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The holidays are almost here, so your guest bedroom is probably about to earn its keep. Hosting large groups of people is never easy, so it’s a good idea to be proactive and organized. BrightNest partnered with Jill Pollack, organizational expert and host of HGTV Canada’s show Consumed, to come up with these tips for taking great care of houseguests.
Kid-proof your home. You may not have any little ones in the house right now, but if your guests have young children, it’s a good idea to take some basic safety precautions. Pay special attention to the kitchen, which will likely see a lot of action during the holidays.
Prep your front porch. You probably use your side or garage door most of the time, but guests will park on the street and enter through your front door. Do a quick check to make sure your porch lights are working, and have some salt and a shovel handy to keep walkways safe if it snows or freezes overnight.
Set up a shoe basket. This is more for you (and your home) than for your guests. Place a big basket near your front door to store shoes. This will prevent dirt from being tracked through your house, which wreaks havoc on your carpets and hardwood floors. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of making everyone take off their shoes, at least throw down some welcome mats so they can wipe the worst of winter off before they explore your house.
Test-drive your guest room. This is an easy way to find out what’s working and what isn’t. Is the temperature comfortable? How about the pillows and mattress? If there are any issues, you may want to balance your heating system or flip your mattress. And don’t forget to wash the pillows and sheets!
Check your outlets. These days, most people travel with a smart phone, laptop and possibly an iPad. If everyone is going to stay fully charged, you may need to increase your outlet availability. Grab a few extra power strips from storage (or Best Buy) and set them up in common rooms. That way, everyone can get their Angry Birds fix before dinner.
Clean out your closets. If you’ve been using your closets to hide a bunch of clutter, you should probably take care of the problem now before your niece or nephew gets buried in an avalanche of knickknacks.
Homeowners may not realize how much a sojourn at the Four Seasons can teach them about decorating a spare room. Jacksonville, Fla.-based interior designer Phoebe Howard, though, knew to heed the lessons of luxury hotels when she set up a guest room for a couple in Madison, Ga. This Wall Street Journal article from Kelly Marages provides the details.
The farmhouse cottage, featured in her book “Mrs. Howard, Room by Room,” comprises just three chambers – one living space and two bedrooms – so the guest room had to be as hospitable to a couple and their children as to a septuagenarian uncle and his terrier. Much like a hotel room, this called for two queen beds and a décor that chafes neither masculine nor feminine sensibilities.
Mrs. Howard executed these practicalities without sacrificing the old-fashioned Southern charm one expects from a farm property. Rather than evoking an airport hotel, the room stirs a faint memory, albeit a naive one, of a genteel era when couples kept separate beds.
Here, how Mrs. Howard transformed a rustic space into an oasis of updated coziness. (See the photos of the actual room in the accompanying article.)
Manage the sun. So that early-morning light never disturbs a weekend chill seeker, the easy-to-operate custom bamboo shade includes blackout lining.
Strike a balance. A pair of the clients’ 19th-century Black Forest Anamalier-style carved-wood lamps serve the room’s soothing symmetry. At night, their glow illuminates both beds’ pillows.
Let there be white. Mrs. Howard brightened the room by painting the unfinished horizontal shiplap a flat white and whitewashing ceiling boards. The reclaimed-pine ceiling joist and lower-wall panel add rugged beauty.
Warm the floor. Besides having inspired the room’s russet accents, the clients’ Persian flat-weave rug saves toes from traversing bare heart-pine floorboards. An Indian-inspired, artisan woven rug will do the same, its pattern also camouflaging dirt tracked in by visiting hikers and puppies alike.
Unite and conquer. Because a side table for each of the queen-size beds would hog precious floor space, guests share the clients’ French country walnut writing desk, from the mid-19th century. A slim hardwood table with high-quality walnut veneer can similarly conserve turf and service two bedsides.
Despite the Fed’s recent interest rate increase, this CNN Money article from Heather Long explains why homebuyers won’t see much of a difference relative to mortgage rates.
“Look out, mortgage rates are going up!”
That’s the fear mongering that some are telling homeowners and homebuyers after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates – a tad – off their historic lows Wednesday.
But when a realtor or well-meaning relative tells you to buy a house ASAP, remind them that the Fed rate isn’t the mortgage rate.
The current rate on a 30-year mortgage is 3.97%. That’s incredibly low by historical standards. Most experts don’t think mortgages will go much higher than 4% anytime soon.
The early indications are that rates barely budged after the big Fed announcement (and they may even go down).
“I don’t think [mortgage rates] are going up,” says Ed Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research. “Mortgage rates are really tied more to the bond market than the Fed funds rate.”
