Bedroom Fire Safety Tips

By Dave Donovan
www.realtor.com

According to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), about 600 lives are lost every year in fires that originate in the bedroom. The causes of these fires are wide ranging, from smoking in bed to faulty electrical equipment, but one fact remains certain – almost every one of them could have been avoided.

Nothing is 100 percent effective at preventing a fire from breaking out but there are plenty of things you can do to reduce the chances of one breaking out in your bedroom. Here are a few tips you should implement immediately to lower your risk of a bedroom fire.

Tip #1 – Never Smoke in Bed

Smoking in bed is one of the most common causes of bedroom-related fires and because people are usually asleep when the fire starts, mortality rates tend to be high in these instances. While it can be difficult to kick the habit entirely, not smoking in bed is doable and highly recommended for your safety.

Tip #2 – Replace Pre-2007 Mattresses

In 2007, the government passed the Federal Mattress Flammability Standard which requires all mattress manufacturers to make their mattresses according to certain fire-proofing standards. If you have a mattress that pre-dates the standard, then it should be replaced so your bedroom is equipped with the safest possible mattress.

Tip #3 – Install Working Smoke Detectors

A smoke detector should be placed outside each bedroom door and on every level of the home, including the basement. Ideally, the smoke detector will be hard-wired with a battery back-up. In order to ensure constant protection, make a habit of replacing the batteries in the smoke detectors when you change your clocks for daylight savings time.

Tip #4 – Keep Matches and Lighters Hidden

More than 35,000 fires are started every year by children playing with matches or lighters and more than 400 of these fires prove fatal. If you must have lighters or matches in your home, keep them stored somewhere where your child will not have access to them. Teaching your child about fire safety and how it is not something to play with will help give him or her healthy respect for fire which will reduce the chances of your child playing with it.

Tip #5 – Inspect Electrical Appliances Regularly

Bedroom electrical appliances should be checked regularly to help lower the risk of one starting a fire. Extension cords should be in good shape and without evident fraying or cuts in the insulation. Be careful you don’t trap any electrical cords between furniture and the wall or floor and only use appliances and power cords that are UL-Listed.

Tip #6 – Use Space Heaters Properly

Space heaters are notorious for starting bedroom fires because most people don’t realize how dangerous they can be. Space heaters should be placed at least three feet away from all walls, clothing and furniture. Nothing should ever be draped over the heater, even when it is not in use.

Tip #7 – Turn Off Electric Blankets and Heating Pads

Electric blankets are popular holiday gifts and heating pads offer soothing heat when you’re not feeling under the weather, but these devices can be fire hazards when they are left on. While many models have built-in timers, others do not, so it is good practice to turn the heating pad or electric blanket off when you’re finished using it.

Eliminating the risks of suffering a bedroom fire is practically impossible, but by implementing these few tips, you can greatly reduce the risk of it happening in your home.

Weekly Market Update

For Week Ending November 3, 2012
Publish Date: November 12, 2012 • All comparisons are to 2011

1.3 million. That's how many Americans were reportedly lifted out of underwater mortgage situations this year from rising home prices, according to the Obama administration's October Housing Scorecard. There's more going on than meets the eye here. Rising prices also help restore tax base, decreasing the likelihood of
tax increases later. National GDP even benefits. When real estate is chugging along, things are good. And now, arguably more so than ever in the past four or five years, real estate is starting to chug again. It's not at full speed yet, but the open track ahead beckons.

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending November 3:

• New Listings decreased 1.0% to 1,125
• Pending Sales increased 25.3% to 930
• Inventory decreased 27.7% to 15,434

For the month of October:

• Median Sales Price increased 14.8% to $174,995
• Days on Market decreased 25.0% to 103
• Percent of Original List Price Received increased 3.5% to 94.4%
• Months Supply of Inventory decreased 41.0% to 3.7

For more information please see: www.mplsrealtor.com

Home Buying for Young People: Plan Ahead

By Marcie Geffner
www.realtor.com

Here are five recommendations for young people who want to position themselves for homeownership.

