It may seem like there’s always something going on as a homeowner, from silencing a squeaky hinge to unclogging a temperamental toilet. But many household problems can be easily fixed without calling a repair service.
A can of WD-40, a toilet plunger and a bottle of vinegar are great basics to keep on hand for easing sticky fittings, clearing the toilet and making short work of common stains. Here are some simple fixes for common home problems that even the non-handy can handle: Squeaky Floorboard Banish that annoying squeak by sprinkling a little talcum powder over the noisy area and brushing it into the cracks. Stained Tub Removed stubborn stains by combining equal amounts of cream of tartar and baking soda with enough lemon juice to make a paste. Rub the mixture into the stain with your fingers or a soft cloth. Let sit for a half hour, then rinse well with water. Stuck Sliding Windows Loosen stuck windows by spraying a little silicon spray lubricant (found at hardware stores) onto a rag, then wiping along the tracks, whether metal, wood or plastic. Dry and Worn Cutting Board Revive a worn board by warming a bottle of mineral oil (available at drugstores) in a bowl of hot water, then wiping the oil onto the surface with a soft cloth. Wipe off the excess four to six hours later. Scuffed Linoleum Take care of scuff marks by rubbing the spot with white toothpaste and a dry cloth, or spraying WD-40 on a towel and rubbing lightly. Later, degrease the area with liquid dishwashing soap and water. Poor Toilet Flush Before you call a plumber, look for the water valve behind the toilet, on the wall or the floor. Turn it counter-clockwise as far as you can. Once it’s fully open, the tank will get its optimal water fill and power up your flush. Torn Window Screen If tiny tears are letting bugs in, apply clear nail polish to any tiny holes. For larger rips or tears, look for new and effective screen repair patches at the hardware store. ![]() For $600 or so a year, plus a service fee of around $75 every time you ask for repair, a home warranty can be an inexpensive way to have peace of mind as a new homeowner. Home warranties cover breakdowns in a home, from HVAC systems to appliances. A broken water heater can be repaired within hours, but if it can’t be fixed, a home warranty can pay for a new one to be installed. For homeowners with an older house, they may want more things covered than a newer home would need—such as older appliances—and will likely pay more for it. If you just bought new appliances and have a manufacturer’s warranty for a year or more, you won’t need this coverage. You may be able to exclude new appliances from a home warranty to cut down on costs. Things that can be covered by a home warranty include ductwork, electrical, plumbing, dishwashers, refrigerators, ovens, stoves, clothes washers and dryers, and water heaters. Things that are unlikely to be covered include expensive items such as septic tanks, wells, heating systems, pools, garage doors, windows and doors, sprinkler systems, pre-existing conditions, and walls. Coverage for such items may cost more. Roofs may also be exempt, though some home warranty companies sell plans to fix leaking roofs. Consider Cost A big factor in deciding if a home warranty is worth buying is cost. Basic coverage can start at about $300 and go up to $600 or more. Some home warranties charge for a service call, such as $75 or so, while others allow unlimited service calls. Contractors are screened and sent out by the company. To determine if a home warranty cost is worth it, start by learning how old your appliances and home systems are and if the original equipment manufacturer warranties still cover them. Find out what the expected lifespan of each item is to help you figure out if a home warranty is needed. Some home warranty companies require annual maintenance on appliances and home systems to keep the warranties valid. Some may ask how long you’ve had them. Don’t expect the home warranty company to pay for the annual maintenance of your appliances or home systems. Read the contract carefully to make sure that old appliances are covered in the home warranty. Some don’t cover old appliances, such as anything more than 10 years old. Any home, whether old, new or somewhere in between, will have things break sooner or later. Appliances and home systems only last so long. For $50 a month or so, a home warranty can provide peace of mind when things eventually fail. ![]() Opening mail from your credit card company is never fun. If it isn’t a bill or marketing letter, it’s often an update to the terms of the credit card agreement, including changes to the annual percentage rate, or APR, that determines the interest rate paid on revolving balances. Credit card interest rates are tied to the benchmark rate set by the Federal Reserve, so if you’re paying attention to what the Fed does then you might get an idea of upcoming increases. Or if you wait to receive a letter from your credit card company, the notification will usually come 45 days in advance, giving you at least one billing cycle to pay down your balance or find a better credit card. When You Won’t Be Notified However, you may not get such explicit notice if you incur a penalty APR for missing payments. The APR increase is immediate and is explained in the terms and conditions you originally received with the card. The contract will also list how you can get back to the original interest rate. Promotional rates are for a fixed