Translation: There probably won’t be much difference between buying a home now or next year.
Even if mortgage rates go up to 4.5% this summer, that would only add about $700 a year to the mortgage payments for a $200,000 home.
The other key thing to keep in mind is that as mortgage rates go up, home prices usually come down.
“As interest rates go up, we expect home prices will come down eventually. It doesn’t happen overnight,” says Karen Stone, a real estate broker for TOWN Residential in New York City.
That could be good for buyers. Right now many cities have been “seller’s markets.” There aren’t many homes for sale but there are a lot of people looking.
“In New York City, I’m still seeing bidding wars,” says Stone, who admits she’s even been surprised at the price some homes have sold for. “The last few years have been a ‘no rules’ environment.”
Now she’s starting to see a shift as buyers are saying, “Wait a minute. I’m not quite ready to spend that much more.”
People looking for homes say they would be “anxious” about mortgage rates going up, according to a recent survey from Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. Nearly 4 in 10 say they would be discouraged from even starting the process of looking for a home.
One CNNMoney reader named Parker, who is in her 20s, worries that her dream of owning a home is over.
“I’m waving goodbye to the hope of ever buying a house.”
But the same Berkshire survey also found that many buyers don’t have a clue what the mortgage rates are. It’s why real estate agents spend time educating home buyers about rates and what their monthly costs will be.
Potential buyers like Parker who are paying attention to the Fed should feel some ease because rates are unlikely to go up much, even by December 2016.
Need to boost your credit score?
Unfortunately, a credit score isn’t like a race car, where you can rev the engine and almost instantly feel the result.
Credit scores are more like your driving record: They take into account years of past behavior, not just your present actions.
In addition to making the right moves, you also have to be consistent. A few easy steps can push your score in the right direction.
Here are seven simple ways to improve your credit score.
Watch those credit card balances. One of the major factors in your credit score is how much revolving credit you have versus how much you’re actually using. The smaller that percentage is, the better it is for your credit rating. The optimum: 30 percent or lower. To boost your score, “pay down your balances, and keep those balances low,” says Pamela Banks, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union.
Leave (good) old debt on your report. Some people erroneously believe that old debt on their credit report is bad, says Ulzheimer. The minute they get their home or car paid off, they’re on the phone trying to get it removed from their credit report, he says. Negative items are bad for your score, and most of them will disappear from your report after seven years. However, “arguing to get old accounts off your credit report just because they’re paid is a bad idea,” he says. Good debt – debt that you’ve handled well and paid as agreed – is good for your credit. The longer your history of good debt is, the better it is for your score.
Use your calendar. If you’re shopping for a home, car or student loan, it pays to do your rate shopping within a short time span. Every time you apply for credit, it can cause a small dip in your score that lasts a year. That’s because if someone is making multiple applications for credit, it usually means he or she wants to use more credit. However, with three kinds of loans – mortgage, auto and more recently, student loans – scoring formulas allow for the fact that you’ll make multiple applications but take out only one loan. The FICO score, a score commonly used by lenders, ignores any such inquiries made in the 30 days prior to scoring. If it finds some that are older than 30 days, it will count those made within a typical shopping period as just one inquiry. The length of that shopping period depends on the credit score used. If lenders are using the newest forms of scoring software, then you have 45 days, says Ulzheimer. With older forms, you need to keep it to 14 days.
Always pay bills on time. If you’re planning a big purchase (like a home or a car), you might be scrambling to assemble one big chunk of cash. While you’re juggling bills, you don’t want to start sending bills late. Even if you’re sitting on a pile of savings, a drop in your score could scuttle that dream deal. One of the biggest ingredients in a good credit score is simply month after month of plain-vanilla, on-time payments. “Credit scores are determined by what’s in your credit report,” says Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for Consumer Action. If you’re bad about paying your bills – or paying them on time – it damages your credit and hurts your score, she says. That can even extend to items that aren’t normally associated with credit reporting, such as library books, she says. That’s because even if the original “creditor,” such as the library, doesn’t report to the bureaus, they may eventually call in a collections agency for an unpaid bill. That agency could very well list the item on your credit report.
Other tips:
It’s not just a vacation and retirement destination anymore. This Wall Street Journal article from M.K. Quinlan highlights how a younger generation of home buyers is trading the colder Northeast climates to live and work in Charleston, South Carolina.
Long a popular retirement spot for snowbirds and Southerners, Charleston, these days is drawing a new crowd. “They’re much younger now,” said Charles Sullivan, a managing partner at Carriage Properties, a local luxury real-estate firm. “And much younger with kids.”
