By The Associated Press | MainStreet.com

By ALEX VEIGA AP Real Estate Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) Environmentally conscious condo and apartment dwellers can’t be blamed for feeling a bit, well, green over those living in detached homes, free to make just about any Earth-friendly renovations they like.

Unless they live in a building with a homeowners association that has embraced the Earth-friendly way, condo owners are decidedly limited by comparison in the range of upgrades they can make to enhance their energy savings.

And renters — often times they’re just lucky if they can get permission to paint, much less rip out flooring, countertops and cabinets.

But that’s no reason not to take advantage of the trove of products that are now on the market to whittle down that carbon footprint, eradicate airborne toxins and beef up the use of recyclables, experts say.

First the basic stuff:

Russell Albanese, president of the Albanese Organization, which has built several green residential high-rises in New York City, says among the first things condo and apartment residents should do to cut their energy costs is toss out their incandescent light bulbs and replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs or LEDs, light-emmitting diodes.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs can range between $4 and up, with many models above $10. LEDs with comparable light output to household lamp incandescent lights are typically around $30.

The next move for condo owners (and for apartment renters, if they can) is use only Energy Star-rated appliances.

Another energy-saver, using programmable thermostats. They can be used to manage when the air conditioning or heat turns on, so that they’re on for less time during the day when the unit is empty.

“It can save you a lot of energy if you’re away from home a lot,” says Jay Hall, a technical consultant for the U.S. Green Building Council, an industry trade group.

Indoor air quality can be a significant problem in residential buildings, particularly for renters whose apartments have carpeting.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified filters for air conditioners can help snatch up small particles of dust and other allergens not captured by conventional filters.

A medical grade Hepa air filtration unit that can absorb chemicals and odors and wipe out nearly all airborne particles. Prices of Hepa-rated air purifiers vary, with models typically around $100 and up.

Another way to make the air inside an apartment or condo cleaner is to repaint the walls with low volatile organic compounds, or low-VOC paints.

Many are increasingly available and often don’t cost a lot more than regular paint. Low or no-VOC interior wall paints can run about $36 a gallon, while comparable regular paint are around $20 a gallon.

To help save water, condo owners can try dual-flush toilets (with prices starting around $400) which give users two options on how much water to use per flush.

For those thinking about redoing their flooring have more environmentally sustainable choices than ever, including reclaimed wood, bamboo, cork and natural linoleum, which is made out of flax seed, linseed oil and other biodegradable materials.

Bamboo and cork flooring come in a variety of finishes. They typically start at around $3.50 a square foot, with some styles going for twice that or as low as $2 at some retailers.

Kitchen cabinets can also be redone with similar alternatives to wood, including composite veneer, which can be made to look like exotic woods.

The options for swapping out kitchen counters for more eco-friendly materials now include using recycled bottles and glass recovered from landfills.

Metal, reclaimed wood, and stone are also good alternatives, says Sarah Beatty, founder of New York-based Green Depot, a green home building retailer.

IceStone, one brand of recycled glass used to create countertops for kitchens and bathrooms, generally ranges between $100 and $150 a square foot.

“There’s no longer any type of compromise with these green products,” Beatty said. “They are beautiful, there’s much more of a range, (and) they’re easier as far as installation goes.”

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

By Peter McDougall | MainStreet.com

Homeowners have been on a refinancing binge in the past year, scrambling to get out of their adjustable rate mortgages and into fixed rate mortgage, or FRMs. Refinancing accounts for 43% of mortgage activity, while only 2.5% of new applications are for ARMs, according to the most recent Mortgage Bankers Association survey.

But refinancing isn’t always the right move.

Here’s why: Many homeowners refinance to take advantage of a lower rate or avoid an anticipated interest rate hike on their ARM. But refinancing can be costly. Closing costs average 2% to 4% of the loan amount, and it can take a while for the savings from lower monthly payments to pay back the upfront costs of refinancing. If you sell the house before you’ve had the chance to recoup those costs, refinancing was a bad idea.

