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Single-family starts, permits on the rise

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 18, 2009.

The rate of single-family housing starts rose for the fifth straight month in July but were down 37.7 percent compared to the same month last year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of single-family building-permit authorizations rose for the fourth straight month in July. This rate is a projection of a monthly total over a 12-month period, adjusted to account for typical seasonal fluctuations in construction activity.  more...

Fix your relationship with money

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, August 18, 2009.
Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.greenleafbookgroup.com/book.cfm?BookID=337" target=blank>Greenleaf Book Group</a>.

Myth-busting is not a brand-new concept. Neither is paradigm-shifting. But Garrett Gunderson's "Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths That Are Destroying Your Prosperity" is a novel take on paradigm-shifting dressed as myth-busting, relative to its brethren on the personal finance bookstore shelves. "Killing Sacred Cows" is a mindset-expanding vehicle for Gunderson's mission to shatter the foundations of what he sees as counterproductive financial belief systems and replace them with squishy, New Age-y, but potentially powerful, new perspectives.

The book's format -- and message -- is super-simple: Each chapter houses Gunderson's attack-and-rethink on an old-school financial doctrine, like: "Financial Security Means Steady Paychecks and Benefits"; "Money is Power"; "High Risks = High Returns"; and "Avoid Debt Like the Plague."  more...

First-time-buyer tax credit is 'unfair'

By Marcie Geffner, Tuesday, August 18, 2009.

If you're a homebuyer or seller or you earn your living directly or indirectly from home sales, you're probably a fan of the federal government's First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, which is intended to boost homebuying demand. But if you're not a buyer, seller or realty professional, but rather just an ordinary homeowner, for you, this tax credit is a dud.

To recap some of the rules, the credit is equal to 10 percent of the purchase price of the home up to $8,000. The homebuyer must not have owned a home during the prior three years. The credit is refundable, which means the government gives the balance to buyers who meet the qualifications, even if their federal income tax liability is less.  more...

The sale that could've been

By Barry Stone, Tuesday, August 18, 2009.

DEAR BARRY: A home inspector recently came to our house and scared off our buyers with false assumptions about our foundation and with nit-picky disclosures of all kinds. Our foundation was actually repaired last year, but we never patched the stucco crack that occurred before the repair work was done. The home inspector assumed that the crack occurred after the foundation was repaired. He reported this to the buyers, and they bailed out of the deal. He also stated in his report that the stream at the bottom of our property (nowhere near our house) is "a major erosional feature." On the nit-pick side, he mentioned such things as a small stain on our carpet and a scratch on the bedroom door. How can we market our home to other buyers with this kind of inspection report to disclose? --Ginny

DEAR GINNY: When home inspectors report defects, they should state what they see and limit their conclusions to things they can confirm. If an inspector sees settlement cracks in a stucco wall, the cause may be apparent, but the age of the crack can rarely be determined.  more...

3 ways to measure social media Premium Content

By Gahlord Dewald, Tuesday, August 18, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixteenmilesofstring/3509978889/" target=blank>tvol</a>.

There is a lot of buzz around social media. Buzz might not even be the right word. Cacophonous roar might be more appropriate. It seems as if everyone who was a search-engine-optimization guru last year is a social media guru this year.

A lot of the talk in social media is about the concept of engaging your audience. The theory goes that if you can engage an audience via social media they'll be that much more likely to do business with you.

But how do you really know?  more...

'Green' is low real estate priority

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 18, 2009.

Most respondents in a survey of Better Homes and Gardens magazine readers said they most value ample storage space (74 percent) and closet space (74 percent) as very important in house hunting, while just 22 percent said they rate "eco-friendly" features as very important.

About 67 percent of respondents said an updated kitchen was very important, while 65 percent said a master bathroom was very important. Ranking far lower, at 27 percent, was "large square footage."  more...

Walkable neighborhoods also bankable

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 18, 2009.

Homes in neighborhoods where goods, services and fun things to do are located within walking distance can command a price premium of $4,000 to $34,000 over otherwise similar homes in less walkable areas, according to an analysis of recent home sales.  more...

Zillow poll shows homeowner optimism

By Inman News, Tuesday, August 18, 2009.

Most homeowners think their home has lost value in the last year, but four out of five don't expect their property to be worth less six months from now -- the most optimism consumers have expressed about the future in a year of polls conducted by home valuation and listing site Zillow.  more...

Appraisal rules tangle with home values

By Dian Hymer, Tuesday, August 18, 2009.

How much your home is worth depends on who's looking at it. Your home insurer will value your home in terms of the cost to rebuild it. A mortgage lender's appraiser will value your property in terms of the sale prices of similar homes in your neighborhood that sold recently. The property tax assessor may have a different set of criteria.

Due to recent changes in the economy, the market value of your home could be considerably less than it was a few years ago. However, don't be too quick to ask your insurance carrier to drop the valuation on your homeowner's insurance. This would save you money, but could leave you underinsured.  more...