Eric Harlington

There are a lot of benefits to owning your own home and in today’s market; it has never been more affordable. Not having to work with landlords, landscaping your own backyard and painting your house as you deem needed— what could be more exciting than making the jump from renter to first-time homeowner? Getting swept up in all the excitement is a wonderful feeling; however being a homeowner can be a little daunting.

When you first buy is the perfect time to walk through a checklist of ways to make your home comfortable, while keeping an eye your for your finances. In a recent article I read on contractor Danny Lipford, and Honeywell Home Environment, I thought these tips to offer added comfort and money savings tips for new homeowners was something to share.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are harmful gases that can be emitted by some paints, solvents, cleaners, adhesives, furniture, and shelving. When using products that contain high levels of VOCs, open windows or, better yet, turn on an air purifier that has a VOC pre-filter to help remove VOCs from the air that passes through the unit.

Set back your thermostat about 10 degrees when you’re away from home for 8 hours or more. You could shave as much as 10 percent off of your energy bill without sacrificing comfort. When you are at home, try turning down the thermostat a few degrees and use a portable heater in the rooms you are in the most. You’ll save money and stay warm!

Don’t forget homes need water too—that’s where humidifiers help. Humidifiers offer solutions during the dry winter months to help protect valuable wood furniture from drying out and cracking and prevent wood floors from buckling and separating.

Pollutants like dust and mold that settle in the home can be attributed to poor air circulation. A whole room fan should be used to ventilate the home properly.

I found this article to be very interesting and thought I would throw it out tehre and see what some of your thoughts are:

Last Wednesday, February 1, President Obama announced the details of a plan to help homeowners refinance their mortgages in hopes of bolstering the housing market.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, this proposal will allow buyers to save an average of $3,000 a year by refinancing into loans backed by the FHA, if they are current on their mortgage. The plan is estimated to cost between $5 billion and $10 billion, which Obama plans to cover by pressing a fee on large banks.

“I want to commend the administration for recognizing that more can be done to get our housing market on track. The programs announced today will give lenders and other stakeholders additional tools to help borrowers and foster a renewed confidence in our real estate finance system,” said David H. Stevens, President and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, in a statement issues on February 1. Stevens went on to note that the MBA believes a single national set of standards can help provide confidence and certainty in the real estate market for borrowers, lenders and servicers alike.

Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, issued a similar statement.“Clearly, more decisive actions are needed to increase refinancing opportunities, to reduce the inventory of foreclosed homes and to prevent additional homes from going into foreclosure,” stated Nielsen, who says that the NAHB looks forward to working with the Administration and Congress to find constructive solutions in these areas as soon as possible.

This refinancing plan is the most recent addition to Obama’s foreclosure prevention efforts, following the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).

Reports have indicated that the plan faces long odds in Congress. House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) questioned why this program would work when others have failed.

“One more time? One more time? How many times have we done this?” he asked reporters. “I don’t know why anyone would think that this next idea is going to work.” He added that the previous programs have led to a delay in “the clearing of the market,” or letting housing prices hit bottom by allowing foreclosures to happen more rapidly.

Posted By susanne On February 6, 2012 @ 5:01 pm In Business Outlook,Consumer News and Advice,

In this new market, real estate professionals need to rethink some of their prior customer service techniques to accommodate new trends, and restructure their marketing policies.

Home prices will likely bump along the bottom before a sustained upward trend arises. The recovery we’re witnessing isn’t Permanente and lower prices won’t be around indefinitely. Eventually unparalleled buyer’s market will pass, investors are going to be taking full advantage of this years market.

It is estimated that nearly 20 percent of homebuyers own two or more homes—a percentage that, prior to the downturn, was typically around 11 or 12 percent. The downturn has prompted people to think more about building long-term wealth and stability, and they’re realizing real estate is still a resilient choice. More and more everyday people are taking steps to secure one or two rental properties or an investment home.

The conditions in the U.S. housing market are no secret around the world, and it has drawn heavy interest from investors. International buyers purchased more than $82 billion in U.S. real estate. The average price they paid was $315,000 compared to $215,000 paid by native buyers.