So how do you calculate the break-even point where the savings from a refinancing outweigh its costs? If you are refinancing from one FRM to another because of lower rates, you can crunch the numbers with the help of the online Refinance Interest Savings calculator at BankingMyWay.com. Enter the details of your current loan and your new mortgage, and the calculator will tell you how much lower your monthly payments will be and when you stand to break even.

Say you have 15 years left on a $200,000 mortgage at 8.5% on a home originally worth $250,000. You want to refinance to take advantage of the current lower rate of 6.22% on a new 15-year mortgage that covers the remaining balance of your original loan. Your closing costs total $3,000. According to the calculator, you would save a little more than $200 in monthly payments, and you’ll break even after 15 months.

The decision to switch from an ARM to an FRM, however, depends on more than just when you plan to sell the house. It also hangs on how and when your rate will adjust. Rates for a 5/1-year ARM (a popular type of ARM) are currently 0.08 percentage point higher than rates for a 30-year FRM. But as recently as two months ago, rates on ARMs were 0.5 percentage point lower, and had been for some time. The two types of mortgage rates are influenced by different market forces.

Take a look at your ARM to determine how much your rate can jump from year to year and what your rate is based on. If the rate on your ARM is likely to remain lower than what you can get with an FRM, consider delaying refinancing, especially if you’re considering selling the house in the next few years.

If you are in the fifth year of a 5/1-year ARM, your rate is about to adjust. Say you have a 0.5% cap on annual rate adjustments and your original rate was 5.5%. Even though ARMs currently sit at 6.57%, your rate will only rise to 6% for next year. Refinancing with a 30-year FRM right now would carry a rate of 6.49%, according to the latest rates from BankingMyWay.com. A 0.5% difference in rates on a $200,000 mortgage translates to $78.44 a month, or $941.28 a year, more in payments.

By waiting to refinance, you’ll save $941 in extra payments and also save $3,000 in closing costs. And even if rates shoot up again next year, your 0.5% rate cap will keep you at the same monthly payment as if you had refinanced to the FRM at 6.49%, yet without any closing costs. To see how your numbers would look, check out the online ARM vs. FRM calculator from BankingMyWay.com.

It may be tempting to try and take advantage of lower interest rates, but remember that there’s more involved in a refinance. Crunching the numbers before deciding whether to refinance will put you in a better position to make the right call.

How and why are big banks participating in mortgage relief programs? Here are four resources to better understand why mortgage relief is quickly becoming a hot topic.

1 - U.S. Backs Fannie, Freddie Stock
The Treasury Department reiterated that the U.S. stands behind a preferred-stock purchase agreement. The Wall Street Journal explains.

The agreement was unveiled Sunday to protect current and future investors in debt and mortgage-backed securities issued by the two mortgage-finance companies. Under the agreement, Treasury can inject up to $200 billion in the two companies. In return, it received $1 billion in preferred stock from each company, along with warrants to purchase almost 80% of each firm’s common stock. The Treasury hasn’t paid out anything to the firms, but would inject capital into the companies as needed to keep them solvent.

2 - U.S. Steps Up Help for Homeowners
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are under government control, said they would help streamline the modification of loans for potentially hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are 90 days or more behind on their mortgage payments. Again, The Wall Street Journal explains.

The potential reach of the program is constrained by the large number of mortgages, especially subprime, which have been bundled into packages of securities and sold to investors around the world. The practical and contractual complexities surrounding these securities renders the mortgages hard to change.

3 - New Mortgage Plan Just a Drop in the Bucket?
Was yesterday’s government move enough? Analysis by The Wall Street Journal.

In its statement on the program, the Federal Housing Finance Agency says its new plan can help “thousands” of borrowers stay in their homes, but the problem is much bigger than “thousands.” More than four million homeowners, or 9% of borrowers with a mortgage, were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June, according to the most recent data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. There were 765,000 foreclosures in the third quarter alone.

And if that isn’t working? Try hypnosis to shrink your financial fears.

4 - A Hypnotic Answer to Financial Angst

After Gary Manouelian was laid off last year as a customer-service representative, he was anxious about his ability to pay off his mortgage and credit-card debt. So he sought help through hypnosis.

