the average cost of gas in a region. Once taxes are calculated, the factor would be applied to achieve greater geographic tax parity.
• Phasing out deductions and loopholes. If we lowered tax rates across the board, and cut the deductions and loopholes in the system (there are plenty of them to pick from!), we would put everyone on a more level playing field. I know it’s a touchy subject, but capital gains rates

probably also need to be increased from the current 15 percent — even if it’s just a bump to 20 percent.

Broadening the tax base. Right now, deductions and loopholes mean that many people don’t pay certain federal taxes. If we eliminated them as described above, more people would pay taxes that they owe. By no means do I think that families in dire circumstances should be asked to dole out money to the government. But if more families could help chip in a small portion of their earnings, it would work toward generating more revenue — and a little bit, spread across a large number of people, could go a long way.

Lowering the tax rates. I’d be fine paying in the 30 percent range. And if my husband and I did make it to a point where we were making above $500,000, reasonable tax increases (35-39 percent) for this income would be acceptable.

There’s something really wrong with a system that considers us “rich” and not paying our fair share at 40 percent — but billionaires are only paying 20 percent or less.

Something is obviously broken.

We just hope it gets fixed soon.

*New York City is one of the few cities in the United States with city taxes.

Date Issued: December 2012 By: Learnvest  Taken from: http://www.zillow.com/blog/2012-12-26/couple-feels-taxed-out-of-homeownership/

             

The 5 Biggest Landowners In America

   


Maybe 270,000 acres isn't what it used to be.

Two billionaire brothers from Texas recently bought 177,000 acres of ranch land in Montana, bringing their total land holdings in the state to more than 276,000. The brothers, Farris and Dan Wilks, who made their money from selling Frac Tech (the oil business), now own 431 square miles in Montana.

As large as that sounds, their purchases still don't rank them in the top 10 individual or family landowners in America. In fact, they would barely crack the top 30.

With land prices rebounding, and wealthy families looking for tangible assets, large tracts of land have become increasingly attractive investments. Many of the wealthy are still scarred by the market drop of 2008 and want more stable assets.
Some use the land for working ranches. Others use it for agriculture, timber or other sources of income.

"There's a lot more interest in land," said Dennis Moon, managing director and head of specialty asset management at U.S. Trust, a division of Bank of America." Way back when, owning a lot of land meant you were among thewealthiest individuals in the United States.

We're kind of seeing a return to that."
Moon said that the key driver for land buying is production – whether it's producing crops or timber or beef.
"Then if you add to that the recreation use, where you can hunt or fish and things like that, it's appealing," he said.

But the land rush among the wealthy has led to ever-larger holdings by ever-richer landholders. Here, according to the Land Report 100, are the top five landholders in America and their holdings as of 2012.

1. John Malone The cable tycoon has 2.2 million acres stretching from Wyoming to Maine. One of his crown jewels is the Bell Ranch, a 290,100-acre cattle empire.

2. Ted Turner The media magnate has 2 million acres in Nebraska, New Mexico and other states. He is a strong advocate of wildlife conservation.

3. The Emmerson family This low-profile family holds 1.8 million acres through Sierra Pacific Industries, the nation's second largest lumber producer.

4. Brad Kelley The reclusive billionaire, who drives a pick-up truck and made his money from discount cigarettes, owns about 1.5 million acres and uses much of it for cattle ranching.

5. The Irving family The Canadian forestry family behind J.D. Irving Inc. owns 1.2 million acres in Maine and other locations. This year alone, J.D. Irving will plan 30 million seedlings.

This story was originally published by CNBC.

Dated Issued: December 2012 Taken from: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-5-biggest-landowners-in-america-2012-12

Housing Issues to Watch in 2013

Home prices finally hit a bottom in 2012, well ahead of many predictions that called for continued price drops this year.

Prices were up 6% from one year ago in October, according to CoreLogic CLGX +1.55%, putting them on track for their best year since 2005. Housing starts, which hit a bottom three years ago, ramped up to their highest level in four years. Sales of new homes are running around 20% of last year’s levels, while existing home sales are up around 10%. Continued declines in homes listed for sale—particularly foreclosures—explain much of the improving price picture.

So will 2013 be the year of recovery or relapse? Evidence points more strongly to a continued rebound, albeit one that still has considerable headwinds and that varies from one market to another. This week, we’ll offer five areas of focus for 2013.

Don’t fear the shadow. For years, housing analysts have warned that a glut of delinquent mortgages—a so-called “shadow” inventory of eventual foreclosures—would overwhelm housing markets. That hasn’t happened.

On a national basis, the shadow inventory is still there, but it is slowly getting smaller. The number of homes that were 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure fell to around 3 million in October, down by more than 430,000 this year and nearly 1.3 million from the peak in 2010, according to Barclays Capital. Normally, there’s a “shadow” of around 800,000, which means the excess shadow supply stands at around 2.2 million.

