Environmentally Friendly Products for your Home

The green home movement has been spreading, but many homeowners still believe that it is a lifestyle only available to the super wealthy. This mentality is not just untrue, but it is also hurting an otherwise world-changing industry. What most homeowners don’t know is that there are hundreds of affordable ways to improve your home’s environmental impact. From simple lighting to reusable plastic products, every homeowner has access to green home solutions.

Solar Powered Candles

Installing solar panels that will power your entire home can be expensive and out of reach for many families, but that does not mean that you should avoid all solar powered devices. Hanging solar powered candles are a hot new trend. They can be seen hanging from porches across the country. These candles require such a small amount of solar power that it makes traditional non-solar porch lighting products seem primitive and wasteful. A hanging solar candle will usually cost no more than $30 to $40, but they require no electrical power and will last for many years to come.

Low-Flow Showerheads

Low flow showerheads not only save water, but they save energy as well. Using a low flow showerhead will provide you with the same quality showering experience while using only half the water of a traditional showerhead. This adds up over time, cutting out a huge percentage of your yearly water consumption. Now figure in the amount of energy that it takes to heat that water, and your savings will skyrocket. Water heating usually makes up for a large percentage of a home’s energy consumption, but it does not have to be that way. Low flow showerheads are inexpensive and pay for themselves in no time.

Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products

Cleaning products have been a major burden on the environment since their conception. However, there are plenty of innovative new companies developing natural products that work well and have little or no negative impact on the environment. Natural laundry detergents have advanced a lot since the idea first came about. New formulas are being developed every year, using all-natural ingredients that manage to clean as well as their chemical filled counterparts. The same goes for wood and counter cleaner sprays and stain removers. Some of these products may cost a little more than their dangerous competitors, but you will be doing the world a favor by making the switch.

Various Kitchen Items

There are tons of little items we use every day that often go unnoticed. From coffee filters to plastic wrap, everything that goes into the trash can will end up in a landfill. Luckily, most of these products can be reusable. Instead of using plastic wrap to store uneaten food, get a reusable container. Rather than throwing out a coffee filter every morning, there are durable filters designed to be reused for years after purchase. These are the little things that many homeowners forget about, but they add up over time. Pay attention to what you use on a daily basis and decide for yourself what you should change to have a green home.

6 Real Estate Tips for Choosing Your Dream Home

The term “dream home” means a lot of different things to a wide variety of people.
To some, it means a cozy cabin on an acre or two of lake-front property near a small town. To others, it means an average-sized two-story dwelling in a friendly suburb. And then there are people who want the $1.3 million New York City apartment with views of the Empire State Building.
Regardless of what type of person you are or what type of home suits your fancy the most, there are a lot of important decisions that go into picking out your dream home. In this article, we’ll give you 6 real estate tips to consider when trying to select the home your heart craves most of all. And they are:
Square Footage
If you time-travel back to 30 years in the past, homes were usually around 1,645 square feet in size. Today, that number has gone up to 2,195. But since the housing bubble burst, that number is starting to shrink as people eliminate superfluous rooms like “exercise rooms, offices, studies, and media rooms”. Really, it all comes down to how much — or little — house do you want and/or need.
Floorplan
Do you like your home with rooms that are intimate and traditional, or do you prefer an open floor plan that will help facilitate parties, family get-togethers, and other forms of entertainment? Neither is better than the other; it just all comes down to need and personal preference.
Home Grade
This section could also be labeled “cost,” because the grade of home you want affects the price. Obviously, a home with granite countertops, authentic stone floors, and mahogany wood paneling is going to cost much more than a home with laminate counters, ceramic flooring, and pine paneling. If you want a green home (i.e. one with “zero-voc paint, bamboo floors, and recycled counters”), that will also affect price. Decide what you want and make sure it fits your budget.
Landscaping
Sure, a big, beautiful, well-maintained lawn sounds good in theory, but are you willing to perform the necessary upkeep? Opting for a condo or townhouse decreases your lawn maintenance, but it could also hinder your entertaining, especially if you’re a fan of cook-outs and flag football. Determine if you’re willing to put the time into a lawn; if you don’t want one, nix houses with large yards from your search.

Neighborhood
Picking a neighborhood can be hard. If you have children (or plan on having some in the future), your choice will probably determine what public school they attend. Other things that can influence your choice are your daily commute to work, whether or not you want to be in a historic part of town, what kind of demographics interest you the most, or how close you want to be to your city’s dining and entertainment venues. Figure out where you are in life — and where you’re headed — and plan accordingly.
Surrounding Area
This one relates back to the previous section. What kind of dining, shopping, and entertainment options do you need to be near your dream home? (For example, I know I personally have to live within 15 minutes of a Wal-Mart in order to get by.) Be sure to scope out what’s available to you in the town/city that interests you. That way, you won’t be disappointed down the road when you discover your dream home is nowhere near your favorite chain restaurant.