Thirty sessions and $1,500 later, Mr. Manouelian says he has since landed a government job and is working to pay off his debts. For this he thanks his hypnotist, Laura Ryan-Day in Austin, Texas.

Again, The Wall Street Journal reports.

By Sean Leviashvili | MainStreet.com

Financial advisor Dwan Bent Twyford survived the financial nightmare millions dread.

Shortly after her divorce her finances were a mess. She took odd jobs as she struggled to pay the bills and to support her daughter.

“I waited tables, I tried to take on some sales positions,” she says. “And then I found my way into real estate.”

Searching for a job that would allow her to raise her daughter, without placing her in day care, Twyford bought a foreclosed home in Florida, renovated it, and sold it shortly after, making a $22,000 profit.

“All the guys at Home Depot (Stock Quote: HD) knew me,” she says. “Eventually, they’d start avoiding me. I was basically there every day.”

Since then, she’s sold more than 1,200 houses, and now counsels those facing foreclosure.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON “UNDERWATER” MORTGAGES, READ MainStreet Explains: Underwater Mortgages.

Underwater Does Not Mean Out of Options
“Homeowners in these situations must recognize their options,” says Twyford, whose book, How to Sell a House When It’s Worth Less Than the Mortgage: Options for “Underwater” Homeowners and Investors, is to be published in February, says. “If they intend to keep their house, they should look into loan modifications, forbearance agreements, maybe renting out their home [or rooms in their home] and short selling.”

Education can allow underwater homeowners to feel empowered, she adds. “Foreclosure doesn’t have to be inevitable.”

Loan Modification
“If you have 25 years left on your loan, you’ll want to do a modification,” Twyford says. Depending on how far behind a homeowner is on their payments, the bank may roll in a portion of the money owed. However, banks will usually approve a loan modification if they see the homeowner is taking steps that will lead to reliable payments. “They’ll want to see a homeowner get a job if they were previously unemployed, or take on a roommate, maybe rent out part of the home,” Twyford says. “They’re looking for stability.” If approved, the bank may alter the loan, often raising the interest slightly.

Depending on a homeowner’s situation, a bank can potentially roll in the full amount of back-payments, increasing the monthly mortgage payment. Also, a bank can wind up rolling half the amount in, leaving the home owner responsible for bringing forth the rest, with a new interest rate, Twyford says. Homeowners can even call the bank and negotiate this directly.

If the bank agrees to roll in the full amount, due to the home owner’s credentials, there is usually a low fixed interest rate. After approval, the bank will restart the loan, and keep the terms the same.

“When a bank accepts a loan modification, the homeowner is completely out of foreclosure,” Twyford says.

Refinancing a Home
Refinancing occurs when a homeowner qualifies for a completely new loan. Unlike a loan modification, this option requires new closing costs and points. “To qualify,” Twyford says, “a homeowner cannot be behind on too many payments.” Also, your credit score should be solid to qualify, and being in a state of pending foreclosure makes it very difficult to qualify, she adds. “It’s when you realize you might fall behind on your payments, and you begin pulling out equity,” she says. “A refinance is for people whose payments are still good.”

Forbearance Agreement
This agreement is a repayment plan in which no details in the loan shifts. Once the homeowner is approved by the bank, they may have to put down a 25% payment, in addition to the regular payments that will appear. The regular mortgage payment remains the same, with an additional charge for 3 to 24 months, and usually no longer than 36 months, Twyford says. During the time of forbearance, you are in a pending state of foreclosure, Twyford says. “Wherever you were (in terms of foreclosure) before the forbearance agreement is where you stay the whole time.”

Take note: 80% of people with forbearance agreements don’t make it out, Twyford says. Many homeowners will be approved for a forbearance agreement, Twyford says, but it’s a temporary fix with limited incentive. “If you mess up one time with a forbearance agreement, you end up right back where you started,” Twyford says, which is days away from the sheriff’s sale. “And it really raises the mortgage payment.”