period and you likely won’t get notified of when they’ll end. If your APR is variable and tied to interest rates set by the Fed, then you may also not be notified early. Your credit card company may notify you anyway, but it isn’t required. What to do About a Rate Hike If you receive a credit card rate increase notice, your best solution is to ask the bank to lower your rate. It just takes a phone call and can often get you a reduction if you have good credit history and always make payments on time. You can also shop around for a better credit card elsewhere—be sure to let your bank know of better offers that it should at least match. If you have a large balance, a balance transfer card can help you avoid the higher interest rate that’s coming soon. Balance transfer cards often offer 0-percent interest for a year or so, giving you time to pay it off before having to pay interest. The best solution is to pay your credit card balance in full each month to avoid paying interest. Not carrying a balance is one of the best things you can do to raise your credit score. ![]() Children are often oblivious to the many dangers around them. Accidents in the home are a leading cause of injury and death among children. Here are a few ways to childproof your home and keep your little one safe. Potential Hazards Look at your home from a baby’s or toddler’s perspective. Ask yourself: What would catch my eye if I were low to the ground? Look for those things that your child would reach for, pull down, play with or put in their mouth. When babies are learning to walk, they grab furniture and bookcases for support. Many injuries and deaths occur each year when young children pull on furniture or televisions and the objects fall on top of them. Secure heavy objects to the walls to prevent this. Keep dressers and filing cabinets closed when you’re not using them. Cover sharp corners on furniture to prevent injuries if your child falls. Use childproof gates to keep your baby or toddler out of hazardous areas, such as specific rooms or stairs. Choose gates that are difficult to climb and do not have V-shaped openings, which can trap children. Open windows from the top or keep them closed. A screen is not strong enough to prevent a child from falling out of a window. Do not place furniture near windows because that can make it easy for a child to climb onto a windowsill. Children can be strangled by cords on blinds. Use window coverings without cords. Outlets are a common source of injuries. Children are tempted to play with them and stick objects in the openings, which can lead to electrocution. Use outlet covers with safety latches to protect your child. Store any medications, vitamins, cleaning supplies or other chemicals in cabinets with childproof locks to keep them out of reach. Properly dispose of any expired medication. Store the phone number for your local poison control center in your cell phone. A child can drown in just a few inches of water. Never leave a child unattended in a bath, even if he or she is sitting in a chair. Install a latch on the toilet’s lid to keep it closed. If you use a bucket of water for cleaning, never leave it unattended and dump it as soon as you finish. Always supervise a child using a pool or kiddie pool. Install smoke detectors throughout your house and check the batteries regularly. When your child is old enough, explain the dangers of fire and how to prevent accidents and injuries. Never allow a child to touch the stove. Put away any appliances that use heat, such as a hair dryer and curling iron, when they’re not being used. Look Around Your Home Your child will want to explore your house as soon as they’re able to crawl. Dangers are everywhere, and they will increase as your child becomes more mobile. Take the time to childproof each room in your home to prevent accidents. DON'T GET TRIPPED UP BY THESE COMMON MISTAKES! 1. HIGHER THAN EXPECTED "CARRY COSTS"A "carry cost" is the cost to "carry" the property, such as the mortgage payment, property taxes, utilities, maintenance, and other expenses. For example, if you buy a house with the intention of selling it within a year, what are the total costs you will incur during that time to "carry" the property? It's important to accurately estimate those costs so that you don't get tripped up by them later on. 2. HIGHER THAN EXPECTED "COSTS OF SALE"In most cases, you’d need to sell the house for at least 8% - 10% more than what you paid for it just to break even and cover the real estate commissions and transfer taxes. It's important to take that into account when you run your numbers so that you can accurately forecast your potential rate of return on investment. 3. VACANCY RISK AND EVICTION COSTSWhat if the tenant defaults on the rent and you have to hire a lawyer or go through a costly eviction process? Or, what if you can’t find a tenant? That's why it's important to consider risk reduction techniques like non-refundable deposits, sale/leasebacks and/or rent-to-own strategies. 4. LACK OF LIQUIDITYWhat if you need access to your capital and you can’t sell the house? That's why you should never be 100% invested in real estate. This means that if your budget for real estate investments is $500,000, you should keep part of that cash in the bank, sitting on the sidelines. This way you won’t get into trouble if the property sits vacant for a few months. Also, a cash cushion allows you to quickly take advantage of other investment opportunities when they arise.