Within this year, international and domestic investors are expected to push forward with the recovery, so it’s important to take immediate action to accommodate this key set of buyers. This may mean getting more training, or further Certifications. By keeping your eye on the pulse of the country as a whole and the influence of various groups on the real estate industry specifically, you’ll find your way no matter how the trends shift. It is important to know your environment and this trend of investment buying will be one that dominates 2012. As a professional in my field I know for my team this includes re-evaluation of marketing and customer service strategies in order accommodate what is sure to be the bulk of our customers in the upcoming months.

Being connected 24/7 was supposed to make our lives easier, but it seems as though that’s not the case. Real-estate professionals, especially in this economy often feel that they didn’t get enough done in a day. Being connected in this industry often means responding to work e-mail on our smartphones right up until we go to bed. I recently found an article that addresses this issue and offers advice for all of us to be more productive during the day and help us establish that line between the end of the work day and beginning of our time off.

There’s a lot pressure to do more and more with less and you want what you do to really be effective.

It’s not about how hard you’re working, as we probably know there are a lot of very diligent people who aren’t as productive as they could be because of the way they manage their time.

Always be prepared for extra time. This is a great strategy for increasing productivity. Bring small chunks of work with you wherever you go. Then, while waiting for a meeting to start or for a delayed flight to depart, you’ll be able to reply to an e-mail or make a phone call. In other instances, you might have enough time to review materials for another meeting or project you are working on. If you’re prepared, you can also confirm appointments, draft responses, or map out a project outline.

Change how you manage e-mail. The moment you click on your inbox, your focus goes and your stress grows, as you proceed to delete, respond, forward, and file the messages you find there. You see names and subject lines and suddenly your mind starts racing; all you can think of are the latest projects and the high-priority work that shows up. If you’re not careful, all you’ll do all day is manage your e-mail.

Rather than simply flag e-mails that require action, use the subject lines to catalog and organize them. Also, don’t look at your e-mail unless you have a block of time to devote to prioritizing them and responding to them. When you are going through your e-mail, use subject lines to catalog them and organize them so that you’ll easily be able to go back to less urgent e-mails later on.

Identify the VERBS that need attention. Organize your to-do list by verbs in order to manage your productivity in terms of action, delegation, and progress. Actions such as call, draft, review, and invite are things that you can do, generally in one sitting, that have the potential to move the project forward one step at a time.

We all want to enjoy what we do every day, the problem lies when people are too overwhelmed to make the key changes that will help them. There is no reason to remain mired in frustration and struggling to catch up. With just a few key changes, you can work in a way that feels really good.

Nationwide production of new single-family homes rose 4.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 470,000 units in December, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Commerce Department. This marked a third consecutive increase and the fastest pace of single-family housing starts since April of 2010. Meanwhile, the overall number of housing starts for the month declined 4.1 percent to a 657,000-unit rate due to a 20.4 percent dip on the more volatile multifamily side.

Today’s report adds to the growing evidence that demand for new, single-family homes is finally starting to firm up in an increasing number of markets nationwide. This emerging trend is allowing builders to put more crews back to work, and could be even stronger if not for the overly tight credit conditions that prevail for both builders and buyers, as well as the continuing foreclosure crisis and the challenges of obtaining accurate appraisal values on new homes. Policymakers should be doing everything possible to alleviate these problems and nurture the fledgling housing recovery in order to promote job and economic growth.

This report is in keeping with our expectations for slow but steady improvement in the single-family market, where production hit its lowest yearly rate in over 50 years in 2011. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the decline in multifamily starts in December was coming off a dramatic increase from the previous month and simply brought that sector back closer to trend. Apartment production generally continues to gain strength heading into 2012 after posting a more-than 50 percent gain in 2011. Looking forward, NAHB is forecasting gains of approximately 17 percent in both single- and multifamily housing production in 2012.

Permit issuance, which can be an indicator of future building activity, held virtually flat at a 679,000-unit rate in December. Single-family permits rose for a third consecutive month, by 1.8 percent to 444,000 units, while multifamily permits declined 3.7 percent to 235,000 units.