Create a Home Emergency Preparedness Kit

Having a home emergency preparedness kit could be the key to your family’s safety if disaster strikes.

Garage doors are particularly susceptible to storm damage. Learn how to reinforce garage doors before a storm hits. Additional home improvement videos can be found at DannyLipford.com.

Preparing a home emergency preparedness kit you hope never to use may seem like a waste of time and money. But when disasters happen that are beyond your control, you can take charge of how you respond. “What became clear in Hurricane Katrina is that in big events, the government isn’t going to come to your aid right away. You have to be prepared to take care of yourself,” says Rick Bissell, PhD, a professor of emergency health services at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. According to a 2008 FEMA survey, more than half of all U.S. households have some sort of disaster preparation in place. If yours isn’t one of them, here’s what you need to do.

First, make sure important papers are in order

 

If a flood destroys your home, you could spend weeks or even months just trying to re-create the essential documents you’ll need to get back on track. That’s why it’s critical to have backups of important papers, including the deed to your house, proof of insurance, medical records, passports, social security cards, and a list of personal contacts. Keep one copy at home in a portable case and another offsite in a safe place. And while you’re at it, use the opportunity to check whether your insurance is up to date. “People often don’t know what their homeowners’ insurance policy covers, and most don’t cover flooding,” points out Bissell. Find out what hazards your area faces, and make sure you’re protected against them.

Tailor a preparedness kit to your personal needs

 

Humanitarian organizations and government aid agencies offer guidelines for creating an emergency preparedness kit. But along with the basics like food and water, it’s important to have what you need for your particular situation. You may not need extra blankets in southern California, but you do need escape ladders in case of wildfire. And you’ll want extra extra blankets to survive a winter power outage in Maine.
Think about what you need for the safety of your house, too. Knowing where to find the main electrical and water shutoffs—and having the right wrench to turn them—can make the difference between a house that weathers the storm and one that experiences catastrophic flooding or fire.

A basic emergency preparedness kit

 

FEMA recommends you keep a “grab and go” bag with these items in case you need to evacuate:
Water: One gallon per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation; double if you live in a very hot climate, have young kids, or are nursing. Bottled water is best, but you can also store tap water in food-grade containers or two-liter soda bottles that have been sanitized. Factor in your pet’s water needs, too.
Food: At least a three-day supply of nonperishables and a can opener. Pack protein, fruit, and vegetables, but make sure they’re in a form you actually like—it’s bad enough not to have access to fresh food without also having to subsist on nothing but canned tuna. Include treats like cereal bars, trail mix, and Tootsie Rolls. Store food in pest-proof plastic or metal tubs and keep it in a cool, dry place.
Flashlights and extra batteries: “Candles are not recommended because there are many house fires caused by candles left unattended,” says David Riedman, a public affairs officer with FEMA.
First-aid supplies: Two pairs of sterile gloves, adhesive bandages and sterile dressings, soap or other cleanser, antibiotic towelettes and ointment, burn ointment, eye wash, thermometer, scissors, tweezers, petroleum jelly, aspirin or non-aspirin pain reliever, and stomach analgesics such as Tums, Pepto-Bismol, and a laxative. (All those Tootsie Rolls can be hard to digest.)
Sanitation and hygiene supplies: Moist towelettes, paper towels, toilet paper, garbage bags, and plastic ties. You might also want travel-size shampoo, toothpaste/toothbrush, and deodorant.
Radio or TV: Keep a portable, battery- or crank-operated radio or television and extra batteries to remain connected in case the power goes out, as well as an extra cell phone charger. You can buy a good emergency radio online from the Red Cross.
Plastic sheeting, duct tape, and dust masks: In case you need to seal your home or shelter from airborne contaminants.
Extra items: A whistle to signal for help, a favorite toy or other comfort items for kids.
Cash.
Update your kit as your needs change, and replace food and water approaching its expiration date. You might pick a specific time each year to check, such as before hurricane season in the south or after Thanksgiving if you live in the north.
Wendy Paris is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared in This Old House magazine and other publications. She keeps chocolate chips on hand in case of emergency.

Information obtained By: Wendy Paris

In article Published: August 28, 2009

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4 Tips to Determine How Much Mortgage You Can Afford

By knowing how much mortgage you can handle, you can ensure that home ownership will fit in your budget.

Here are six surefire ways you can get your finances in order before you buy a home.

Homeownership should make you feel safe and secure, and that includes financially. Be sure you can afford your home by calculating how much of a mortgage you can safely fit into your budget.

Instead of just taking out the biggest mortgage a lender qualifies you to borrow, consider how much you want to pay each month for housing based on your financial and personal goals.

Think ahead to major life events and consider how those might influence your budget. Do you want to return to school for an advanced degree? Will a new child add day care to your monthly expenses? Does a relative plan to eventually live with you and contribute to the mortgage?