GET TAX-FREE GAINS WHEN SELLING YOUR PRIMARY HOME! 1. What is Your "Tax Basis"?Your tax basis is the cost of buying, building, or improving a property. For example:
2. What is Your "Capital Gain"?Your capital gain on the sale of the property is your sales price MINUS your costs of sale MINUS your basis. For example:
3. What is the "Capital Gains" Tax?In the US, we're required to pay capital gains taxes on any profit ("capital gain") we receive when we sell a property. Under current law, the capital gains tax rate can be up to 20%, plus an additional 3.8% net investment income tax. Using the example above, you could be required to pay up to up to $76,160 in capital gains taxes (23.8% tax on the $320,000 of capital gain), depending on your specific income level. 4. What is the "Primary Residence Exclusion"?If the property is your primary residence, you can get what’s called a principal residence exclusion. This means that a certain portion of the capital gain is excluded from tax. Married couples can exclude $500,000 of capital gain from tax. Individuals or married couples filing a separate tax return can exclude $250,000 of gain from tax. In the example above, the entire $320,000 would be excluded from tax if this was your primary home and if you were married, filing a joint tax return. This means that you could save up to $76,160 by using this exclusion (no capital gains tax and no 3.8% investment income tax)! Here are several rules to follow to qualify for the exclusion:
HERE ARE 3 IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER ABOUT FLIPPING HOUSES IN TODAY'S MARKET. 1. THE ROI ON FLIPPING HOUSES REMAINS FAR BELOW ITS PEAK.Approx. 8.2% of all residential real estate transactions were house-flips in Q2 2022 according to Attom Data Solutions, a leading real estate data provider. That's down from 9.7% in Q1 2022 but still up from 5.3% in Q2 2021. Meanwhile, average house-flipping profits remain far below their peak due to increased competition, rising mortgage rates, and a slowdown in house price appreciation. 2. RENOVATION COSTS AND TIMELINES ARE SOARING.The costs to renovate and repair a home have soared in the wake of a labor shortage, supply chain disruptions, and rising inflation. This means that it may take you longer than expected to fix and flip the home. Also, be sure to budget for higher costs, which of course, will eat into your profit margins. 3. THE HOUSING MARKET HAS STARTED TO SLOW DOWN.It's highly unlikely that house prices will crash because we have an ongoing shortage of housing inventory in the US. Even so, annual house price appreciation is expected to slow to its long-term average of 3%-4% during the next 12 months. We've already seen month-over-month price declines in some extra-frothy markets. This means that you may not get as much as you initially anticipated when you go to sell the house.
YOUR COST OF BORROWING MAY BE LOWER THAN YOU THINK! 1. THE HIGHER THE INTEREST RATE, THE BIGGER THE TAX DEDUCTION.Homeowners who itemize tax deductions can deduct the interest on up to $750,000 of mortgage balances used to buy, build or improve a qualified home. In the past few years, not as many home buyers benefited from this because their total annual interest expense was lower than their standard deduction. However, interest rates and total annual interest expenses have doubled this year according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of mortgage rates. For example, a $500,000 mortgage at a 6.5% interest rate has an annual interest expense of $32,500. This far exceeds the standard deduction. This also means that the homeowner in this example is more likely to itemize and benefit from the mortgage interest deduction. 2. HOW BIG IS THE TAX BENEFIT?Calculate for yourself!
STANDARD DEDUCTION, GIFT TAX LIMITS, AND MARGINAL TAX BRACKETS FOR 2022 The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced the tax year 2022 annual inflation adjustments for more than 60 tax provisions. Click here to view the full list. Here's a summary of three provisions that may impact homeowners and homebuyers: Standard Deduction
Gift Tax Exclusion
Marginal Tax Brackets
PLEASE NOTE: THIS LETTER AND OVERVIEW IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL, TAX, OR FINANCIAL ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT WITH A QUALIFIED TAX ADVISOR FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE PERTAINING TO YOUR SITUATION. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ANY OF THESE ITEMS, PLEASE REFERENCE IRS REVENUE PROCEDURE 2021-45.
