Mortgage Lowdown

Greetings! Welcome to the 8th edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. We have received 11 posts for this edition out of which 7 got the final nod. Here are the posts in the order they were received.

Jason Elder presents Bankruptcy - The Best Ways to Deal With It posted at A Bankruptcy Lawyer’s Blog. If you are thinking about filing for bankruptcy, you have come to the right place. You might be feeling overwhelmed, stressed and confused. Lets get you started on the track towards financial freedom and see what the best ways of dealing with bankruptcy are.

The Skilled Investor presents Lifetime investment assets of renters — with investment cost improvements posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog. Fran and Fred expect to pay investment costs that are typical of an average investor. This graphic is one of the reasons why The Skilled Investor keeps harping about reducing investment expenses. Even average investment costs are simply outrageous, and they can be the difference between success and failure of a family’s lifetime financial plan.

KCLau presents Why Invest in Land? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips. Most people think that land investment is only for real estate developers, who buy big parcels of land for commercial, or residential development. But actually, investing in land is one of the sound investment strategies available for common investor, both large and small.

Bela presents Ghosts in the Radiators: My Crash Course in Home Heating | House Chronicles posted at House Chronicles. Bela shares her experience.

Steve Faber presents - More Money Saving Tips posted at Debt Free. ……chances are you can still save substantial money and feel way more comfortable doing it by doing some basic weather proofing and maintenance to your home. Here are some quick money saving tips for decreasing energy usage around the house.

Mike presents Pools are expensive: Our yearly costs posted at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money. Discuss the problems and costs with owning a pool.

Mark Cutler presents Using Mirrors in Decoration posted at Mark Cutler Design. Enjoy this article on using mirrors in decoration.

That concludes the 8th edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. Next edition of this carnival will be hosted here on 30 July 2007. You can submit your posts here.

Greetings! Welcome to the 7th edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. We have received 10 posts for this edition. Without further ado, here are the posts in the order they were received.

SpiKe presents Clutter 101: The Landing Strip posted at Organize IT. The landing strip is that immediate space you come to as you enter your house where you can feasibly drop your baggage. Though typically this is a hallway, it can be whatever room you pass through as you enter/leave your home. The nearer to the door the better though.

Michelle Mitchell presents scribbit: Tips for Your Next Remodel | A Blog About Motherhood in Alaska posted at scribbit. For those of you who can stand to hear more of my whining about the state of my home right now I’ve put together a list of tips for guiding you through the nightmare that is The Remodel. May it guide you through life’s tough times.

Matthew Paulson presents It’s Time to Dump Your Cable Bill: Get Free TV Online posted at Getting Green. Joost is a new option currently in beta that will allow you to watch many cable channels online just as if you were watching them on television, and do so all for free. You’ll be able to see networks such as MTV, Comedy Central, The Soccer Channel, National Geographic, and Sci-Fi. Currently the software is available on an invite only basis, but if you do some looking online, chances are you’ll be able to get an invite without very much effort.

Eric Hudin presents Protect, Provide & Profit - A Family Limited Partnership posted at My Estate Planning Career Blog. A Family Limited Partnership is becoming one of the most popular methods to pass the equity in a larger estate to the heirs at a discounted tax rate, while retaining control, and at the same time, protecting the assets from lawsuits.

Thomas Humes presents Millionaire Mind - Think Like A Millionaire posted at Wealth Building World. Millionaires, multi millionaires and billionaires have a unique way of looking at money. Learn about it and apply it to your own thinking.

Kristen presents Does Your ARM Have an Interest Cap? posted at LoanShak. When you apply for a mortgage loan, there are a few mortgage loan questions that you need answered before you sign the papers. One of these questions has to do with the cap on your mortgage interest rate.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Lessons, Pay Taxes On Your Winnings! posted at The Digerati Life. Wouldn’t you like to be a chosen homeowner for the ABC show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”, when a team of top builders will alight upon you, change your life in a few short days and turn your environment into a grand statement of luxury? Oh yeah, if only to be blessed by such fortune.

Edithyeung presents How to Analyze Real Estate: Single Family Homes (SFH) posted at Stewart Hsu. The real estate world is full of different types of investments. Similar to the fields of medicine or law, where you can specialize in pediatrics, dermatology, oncology, etc. or criminal, civil, corporate, etc.

Mark J. Donovan presents Trepidations on Starting Home Remodeling Project posted at HomeAdditionPlus. Mark shares his experience on home building.

Stefanie presents To Pergo or not to Pergo? posted at Random Encounters of We. Stefanie and her husband need suggestions about the Pergo. They are in the middle of a floor situation.

that concludes the 7th edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. Next edition of this carnival will be hosted on 14 July, 2007. You can submit your posts here.

