Insurance To Consider When You’re Single And Starting Out.

Insurance To Consider When You’re Single And Starting Out

The right insurance can help keep you and your possessions protected from unexpected events, but when you’re on your own for the first time it can be hard to know what coverage you need and what you don’t. The Insurance Information Institute (III) suggests looking at these coverages if you’re just starting out:

Renters
Your landlord’s insurance covers the building—not your belongings—in events such as a fire, theft or severe weather. Renters insurance offers coverage in these situations and often includes liability protection.

Homeowners
If you own a home, homeowner’s insurance will help protect both the structure and the belongings and also offers liability protection.   Purchase enough homeowners insurance to cover the cost to rebuild your home in case it is totally destroyed.  In most locations you can lower the cost of your premium with safety upgrades, such as fire alarms and security systems.

Condominium owners
Similar to renters insurance, condominium owners insurance primarily protects your personal property.  But it also helps protects the portions of your unit the condo association requires you to cover.  And it provides liability coverage.

Auto
In most states, it’s illegal to drive without auto insurance. The cost varies by state depending on things like your age, car, driving record and the type of coverage you have. Keep in mind: When you lease or finance a vehicle, you may have to purchase collision or comprehensive coverage in addition to basic liability.

Health
In some cases, the Affordable Care Act allows young people to stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26, even if they’re married or eligible for insurance through their employer. If insurance isn’t available through your parents or your employer, consider purchasing individual health coverage to help cover medical expenses.

Life
Life insurance can help protect loved ones from taking on additional burdens—such as your unpaid debts or funeral expenses—should you unexpectedly pass away. When you’re young, your life expectancy is high, so you might benefit from lower rates if you purchase coverage at a younger age.

Help Protect Your Home: Clear Your Roof of Snow.

Help Protect Your Home: Clear Your Roof of Snow

Plenty of homeowners in the United States live with the harsh realities of winter. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, residents in Rochester, New York, receive about 8 feet of snow each winter. Homeowners in cities such as Cleveland, Minneapolis and Denver typically can expect to move more than 4 feet of snow. And that’s just a handful of the snowiest U.S. cities.

On your home’s roof, excessive snow and ice buildup can cause both property damage and personal injury.  Here are some things to know:

Understand the Dangers
Heavy loads of ice and snow can create serious problems for your home. These include:

• Injuries from snow and ice falling from sloped roofs
• Roof collapse, especially on flat roofs
• Carbon monoxide poisoning resulting from blocked chimneys and vents
• Water damage from ice dams that form on the edges of roofs and in gutters

Watch for Warning Signs
Recognize the signs of stress when too much snow and ice has accumulated on your roof:

• Sagging ridgeline
• Drooping ceilings
• Water leaks on interior walls and ceilings
• Jammed doors
• Cracked interior walls near the center of your home
• Creaking sounds

Avoid Excessive Buildup
Removing ice and snow from your roof is a dangerous job. Avoid injury by hiring a professional to fix the problem before it leads to property damage and expensive repairs. Here are some ways to prepare your home:

• Purchase a roof rake to help pull excess snow off the roof.
• Avoid using salt or chemical snow-melt products to melt ice on the roof. These can erode shingles and gutters and potentially void the roofing manufacturer’s warranty.
• Add insulation to your attic to help prevent your home’s warm air from escaping into unheated attic spaces. Ice dams form when warmed attic air melts a layer of snow on the roof. This melting snow slides down the roof and refreezes on unheated overhangs and gutters. Do not attempt to “chip away” the ice formed by an ice dam as that may lead to shingle damage.
• If replacing your home’s roof, have a self-sealing membrane installed under the shingles to help prevent water damage from ice dams.
• On metal roofs, install snow guards above entrances.

Property sales up in the US and building sector confidence increases.

Property sales up in the US and building sector confidence increases

Residential property sales in the United States edged upwards for the seventh month in a row in January, according to the latest RE/MAX national housing report.

It shows that real estate sales are now 3.4% above levels seen a year earlier in the 53 metropolitan areas covered by the survey.

In January, the median price of homes sold in the 53 metros was $129,306, only 0.8% lower than a year earlier and a 3.4% drop from December.

Perhaps due to falling foreclosure numbers, for the 19th consecutive month, inventory levels dropped in January. The average inventory of homes for sale dropped 24.1% from a year earlier and 4.2% from December.

‘If sales continue ahead of last year’s pace and inventory does not increase significantly, we could start to see increasing home prices this year,’ said RE/MAX chief executive officer Margaret Kelly.