Granted, few young people spend much time day-dreaming about buying their first home. They're naturally preoccupied with academics, athletics, parties, dating and future career possibilities. Nonetheless, there are a number of good reasons to start learning early in life about the costs of buying a home and the responsibilities of homeownership. For example, a college student's misuse or abuse of credit cards can preclude his or her buying a home later on.
Here are five recommendations for young people who want to position themselves for homeownership:

1. Establish good credit habits and a favorable credit history. Get a credit card and use it responsibly. Apply for an automobile loan and make your payments on time every month. If you're renting an apartment, put your own name on the lease and the utility bills and make sure the rent and the bills are paid every month. If you're already struggling with credit card debt or have large student loans, take a free workshop from the non-profit Consumer Credit Counseling Service. Call (800) 388-2227 for information.

2. Start saving for a down payment and closing costs. It's possible to purchase a first home in many parts of the country without much in the way of savings. But in high-cost housing areas, starting to save early can be enormously beneficial because you'll get the advantage of compounding interest and have a longer period of time to grow your investments. Open a savings account or a stock brokerage investment account and make regular deposits.

3. Read some books. Your local library and bookstore probably have at least a few shelves of books about financial management and buying a home. Take notes. Make a financial plan for yourself. You can learn a lot about real estate, budgeting and credit on REALTOR.com® too.

4. Research where you'd like to live. Many young people assume they'll continue living in their own home town when they get older, but people are more mobile than ever and chances are good you'll one day live in another city or even another state. Again, the library, bookstore and Web can be excellent resources for information about housing costs and homeownership opportunities around the country.

5. Tap your real estate agent relatives for advice. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles or older cousins in the real estate business can give you good information about the cost of housing in the area where you want to live and what it takes to buy a home. Questions to ask: Is housing affordable in this area? How much money would I need to save in order to buy a home? What advice would you give me about planning my financial future? Would you recommend some books that I might like to read about buying a home? Don't be shy. If you have a question, ask someone in a position to know the answer.

Copyright © 2000 Marcie Geffner. All rights reserved.

Weekly Market Update

For Week Ending October 13, 2012
Publish Date: October 22, 2012 • All comparisons are to 2011


Housing pessimism is as out of fashion nowadays as bell bottoms and shoulder pads. Those who are still fishing for that elusive "market bottom" have likely missed it in most areas. The major story continues to be tightened inventory and high buyer turnout. Homes should be selling faster and for closer to list price – or even above in the hottest neighborhoods. Continue to monitor key differences between the foreclosure and traditional segments as well as variability between the single-family and condo markets.

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending October 13:
• New Listings increased 7.3% to 1,252
• Pending Sales increased 26.7% to 954
• Inventory decreased 28.8% to 16,017

For the month of September:

• Median Sales Price increased 12.6% to $174,500
• Days on Market decreased 28.4% to 101
• Percent of Original List Price Received increased 4.0% to 94.8%
• Months Supply of Inventory decreased 39.6% to 4.1

For more information: www.mplsrealtor.com

5 Essential Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Contractor

By Oliver Marks
houselogic.com

You’re ready to remodel but you want to make sure you get the best contractor for the job. Here’s what to ask the candidates before you decide.


For all of the excitement of choosing plumbing fixtures, cabinets, and tiles for a remodeling project, the most important decision you make won’t involve color swatches or glossy brochures. It’s the contractor you pick that makes or breaks the job. That choice will determine the quality of the craftsmanship, the timeliness of the work, and the amount of emotional and financial stress the process puts on you. To make sure you’re getting the best contractor for the job, here are five questions to ask the candidates.


1. Would you please itemize your bid?

Many contractors prefer to give you a single, bottom-line price for your project, but this puts you in the dark about what they’re charging for each aspect of the job. For example, let’s say the original plan calls for beadboard wainscot in your bathroom, but you decide not to install it after all. How much should you be credited for eliminating that work? With a single bottom-line price, you have no way to know.