Short Sale
Another option for homeowners is short selling their home. “Saving the house is always our first choice,” Twyford, who also authored Short-Sale Pre-Foreclosure Investing: How to Buy “No Equity” Properties Directly from the Bank – at Huge Discounts, says. “But if that is not possible, they should speak to the bank about doing a short sale, and take what they can get.” One reason, according to Twyford, this could be a good option: No foreclosure would appear on the home owner’s credit report.

Twyford’s tips on working with an investor:

• Ask them how many deals they’ve done
• Ask for letters of recommendation from banks or homeowners
• Find out what they’re goals are. Ask them if they are looking to buy or sell the house
• FINAL WORD OF WISDOM: If the investor asks for the deed to the house, don’t work with them!

ATTENTION MAINSTREET READERS: Dwan Bent Twyford and her husband, Bill, hold three day seminars on issues ranging wholesaling options and exit strategies to short sales.

Dwan is offering 100 FREE sets of tickets valued at 2,500 per pair to ANY of the three day conventions set to take place in 2008 and 2009.

See the full list here.

Contact Dwan at 1(303)838-5532 and mention MainStreet to get your set of tickets. The seminars will be held in Clinton, Iowa.

Geezeo Note: Click here to talk to others who have faced or or facing foreclosure.

By Jeffrey Cretan | MainStreet.com

Now is not the time to sell your home. According to the Commerce Department’s New Home Sales Report, home sale prices went down 33% between September 2007 and September 2008, and the median sales price dropped from $221,900 in August to $218,400 in September this year. However, just because you’re not selling your home doesn’t mean you should forget potential consumer interests when making changes.

Consider the upgrades you can enjoy now that will also help your home’s resale value a few years down the line. “In the long run, it’s kitchens and baths,” says Dona Crowder, a realtor with Pacific Union in San Francisco. While she acknowledges it’s hard to measure the effects a remodeled kitchen can have on the eventual selling price without considering market conditions, location, overall condition and style of renovation, “If someone actually had some taste in remodeling, I would say at least 3 to 1.” But she adds the familiar caveat, “Except in a market such as this.”

Crowder also says that if you’re staying put for a while, you should attend to the roof, floors, electrical and plumbing. “If you’re going to be living there, why not enjoy them?” These infrastructural improvements will come in handy when you’re trying to sell and an inspector starts investigating all the nooks and crannies, says home inspector Jason Wahlberg. “The reason for home inspections is that we really do see the things behind the scenes that buyers can’t see.” While electrical and plumbing adjustments might not be as glamorous as that new hot tub, it can make a difference in the final sale. “There are types of things that will reassure people,” says Wahlberg.

Here are the five upgrades with the highest national average returns, according to the 2007 Cost vs. Value Remodeling Report from Remodeling Magazine. (The average percent return on initial investments and average job costs are in parentheses.)

5. Bathroom Remodel (78.3%, $15,789)
While adding that big Jacuzzi might sound like a good plan, you don’t have to go that far to upgrade your bathroom and bring in a solid return. A new toilet, ceramic tub, shower, tile and wallpaper might not wow your friends, but it could win over prospective buyers who might be put off by your current 1970s mint green tile.

Buy Now, Sell Later Tip: Storage space is limited in bathrooms, so think about vertical shelving which saves on square footage, but doesn’t skimp on surface.

4. Window Replacement (79.3-81.2%, $10,448-$11,384 depending on material)
Whether you choose vinyl or wood framed windows, the key is to find a material that holds outside air out. Look for the Energy Star label, which marks windows that can save you between 10-25% on your yearly heating bill.

Buy Now, Sell Later Tip: Contact the NFRC (National Fenestration Rating Council) to check on the energy efficiency and quality of the window brand you choose.

3. Kitchen Remodel (83%, $21,185)
You don’t have to gut the kitchen to see some serious improvements. Simply redo the counter tops, install a new sink, replace the flooring and put on new cabinet doors (leave the bones intact). Replace the stove, oven and any other permanent appliances with more energy efficient models. “If you’re remodeling the kitchen, you want to update the electrical and the plumbing while everything’s torn up,” Wahlberg says. “It’s easy to change the tile, but hard to rewire the kitchen.”

