March 11th, 2011 · Comments Off on The Psychological Tactics That Supermarkets Use On Customers
More than 50% of supermarket purchases are “impulse buys”. You may not have known that, but the supermarkets do. And they’ve built their stores accordingly. A fool and his grocery cart are soon filled to the brim.
In this 6-minute video from NBC’s The Today Show, you’ll learn how supermarkets use everything from packaging to placement so that customers spend more of their money with each store visit.
Among the supermarkets’ tricks:
Placing flowers and bakery at the front of the store to “make you salivate”
Specific “deal wording” (e.g. Buy 5 for $5.00) meant to entice larger purchases
Placing staples on top and bottom shelves, leaving middle shelves for impulse products
The piece also recommends shopping a supermarket in a clockwise-fashion. It helps you spend less time in the store.
We’re all mindful of our household budgets. Watch this video to save more money on your next trip for groceries.
Comments Off on The Psychological Tactics That Supermarkets Use On CustomersTags:Budgeting · Consumer Interest
March 10th, 2011 · Comments Off on Ignore The Case-Shiller Index; Focus On The Future Instead
Last week, Standard & Poor’s released its Case-Shiller Index for December 2010. The index is a home valuation tracker, meant to measure the change in home prices from one period to the next.
December’s Case-Shiller Index showed major devaluations nationwide. As compared to December 2009, on a year-over-year basis, home values fell in 18 of the Case Shiller Index’s 20 tracked markets, and the U.S. National Index dropped 4 percent overall.
The retreat puts December’s home values at similar levels as compared to early-2003.
That said, buyers and sellers in the Philadelphia marketplace would be wise to take the findings lightly. The Case-Shiller Index is inherently flawed. As such, its results are neither practical — nor relevant — to everyday Americans. If you have read this blog before, you know that our market is not included in the Index, and in this case is opposite to the market information which shows that our market area had a 2.9% increase in 2010 over 2009.
There are 3 Case-Shiller flaws, in fact.
The first flaw is the index’s limited sample set. Wikipedia lists 3,100+ municipalities nationwide and we can be certain that real estate is bought and sold in all of them. The Case-Shiller Index, however, measures just 20 of them. That’s less than 1% of all U.S. cities. And then, within those tracked cities, Case-Shiller reports an average, lumping disparate neighborhoods and streets into one big number.
The “national figures” aren’t really national, and the “city data” doesn’t apply to your home, specifically.
The second Case-Shiller Index flaw is how it measures home value changes. The index only consider at “repeat sales” of the same home, so long as that home is a single-family, detached property. Condominiums, multi-family homes, and new construction are ignored in the Case-Shiller Index.
Because distressed properties account for such a high percentage of resales lately — 36% in December –foreclosures and short sales skew Case-Shiller Index worse.
And, lastly, the Case-Shiller Index is flawed by “age”. Because it reports closed sales a 60-day delay, December’s Case-Shiller Index is measuring the values of home sales contracts from September and October. The Case-Shiller Index, therefore, is a snapshot of the not-so-recent past, and does little to tell us about the next 60 days.
Overall, the Case-Shiller Index is helpful tool for economists and policy-makers, but it doesn’t do much good for individual homeowners across the city of Philadelphia or anywhere else. For accurate, real-time housing data in your local market, talk to a real estate professional instead.
March 9th, 2011 · Comments Off on Military Personnel Can Still Claim The $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
For certain members of the military, and for certain federal employees, there’s just 2 months remaining to get use the federal home buyer tax credit.
Eligible persons include members of the uniformed services, members of the Foreign Service, and intelligence community employees who served at least 90 days of qualified, extended duty service outside of the United States between January 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010.
Spouses of persons meeting the above criteria are eligible as well.
The federal home buyer tax credit ranges up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers, and up to $6,500 for existing homeowners. Existing homeowners must have lived in their “main home” through 5 of the last 8 years to be eligible.
Claiming the federal tax credit is a two-step process. First, eligible persons must be under contract for a new home on or before April 30, 2011. The home’s closing must then occur on or before June 30, 2011.
The IRS does not make date exceptions.
