3-4 MONTHS BEFORE YOUR MOVE DATE: CHECK HOME PRICES

Have you found a place you like? Get an independent home valuation report on the home you are looking at plus other homes throughout the neighborhood. Having that information will help you negotiate best price.

tip: view home valuation reports

Although homeownership rates peaked at nearly 70% of U.S. households recently, quite a few Americans are renting. Many are doing so by choice too.

Homeownership isn't always out the reach of people who rent. Instead, some prefer to have a landlord take care of their property and make the needed repairs and upgrades that come with apartment living.

Unfortunately, renters oftentimes forget one important thing: they need rental insurance.

Yes, if your unit is damaged and your goods destroyed, you could lose everything that you own. With a rental insurance policy in place, you could recoup your losses and move on with your life. Without rental insurance, you may have to hope that the assistance of others will help bring you through and/or find yourself relying on your own savings to replenish your possessions.

What you need to know about rental insurance:

Rental insurance doesn't cover your dwelling -- your apartment complex, townhouse unit or other rental property will be insured by your landlord or management company.

Policies can cover a variety of things -- make sure that all of your goods are covered. If you have expensive jewelry, antiques, a coin collection, or anything else of high value, you may need to get a separate policy to cover these items. Check with your insurance agent to find out what is and what isn't covered.

There are two different pay outs for insurance -- some policies will give to you the actual cash value (ACV) of your goods while others offer a replacement cost coverage (RCC) amount. With the latter, you'll pay more but if your five year old sofa is destroyed, you'll be given enough money to buy a new one, minus your deduction.

The cost of your policy will vary depending on what you own, where you live, the type of insurance desired, etc. Check with a reputable insurance agent to find out what coverage you need to protect what you own. Don't go without rental insurance -- you could be one disaster away from misery if you are not sufficiently covered.

(2009/05/01) HOME TIPS

A water heater is the one appliance that gets no respect -- until it quits working. Silently, almost effortlessly doing its job behind scenes, your home's water heater faithfully provides the hot water you need for showering, running the dishwasher, and for cleaning your clothes. Only when hot water is absent do many homeowners remember this important device.

Yet, like so many major appliances, a hot water heater needs to be maintained or failure is certain to occur. You can extend the life of your hot water heater by following a regular maintenance schedule, a fifteen minutes (or less) process that should be done one to three times each year.

How To Maintain Your Hot Water Heater

Sediment build up is one of the biggest contributors to hot water heater failure. In areas where hard water is prevalent, mineral build up can reduce its efficiency, hastening the break down process.

You can reduce sentiment build up by lowering the temperature of the hot water heater to a more manageable 120 degrees. True, your dishwasher requires hotter water, but modern units contain their own heaters to bring the water temperature up to the required level.

Step By Step Instructions

Before you drain the sediment out of your hot water heater, you'll need to turn off the water supplying the heater at the cold air intake. Or, you can shut off the home's main valve. Gas-fired heaters require that you turn the temperature control to off while cutting off the supply of gas to the unit via the gas line. Electric heaters can be turned off right at your electrical panel.

Next, place a bucket under the drain and fill it up with water. Or, if you have a garden hose handy, attach the hose to the heater and drain it that way. With a bucket you'll have to make several trips to dump out the water but with a hose you can drain the heater all the way at once. When the water turns clear, then you can close the valve, but you may need to turn on the supply valve for the cold water in order to clear out whatever sediment remains.

Once you are done, go ahead and close the drain valve and turn off the hot water faucet. Reopen the cold water supply valve and fill up the tank. Turn on the power only after the tank has been replenished by flicking on the power at the electrical box or reigniting the pilot light.

Extend The Life Of Your Water Heater, Save Money

Regular care of your hot water heater will ensure that you receive regular service for many years. Neglecting the device and you could shorten its lifespan and experience failure at the most inopportune time -- like in the middle of your shower!

(2009/01/07) HOME TIPS

2008-09 will go down as the years of contrasts.

By late Spring 2008, gas prices began to surge eventually topping $4 per gallon by summer. Later in the fall, gas prices fell, dropping below $1.50 in some areas.

Housing prices also tumbled, so much so, that homes valued at one rate in 2004 were worth less than that in 2008-2009. In fact in some markets home prices fell to levels not seen since around 2000 or 2001.

What hasn't fallen are property taxes which spiked earlier in the decade as tax administrators saw a ready supply of new tax revenue suddenly made available home values increased. Homeowners were shocked to learn that their housing values which suddenly increased by 30-50 percent or more were taxed at a higher rate, driving up property taxes by thousands of dollars in some cases.

The Wall Street Journal (Monday, January 5, 2009, pg. A3) reported in an article titled, “Call Grow to Cap Property Taxes,” that some jurisdictions are still raising taxes even as home values drop. In some states the amount of taxes paid as percentage of income continues to rise, putting added pressure on consumers.

Leading the way with the highest property taxes in the nation is New Jersey where the media property tax for 2005-2007 was $6082 according to The Tax Foundation. That translates into a figure of 7.1% for the average New Jersey household, but it clearly doesn't reflect the impact that higher taxes has on people living on a fixed income. In many northern New Jersey communities it isn't uncommon for residents to face an annual property tax bill topping $12,000 or $1000 per month. For the homeowner with limited resources this burden is unsustainable.