Buy Now, Sell Later Tip: According to Consumer Reports, when it comes to flooring, fake beats real tile. Vinyl linoleum and laminates last twice as long as hard wood floors when subjected to kitchen spills and scrapes.

2. Siding Replacement (83.2-88.1%, $9,910-$13,212 depending on type of siding)
Replacing the old siding on your home not only improves its exterior, but protects against the elements and insects. Also, air tight siding can lower energy costs by buffering insulation from the outside world.

Buy Now, Sell Later Tip: Buy environmental and non-toxic siding, which is a marketing plus when you’re selling the home.

1. Wooden Deck Addition (85.4%, $10,347)
Who doesn’t love a deck? A deck adds more floor space, which can be an essential selling point. There are a lot of routes to go, but according to Remodeling magazine’s report, a wooden deck will bring a higher average return than a composite deck by 7%.

Buy Now, Sell Later Tip: To keep a wooden deck sturdy and bright, refinish it every year or two so when it comes time to sell it’s already shining.

Editor’s Tip: Discuss your home renovation or improvement project in any of our home improvement budgeting groups.

By Jeffrey Cretan | MainStreet.com

It’s been said in real estate a million times: Location, location, location.

But using your location to sell your house doesn’t just mean just matching your asking price to recent sales in the area.

When considering selling your home, especially in a recessionary environment, look what your neighborhood has to offer besides good schools or convenient access to public transportation.

Think about what it means to live there, what kind of buyer you expect and how to market to them. Here are some ways to maximize value:

Know Your Location
“The first thing I do is drive around the neighborhood,” says Cindy Lin, the owner of Stage4More, which stages, or prepares, homes for sales showings. Large lots mean young parents. “Or you might have a condo complexes geared towards young professionals.” Based on what she sees and what she knows about the neighborhood, Lin then selects colors and furniture based on the expectations of what kind of people will want to live in that area.

Consider Color
For example: “San Francisco is more busy, more hip, more trendy,” says Lin, who runs her business out of Burlingame, a suburban city 15 miles south of San Francisco, Calif. “Burlingame is a more casual, relaxed style.” Lin suggests staging more modern furniture and sharper colors, like blues, in San Francisco, but in Burlingame you want furniture to be comfortable and colors to be warm, yellows and oranges.

Stratigize With Space
Also, for a two bedroom townhouse in Burlingame, where more families live, the second bedroom might be staged as a children’s room or nursery. However, in a two bedroom condo in San Francisco’s busy North Beach area, populated by younger professionals, the second bedroom could be staged as a home office.

Dona Crowder, a realtor from Pacific Union and former President of the San Francisco Association of Realtors, agrees that city versus suburban staging makes a difference. “If it’s urban, you want to make it hipper. Places with density and noise generally appeal to people who want density and noise.”

Play to the Neighborhood—But Not Too Much
While it’s easier to differentiate between urban and suburban living, within these areas exist smaller divisions based on ethnicity and religion. While it might seem smart to give a place near Chinatown some Asian flair, Crowder warns, “if you walk into a place that’s very Asian, you lose the other crowd.”

Adds Lin: “I don’t do Zen gardens or Chinese calligraphy as art work.” She says to stay away from ethnic and religious pieces because targeting a demographic eliminates a large sect of the population.

Instead, Crowder recommends generally keeping everything neutral: “You want to make it clean, uncluttered and neat.”

Turn the Lens Inside
Staging services can be expensive, generally running up into the mid to high thousands. But Crowder says staging is important, even if you can’t afford a professional like Lin’s services, because “an unstaged house does not photograph.”

SAVINGS TIP: See if a full-service firm will consult for a lesser fee. For example, Lin offers, in addition to full staging, a consultation service where for around $500 she’ll take a look at your place and make recommendations for you to stage or rearrange your furniture on your own.

Turn the Lens Outside
And don’t just photograph your home. Showing prospective buyers what lies nearby can entice them to come see your property. “Today everything is marketed on the Internet with photographs,” says Crowder. That marketing can include your neighborhood as well. Many listings now include photos not just of the property, but of the cute flower shop around the corner or the park down the street.

