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Home Owner News Archive
RISMEDIA, December 10, 2010—(MCT)—Kristy Paul grew up on a quiet suburban cul-de-sac where on warm summer nights the kids could stay out late while the parents grilled in their back yards and kept watch. Now she's a mom with two kids, a husband and a townhouse they built five years ago in a massive Woodbury, Minn., development where she is surrounded by people but is tired of all the traffic, anonymity and competition to use some of the neighborhood amenities.
RISMEDIA, December 9, 2010—(MCT)—With demand rising for reverse mortgages, senior citizens are particularly at risk of being misled and should be protected by greater government oversight of the industry, according to a report by Consumers Union and two California advocacy groups. In a struggling economy, older homeowners are turning to reverse mortgages as a way to pull money out of their homes, with the loan not coming due until the borrower dies. But the loans can come with hefty charges, including origination fees, closing costs and compounding interest on loan principal.
RISMEDIA, December 7, 2010—(MCT)—David, Christy and Noah Swindlehurst are practicing new math at their Eden Prairie, Minn., town home—minimal addition, maximum subtraction. ...
RISMEDIA, December 6, 2010—For most Americans, the holiday season means shopping for family and friends. But this year, spending a little money at home can equal big savings today, next year and for years to come. With time running out to cash in on the popular home energy efficiency tax ...
RISMEDIA, December 6, 2010—(MCT)—Brightening economic signs are pushing interest rates higher, choking off a surge in home refinancing at the same time that buyers are showing more willingness to purchase houses at today's beaten-down prices. Fannie Mae said that the typical rate
RISMEDIA, December 4, 2010—(MCT)—Uneasiness is keeping some aging baby boomers in their current homes, even though that's not what they had in mind. As REALTOR® Allan Domb, who sells condos in Philadelphia, sees it, "The decline in prices in the suburbs appears to be keeping a lot of aging boomers from selling and moving to something befitting their changed lifestyle."
RISMEDIA, December 2, 2010—We all need a little sun sometimes. Even though a sunroom isn’t the major consideration in buying a home, it’s often the cherry on top that encourages you to write the down payment check. What makes these rooms so irresistible is obvious: Read a book in a sunroom in the winter, and automatically it becomes summer again. Sunrooms range in scope and drama—the term can describe anything from a room with oversize windows, all the way up to glass-enclosed wonders.
RISMEDIA, December 1, 2010—McMansions are rapidly becoming the housing equivalent of harvest gold appliances as more Americans are opting for smaller residential footprints, according to a new Relocation.com consumer lifestyle survey. In this new Relocation.com lifestyle survey, homeowners and buyers were asked to weigh in on what they saw as the ideal home size. Forty-eight percent of the respondents indicated that their ideal home size would range from 1,000-1,999 square feet, while 29% prefer homes that are 2,000-2,999 square feet.
RISMEDIA, November 29, 2010—(MCT)—We recently consulted on a formerly white Cape Cod-style home in the Kansas City, Mo., suburb of Westwood that had just been painted in a pale gray. The owners have already ordered replacement windows. They wanted to know what else they could do to improve their home's curb appeal. We're sharing how a few simple additions can make a big difference.
RISMEDIA, November 24, 2010—For many homeowners, a shiny new car is as integral a part of the home as the roof and the door—and it’s often right next to both. That’s because many people go to great lengths to protect the beloved car from the elements, chief of which is garaging it rather than leaving it out in the driveway.
RISMEDIA, November 22, 2010—(MCT)—A larger share of homes entered the foreclosure process in the third quarter, though the delinquency rate for mortgages dropped, the Mortgage Bankers Association recently reported. ...
RISMEDIA, November 20, 2010—Green homes offer a wide variety of benefits from reducing carbon footprints to saving money on utility bills to even improving the health of children. However, a recent Whirlpool Corporation and Habitat for Humanity survey conducted by the NAHB Research Center, polled home builders, as well as consumers, and found
RISMEDIA, November 18, 2010—Although the recent trend of rising long-term borrowing rates may mean higher mortgages for consumers in the coming months, the greater obstacles to housing market recovery are job creation and availability of credit, according to a National Association of Realtors analysis. "Modest changes in mortgage rates are less important to a housing market recovery than the number of people who are able to obtain mortgages," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
RISMEDIA, November 16, 2010—(MCT)—California and Florida had a lot in common during the housing industry's last boom-and-bust cycle. Both were overrun by buyers hooked on high-risk mortgages, speculators who helped push prices to historic peaks and builders who didn't know when to stop. When the bubble burst, the two states became leaders in mortgage defaults, price declines and tracts of unsold new homes. But in the past year or so, California's housing market has begun recovering, while Florida's remains on the critical list.
RISMEDIA, November 16, 2010—A new survey conducted by Relocation.com finds that 75% of Americans believe the most important factor in determining a neighborhood's safety is the up-keep of surrounding homes, especially the conditions of the front lawns, which trumps even
