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Here at Lennar, we love sharing news and articles that will truly move you. Here are some helpful tips from U.S. News on how to save some extra dollars on your big moving day.
Most people who hire professional movers do so for peace of mind and for convenience. A reputable moving company can do the job efficiently with little or no risk to your home or property, leaving you with little to do but supervise. In fact, a reputable company will offer insurance against loss or damage.
Professional movers do cost more than doing it yourself, but here are a few ways to save if you plan to outsource the job.
As with hiring any professional, it pays to shop around. Start with recommendations from friends and colleagues, and seek out three or four candidates. To give you an accurate estimate, your contenders will likely need to visit your place and take an inventory of your stuff. The estimator will also note stairs in your building or narrow streets outside – anything that will complicate the work on moving day. With the estimates in hand, compare, but beware of any bids that are well below the others. Before you decide, be sure you understand each of the listed charges. You might also check with the Better Business Bureau and a site like movingscam.com for any complaints about the moving company.
You also want to pick the right time to move. Movers are generally busier around the last 10 days of the month, because that’s when most people move. If you can time your move in the middle of the month, you may be able to negotiate a better rate. The months of May through September are the busy season for movers. Time your move in early spring – or even winter, weather permitting – and the moving company may be more willing to negotiate.
For many, moving is also an opportunity to do a deep declutter. Stuff that’s been hidden behind other stuff in dark cubbies reappears and suddenly seems less useful and interesting. Are you really going to miss that ceramic kitten with the broken ear? More importantly for your budget, now that you’re paying someone to haul your property, it pays to trim down your lifestyle. In fact, many movers charge by weight, which means they’re perfectly happy to haul your set of barbells and your library across the country. Beyond saving yourself the hassle of finding new places to hide your forgotten stuff, getting rid of stuff will save you money – maybe enough to take up a more frugal fitness routine in your new home.
The housing market’s continuing recovery saw a big boost this week, with the release of a new report that showed a surge in July new home sales. Here’s the story from USA Today.
Americans stepped up their purchases of new homes in July, with sales surging in the Northeast.
The Commerce Department says new-home sales rose 5.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 507,000, recovering from a slide in purchases in June.
Buyers have crowded into the housing market this year. Backed by solid job growth over the past two years and relatively low mortgage rates, sales of new homes jumped 21.2% through the first half of 2015, although the government sales report is volatile on a monthly basis.
New-home purchases climbed 23.1% in the Northeast, with smaller gains in the South and West. Sales slumped in the Midwest.
Separately, Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index has risen 5% in June from a year earlier.
Much of the additional demand has emerged for a healthier jobs market and low mortgage rates. Employers added 3.1 million jobs last year and are on pace to add 2.5 million jobs this year.
A jump in the consumer confidence index, along with some positive results from recent housing market reports, indicate signs of strength and further improvement in the U.S. economy. This article from Reuters rounds up the highlights of some of the economic reports released this week.
U.S. consumer confidence hit a seven-month high in August and new single-family home sales rebounded in July, suggesting underlying strength in the economy that could still allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year.
Other data on Tuesday showed moderate gains in house prices in June, which should support consumer spending and keep home purchasing affordable, especially for first-time buyers.
“This is evidence of the ‘some further improvement’ in the economy that the Fed is waiting for to raise rates. They are so close, they need just a little more confirmation,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.
The Conference Board said its consumer index jumped 10.5 points to 101.5 this month, the highest reading since January, amid optimism over the labor market. The survey, however, was conducted before a global equity markets sell-off that began last week, which has diminished the chances of a U.S. rate hike next month.
Although sentiment could retreat in September, economists said any decline was likely to be modest. A strong labor market, lower gasoline prices and an improving housing market also are seen supporting consumer confidence.
The survey’s so-called labor market differential, which closely correlates to the unemployment rate in the employment report, was the most favorable since January 2008.
In a separate report, the Commerce Department said new home sales increased 5.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 507,000 units. Those sales, which account for 8.3 percent of the market, were up 25.8 percent compared to July of last year.