Furthermore, both the buyer(s) and the subject property must meet certain minimum eligibility requirements:
The home may not be purchased from a parent, spouse, or child
The home may not be purchased from an entity in which the seller is a majority owner
The home may not be acquired by gift or inheritance
Each buyer must meet tax credit eligibility standards
The home sale price may not exceed $800,000
Buyers may not earn more than $125,000 as single-filers; $225,000 as joint-filers
Another important note is that the IRS is giving eligible buyers a tax credit as opposed to a deduction. This means that a taxpayer qualifying for the full $8,000, and for whom the “normal” 2011 federal tax liability is $8,000, will have zero federal tax liability in 2011.
For additional information regarding your tax credit eligibility, call an accountant. Speaking with a tax professional is often worth the cost.
March 8th, 2011 · Comments Off on FHA : Monthly Mortgage Insurance Premiums To Rise April 18, 2011
For the third time in 12 months, the FHA is changing its mortgage insurance costs.
Effective for all FHA case numbers assigned on, or after, April 18, 2011, annual mortgage insurance premiums (MIP) will increase 25 basis points.
The change will add $250 to an FHA-insured homeowner’s annual loan costs per $100,000 borrowed, and applies to all borrower’s equally. Current FHA borrowers are unaffected.
To understand the FHA is to understand why premiums are rising.
As an institution, the Federal Housing Administration plays a much larger role in the U.S. housing market today than it did just 5 years ago. According to its own records, the FHA’s percentage of purchase money business in Pennsylvania and nationwide expanded from 4 percent in FY 2006 to 19 percent in FY 2010.
Rapid growth like this has strained the FHA’s capital and, indeed, in its official statement, the FHA alludes to this, stating that the MIP increase will “significantly strengthen” its reserves. By law, the FHA must maintain a certain minimum level of reserves.
FHA mortgage insurance varies by loan term, and by loan-to-value and, beginning April 18, 2011, the new insurance premiums are as follows:
15-year loan term, loan-to-value > 90% : 0.50% per year
15-year loan term, loan-to-value <= 90% : 0.25% per year
30-year loan term, loan-to-value > 95% : 1.15% per year
30-year loan term, loan-to-value <= 95% : 1.10% per year
To calculate your monthly mortgage insurance premium, multiply your starting loan size by your insurance premium, and divide by 12.
There is no change planned to the 1 percent upfront mortgage insurance premium charged by the FHA.
Comments Off on FHA : Monthly Mortgage Insurance Premiums To Rise April 18, 2011Tags:FHA Mortgages · Mortgage Lending
There’s plenty of reasons to want to change a showerhead in your head. Perhaps you’re trying to fix a leak in the faucet; or, remodeling your bathroom; or, trying to conserve water via a low-flow showerhead.
Whatever the reason, changing a showerhead can be a basic do-it-yourself project. The tools aren’t complicated and the job is a quick one.
How to firmly attach your new showerhead to prevent leaks
If you get stuck, or just want to outsource, call a professional handyman to finish the job. Changing a showerhead should take less than a hour to complete.
February 23rd, 2011 · Comments Off on Home Builders Report Higher Sales Levels In January
Homebuilder confidence in the market for newly-built, single family homes appears stable as the spring buying season gets underway in Philadelphia .
The confidence reading is recorded and reported monthly by the National Association of Homebuilders. For the 4th straight month, the group’s Housing Market Index reads 16.
As a market indicator, Housing Market Index has been tracked for more than twenty years and reports on a 1-100 scale. A value of 50 or better indicates “favorable conditions” for home builders.
HMI hasn’t read higher than 50 since April 2006.
Broken down, the Housing Market Index is actually a weighted composite of 3 separate surveys measuring current single-family sales; projected single-family sales; and foot traffic of prospective buyers.
February’s surveys showed slight improvement as compared to January, overall.
Single-Family Sales : 17 (+2 from from January)
Projected Single-Family Sales : 25 (+1 from January)
Buyer Foot Traffic : 12 (unchanged from January)
It’s notable that the current sales levels were higher in February, and that projected sales levels for the next 6 months are higher, too.
For home buyers Pennsylvania across , this month’s Housing Market Index reading may foreshadow tougher negotiations in the months ahead with builders. The likelihood of getting discounts and free upgrades may be diminished as builders see their respective sales levels grow, and as the economy expands.
Coupled with rising mortgage rates, home buyer purchasing power may never be as high as it is today.
Therefore, if your plans call for buying a newly-built home this year, think about moving up your time frame. Builder confidence appears to have bottomed. As it rises, so should home prices.
