How To Find Air-Leaking Windows And Seal Them
Preventative care will minimize your home repair costs and, at this time of year, it’s a good idea to sweep your home’s exterior for sign of air leaks and drafts around windows.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, drafty windows can account for 30% of a home’s heat loss in winter so it’s best to find them, and seal them.
In this 4-minute video from the DIY Network, you’ll learn how to identify your home’s leaky windows, and how to seal them with caulk. The job requires a little bit of elbow grease, but it’s manageable for even the notice handyman.
Some of the tips include:
- How to use a lit candle to find windows that leak air
- How to remove existing caulk using caulk softener
- How to “push the bead” of caulk for proper application
The video concludes with a brief tutorial on setting your home’s programmable thermostat so, when taken with the window caulking exercise, homeowners in Blairsville and Blue Ridge could stand to save a bundle on their winter heating bills.
Housing Starts Better Than The Headlines Would Have You Believe
Newspaper stories can be misleading sometimes — especially with respect to real estate. We saw a terrific example of this Wednesday.
A “Housing Start” is a privately-owned home on which construction has started and, according to the Commerce Department’s October 2010 data, Housing Starts data dropped by nearly 12 percent as compared to September.
The media jumped on the story, and its negative implications for the housing market overall.
A sampling of the headlines included:
- Housing Starts Plunge: Market’s ‘Pulse is Faint’ (WSJ)
- Housing Starts Tumble (Reuters)
- Housing Starts Sink 11.7 Percent In October (NPR)
Although factually correct, the headlines are misleading. Yes, Housing Starts fell sharply in October, but if we strip out the volatile “5 or more units” portion of the data — a grouping that includes apartment buildings and condominiums — Housing Starts only fell 1 percent.
That’s a big difference. Especially because most new construction buyers in Hiawassee, Blairsville, Blue Ridge and around the country don’t purchase entire condo buildings. They buy single-family residences.
As an illustration, 84% of October’s Housing Starts were single-family homes. The remaining starts were multi-units.
This is why the headlines don’t tell the whole story. The market that matters most to buyers — the single-family market — gets completely glossed over. The Housing Starts reading wasn’t nearly as awful as the papers would have you believe. Furthermore, it’s never mentioned that single-family Housing Permits climbed 1 percent last month, either.
According to the Census Bureau, 82% of homes start construction within 60 days of permit-issuance. Therefore, we can expect December’s starts to be higher, too.
Fed Survey : Mortgage Guidelines Tighten Further, Freeze Out Would-Be Refinancers
It’s getting tougher to get approved for a mortgage. Still.
In its quarterly survey of senior loan officers around the country, the Federal Reserve asked whether “prime” residential mortgage guidelines” have tightened in the prior 3 months.
A “prime” borrower typically carries a well-documented credit history with high credit scores, has a low debt-to-income ratio, and uses a traditional fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgage.
For the period July-September 2010, 52 of 54 responding loan officers admitted to tightening their prime guidelines, or leaving them “basically unchanged”.
Just 4% of banks loosened their lending standards.
If you’ve applied for a home loan lately — for either purchase or refinance — you’ve likely experienced the effects of the last 4 years. Because of delinquencies and defaults, today’s mortgage underwriters are forced to scrutinize income, assets and credit scores, among other facets of an home loan application.
Mortgage applicants in Blairsville and Blue Ridge Georgia have higher hurdles to clear:
- Minimum credit scores are higher versus last year
- Downpayment/equity requirements are larger versus last year
- Debt-to-Income ratios must be lower versus last year
In other words, although mortgage rates are the lowest they’ve been in history, qualification standards are not. Minimum eligibility requirements are tougher, and appear to be toughening still.
If you’re among the many people wondering if now is the right time to join the Refinance Boom, or to buy a home, consider that, while mortgage rates may fall further, eligibility standards may not.
Low mortgage rates don’t matter if you can’t qualify for them
Pending Home Sales Slip In September, Suggesting A Buyer’s Market Until January
After 3 straight months of improvement, the Pending Home Sales Index slid lower in September. As compared to August, September’s reading fell 2 percent.
A “pending home sale” is a home under contract to sell, but not yet closed. The data is drawn from a combination of local real estate associations and national brokers, and represents 20 percent of all purchase transactions in a given month.
Because of the large sample set, and because 80 percent of homes under contract close within 60 days, the Pending Home Sales Index is a terrific future indicator for the housing market. A high correlation exists between the Pending Home Sales Index and the NAR’s monthly Existing Home Sales report issued two months hence.
Expect home sales to idle into the New Year, therefore.
For home buyers in Blue Ridge, Blairsville and Ellijay Georgia this is good news. Over the last two months, housing markets have overwhelmingly favored home sellers.
Consider than, since June, the volume of both new home sales and existing home sales has increased, causing the available home inventory to fall by months. Meanwhile, helped by low interest rates, demand from buyers has remained relatively stable.
As with everything in economics, falling supply with constant demand leads to higher prices.
Therefore, the Pending Home Sales Index’s fading September figures suggest a more balanced supply-and-demand curve in the months ahead, a move that should suppress rising home prices and shift negotiation leverage back to the buy-side.
So long as mortgage rates remain rock bottom, the autumn season is looking like a terrific time to buy.
Hometown Halloween Downtown Blairsville 2010
When: Saturday October 30th, 2010
Where: Downtown Blairsville on The Square
Trick or Treat at Hometown Halloween with treats from businesses and organizations gathered around Downtown Blairsville. Other activities are being organized by the Downtown Development Authority.
At 3pm North Georgia Beverage’s Pumpkin Carving Contest will be judged.
All are welcome at this “Spooktacular” Event.
