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Is Housing The
Economy's New Foundation?
Homeowners who enjoyed record levels of home equity gains at the opportune time -- when mortgage interest rates plummeted to all-time lows -- spawned a refinancing movement that may have changed the economy.
"The current refinancing boom is interesting because it appears to represent a structural change in the economy," according to the Federal Reserve Bank Of San Francisco's latest, "Economic Letter: Mortgage Refinancing."
A house typically accounts for one-
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third of total household wealth and nearly 70 percent of U.S. households own their homes. When the head of the household is more than 50 years old (which are typically wealthier households), the home
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Ten Benefits Of Buying
At The End Of The Year
With interest rates for 30-year fixed rate mortgages still hovering around 6 percent, the end of the year is a great time for renters to become homeowners, growing families to move to more accommodating homes, and Baby Boomers to find houses that fit their evolving lifestyles.
National Association of Realtors President Cathy Whatley, owner of Buck & Buck Inc. in Jacksonville, Fla., said the swing in mortgage interest rates has been somewhat of a surprise this year.
"Mortgage interest rates have been lower than projected for most of 2003, but the 30-year fixed rate should hover between 6.0 and 6.5 percent for the rest of the year," she said. "We expect home sales to moderate but remain historically strong in the coming months."
The national median existing-home price was $177,500 in August, up 9.8 percent from August 2002 when the median price was $161,700. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
While many markets around the
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Create A Grand Entrance
When Showing Your House
If you're selling your house, you've probably heard all about curb appeal. Once that first impression passes the test, the next thing that meets the eyes of potential buyers is the entryway -- so make it look good.
The entrance serves as the transition from outdoors to indoors and can leave an indelible impression in the mind of a potential buyer.
"Don't underestimate the importance of the entrance to your home," says Robert Irwin in his book, Improve the Value of Your Home Up to $100,000: 50 Surefire Techniques and Strategies (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003). "It helps define the quality of your property when people enter. If your entrance exudes richness, buyers will think of your home as a rich property and be prepared to make offers accordingly."
And Irwin says the opposite holds true as well.
"If the entrance is shabby, then no matter how well appointed the rest of the home, 'shabby' is what will be imprinted on the buyer's mind."
Irwin says having flooring in the entryway that varies from the rest of the house is one way to set off the entrance. He suggests tile flooring, whether it's ceramic, marble, granite, or synthetic.
"In a sense it almost doesn't matter what type of tile you choose, since they all signal a fine entrance," he says.
An entryway is the place to make a statement. Italian ceramic tiles come in a
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Robo-House Not
Too Far In The Future
One of the background devices in the movie RoboCop that caught my eye, back in 1987, was the use of a motion-detecting terminal that flipped on as you walked into the home. As soon as it detected the owner arriving into the house, it verbally told the human how many people had come to the front door while he was away, delivered his e-mails onto the screen and then replayed any video phone messages.
Well, we're not too far away from that same type of technology invading our homes with the advent of OSGi. The Open Services Gateway Initiative is an independent, non-profit organization working with more than 85 member companies who want to gain access to your home network, automobile devices and, pretty much, any other electronic device you have in your home, via home network, Internet or wireless technology.
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