And in this economy, anything to get someone away from their computer and into your home is a good idea. Using your neighborhood is just another tool to get them inside. “Really you want to cast as wide a net as possible,” says Lin. “You want to throw out to a large group of fish not just a small group of fish.”

Related:

Coldwell Banker: Home Blow-Out Sale!
When buying a house, price is only half the equation
Renovate Your Home The Right Way

Big sales aren’t just for furniture stores and car showrooms — real estate company Coldwell Banker is offering reduced prices on it’s inventory of homes. Homeowners can reduce their home’s price on a voluntary basis.

Buying a house, be it your first or your tenth, is on a lot of minds these days. There’s no doubt, home prices are down. Home values in California fell 34% from last August. The median home price across the USA is down 9.5% from last year. However, interest rates are still at historical lows.

This begs the question: when do you buy? If you believe the price of housing will continue to fall, you may be tempted to continue to wait this out. But with mortgage interest rates hovering around 6% the era of cheap money to borrow may be ending.

Interest rates will continue to fluctuate; my crystal ball leads me to believe they will rise in the years to come. Housing prices may fall for some time still, but they will bottom out. So in 2008/2009, if you are in the market to buy property, you are faced with the dilemma of trying to time the “bottom” of the price market, or time the interest rates.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s mortgage interest rates ranged between 8% - 16%. In 1981 alone interest rates fluctuated between 13.21% and 15.38%. Imagine making mortgage payments with those interest rates. For example, the median home price in the USA today is $203,100: for that size principal, the payment on a 30 year fixed mortgage at 15.38% interest would be ~$2,630.

Again, using the median home price of $203,100 and an assumed 20% down, at 6% interest a 30 year fixed mortgage payment would be $974.15. If rates increase a mild 2 points to 8%, the same payment increases $218.07 per month to $1,192.22. That’s $2,216.84 more per year.

If you double the price of the house to $406,200 and run the same equations, at 6% a monthly payment would be $1,948.30. At an 8% interest rate the payment jumps $436.14 per month to $2,384.44 - an additional $5,233.68 per year.

If you have saved a sufficient down payment - most lenders are looking for 20% these days - and are also emotionally ready to invest in property, now may be the perfect time. Instead of trying to time the bottom of the house price market, in the long run you may be better served by locking in a low interest rate.

-Michele Steinberg, FinanceGrrl

Related:

How to Pay Extra on Your Mortgage, Save Money
Jim Cramer’s Rules for Real Estate Investing
Renovate Your Home The Right Way

By TSC Staff Writers

FROM THESTREET.COM: The current housing downturn provides opportunity in at least one area–a home renovation–thanks to good deals from contractors and builders.

Homebuilders are feeling the pinch these days. Even the biggest firms, such as Toll Brothers (TOL), D.R. Horton (DHI) and Lennar (LEN), are hurting.

Many builders are turning to home renovations to keep their businesses out of the red, creating competition that is lowering prices in some regions. These factors mean it’s a great time to renovate, even if the slumping market has reduced the impact some renovations have on a home’s resale value.

Which Renovations to Do

To ensure that your renovation will pay off, make improvements that others will appreciate as much as you do. Kitchen and bathroom renovations still carry some of the highest returns on investment—you’ll typically increase the selling price of your home by 80% to 90% of what you spend on the renovation. If you have three or more bedrooms and only one bathroom, adding an extra full or half bath especially should boost the resale value of your home.

But don’t install brightly colored backsplashes, or change your bathtub to a shower stall. These projects and others like them are a matter of personal taste, and they may not add value in the eyes of a future buyer.

Also, don’t compromise long-term value for short-term convenience. With the kids gone, tearing down a wall to convert half of the second bedroom into your walk-in closet may seem like a good idea — but it isn’t.

Check out Remodeling magazine’s 2007 Cost Versus Value report to learn how much money you stand to recoup from the renovation project you’re planning.

You don’t need to restrict yourself to beige carpets and white tiles. A renovation should be personally satisfying as well as financially viable. But before you indulge your wildest dreams, remember that they could be a prospective buyer’s nightmare.