Thanks to the growth of the city’s tech sector and 12 nonstop flights to New York City a day, young professionals are trading in the colder climates of the Northeast to live and work in Charleston full time. According to the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, the Charleston metro area added 50,500 new jobs in the past nine years, thanks in large part to the development of multimillion-dollar campuses by Boeing, Daimler and Google. Construction is under way for Volvo’s first U.S. plant, set to open in 2018.
Stephen Hammond is a lifelong New Yorker and CEO of Lou Hammond & Associates, a marketing and communications firm. He and his wife, Mary, originally from Bedford, N.Y., made the decision to move to Charleston in 2010, lured by the high quality of life for young families. “Great restaurants, good people, excellent education. There’s no better place to raise a family than Charleston,” said Mr. Hammond.
Initially Mr. Hammond planned to work from home, commuting to the company’s offices in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, “but then we realized there was an opportunity here,” he said. He opened the marketing firm’s fourth office in Charleston in 2011.
Charleston’s charms draw a steady stream of tourists, which can be a mixed blessing for residents. The Charleston area welcomed over 4 million visitors in 2014, according to the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Holiday time can be a dangerous time for pets around the home. This article from Laura Moss of Mother Nature Network highlights some simple steps you can take to keep your pet safe.
Between the tinsel and ornaments, the Christmas cookies and eggnog, and the revolving door of guests stopping by to celebrate, it’s no surprise that the holidays can be a dangerous time for pets. Keep these tips in mind to ensure your furry friends have a safe and happy pawliday.
Christmas trees
It’s difficult for a cat to resist the temptation of a decorated tree. There are branches to climb, strings of lights to chew on and dangling ornaments to bat – not to mention the tree stand full of stagnant water to sample. And if you’re not careful, you could end up with a toppled tree, broken ornaments and one sick kitty.
To keep your tree upright and your feline friend safe and healthy, try the following:
Secure that tree. Place your tree in a corner to limit access and anchor it to the wall. Fishing line often does the trick. If you can’t keep your cat from attempting to climb the tree, place aluminum foil or upside-down plastic rug protectors around the base of the tree to make the area unappealing.
Don’t let cords dangle. Keep electrical cords from tempting a playful kitty by taping them to the wall, and always unplug lights when you’re not home.
Keep the tree stand off limits. If your cat or dog seems interested in drinking from the new pine-scented water bowl, put a stop to it. The water could contain fertilizer or harmful bacteria that can cause nausea or diarrhea should your pet drink it. Line the area with aluminum foil or upside-down plastic rug protectors to discourage them, or purchase a deterrent spray from your pet store and spray the tree’s lower branches.
Holiday decorations
From candles to mistletoe, the holidays bring out all kinds of decorations that curious cats and dogs may want to investigate or even sample. However, just because you have pets doesn’t mean you can’t decorate for the season.
Pick your plants carefully. Many holiday favorites can be dangerous to pets. For example, mistletoe is highly poisonous and poinsettia can cause irritation and illness, so opt for artificial plants or pet-safe flowers.
Don’t leave lighted candles unattended. Those flickering flames may attract a curious pet, which could lead to burns or even a house fire. Keep candles in secure holders and make sure they’re on stable surfaces. If you leave the room, put out the candles.
Skip the tinsel. It may be festive, but it’s also fun for kitties to bat around and nibble on – and dogs may want to give it a chew as well. If your pet ingests tinsel, it could lead to an obstructed digestive tract, which may require surgery.
Watch those wires. If any of your decorations have an electrical cord, make sure the cords are out of reach or even taped to the wall so they don’t dangle and attract a playful pet.
Party safely
Holiday get-togethers may be fun for you, but they’re often frightening to pets because of all the foot traffic and new sounds. They’re also an invitation for your pets to sample some of the holiday goodies, which can lead to a seriously sick animal, so make sure you’re ready to host a pet-friendly gathering.
Provide a safe space. Before the party starts, give your pet a quiet space to spend the hours in, complete with food, water, a bed and a litter box for the cat. With the front door opening and closing and all those new people, it’s easy for a pet to become spooked and hide – or even dart out the door.
Following the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates for the first time in years, many are wondering what the effects will be on their upcoming purchase of a new home or car. This TIME article from Christopher S. Rugaber provides some helpful information.
For anyone considering whether to buy a home or car, the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increase Wednesday shouldn’t make much difference.
The rates that most people pay for mortgages, auto loans or college tuition aren’t expected to jump anytime soon. The Fed’s benchmark interest rate has limited influence on those things.