The housing market is gaining steam, with data last week showing home resales jumped to a near 8-1/2-year high in July and groundbreaking on new home building climbing to its highest level since October 2007.
A third report showed the S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas in June gained 5.0 percent year-over-year compared to a gain of 4.9 percent in May.
“If the pace of appreciation stabilizes around current levels, it could provide enough incentive to encourage homeowners to put their homes on the market, while encouraging potential homebuyers back into the market,” said Lewis Alexander, chief economist at Nomura in New York.
The cost of renting in the U.S. has risen to historic highs, according to a study from Zillow. While renters spent around 24.4% of their monthly incomes for rent prior to the real estate boom and downturn, they can now expect to pay approximately 30.2% – the highest percentage ever. In this article, TIME highlights six cities where the average person spends even more than that – devoting nearly half of their paycheck to paying their rent. Los Angeles tops the list, with renters there spending 48.9% of their monthly income on housing. Other cities on the list: San Francisco, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, San Diego, San Jose and New York/Northern New Jersey.
In the second quarter of 2015, the average renter spent 30.2% of his or her monthly income on rent, while homeowners only spent 15.1% of their paychecks on mortgage payments, according to an analysis from Zillow of regional income data, rental data and the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. A good rule of thumb is to put no more than 25% of your monthly income toward monthly rent, but depending on how much you make and where you live, that may be difficult to do.
Of course, plenty of people who give their landlords more than 25% of their paychecks could probably reduce that cost by downsizing, sacrificing certain amenities or trading an expensive location for a longer commute. But it may not be so easy to do, especially in places that are particularly expensive. That not only can make it a challenge to budget for day-to-day expenses, but it can also present a significant obstacle to people who want to eventually own a home and must save for a down payment to do so. The higher your down payment and the better your credit score, the more likely it is you’ll get a lower interest rate and ultimately a more affordable mortgage.
When talking about pricey places to live, two locations tend to come to mind: New York and California. If we were to list cities outside of those states (and with New York, it’s really the NYC metro area that’s so costly), the three most expensive places to rent would be Miami, Denver and Boston, where people spend an average of 45%, 35% and 34% of their income on rent, respectively. The average NYC metro area homeowner spends 25.6% of monthly income on a mortgage payment.
Buying a home in Miami is a much better deal than renting, as far as monthly payments are concerned, according to the Zillow analysis. Last quarter, homeowners spent about 20% of their monthly income on mortgage payments, as opposed to the nearly 45% of income renters threw at their living arrangements.
You may have heard that it costs less to insure an older home than a new home. But it’s not necessarily true – and that’s one of the common myths about homeowners insurance highlighted in this article from Bankrate.
It may not be required by law, like auto or health insurance, but you’ll need home insurance to protect your family and household from a financial disaster in case another kind of disaster strikes.
As with other types of insurance, there are common misconceptions about the coverage you’re buying when you pony up a premium year after year, such as believing your policy protects your home against every possible thing that could happen. In a couple of (very familiar) examples, most home insurance won’t cover earthquakes or floods.
“People tend to think of (insurance) in black and white, like, ‘If I have insurance, I’m insured. If I don’t, I’m not,'” says Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, an insurance consumer group in San Francisco. “But there’s actually a lot more gray in home insurance coverage than people realize.”
For example, it’s wrong to assume that insurance premiums are cheaper for homes that have more years on them.
“Older homes tend to have … construction techniques that tend to be more expensive to replace than what you see in modern-day construction,” says Christopher Hackett, director of personal lines policy for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America in Chicago.
You might see crown molding, hardwood floors, plaster and stained glass in an older home, compared with drywall and wood veneer floors in a newer residence, he adds.
Some insurance companies may refuse to cover an older home if it seems too costly to repair, Bach warns.
When determining what it will cost to fix or replace your home, an insurer will evaluate several factors, including the features of your home and the materials used to build it.
“It’s always good for a consumer to get at least a few quotes from a few different companies to make sure that they accept a competitive premium to insure their property,” Hackett says.
If you think you’re doing your wallet a favor by basing your coverage on the current market value of your house, think again.