Home prices fell an average of 20% across the country in 2008, but that isn't stopping some communities from raising property taxes even as the recession deepens. Citizen groups in some states are banding together to fight the increases making sure that property tax relief measures are put on the state ballot.

State leaders appear to understand the gravity of the problem and are, in some cases, calling for a statewide cap on property tax increases. On January 1st, New York City residents were hit by a seven percent property tax boost, but even Gov. David Paterson is realizing that the increases are too much is working with legislative leaders to support a 4% statewide cap.

Homeowners do have other weapons in their arsenal when it comes to fighting property tax increases. Besides the ballot box, individual assessments can be challenged if the homeowners does his homework. This may mean finding out what evidence the tax man used to come up with a higher valuation including property description and location, building a case to present reasons why your taxes should be lowered, meeting with the tax assessor informally and, if your personal appeal still hasn't worked, filing a formal appeal with the county board.

The country's current economic climate may not be enough of a reason for you to appeal your taxes. What every homeowner has to do is make a personal appeal to have their taxes lowered while working with citizens groups to stop or cap tax increases at the ballot box.

(2009/01/07) property taxes

Internet Tools For Important Life Events

The internet has made it much easier for people to find information and to do something constructive with it. We understand that gathering up knowledge and putting it all in one place has made life easier on everyone. The search engines have played a significant role in helping web users achieve this goal.

SayEducate was founded to help our readers gather up the thousands of web pages contained within the nBuy Associates information network. Our articles are written with the purpose of providing useful information and for linking out to our sites, where readers can find what they need about the subject being discussed.

We've also developed quite a few handy internet tools to assist you as you tackle various projects. Each tool is free and quite a few of them can be downloaded and used as needed. The following are seven of our internet tools for your review:

Home Buying Guide -- We offer a 7-step plan to help you purchase your new home.

Moving Expense Plan -- Moving can be stressful and this guide will help you plan it all out.

Home Selling Guide -- Whether you sell your home yourself or use a real estate agent, our Home Selling Guide has the best interests of the home seller in mind.

Family Spending Plan -- Keep track of income and expenses with this handy tool.

College Planning Worksheet -- No college bound student should be without this planner. It was developed to make college search and selection a less stressful ordeal.

Managing Rebate Credit Cards -- Are you getting the most out of your rebate credit cards? This guide can help you get free money or some great prizes.

Year-End Holiday Party Kit -- Just for fun, this kit helps you to plan for the perfect holiday gathering.

If you would like to access additional free internet tools, then a visit to our WebReader site will turn up more than two dozen decision making, personal growth, and fun tools for your use. Enjoy!

(2007/11)

VIEW SOME NEW CAR BUYING TIPS ...

Consumers shopping for a new car are probably aware that some spectacular buys are awaiting them. This is due mostly to a market that has basically collapsed, forcing car manufacturers to slash prices in a bid to move inventory.  Most manufacturers are posting discounts amounting to thousands of dollars off of the sticker price, deals that won't be around when manufacturers complete the readjustment of their inventories to account for the reduced demand.

Unsold Goods = Big Buys?

Some buyers are hoping that with Chrysler and General Motors slashing dealerships that they'll be able to purchase a car at a fire sale price from a dealer about to close down their operation. That scenario may or may not happen as both companies don't want prices to collapse. Instead, each manufacturer could end up buying back unsold inventory or other dealers may step in and purchase unsold inventory.

Regardless of how everything shakes out in the months ahead, you can save money on a new car by keeping some things in mind including:

Buy What You Want, Not What Is Cheap -- Both General Motors and Chrysler are offering the biggest discounts in the industry along with government backed warranties. With prices so low you could be tempted to buy something that is cheap, but is it what you really want? Likely, you'll be keeping your car for many years so only purchase the vehicle you know that you can live with five years or more down the line.

Comparison Shop -- One of the problems experienced by GM, Chrysler and Ford is that they have too many dealers in the same geographical area competing with each other. Tight competition lowers profits, but it makes for some good options for consumers seeking a deal. Get quotes from three dealers to see what is available for you; you could save hundreds of dollars if you shop around.

Should You Buy Used? -- A late model used car sometimes represents the best value of any car on the dealer lot for the simple reason that these cars often reflect their price depreciation. However, some new models are moving at prices that have been lowered to take in depreciation, making the new car much more enticing than the one or two year old model with 25,000 miles on the odometer.

Dealer Service After The Sale -- Once the sale has been finalized, who will service your car? If you are buying your new car from a dealer facing closure, where will you take your car to be serviced later on? Other GM dealers can service your new Pontiac, but if Saab, Saturn and Hummer shut down, will you be left with an orphaned model?

Consider What Your Dealer Is Going Through

Inasmuch as you stand to end up with an excellent deal, if your dealership is slated to close, don't insult them by offering a ridiculously low price on a new car. Employees may be facing the prospect of losing their jobs or being transferred to another dealership many miles from their homes. You want to get a great deal, but you need to consider that for some salespeople they're about to lose their jobs.

(2009/06/23)