Still not sure how much you can afford? You can use the same formulas that most lenders use, or try another of these traditional methods for estimating the amount of mortgage you can afford.

1. The general rule of mortgage affordability

As a rule of thumb, you can typically afford a home priced two to three times your gross income. If you earn $100,000, you can typically afford a home between $200,000 and $300,000.

To understand how that rule applies to your particular financial situation, prepare a family budget and list all the costs of homeownership, like property taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, and community association fees, if applicable, as well as costs specific to your family, such as day care costs.

2. Factor in your downpayment

How much money do you have for a downpayment? The higher your downpayment, the lower your monthly payments will be. If you put down at least 20% of the home’s cost, you may not have to get private mortgage insurance, which costs hundreds. That leaves more money for your mortgage payment.
The lower your downpayment, the higher the loan amount you’ll need to qualify for and the higher your monthly mortgage payment.

3. Consider your overall debt

Lenders generally follow the 28/41 rule. Your monthly mortgage payments covering your home loan principal, interest, taxes, and insurance shouldn’t total more than 28% of your gross annual income. Your overall monthly payments for your mortgage plus all your other bills, like car loans, utilities, and credit cards, shouldn’t exceed 41% of your gross annual income.

Here’s how that works. If your gross annual income is $100,000, multiply by 28% and then divide by 12 months to arrive at a monthly mortgage payment of $2,333 or less. Next, check the total of all your monthly bills including your potential mortgage and make sure they don’t top 41%, or $3,416 in our example.

4. Use your rent as a mortgage guide

The tax benefits of homeownership generally allow you to afford a mortgage payment—including taxes and insurance—of about one-third more than your current rent payment without changing your lifestyle. So you can multiply your current rent by 1.33 to arrive at a rough estimate of a mortgage payment.

Here’s an example. If you currently pay $1,500 per month in rent, you should be able to comfortably afford a $2,000 monthly mortgage payment after factoring in the tax benefits of homeownership.

However, if you’re struggling to keep up with your rent, consider what amount would be comfortable and use that for the calcuation instead.

Also consider whether or not you’ll itemize your deductions. If you take the standard deduction, you can’t also deduct mortgage interest payments. Talking to a tax adviser, or using a tax software program to do a “what if” tax return, can help you see your tax situation more clearly.

Adopted from Information Provided By: G. M. Filisko

Published 2010-03-11 16:55:18

Other web resources

A worksheet on home affordability

Freddie Mac information on home affordability
G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who’s owned her own home for more than 20 years. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

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7 Tips for Improving Your Credit

Here’s how to clean up your credit so you get the least-expensive home loan possible.
Getting the loan that suits your situation at the best possible price and terms makes homebuying easier and more affordable. Here are seven ways to boost your credit score so you can do just that.

1. Know your credit score

Credit scores range from 300 to 850, and the higher, the better. They’re based on whether you’ve paid personal loans, car loans, credit cards, and other debt in full and on time in the past. You’ll need a score of at least 620 to qualify for a home loan and 740 to get the best interest rates and terms.
You’re entitled to a free copy of your credit report annually from each of the major credit-reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Access all three versions of your credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com. Review them to ensure the information is accurate.

2. Correct errors on your credit report

If you find mistakes on your credit report, write a letter to the credit-reporting agency explaining why you believe there’s an error. Send documents that support your case, and ask that the error be corrected or removed. Also write to the company, or debt collector, that reported the incorrect information to dispute the information, and ask to be copied on any materials sent to credit-reporting agencies.

3. Pay every bill on time

You may be surprised at the damage even a few late payments will have on your credit score. The easiest way to make a big difference in your credit score without altering your spending habits is to diligently pay all your bills on time. You’ll also save money because you’ll keep the money you’ve been spending on late fees. Credit card or mortgage companies probably won’t report minor late payments, those less than 30 days overdue, but you’ll still have to pay late fees.

4. Use credit carefully

Another good way to boost your credit score is to pay your credit card bills in full every month. If you can’t do that, pay as much over your required minimum payment as possible to begin whittling away the debt. Stop using your credit cards to keep your balances from increasing, and transfer balances from high-interest credit cards to lower-interest cards.

5. Take care with the length of your credit

Credit rating agencies also consider the length of your credit history. If you’ve had a credit card for a long time and managed it responsibly, that works in your favor. However, opening several new credit cards at once can lower the average age of your accounts, which pushes down your score. Likewise, closing credit card accounts lowers your available credit, so keep credit cards open even if you’re not using them.

6. Don’t use all the credit you’re offered

Credit scores are also based on how much credit you use compared with how much you’re offered. Using $1,000 of available credit will give you a lower score than having $1,000 of available credit and using $100 of it. Occasionally opening new lines of credit can boost your available credit, which also affects your score positively.

7. Be patient

It can take time for your credit score to climb once you’ve begun working to improve it. Keep at it because the more distance you put between your spotty payment history and your current good payment record, the less damage you’ll do to your credit score.