Finding a Contractor

The best way to find a contractor is word of mouth. Ask your friends and coworkers for the names of contractors they’d recommend.

If you’re looking for additional names, search online professional databases, such as the U.S. Green Building Council Web site or Contractors.com. Your local hardware store may also be able to recommend dependable local contractors.

Once you have a list of contractors, interview each of them over the phone, then choose three or four contractors to investigate further.

Ask candidates the following set of questions:

And always ask for references–from both recent and older projects. You should ask:

Making the Choice

Your final candidates should provide a detailed breakdown of costs, along with a copy of the contract that you would sign if you were to hire them.

The contract should include the following provisions:

Check Contractors.com for more detailed information about items that should be included in the contract.

Compare the estimates you receive, but don’t simply jump at the lowest one. A contractor who offers significantly lower costs on materials or time may do shoddy work or make unrealistic estimates. Instead, select a reasonable estimate from a contractor who is likely to be reliable and dependable.

Finally, negotiate with the contractor you’ve selected to see if there is any flexibility in the estimate he or she provided. For example, you might offer to do some of the finish work, such as painting the room or putting up the molding, on your own. Scheduling the work to avoid peak renovation season—April to November—may cut the price as well.

Once you’re satisfied with the contractor and your agreement, sign the contract and wait for the work to begin.

Related:

Geezeo Home Renovation groups
Cramer: Forget About Buying A Second Home
Why the Amish are Hip to Solar
What To Expect With Your Homeowner’s Insurance

Have you ever seen the movie Failure to Launch with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey? If so, you may remember that the movie is a chick flick where Paula (Parker) is hired by Tripp’s (McConaughey) parents to convince him to finally move out of their home. There is a minor detail in the movie where one of Tripp’s friends explains to Tripp that technically he is more grown up [than Tripp] because he has already purchased his parents’ home in order to avoid the inheritance tax. So technically, Tripp’s friend is living in his own home…not that of his parents.

I found it really interesting that (1.) Such an important aspect of life was thrown into a romantic comedy and (2.) I had no idea about this inheritance tax before it was mentioned in the movie. It got me thinking that maybe I wasn’t alone and other people might not know this fact either!

Many times people are left property through a will that is made by the deceased. What they may not realize, is that they can also be taxed on top of this property and do not get it for “free.” (To find out more about written wills, check out this Geezeo article called Importance of Your Will!)

An inheritance tax is more commonly known to many as the ‘death tax’ or an ‘estate tax’ (even though they don’t always mean the same exact thing). This tax is so unpopular that the government is looking to get rid of it altogether. However, for now it remains. From 2006-2008, any inheritance below $2 million is tax free; in 2009 this number will increase to $3.5 million. Here’s the catch though – for every dollar over this amount you are taxed. Many tax rates vary state by state, but I can definitely see that number adding up fairly quickly!

One of the largest affected areas by this death tax is family businesses. Many families are not able to pass down the business through generations because those receiving the business cannot afford to pay off the tax that comes with it. In my mind it is really sad that a family tradition cannot continue when someone passes away. If the company was thriving in the first place, it should not be closed down just because someone cannot afford to pay a tax…if the person who passed away had survived, there would have been no tax anyway! It is hard enough to lose a close family member, let alone the business that has been passed down through generations as well.

One of the problems that the government is facing by getting rid of the ‘death tax’ is that it generates a fairly large amount of revenue for the government. According to USA Today, ending this tax would reduce the government’s revenue by about $290 billion to $745 billion over 10 years. That definitely is a lot of money, but that doesn’t mean that this tax is fair.

Losing a loved one is hard enough; dealing with financial difficulties after their death just makes it worse. Like I mentioned earlier, I hadn’t really heard about this topic until recently. If any of our Geezeo users have any stories surrounding the ‘death tax’ it would be interesting to hear how you dealt with it. I personally can’t imagine anything worse than having to deal with financial uncertainty at an already uncertain time, but I have not gone through this scenario and do not know firsthand. From what I have heard and read however, the ‘death tax’ sounds like anything but a good time!

© Photo by Kenn W. Kiser

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