Banks have slowed down their foreclosure processes and while those could ramp up in 2013, they’re unlikely to lead to a deluge of supply. Also, big declines in new construction over the past few years have pushed the current housing demand, however muted, towards absorbing the excess supply of foreclosed homes.

The shadow inventory is often discussed as a national phenomenon, but it isn’t really national anymore. States where banks have struggled to meet court-administered foreclosure processes have a significantly higher share of unresolved bad debt: around 5.9% of mortgages are in foreclosure in those judicial states, compared with fewer than 2% in nonjudicial states, according to Lender Processing Services.

Many housing markets “will swallow what foreclosures come to the market whole because we’re seeing inventory shortages develop, acutely,” says Jeffrey Otteau, president of appraisal firm Otteau Valuation Group in East Brunswick, N.J. 

In New Jersey, which has the second highest foreclosure rate in the country, the bigger problem is that many foreclosures are concentrated in certain communities, particularly inner-city and rural areas. “Those markets are going to take it on the chin,” he says. Dated Issued: December 2012 

By: Nick Timiraos Taken from: http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2012/12/17/five-housing-issues-to-watch-in-2013/.

US Home Values Expected to End 2012 Up More Than $1.3 Trillion

After five consecutive years of annual declines in cumulative value, the overall change in value of all U.S. homes in 2012 should be back in black, with a projected year-end gain of more than $1.3 trillion this year.

Gains were calculated by measuring the difference between cumulative home values as of the end of 2011 and anticipated cumulative home values at the end of 2012. This year’s gain in national cumulative home values — the total value of all homes in a given area — is the first annual increase since U.S. homes gained $483 billion in total value in 2006. Cumulative home values fell each year from 2007 through 2011, with the largest drop coming in 2008, when homes lost more than $3.2 trillion in value, according to Zillow.

The projected gain this year would be the largest year-over-year gain since 2005 and represents a marked recovery from 2011’s annual value loss of approximately $792 billion.

More than 75 percent of the 177 metro areas included in this analysis — 135 in all — experienced cumulative home value gains in 2012. Among the 30 largest metro areas covered by the report, only Philadelphia failed to record an annual gain in cumulative home values. Of the 30 largest metros, those with the largest gains in cumulative value as measured by total dollar volume include Los Angeles($122.1 billion), San Francisco ($93.3 billion), San Jose, Calif. ($54.7 billion), Phoenix ($52 billion) and Miami-Fort Lauderdale ($47.5 billion).

“After a sluggish 2011, the housing market really turned a corner in 2012, as historic affordability and sustained investor interest helped keep demand at a boil,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “We expect value gains to continue into 2013. As home values rise, and more homeowners are freed from negative equity, we can expect a continued slow transition to a more normal housing environment driven by local market fundamentals and conditions.”

Dated Issued: December 2012 By: Cory Hopkins  Taken from: http://www.zillow.com/blog/2012-12-19/us-home-values-expected-to-end-2012-up-more-than-1-3-trillion/

3 Steps to Get Back in the Game After Foreclosure

Finding your dream home is truly a special and momentous occasion, but sometimes the honeymoon doesn’t last. Just as money is the root of many divorces, it is also the root of many foreclosures. But once the long and tedious process is finalized, how do you get back in the game and find a new match?

Waiting and reflecting

While it can take as long as 7 years (3 years under extenuating circumstances and FHA loans, and 2 years for VA loans) to buy again after foreclosure, at least you’ll be prepared and know 110 percent what you’re getting yourself into. Use the long waiting period to reflect on what went wrong and to prepare yourself — financially and emotionally — for the bigger and better options that you’ll eventually have down the road. Don’t get discouraged; good things come to those who wait. 

Get your credit back in shape

While going through a foreclosure will have a negative impact on your credit, there are some ways that you can strengthen your credit score and make it “fit” again. Paying off debt, re-establishing credit, cutting the fat on unnecessary expenses and building your savings are all great routines to add the muscle back into your score. Living within a budget and spending your money more wisely also will allow you to move forward with confidence and a better understanding of how much home you can afford when the time comes to buy again.

Honesty and communication

Learn from your mistakes. Be open and honest with yourself and know what you want and what you can afford. If the luxury downtown penthouse was what got you into trouble in the first place, then why not “restart off” with a more subtle place in the suburbs and have something to look forward to in the future? Remember communication is key. When reapplying for a mortgage, discuss what happened with your lender and, most importantly, explain what you did to resolve it. While it’s never fun to rehash painful parts of your past, it’s very much necessary and will help you in your decision-making process. Don’t make the same mistake twice.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow and 
those of The Windmiller Group..

By Samantha DeBianchi Date Issued: November 2012 

 Taken From:http://www.zillow.com/blog/2012-11-28/3-steps-to-get-back-in-the-game-after-foreclosure/