You should instead insure your home for what it would cost to rebuild and replace it, advises David Marlett, chair of the department of finance, banking and insurance at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. That’s particularly important if you live in a hot market where prices are rising quickly.
“If you insured for the market value, you would be purchasing more insurance than needed to pay for the replacement of your home and wasting premium dollars,” he says.
If you live in a not-so-hot market, choosing replacement cost over market value coverage also makes sense. “If you live in an area with a depressed market value, it could cost far more to actually rebuild your home than what your home is worth if you tried to sell.”
Your insurance company can help you calculate what it would likely cost to replace your home in the event of a total loss.
Also, your policy also may not cover every one of your possessions. This falls under the myth of: “I’ve got insurance, therefore everything I have is covered,” Bach says. “There are a lot of ways in which that’s not true.”
Insurers place limits on coverage for certain possessions, such as jewelry and rare collections. You would likely need to purchase additional insurance in the form of an endorsement, also called an “add-on,” for those items.
“Most insurers will offer an optional endorsement so you can insure … whatever valuable personal property that you may have for its full value, should it be stolen or lost in a fire or anything like that,” Hackett says.
Want to get a better night’s sleep every night? Try making your bed every morning. That’s just one of the valuable pieces of advice in this article from Mother Nature Network, highlighting some surprising ways that making your bed can make for a happier life.
Last year, Naval Adm. William H. McRaven – the man who commanded the SEAL team that hunted for Osama bin Laden – gave University of Texas graduates some unusual advice during his commencement speech: If you want to change the world, start by making your bed.
He acknowledges that this statement may seem “a little ridiculous,” but says, “the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to [him] many times over.”
Indeed, while making the bed may take just a minute or two each morning, the payoff is long-lasting and surprisingly far-reaching.
So if making your mother proud isn’t motivation enough to get you to smooth the sheets and fluff the pillows, maybe these reasons will be.
First, it helps you start the day off right. Completing the simple chore of making your bed can be the start of a productive day.
“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day,” says McRaven. “It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.”
In a survey of 68,000 people by Hunch.com, 71% of bed-makers consider themselves to be happy people while 62% of non-bed-makers say they’re unhappy. According to the survey, bed-makers are also more likely to own a home, like their jobs, and exercise regularly.
“When I’ve asked people what happiness-project resolution has made a big difference in their happiness, many people cite the modest ‘Make your bed,’” writes Gretchen Rubin, author of the bestselling book “The Happiness Project.”
A National Sleep Foundation survey found that people who make their beds every day or almost every day were 19% more likely to report getting a good night’s sleep than those who don’t make their beds.
According to the latest analysis from FICO, average credit scores are rising and the number of delinquent payments are dropping. This article from The New York Times looks into some of the reasons for these developments – highlighted by the continuing recovery of the housing market – as well as some valuable credit score advice from Ethan Dornhelm of FICO.
Consumers appear to be better these days at managing their use of credit. The national average FICO score is now 695 – the highest it has been in at least a decade, according to the latest analysis from Fair Isaac Corporation, the score’s creator. Nearly 20% of consumers now have scores above 800.
The rise in the average score is partly because of a drop in seriously delinquent accounts, since payment history is a major component of credit scores.
The passage of time also helps, said Ethan Dornhelm, a principal scientist in FICO’s analytic development group: Older, well-managed accounts help increase scores, and negative information – like accounts that are sent to collection – typically starts dropping off credit reports after seven years. So the impact of delinquencies that weighed on scores during the recession is most likely starting to recede.
Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, said in an email that many consumers committed to reducing burdensome credit card debt after the recession. That probably helped their scores by lowering their card debt relative to their credit limit, an important factor in determining credit scores.
The drop in late payments is mostly a result of an improvement in the real estate segment as the housing market continues to flourish. Late payments in other areas are actually ticking upward.
In addition to a better economic picture, another contributor to higher scores may be the wider availability of information about credit scoring in general. “Don’t underestimate the influence of the number of places now giving out credit scores at no cost,” said the credit expert John Ulzheimer.