HERE'S A GREAT NEGOTIATING STRATEGY FOR A CHANGING MARKET 1. What is a 2-1 Buydown?A "2-1 Buydown" is where you or the seller pay a fee at the closing to reduce the interest rate on your mortgage by 2% in year 1 and 1% in year 2. This results in temporarily lowering your monthly payment and potentially making the home more affordable for you. A "3-2-1 Buydown" can sometimes also be used, although a 2-1 Buydown is more common. A 3-2-1 buydown is where you or the seller pay a fee at the closing to reduce the interest rate on your mortgage by 3% in year 1, 2% in year 2, and 1% in year 3. 2. What are the benefits of a 2-1 buydown?A 2-1 Buydown reduces your interest rate and monthly payment during the first few years of homeownership, making the home more affordable for you. It can also allow you to benefit from owning a home now so you can start to build equity vs. waiting a few more years and continuing to rent. If the seller pays for the 2-1 Buydown, it would have a much greater impact on your monthly payment than asking the seller to reduce the list price of the home. This could be a great negotiating tool because a greater percentage of homes listed for sale in today's market are seeing price reductions. One way to get maximum benefit with a 2-1 Buydown is to use it on a 5-year or 7-year intermediate term ARM (adjustable rate mortgage). The interest rate on those types of loans is often lower than the interest rate on a fixed-rate loan, resulting in an even lower monthly payment. 3. What happens when the interest rate goes back to normal?In year 3 of a 2-1 Buydown, your interest rate would adjust to its normal "note rate." If market interest rates are the same or higher than they are today, you would just keep the loan and pay the normal payment. However, if a recession happens, as is being predicted by many economists, market rates may come down again. In that case, you may be able to refinance at the then-current rates. Keep in mind that interest rates are cyclical. They tend to go up when the economy is doing well, and they tend to go down when the economy is doing poorly.
THREE QUESTIONS TO DECIDE IF THIS IS A GOOD TIME FOR YOU TO BUY A HOUSE 1. What's the alternative?Where will you live if you don't buy a house? Rents have soared in the past year, and they're still climbing. If you rent a house instead of purchasing a house, you'll likely be subject to rising costs with no real benefit. That's because none of your rent payments are going toward building equity. On the other hand, if you buy a house, at least a portion of your monthly payment is going toward principal reduction on the mortgage balance. This means you'll be building equity even if the home doesn't go up in value. 2. What's your time horizon?If your time horizon is more than 4 years, buying a home in a market like this would likely make sense for you. Here's why: home price appreciation has slowed down and house prices may pull back from their recent highs before they start to go up again. Keep in mind that the fundamentals of the housing market are still strong: demand is greater than supply and will be so for quite some time because we have a housing shortage in the US. This means that even if house prices decline in the near term, they'll likely start to climb again during the next few years. In the meantime, what happens if you want to sell the property and the next buyer doesn't want to pay you as much or more than what you paid? Here's a potential scenario to consider: let's say you buy a home and home values immediately drop by 10%, then they start going up by 3% per year, which is the long-term average home appreciation rate in the US. It would take roughly 4 years for you to breakeven, or start building wealth through homeownership. In a potentially bad-case scenario like that, are you willing to keep the house for at least 4 years? 3. Is the home affordable for you personally?Wages have increased considerably in the past year and are likely to keep rising because there are over 10 million job openings in today's economy. If you tune out all the noise that's not specific to you, is the home you want to buy affordable for you personally given your specific income/employment situation? There's no one-size-fits-all solution in today's market. That's why it's important for you to run the numbers for yourself, consider the alternatives, and make your own decision. I'm here to help in any way I can!
INFLATION IS AT DECADES-HIGH LEVELS: HERE'S HOW IT IMPACTS HOUSE PRICES 1. What is inflation?Inflation is when a currency loses its buying power, causing prices in the economy to go up. Year-over-year consumer inflation in the economy has been running around 8.5% throughout the past year. That's the highest inflation rate we've seen since the 1980s. In fact, through much of the past 15 years, annual inflation has been running below 2%. That's why the recent price increases have been such a shock. 2. How does inflation impact house prices?House prices tend to go up along with all the other asset prices in the economy during periods of high inflation. During the last period of high inflation, from 1970 - 1989, the average increase in house prices was 7.64% per year. During the past 20 years of low inflation, from 2000 - 2019, the average increase in house prices was 3.70% per year. House prices tend to go up at a faster pace during periods of high inflation. That's why real estate is often referred to as a "hedge against inflation." 3. How to benefit in a high-inflation environment?The best way to benefit from the current inflation scenario is to buy real estate and use a large mortgage (if you can afford it). That's because the mortgage balance remains the same or goes down as you make your monthly payments, while the property increases in value. The good news is that mortgage rates are still relatively low... lower in fact than the annual inflation rate. This makes buying real estate in this environment even more attractive.
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Isaac Conde
305 West Moana Street Suite C Reno, NV 89509 775-553-8805 B.S. 0143661 ROI
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