Other web resources

Please note that we recently obtained permission to publish information in articles obtained by NAR - National Association of Realtors.  The above was one of these such articles and this information was published by them with the name of HouseLogic.© Copyright 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

 How FICO scores are calculated
&
Answers to frequently asked credit report questions

Information above shared with us By: G. M. Filisko

Published 2010-02-25 13:35:12

Image: Rob Daly/OJO Images/Getty Images

G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who keeps a close eye on her credit scores. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

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Homebuyer Training Voucher Program

I would like to announce an added perk in becoming a client of our New Orleans Westbank Realty Team:

Do you need homebuyer training? We can help you with a chance to take the course for FREE!  If Dottie and I are your Realtors you can take advantage of NOMAR’s Homebuyer Training Voucher Program FREE as long as funds are available!

This is how it works: First give us a call for your Free Buyer's Appointment.  Then once you decide to work with us you can go to any Certified Homebuyer Training Agency. You will first pay for the course upfront. We will then give you a Voucher to fill out and after it is received by NOMAR, you will be reimbursed the entire course fee within 30 Days. It’s as simple as that! Funds are limited and will be disbursed on a first come first serve basis. Please click on the link below to get the list of Certified Agencies:

Certified Homebuyer Training Agencies

See you Soon!

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Updated Westbank Statistics to include May 2010

Last week I gave you Westbank Statistics of Single Residential Home Sales for 2009 vs 2010.  I now have in the results for last month in May and added this to the charts below.  May is showing that the Inventory of homes on the market took a dip,while the average sales price is only slightly higher but the number of homes sold is more. Click on the charts for a larger image:

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Price your Home Correctly to Sell - How are Home Sales in 2010 vs 2009?

Price your Home Correctly to Sell

To those of you who own a home, you probably realize that your home is special to you.  For most people, even when it comes time to sell a home for whatever reason, they can think of many reasons why their home is worth more than their neighbor’s home.  You may be moving because your home is becoming too small for your family, or maybe it is getting too big as your children grow older and move out.  Maybe you feel it is time to move up to a nicer home, or maybe you need to move for a different reason like a job transfer.  Whatever is the reason for selling your home, you most likely have it customized to your own likes and needs.  So when it comes time to put a price tag on it, many people believe the value of their present home to be much higher than it really is.

When you price your home, you need to compare homes similar to yours that sold recently in your neighborhood.  This can be hard for many people to do accurately on their own.  Neighbors sometimes do not report accurately to you what their home really sold for.  Or you may just be remembering what the home listed for instead of the real selling price.  Then people tend to put the actual cost of upgrades they had done on the home on top of the sold price of their neighbor’s home.  In actuality, the value is not going to be dollar for dollar when it comes time to sell.  Then your favorite color for your walls and carpet may not be as attractive to many buyers as it is to you.  For these reasons, you need to seek the help of a professional and listen to their advice.  The statistics I will show you here will prove why this is so important.  These statistics also show that too many people are still pricing their homes too far above market value.

How are the sales so far in 2010 compared to 2009? Let’s take a look…

We are still in a Buyer’s Market, which means we have more supply of homes on the market than we have buyers.  All statistics below are for Single Family Residential Homes on the Westbank only, and are compiled from actual figures provided by the New Orleans MLS (Multiple Listing System) used by the Realtor Association in our area:

Above shows that on the Westbank, 10% less homes sold so far this year compared to the same time period last year.  The Average Price of homes on the Westbank for all of 2009 was $156,235 while the year to date Average for 2010 is slightly lower at $151,841 (2.8% lower). 

But look at the Average Listed Prices - The overall Average List Price of All listed Homes are much higher than the Average List Price of the homes that actually sold! 

In 2009, the overall Average Price of Homes Listed was 18% higher than the Average List Price of the Homes that actually Sold.  As of the end of April 2010, this amount decreased to 14%.

This next Chart shows How many homes actually sold in both 2009 and 2010 compared to how many listings there are on the market:

When you need to sell your home, you want your home to be in the best possible position for a Sale.  This means pricing it correctly for the condition it is in.

The following Chart shows a comparison of Homes Sold in 2009 vs 2010:

The following Chart shows the Average Number of Days on the Market of Homes that Sold and compares 2009 to 2010:

This Chart shows the amount in Inventory of Homes on the Market measured in Months.  This is found by dividing the amount of homes we have on the market by the number sold in any given time period.  This is called the “Absorption Rate”:

Even though there are a few less sales so far this year compared to last year, overall the amount of inventory we have is very similar.  We are also noticing that the amount of time on the market of the Sold Homes is dropping.  This shows signs of a slow stabilization of the market.

So if you have a Home to sell, give your Professional Realtor a call to help you determine how to get your home in the best condition you can, set the best price and get it Sold!

To see these charts clearer in a larger scale, visit our website and get a closer look at these statistics and more as we make it available.  Click on our weblink below to get to our Website:

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