Greetings! Welcome to the sixth edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. We have received 8 great posts for this edition. I hope you will enjoy reading these. Here are the posts in the order they were received.

Alanna presents Guide to Home Improvement posted at BBB Consumer Education. Slide show about Home Repair Scams and protecting yourself and your money.

Kristen presents Distressing wood posted at Shakhammer. Get the look of distressed wood in 5 easy DIY steps.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Proof That Buying A House Is Impossible In Some Local Real Estate Markets posted at The Digerati Life. The median priced house in America today only costs 22% of the median income compared to 20 years ago when it supposedly cost over 30% of that income? Today you are expected to only spend 22% of your pretax pay on mortgage payments to buy the typical house.

Livingalmostlarge presents Condo Hell Update #2 posted at Living Almost Large. Dealing with neighbors in a condo association.

Mark Cutler presents Designing with One Color posted at Mark Cutler Design. Here is an article about using a simple color scheme in your home.

Eric Stanley presents Getting Money to Finance Your Purpose in Life posted at Personal Finance Blog Articles. Everyone has a purpose in life. Did you know that you can have as much money as you want, if you use it to finance your purpose in life?

WBL presents Understanding Your Mortgage posted at Wealth Building Lessons. Your mortgage is the biggest financial commitment you’ll ever make. Most people spend more time trying to save a few hundred dollars on their kitchen appliances than on trying to save tens of thousands on their mortgage.

Edithyeung presents How to Analyze Real Estate: Single Family Homes (SFH) posted at Stewart Hsu. For a SFH, your primary source of income is going to be the rent received from your tenant/renter. If it’s a furnished home, you would likely charge more rent than an unfurnished home.

That concludes the 6th edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. Next edition of this carnival will be hosted here on 28 June, 2007. Feel free to submit your posts here.

Greetings! Welcome to the 5th edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. We have received 8 posts for this edition. Here are the posts in the order they were received.

ISPF presents Why Do Some People Prefer to Pre-Pay Mortgage, while Others Prefer to Invest the Money Instead? posted at Grad Money Matters. Rationally, it makes more financial sense to stash the additional money we have in a well-chosen index fund. But month after month, we apply the money to the principal of our mortgage loan. It’s not like we are this irrational all the time. So, why are we so irrational when it comes to mortgage?

Manos Peglis presents Home Decorating Mistakes posted at Home Improvements. Most people have great decorating ideas which they have picked up from books, magazines, looking at model homes, or as they see places in their daily routine.

Almomento presents 10 Steps to Better Efficiency in Your Day to Day Life posted at BurstCreativity. Ability to be creative in all of the aspects of our life can enhance it beyond belief. Since creativity enhances with practice, we have to put ourselves through an intense emergence into the world of creativity, to make a profound change in how we approach life. We will condition our mind to think creatively where before it wasn’t natural for us to do so.

Mark Cutler presents Top 5 Things for a Powder Room posted at Mark Cutler Design. Get tips on how to improve your Powder Room.

Ben presents The Costs of Being a Homeowner posted at Money Smart Life. An air conditioner out, a leaky roof, and a threatening flood make it an interesting week as a homeowner.

Kristen presents Decorating small spaces posted at Shakhammer. 3 good and practical tips on how to decorate a small space.

KRG presents Why Buying a House is Better Than Renting posted at FIL-AM WORDS. Reasons why home ownerships is better than renting.

Steve Faber presents - American Homes - How Large Can They Get? posted at Debt Free. If you are already into a home, be aware what new home buyers are now looking for when you evaluate remodel projects with an eye toward future value enhancement.

That concludes the 5th edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. Keep submitting your posts to the future editions of this carnival. Thank you for your support and contribution.

–By Sagar Satapathy

Hi Everyone! We are here with the Carnival of Home Improvement. I am sure that you will find the featured posts useful and interesting. Although only 7 posts are featured on this edition, they are the real gems. Without further ado, here are the posts in the order they were received.

Barry Mahfood presents Should You Add Storm Protection? posted at Central Florida Real Estate News. The Orlando Sentinel today has a good article about the affordability of upgrading your home’s storm protection.

ISPF presents Should You Get a 40 (or 50) Year Mortgage? posted at Grad Money Matters. Very long-term mortgages (40 or 50 years) are offered in some of the west coast cities and are touted as options for bringing home ownership within the reach of the common man. What is the true cost of taking out such a long term mortgage? What are the alternatives?

Kristen presents Environmental Shift posted at Shakhammer. When it comes to environmentally friendly commercial buildings, St. Louis is one of the 10 greenest in the country.