Comments Off on Home Builders Report Higher Sales Levels In JanuaryTags:Homebuilders
February 22nd, 2011 · Comments Off on Use An Automatic Stirrer To Keep Foods From Burning And Pots From Scorching
It doesn’t take much effort to stand over a pot and “stir continuously”, as called for in some recipes. It can be tedious, though, and once a chef stops stirring or leaves a pot unattended, the recipe is sure to ruin.
Enter the automatic stirrer.
With its self-adjusting, self-centering blades, the Ardenté Gourmet Stirrer latches on to the side of most kitchen bowls, and does that stirring for you. The machine’s constant blade-turning protects your milk-based recipes from burning; your sauce-based recipes from charring; and your temperate-sensitive sugars from caramelizing.
While it does its job, you’re freed up to tend to other tasks in the kitchen, or to spend time with family around the house.
It protects your pots from scorching, too.
The Ardenté Gourmet Stirrer runs on 4 C batteries and can be run continuously, or intermittently. Its blades run at different heights to promote consistency, and are dishwasher-safe for easy clean-up.
You can buy the automatic stirrer in white or black on Ardenté’s website, or on Amazon. It retails for $59.95.
Want to replace your kitchen faucet? It’s a job for which you could hire a plumber, or, with just a little bit of craftsman skill, it’s a project you could finish yourself.
Watch this video from the Lowe’s YouTube channel. You’ll get step-by-step instruction on how to take out an old faucet and how to install a new one. The supplies you’ll need are minimal, too.
In 3 minutes, the video covers:
How to shut the kitchen water supply off and drain residual water from the pipes
How to detach and remove the old kitchen faucet
How to align the new faucet and reconnect to the water lines
There’s some good tips along the way, too, including how to make sure you don’t accidentally connect the hot water supply to the cold-water faucet.
If you’re uncomfortable working with your home’s plumbing and would like a referral to a plumber near Huntingdon Valley , please just ask. I’m happy to help how I can.
Fed Minutes are comprehensive recaps of Federal Open Market Committee meetings; a detailed look at the debates and discussions that shape our nation’s monetary policy. As such, they’re released 8 times annually; 3 weeks after the most recent FOMC meeting.
Fed Minutes can be viewed as the unabridged version of the succinct, more well-known “Fed Statement” that’s released to markets immediately post-adjournment.
Just how much more lengthy are Fed Minutes?
The January 25-26, 2011 statement contains 395 words
The January 25-26, 2011 meeting minutes contains 6,916 words
If the Fed Statement is an executive summary, the Fed Minutes is a novel. And, the extra words matter.
When the Federal Reserve publishes its minutes, it’s offering clues about the group’s next policy-making steps. As an example, in the January minutes, the Fed improved its outlook for economic growth; lowered its projections for the Unemployment Rate; and removed its concern for deflation.
In addition, the Fed discussed the potential for food-and-energy-cost-induced inflation, but labeled it as a minor economic risk at this point in time.
Bond markets are mixed on the text of the Fed Minutes.
Although the Fed indicates a willingness to allow inflation to occur, it appears ready to act in case inflation goes too high. One way that the Fed responds to rising inflation is to raise the Fed Funds Rate and many economists believe this will start happening by late-2011 or early-2012.
February 18th, 2011 · Comments Off on Practical Advice : How To Help Your Home Sell Faster
In December, home sales reached an 8-month high, recovering from the losses of last summer. Market momentum is positive across Pennsylvania , but that doesn’t mean every home is selling quickly — only some of them are.
So, if you’re a home seller and want (or need) to get your home sold quickly, take a listen to this 3-minute interview from NBC’s The Today Show. It’s loaded with practical sales advice for sellers.
As examples:
How to price your home relative to comparable homes for sale
Using home inspections to keep your contract on-track for closing
How much should be spent on your “home photos” that are shown online
The interview also covers about the 3 key places of a home on which to spend money — the kitchen, the living area, and the front facade. And for good reason — they’re emotional hooks for buyers that help sell homes.
In any market, selling a home can be a challenge. It can be easier by applying common sense.
Comments Off on Practical Advice : How To Help Your Home Sell FasterTags:Home How To · Real Estate
For certain members of the military, and for certain federal employees, there’s just 2 months remaining to get use the federal home buyer tax credit.
For the third time in 12 months, the FHA is changing its mortgage insurance costs.
It doesn’t take much effort to stand over a pot and “stir continuously”, as called for in some recipes. It can be tedious, though, and once a chef stops stirring or leaves a pot unattended, the recipe is sure to ruin.
The Federal Reserve released its