Of the metro areas included in the January survey, 20 saw double digit jumps from a year earlier, and 36 experienced higher sales, including Albuquerque up 33.9%, Wilmington-Dover, Delaware, up 33.2%, Atlanta up 26.3%, Indianapolis up 19.6%, Providence, Rhodes Island, up 19.6%, Nashville up 19.5%, Cleveland up 18.9% and Chicago up 15.3%.

Meanwhile, data from the Commerce Department shows that housing starts rose 1.5% in January, the highest level since October 2008.

Analysts polled by Econoday expect housing starts to come in at 675,000 with a range of estimates between 640,000 and 736,000.

‘January’s housing starts data support our view that home builders are shaking off the shackles of the last five years and are beginning to contribute to GDP growth,’ said analysts at Capital Economics, but added; ‘That said, the housing sector is currently not big enough to set the economy alight’.

Figures from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development show that single family starts fell 1% last month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 508,000 units, down from an upwardly revised 513,000 for December.

But construction of multi family housing increased by 14% to an annualised rate of 175,000 in January.  And the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index shows that builder confidence is at a four year high.

Source “Property Wire“

Agents: Attracting Business to You Every Time You Leave the House.

Agents: Attracting Business to You Every Time You Leave the House

Most real estate prospecting strategies focus on the pursuit of business, or going out there and actively looking for targets to prospect. Fair enough.

But you can also generate a significant amount of business for yourself using attraction-based strategies that don’t require you to pursue anyone. Imagine, a business where good prospects come to you looking for help. Doesn’t that sound like fun?

If you love being a real estate agent and you know your market, you can attract business left and right, as long as you’re out there in the world with your antenna up and a smile on your face. You don’t need to shove your business card at everyone you meet, or dazzle them with a fantastic elevator speech. If your enthusiasm and expertise shine through in your casual conversations, the people you know and the people you meet will want to do business with you, if they have business to do.

The trick to an attraction-based real estate business is to always be doing a couple of things.

First, always be mastering your market. The more intelligently you can speak about the local real estate market, the more magnetic you’ll be when you’re talking to people. For example, when you’re invited to a party, try to check out the market in the area of the party ahead of time. That way when you’re mingling at the party and real estate comes up, you can talk about “that house down the block that’s been on the market for 9 months,” and you’ll know why it hasn’t sold. You’ll also know about the one around the corner that just came on the market last week. Even if you don’t use the knowledge you obtained during your pre-party previewing, karma seems to work with you and will put you in a position to use it soon.

Seriously, a real estate agent who knows his market exudes a confidence that will draw people to him.

Second, you should always be looking for opportunities to put your smiling face and your market expertise in front of other people. Now when I say this, I don’t mean that you should make a nuisance out of yourself in public on a regular basis. Do that and you might find yourself avoided. Instead, open up room in your calendar for casual socializing. Accept invitations you might normally decline. Make a concerted effort to go to lunch with friends two or three times a week. Pick up the phone to ask a friend a question instead of shooting off an email. Go into the bank instead of through the drive-thru lane.

Every single person you meet every single day has the potential to bring you a paycheck. And you have no idea who that person will be. It could be your mailman, your hairdresser, or your dog-sitter. It could be the lady you sat next to at the nail salon. Every time you venture out into the world with your antenna up and a smile on your face, you could meet your next biggest client.

But, that probably won’t happen if when you venture out into the world you don’t come across to people as someone who loves and is good at their job. And that’s not the impression you leave when you’re always in sales-pitch mode. So, leave the sales pitch at home, focus on being a great real estate agent who loves her job and knows her market and stays in touch with the people she knows without ever pestering them for business and referrals. I think you’ll find that you’ll attract far more business than you have in the past, and have a heck of a lot more fun doing it.

Source: realty times / Jennifer Allan

Home Builders Are Feeling More Optimistic.

Builders Are Feeling More Optimistic

Signs are improving in the new-home market and builders are feeling more optimistic about where the real estate market is heading, after coming off last year’s worst year on record for new home construction.

For the fifth consecutive month, builders confidence in the single-family home market increased in February, reaching its highest level in four years.

“Builders confidence has doubled since September,” says Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. “Given the recent improvements in new home starts and the increasing number of markets included in the NAHB/First American Improving Market Index, this consistency suggests that the housing market is moving toward more sustainable growth.”

While the jumps in builders confidence have been an encouraging sign for the industry, housing experts warn that confidence is still historically low, and that foreclosures, low appraisals, and more stringent credit standards continue to hamper the new-home market’s full recovery.