ISPF presents Steps to Avoid Foreclosure: What to Do When You Can’t Keep Up With Mortgage Payments posted at Grad Money Matters. If you are one of the unfortunate people snagged into a sub-prime loan or know of someone who is, and finding it hard to keep up with the mortgage payments, it is important to remember that a foreclosure can be avoided.

Darius presents How much worse can housing get? posted at Related to Mortgage. The slow drift downward in long-term rates stopped this week, the 10-year T-note at 4.69 percent, mortgages settling just above 6.25 percent.

Tracy Coenen presents Home buyers suing to get out of contracts posted at FRAUDfiles. Cancellation rates on these home buying contracts may be as high as 30%. The story highlights a few situations in Florida, where attorneys are even advertising their services to people who want to get out of their contracts.

Kristen presents Build your own solar panels posted at Shakhammer. Solar panels are great, if you have the space then you can have as many as wish and place them anywhere as long as they get the sun most of the time, the draw back to using solar panels is the cost, they are very expensive, so much so that the savings may not pay for the installation for years to come, that is the downside of using solar power.

That concludes the 4th edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. Keep submitting your posts to your favorite carnival. We expect a sharp increase in the number of submissions over the next few weeks.

–By Sagar Satapathy

Welcome to the third edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. Here are the posts that have been featured this week. We don’t have any particular piece that we can term the best among all. All the posts have been given equal importance. Without further ado, here are the posts in the order they were received.

Joshua Dorkin presents Establishing a Partnership for a Real Estate Deal posted at Real Estate Investing For Real. If you don’t take the time to work up a formalized agreement and purchase a property with partners, you can get yourself into some real trouble.

Tracy Coenen presents Have you been taken by mortgage fraud? posted at FRAUDfiles. Read about a mortgage fraud.

Praveen presents 4 Red Flags For Home Repair Fraud posted at My Simple Trading System. The Illinois attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division listed construction and home repair improvement fraud as the third most common consumer complaint, after identity theft and credit-related issues.

Matthew Paulson presents How to Reduce Your Home Electrical Usage posted at Getting Green. A lot of people rarely ever think about all of the energy that they are using in their home, and as a result they pay a much higher energy bill than they need to. By taking a few simple steps, you can easily reduce your electric bill by anywhere from twenty to forty percent. Consider these ways to cut your home electrical usage.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Dog Days Of Roofing posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog. "Our roofers must enter your yard, But their access is blocked by your guard".

Steve Faber presents Housing Values Throughout the Country - What $300,000 Will Get You posted at Debt Free. Obviously, the affordability of a home in your area has a huge impact on your standard of living. It varies widely throughout different areas of the united states.

Sara Goldstein presents Home and lifestyle advice: the best of The Bargain Queen. � The Bargain Queen blog posted at The Bargain Queen blog. In a year of writing about home improvement on a budget (among other things), these are the absolute best posts I’ve come up with. Enjoy!

Clint presents 5 Home Improvement Projects That Will Raise Your Home’s Value posted at DIY Disaster Avoidance. In talking about recouping home improvement costs there is one room that should be held above all others: Kitchen. The kitchen is the single best place to remodel in order to raise the value of your home.

That concludes the third edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. Keep submitting your posts to the future editions of this carnival. Thank you for your support and contribution.

–By Sagar Satapathy

Greetings! Welcome to the second edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. We are really glad to receive a good number of entries to this carnival. We have selected 10 posts to be featured on the current edition. Without further ado, here are the posts that made the cut:

Paul Michael presents Secret lawn tonic recipe from golf course groundskeeper posted at Wise Bread - Living large on a small budget. Amazing recipe for a green lawn, cheap and easy.

Nala presents How to Stay Relaxed During a Big Move posted at The Abundant Life. Our homes provide security. They shelter us from the elements and from the outside world. When we make a move, we are giving up known levels of security and trading them for unknown security ? It may take us weeks or months before we feel safe in the new environment.

Frugal Strategies presents Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring Contractors posted at Frugal Strategies Blog. The writer had like to share some things that helped us — and a stupid mistake that really hurt! — during a recent minor home improvement that required an electrician.

Ybother presents 10 Reasons Why Smart Homes Can’t Get Into Your Home posted at A Top Ten List Everyday to Jumpstart Your Knowledge. Smart Homes have been touted as the Next Big Thing. However they have been around for decades and any futuristic movie is sure to showcase their potential. But why ain’t our homes like those in Minority Report? Read on to find out.

Maureen presents 11 Features of Our Ideal Retirement House. posted at Empty Nest. What do you want in your retirement home?