Numerous credit card companies, lenders and banks, both large and small, now offer free periodic access to credit scores, and more continue to join the pack.
The numbers provided are true credit scores, reflecting those used to make lending decisions. “Consumers are increasingly well informed and aware of their credit score,” said Mr. Dornhelm.
Many business news sources offer a lot of financial advice for college students, millennials and retirees. But here’s an article from TIME that offers some valuable money advice for people in their 30s.
After a decade of experimenting, failing, learning from those failures, and “figuring things out,” you might find yourself in a more secure financial position once you hit your 30s.
What do you do with excess money when you’re no longer living paycheck to paycheck? And how do you prepare for big expenses you’re bound to face in your 30s?
We spoke to Michael Solari, a certified financial planner at Solari Financial Planning, about the smartest things 30-somethings can do with their money to set themselves up for a prosperous future.
When setting your savings goals, you can’t just go through the motions. “If there are no savings goals, then there won’t be any progress,” says Solari, and your 30s are bound to be filled with bigger expenses – such as a home, car, and children – that require diligent saving.
Mint and You Need A Budget are online tools that allow you to create savings goals and see your progress.
If you plan to buy a home, it should be one of your savings goals. Ideally, you’ll want to have saved enough to make a 20% down payment – anything lower and you will have to pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI), which is a safety net for the bank in case you fail to make your payments.
If you’re thinking about purchasing a home in a major metro area, take a look at how much you need to save per day to put 20% down on a home in major US cities, and see how to make sure you’re buying a home you can afford.
If you plan to have children, it’s time to start saving. The average cost to raise a child is about $245,000, and that doesn’t include college expenses. The best way to prepare for these expenses is to start setting aside money as early as possible. The dependent care flexible savings account could help with daycare; as for the additional costs of college, start by looking into a 529 savings plan.
Insurance in general – health, life, home, and disability – often gets put on the back burner, but it’s important to put in time to research insurance plans, or talk to a trusted adviser, and purchase the right insurance for you. One type of insurance that gets neglected more so than others is long-term disability insurance, but not having it can be extremely risky. Disability insurance is meant to provide income should you be disabled and unable to work, which is more likely to happen that many of us may think.
The last time I counted, there were four people living in our home: my wife, our two daughters and myself. And only two of us actually drink coffee. So why does our cabinet drawer struggle to hold 37 different coffee mugs? And why are there so many mugs bundled up in there that we usually can’t even get the drawer open? Since we’re not planning to have 35 friends over for a coffee party anytime soon, this article from BrightNest helped us realize that it’s probably time to get rid of most of those mugs, along with a few other things around the home that were making life much more complicated than it should be. Here are ten things around the home you can think about tossing, recycling, or giving away.
If clutter is stressing you out, you don’t need to overhaul your entire home. Start with repeat items. These are the things you really only need one or two to function, but somehow own ten.
Not sure what we mean? Here are a few extraneous items to toss today:
Although it’s easy to get attached to your favorite stories, books can quickly equal clutter, dusty shelves and wasted space. Share the knowledge and donate your read books to schools or used bookstores. Then, give your local library card some exercise. Bonus: If you switch to borrowing from the library, you’ll save some cash, too.
If you generally leave the grocery store with three reusable shopping bags, keeping four is appropriate. Once you exceed four, you’ve entered the scary-pile-shoved-under-the-sink phase. Avoid that at all costs!
Unless you have a constant supply of cut flowers coming into the house, a cabinet full of vases will likely never come in handy. Pare down your collection to the vases with sentimental value and toss the rest.
When it comes to dishware, we recommend having enough for one week, and then it’s time to do the dishes. So, if you drink coffee every morning, save your favorite seven mugs and donate the rest.
In the era of Netflix, CDs and DVDs have basically become irrelevant and can take up a lot of space. If you watched or listened to it 20 times, and you’re ready for 20 more, you should keep it. If you’re likely to never use it again, away it goes. Don’t want to say goodbye to your collection but are interested in having more space? Try downloading the movies & MP3s onto an external hard drive.