Home Improvements That Pay Off!

Renting vs. Buying a Home: Which Is Smarter?

When Laurence DeGaris moved into his first house last August, at the age of 49, the University of Indianapolis marketing professor quickly found himself missing some of the pleasures of renting.
"The best thing in my old place was Lou," DeGaris says. "Faucet leaking? Call Lou. Air-conditioning not working? Call Lou. Now that I'm a homeowner, I got no 'Lou.' You know anyone who does gutters in Indianapolis?"

Is it better to rent or buy a house? That's a question virtually all adults ask themselves at one point or another, and especially around this time of year, as some people consider their goals and plans for the year ahead. So before you answer the question, here are some other questions you should ask yourself first.

Is it important that your house is an investment? If it's very important, you might want to rethink your future living arrangements. "Americans were used to their homes being a store for wealth – something to liquidate in retirement and downsize," says Scott Shellady, a senior vice president of derivatives for Trean Group, a futures and commodities exchange in Chicago. "No longer the case. Houses can go down just as easily as they go up."
He adds: "The bull run in housing we saw in the '90s and early 2000s will not happen again in our lifetime."
Shellady also cautions prospective homeowners to think about the health of the city they want to live in before taking out a mortgage. "Bankrupt municipalities can't put out fires. They can't stop thieves. They can't pick up trash and they can't maintain roads," Shellady says. "How much would your house be worth if your municipality was in that situation?"
This isn't to say your house won't be worth more someday versus when you bought it. But if you want a robust investment portfolio more than you want to buy a house, talk to a financial adviser instead of a real estate agent. Additionally, if you believe you're going to be in a house less than five years and want to sell it at a profit, most experts suggest it's safer to stick with renting.

Have you crunched all the numbers? Ron Throupe, an associate professor of real estate at the University of Denver, says the biggest mistake future homebuyers make is comparing a month's rent to a month's mortgage payment.
"Many people don't have all the numbers," he says. "There are many additional fees you need to include to make a fair comparison: the principal interest, property taxes, property insurance, homeowners association fees and maintenance."
The maintenance, in particular, can't be underestimated, he says. As DeGaris found out, if your furnace goes out or a pipe leaks, you have to fix it yourself or hire a professional. And there are other ancillary costs as well. "As a homeowner, you may find you suddenly need lawnmowers and snow shovels and new furniture," Throupe says. "It all adds up."

Can you handle the stress? "Most people weigh the financial aspects of buying versus renting, as they should, since it's the biggest financial decision most people will make. But one big factor to consider when buying a home is stress," says Tim Lucas, editor-in-chief of mymortgageinsider.com, an informational website.
Lucas says the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, a landmark stress study conducted in 1970, ranks many events that go along with buying a home in the top 43 most stressful circumstances in life. Four events are specifically home-related: change in financial state (No. 16), large mortgage or loan (No. 20), change in living conditions (No. 28) and change in residence (No. 32).
"If someone has recently made other life changes such as marriage, which is No. 7, switching careers (No. 18) or having a child (No. 14), it might be wise to postpone buying a home," Lucas says. "Stress overload can lead to missed payments, which can result in destroyed credit or even losing the home. It's better to rent if your life is in flux, and then buy when your stress levels are lower."

How old are you? If you're in your 20s or even your early 30s, there are some excellent arguments for not buying a house. Not that you aren't responsible enough to be a homeowner, but you're young, and who knows where life will take you? If you have a house, however, you may find that life can't take you to all that many interesting places.
For instance, a recent study from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom found that when countries start seeing a climb in homeownership, unemployment rates start trending upward within five years. Why? It may have something to do with homeowners not wanting to move somewhere else to find a job.
"The decision to own versus rent is very much a lifestyle decision as it is an economic decision. In most cases, it is driven by household formation – people getting married, starting families and being able to afford to do so," says Hollis Greenlaw, CEO of United Development Funding, a publicly registered, non-traded real estate investment trust in Grapevine, Texas. "Less than 40 percent of people under 35 years of age own homes, over 60 percent of people over 35 years of age own homes, and over 80 percent of people over 65 years of age own homes."
Indeed, DeGaris is 49, and while he says that "professionally, renting has served me well because I had the mobility to change jobs, which really helped advance my career," he is glad he finally bought his first house.
"There's a certain feeling of groundedness that comes with owning," DeGaris says. "That might not be rational, but it's palpable. The gutters need work but the roof still doesn't leak, so at this point, I'm still glad I made the move."
So what's the answer to whether it's smarter to rent or buy? It probably won't be a surprise to most people, especially those with several decades behind them. But as a general rule, the older you are, the more likely that it's smarter for you to buy a house. The younger you are, the better off you are being a renter.