On the other hand, if you get an itemized bid, it’ll show the costs for all of the various elements of the job—demolition, framing, plumbing, electrical, tile, fixtures, and so forth. That makes it easier to compare different contractors’ prices and see where the discrepancies are. If you need to cut the project costs, you can easily assess your options. Plus, an itemized bid becomes valuable documentation about the exact scope of the project, which may eliminate disputes later.

The contractor shouldn’t give you a hard time about itemizing his bid. He has to figure out his total price line by line anyway, so you’re not asking him to do more work, only to share the details. If he resists, it means he wants to withhold important information about his bid—a red flag for sure.

2. Is your bid an estimate or a fixed price?

Homeowners generally assume that the bid they’re seeing is a fixed price, but some contractors treat their proposals as estimates, meaning bills could wind up being higher in the end. If he calls it an estimate, request a fixed price bid instead. If he says he can’t offer a fixed price because there are too many unknowns about the job, then eliminate the unknowns.

“Have him open up a wall to check the structure he’s unsure about or go back to your architect and solidify the design plans,” says Tampa, Fla., attorney George Meyer, who is chair-elect of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Construction Industry. If you simply cannot resolve the unknowns he’s concerned about, have the project specs describe what he expects to do—and if he needs to do additional work later, you can do a change order (a written mini-bid for new work).

3. How long have you been doing business in this town?

A contractor who’s been plying his trade locally for 5 or 10 years has an established network of subcontractors and suppliers in the area and a local reputation to uphold. That makes him a safer bet than a contractor who’s either new to the business or new to the area—or who’s planning to commute to your job from 50 miles away.

You want to see a nearby address (not a PO box) on his business card—and should ask him to include one or two of his earliest clients on your list of references. This will help you verify that he hasn’t just recently hung his shingle—and will give you perspective from a homeowner who has lived with the contractor’s work for years. After all, the test of a quality job, whether it’s a bluestone patio or a family room addition, is how well it stands the test of time.

4. Who are your main suppliers?

You’ve found a few potential contractors, you’ve talked to the happy former clients on each of their reference lists, now it’s time for one additional bit of homework: talking to their primary suppliers. There’s no better reference for a tile setter, for example, than his preferred tile shop; for a general contractor than his favorite lumberyard or home center pro desk; for a plumber than the kitchen and bath showroom where he’s on a first name basis.

The proprietors of these shops know a contractor’s professional reputation, whether he has left a trail of unhappy customers in his wake, if he’s reliable about paying his bills—and whether he’s someone you’ll want to hire. The contractor should have absolutely no qualms about telling you where he gets his materials, as long as he’s an upstanding customer.

5. I’d like to meet the job foreman—can you take me to a project he’s running?

Many contractors don’t actually swing hammers. They spend their days bidding new work and managing their various jobs and workers. In some cases, the contractor you hire may not visit the jobsite every day—or may not even show himself again after you’ve signed the contract. So the job foreman—the one who’s working on your project every day—is actually the most important member of your team.

Meeting him in person and seeing a job that he’s running should give you a feel for whether he’s someone you want managing your project. Plus, it gives the general contractor an incentive to assign you one of his better crews since you’re more likely to hire him if you see his A Team. If the contractor says he’ll be running the job himself, ask whether he’ll be there every day. Again, he’ll want to give you a positive response—something you can hold him to later on.

The subtleties of how to hire a contractor

It’s not only the answers to these questions that will help you judge potential contractors—it’s the way they answer them. Were they easy to talk to and forthcoming with details or did they hem and haw and make you ask more than once? Difficulty communicating now means difficulty communicating on the job later. But clear, timely and thoughtful responses—combined with terrific references, great completed work that you’ve seen, and a smart take on your project—may mean you’ve found the right pro for your job.


Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/contracting/five-essential-questions-ask-before-hiring-contractor/#ixzz2A2I68yWI

Weekly Market Update

For Week Ending September 29, 2012
Publish Date: October 8, 2012 • All comparisons are to 2011

Some say that housing and the economy are woven together into a single garment of destiny. Let's review recent national economic data: a good September non-farm payroll report marking 31 consecutive months of private job growth, the unemployment rate falling to 7.8 percent (a 44-month low), a widely positive S&P/Case-Shiller home price report and mortgage rates averaging close to 3.4 percent. Combine the above trends with less housing supply and strong home sales numbers, and you can start to see just what's driving this recovery. Here's what transpired locally.