Arvind Devalia presents Arvind Devalia ? Sometimes you just have to laugh? posted at Arvind Devalia. Sometime you just have to laugh! An example of house building gone wrong.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents A Steal? The Former Boss’ House Is For Sale At A 35% Discount posted at The Digerati Life. House prices have been sliding precipitously in some areas, especially in the super luxury markets. Read on…

Julie Bonner presents Find It Friday - Oh, That Kitchen Counter posted at Declutter It!. Is your kitchen counter a mess? Is it piled high with papers, recipes, school work and bills? If so, then you need Find It Fridays! This particular article is about clearing off that kitchen counter hot spot and turning it into a useful and organized space.

John Peter presents 7 Common Mistakes you Need to Avoid when Selling your Home posted at Business School. Before you take the plunge, make sure you read the following common mistakes of ordinary FSBO/Private home sellers. If you’re not (FSBO home seller), make sure you read this too - it could still help you sell your home. These mistakes are a result of observations and feedback from customers and clients using the online private sale method. Knowing what not to do, can save you present and future heartache and dollars. I hope you can learn from them.

Investments & Loans presents Simple Living - best buys for DIYs posted at Investments & Loans. For anyone interested in DIY (do-it-yourself) the main benefit lies in keeping your costs down.

With this, the Carnival of Home Improvement is concluded. Keep submitting your posts to the future editions of this carnival. I thank you all for your continued support and contribution to this carnival. I would appreciate your comments and feedbacks.

–by Sagar Satapathy

Greetings! Welcome to the first edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement. Barring a few irrelevant entries, all other good submissions have been included. Without further ado, here are the posts in the order they were received:

Amy Allen Clark presents Before & After: Dining Room Chairs posted at Amy Allen Clark. Awe-inspiring Meredith, from Like Merchant Ships, is a source of great inspiration when it comes to home decorating.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents This Old House Is Worth $1.23 Million posted at The Digerati Life. Silicon Valley Blogger’s friend sold this old thing around 5 years ago for way under a million. But that was then, this is now. As he mentioned, it is now valued at $1.23 million. In fact, he has never in his WILDEST dreams imagined it would ever sell for anything over $600,000. But prices can only be as crazy as the politics.

Larryb presents Finding the Best Interest Rate posted at Mortgage Tips. When you want to apply for a mortgage, you should spend a lot of time and effort calling around or searching the Internet to find the best rates. Because so many people are dishonest from the start, it is difficult to do this shopping sometimes.

Geoff Lacey presents The Complete Photo Guide to Home Improvements posted at House Remodeling Blog. A useful companion guide for anyone who is looking to do any form of home improvements. Being prepared is crucial when you are making changes to your home.

Bobby Johnstone presents Air Bag Failure, an interesting site about how to deal with lawsuits related to defective airbags. Along with it, the site showcases a number of legal articles related to seat belts which are defective and defective tires. All of this is written by Bobby a specialist attorney in SUV Rollovers.

Jane May presents Remodel Your Home The Right Way posted at Career Ramblings. Is 2007 the year you have been planning to finally do your home remodeling? If it is, remember that it is not about how much you spend, it’s how you spend it.

SengAun Ong presents Freshwater Aquarium Starter Guide posted at Tipskey - Unlock Practicality. Aquarium makes home homelier. This articles talks about mistake-minimized startup of freshwater aquarium.

Geoff Lacey presents FHA Can Help With Buying Your House posted at Hud Home Blog. If you are on a budget and looking to buy a home then Hud Homes and FHA loans are the first place to start your search.

Tracy Coenen presents The REAL “Flip This House” is coming back! posted at FRAUDfiles. You heard it right! Not those scam artists from San Antonio and Atlanta. This is “The Real Deal.” Quite literally.

Michael Cook presents Rehabbing Real Estate is for You posted at Suite101: Buying/Selling a Home articles. Great new real estate may just be one house away. Rehabbing can be a great way to get into a good neighborhood cheaper and add value to your most important investment.

Vilo Kanis presents How To Remove The Old Paint From The Wooden Windows posted at Roofing Childs Play. Grinding, scraping, sand or water blasting… to remove the old paint you can use the steel shave or spatula, straight, sharp piece of glass, wire brush, chisel, mechanical or electric grinding machine… practically anything. Removing the old paint mechanically, with the spatula and abrasive paper.

With this, the first edition of the Carnival of Home Improvement is concluded. Keep sending such interesting and useful posts to the future editions of this carnival. Please give a link back to this carnival, which will help promote this carnival on the blogosphere.

Here’s a good news for our readers. We are going to host the first edition of the "Carnival of Home Improvement" on March 06, 2007. We require interesting blog posts on real estate, mortgage, property, home improvement and other related issues. Feel free to submit your entries through the Blog Carnival Page.