Still, the Fed’s move to lift its key rate by a quarter-percentage point will raise short-term borrowing costs for banks. And that, in turn, is intended to prod banks to boost certain other rates. Rates on credit cards and home equity loans and credit lines, for example, will most likely rise, though probably only slightly.
The rate the Fed controls is only one factor among many that can influence longer-term borrowing costs. And the Fed made clear it will assess the economy’s health before raising rates further.
“Loans that are linked to longer-term interest rates are unlikely to move very much,” Fed Chair Janet Yellen said at a news conference. “Credit card rates … might move up slightly. But remember, we have very low rates, and we’ve made a very small move.”
Mortgage rates tend to move in sync with the yield on 10-year Treasury notes. When inflation remains as low as it is now, Treasury notes, with their modest returns, are considered a safe and decent investment. And heavy purchases of Treasurys by U.S. and foreign investors – and by many foreign governments, such as China – help keep those yields low.
“The demand for Treasurys has mushroomed,” said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust. “What that means is that for any given monetary policy, interest rates are still going to be lower than they would have been 10 or 15 years ago.”
The Fed’s decision to raise rates is in many ways a healthy sign: It’s a vote of confidence that the economy, six and a half years after the Great Recession officially ended, can finally withstand higher borrowing costs and keep growing at an acceptable pace.
Even with a rate increase, most economists expect consumer spending to stay healthy and solid hiring to continue, perhaps even driving unemployment even further below its current low level of 5%. Should the economy stumble, the Fed could postpone further rate increases.
Other trends are also working in consumers’ favor: Gas prices are still falling, and there are signs that paychecks are finally starting to rise after years of sluggish growth.
“These things are good for the consumer and will easily outweigh the impact of a rate increase,” said Chris Christopher, an economist at forecasting firm IHS Global Insight.
“The interest rate impact on the typical household from a quarter percentage point move is almost inconsequential,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. “Most people won’t even notice.”
And most people buy homes for reasons that have little to do with a slight rise or fall in mortgage rates, McBride said. They tend to buy when they feel financially secure or experience a major life change, such as having children.
“All those reasons people buy houses remain the same, whether mortgage rates are 4% or 4.25%” McBride said.
“Less than a week until Christmas.” Just those words alone can cause even the calmest people you know to completely stress out. In this article, Mary Jo DiLonardo of Mother Nature Network offers some helpful advice on how to keep your stress level down during the holidays by keeping your focus on helping others.
You’re decking the halls, wrapping presents, baking cookies and you still have a billion other things on your seasonal to-do list. No wonder you’re super-stressed and hardly in the mood for anything jolly.
A new study suggests a surprising cure for easing your skyrocketing stress levels: Add one more thing to your overflowing plate. If that sounds counterintuitive, hang on a second. To feel less frazzled, you need to be utterly selfless. Take some time to help someone else.
For the study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and Yale University School of Medicine, sent more than six dozen adults daily questionnaires for two weeks asking them to rate their mental health for that day and to report any positive or negative emotions they experienced. Then they were asked to also report any “prosocial” or helping behaviors they took part in. That could be anything from holding a door for someone to helping with schoolwork, reports Business Insider.
The results showed that helping others seemed to protect against the negative effects of stress.
On days when study participants were more helpful than usual, they showed no drop in the quality of their mental health or positive emotions. However, when they were less helpful than usual, they experienced higher negative emotions in response to stress and lower mental health overall.
The researchers wrote: “Results suggest that even brief periods of supporting or helping others might help to mitigate the negative emotional effects of daily stress.”
Bloomberg’s Mark Whitehouse reports on some encouraging news for U.S. homeowners, based on December data from the Federal Reserve.
A giant housing-debt hangover has been one of the main culprits behind the U.S. economy’s lackluster recovery from the 2008 recession. In one encouraging sign, new data from the Federal Reserve suggest that American homeowners might finally be getting out from under it.
Homeowners have reached a sort of milestone – thanks to a combination of mortgage defaults, modifications, old-fashioned thrift and a multi-year rebound in house prices. As of September, their equity stood at $12.4 trillion, or 56.7 percent of home values, the highest level since the housing bust began in mid-2006. What’s more, according to data provider CoreLogic, the share of underwater owners has fallen to less than 9 percent.
Now the question is whether the regained housing wealth will spur people to start spending again. With tight mortgage credit preventing the kind of cash-out refinancings that characterized the boom years, equity might not be as powerful as it was. That said, the feeling of being whole again could certainly help.