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending September 29:

• New Listings increased 6.2% to 1,314
• Pending Sales increased 15.5% to 1,000
• Inventory decreased 29.6% to 16,261

For the month of September:

• Median Sales Price increased 12.3% to $174,000
• Days on Market decreased 28.7% to 101
• Percent of Original List Price Received increased 4.1% to 94.8%
• Months Supply of Inventory decreased 40.9% to 4.0

For more information: http://www.mplsrealtor.com

Reverse Mortgage Loans: Pros and Cons

If you’re thinking of taking out a reverse mortgage to supplement your retirement income, you have six options for getting your payments each month. Each option has pros and cons.


A reverse mortgage counselor, an accountant, or a financial planner can help you think through the options.

1. One lump sum gives you all your cash at once.

Pros: Useful if you want to invest in something that requires a lot of cash up front, such as starting a small business. You’ll get a fixed interest rate (all the other options come only as adjustable-rate mortgages).

Cons: You pay interest on the whole amount you borrow. If you don’t need all that money now, you’re paying interest needlessly. Plus, you may not be able to take more out of your house if you run into financial trouble later in life. If you go with one lump sum, be sure you have enough guaranteed future income to pay household expenses, such as insurance and property taxes, for the rest of your life.

2. Tenure gives you the same amount of cash each month until you move out or die.

Pros: The payments continue as long as you live in the house — even if you live to be 101 years old, you’ll still be getting that monthly payment.

Cons: You have to swap into a different payment option if you need a lump sum for a big repair.

3. Term provides a set amount of cash for a fixed period of time, such as $500 a month for 5 years.

Pros: Useful if you need income to cover a monthly payment that’s only going to last a certain amount of months, such as a car payment that ends in two years, or if you need income to tide you over while you wait for another source of income to start coming in, such as from an annuity.

Cons: It may be cheaper to take a lump sum at the beginning of your mortgage and pay that debt off all at once instead of using the monthly mortgage payment for that bill.

4. Line of credit allows you to take as much or as little as you need each month until the line of credit is gone.

Pros: You only pay interest on the cash you need each month. You can take more cash when you have unexpected expenses, such as needing a new furnace. Each year you that don’t use it, your line of credit increases because your life expectancy decreases by a year.

Cons: If you take out too much money, you can drain your line of credit.

5. Modified tenure provides a set monthly payment as long as you live in your home, and there’s also a line of credit available.

Pros: You’ll have a check every month to help with living expenses, and a line of credit to cover unexpected expenses. You only pay interest on the cash you take.

Cons: You have to get a variable rate reverse mortgage to use this or any of the other plans besides the lump sum. With a variable rate, you don’t know how much the interest rates will be in the future. And although you don’t have to pay back that interest, your heirs might — heirs receive the difference between what your house sells for after you die or move out, and what’s owed on the reverse mortgage.

6. Modified term provides a monthly payment for a fixed number of months and a line of credit when you need extra cash.

Pros: Good if you have a bill to pay every month for a set number of months, such as a personal loan you’re paying off, and you’d like a line of credit for unexpected expenses.

Cons: It may be cheaper to pay off that personal loan when you first get your reverse mortgage, depending on what the interest rates are for your personal loan and your reverse mortgage.

Changing your reverse mortgage payment option

If you choose a payment option and it doesn’t work out, you can swap into another one — unless you chose the lump sum. You can’t change a lump sum option because you’ve already taken all the cash you were eligible to get.

Still, it’s better to pick the right plan from the get-go, so think about what you need to use the cash for and how that monthly reverse mortgage payment fits in with your overall financial plan.


Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/reverse-mortgages/reverse-mortgage-loans-pros-cons/#ixzz28igd2wa5


Published: October 20, 2011
By: Dona DeZube