Welcome to the most current Housing Trends eNewsletter. This eNewsletter is specially designed for you, with national and local housing information that you may find useful whether you’re in the market for a home, thinking about selling your home, or just interested in homeowner issues in general.

Please click on this link to view the MARCH-2010 Newsletter Housing Trends eNewsletter:
http://budurl.com/NewsLetterMar10

The Housing Trends eNewsletter contains the latest information from the National Association of REALTORS®, the U.S. Census Bureau, Realtor.org reports and other sources.

It also includes press releases with charts and videos, key market indicators and real estate sales and price statistics, a video message by a nationally recognized economist, maps, mortgage rates and calculators, consumer articles, plus local neighborhood information and more.

If you are interested in determining the value of your home, click the “Home Evaluator” link for a free evaluation report:
http://danfrank.housingtrendsenewsletter.com/dispContent.cfm?loadid=2&loadtype=0

Sound decisions can only be made with accurate and reliable information, and I am happy to be a trusted resource for you. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with this monthly eNewsletter, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have and to the opportunity to be your REALTOR® in the future.

Sincerely yours, 

Danny Frank
Keller Williams Realty Pearland
2734 Sunrise Blvd., Suite 208 Pearland TX 77584
713-581-4702 
danfrank@kw.com 

WHEREAS the United States was built on the foundation that private property rights are a sacred cornerstone to democracy; and

WHEREAS, Texas was founded on the principle of protecting private property and it is important to preserve these rights and maintain constitutional protections against regulation and seizure of a homestead; and

WHEREAS, any new tax system designed to address a state budget deficit should not increase the heavy burden property owners in Texas now bear; and

WHEREAS, any reduction in school property taxes shall not be offset by newly created property taxes related to a real estate transaction; and

WHEREAS, any new property tax related to a real estate transaction would create even more barriers to homeownership; and

WHEREAS, it shall be a goal of this State to increase the percentage of Texas homeowners which currently ranks a dismal 45th in the nation; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the __________________ Party takes a stand for Texas property owners and repudiates any creation of a real estate transaction tax and supports paving the way for more Texans to attain the American Dream of homeownership.

Please come and visit my open house. It is in Pearland TX at 10202 Lamb Brook Lane and is just a great house. The open house wil be Sunday, Feberuary 28, 2010 from 2PM through  5PM

For the discriminating buyer - HGTV should come & take notes! Taste & elegance abound! Upgrades include crown molding, hardwood floors, high-end stainless appliances & beautiful granite kitchen countertops! And it's as beautiful outside as it is in w/ a fabulously landscaped yard & incredible outdoor kitchen w/ a gas grill & deep fryer, and a great covered patio w/ 2 ceiling fans - perfect for entertaining! It just doesn't get any better than this. Call your favorite Realtor for an appointment.

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources: http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or http://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at http://www.danfrankrealty.com/. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com

Are you in need of training on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and blogging? If so, the place to be is Houston TX March 11 and 12 at the Hilton Post Oak Galleria, 2001 Post Oak Blvd, Houston TX.

http://har.com/digitalmedia/default.cfm

Some of the speakers include:

• Doug Devitre
• Amy Smythe Harris
• Chris Schilling
• Paul Chaney
• Marilyn Maxwell
• Ines Hegedus-Garcia
• Max Pigman
• Jeff Turner
• Todd Carpenter
• Ginger Wilcox

And this is just to name a few.... This All-Star cast will dazzle you with their in-depth knowledge of the digital media craze that is sweeping the world as fast as a tweet can go... Last years sold out in less than a week. So sigh up early so you won;t be left in the out box...

Digital Media is not a fad. It’s mainstream marketing and serious business. People are using these tools daily to achieve greater success and profitability. Are you?

The HAR Digital Media Spring Training 2010 is your training camp to become a power hitter by harnessing all the marketing muscle of digital media. Whether you are a Rookie attending Day 1 or in the Major Leagues Day 2, we have a track for you. Come learn from real estate’s top digital media pros in the country how to leverage digital marketing and hit a home run every time.

Serious Business…but we’ll have fun too. Sport your favorite baseball team jersey, ball cap, pennant or more and win a prize for Best Slugger.

Pearland TX Home for Sale: 10202 Lamb Brook, Pearland TX 77574. ONLY $223,900.00

For the discriminating buyer - HGTV should come & take notes! Taste & elegance abound! Upgrades include crown molding, hardwood floors, high-end stainless appliances & beautiful granite kitchen countertops! And it's as beautiful outside as it is in w/ a fabulously landscaped yard & incredible outdoor kitchen w/ a gas grill & deep fryer, and a great covered patio w/ 2 ceiling fans - perfect for entertaining! It just doesn't get any better than this. Call your favorite Realtor for an appointment.

I need you help... My dog, Toby is in a contest... I need you to vote for him... Toby is a rescue dog and he now is able to visit the sick and elderly... Plesae vote for my boy....

http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/15821/voteable_entries/2736737

We adopted Toby from Golden Beginnings Golden Retriever Rescue (GBGRR) in March of 2008. He is an awesome visiting dog. His list of credentials include – Delta Society registered pet partner, Caring Critter, Canine Good Citizen and a gold medal winner in his sports foundation class. He loves his work as a visiting dog and currently visits an assisted living home in Pearland. He brings many smiles to the people he visits and is so happy to go see them, he just smiles the whole time. In his spare time he likes to be an ambassador for GBGRR by attending meet and greets for adoption or working booths and the dog show and various other events.

GBGRR, a non-profit organization founded in 1999, is celebrating our 10-year anniversary. In our first ten years, GBGRR has rescued more than two thousand Golden Retrievers and received numerous awards and grants. GBGRR received the Starfish Award from the Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA) for our rescue efforts during hurricane Katrina, and in 2008, two of our rescued Goldens won G.R.A.C.E. (Golden Retrievers Achieving Community Excellence) Awards in two different categories at the GRCA Nationals in Providence, Rhode Island.

Effective February 1, 2010 the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will relax FHA rules that prohibit insuring mortgages on homes that are owned by the seller for less than 90 days – a move that could help expedite the rehabilitation and resale of foreclosure properties.

Do you want to get into the real estate business? Do you want to start to have residual income? Do you want to have freedom to do want to do? Do you want to tell your boss you quit? You can do it... Now is the time to buy. Prices or low, interest rates are low, inventory is high... NOW is the time to buy real estate for investment...

Call me at 713-581-4702 to learn how anyone can get into the real estate investment business and make a great living doing it.

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources: http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or http://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at http://www.danfrankrealty.com/. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com

Save the Date....February 3 - Negotiations Luncheon @ The Grove NRG invites you to save the date for Wednesday, February 3, 2010 for our first educational luncheon of the year! We are kicking off the year with Tom Hayman President of Negotiation Expertise, LLC, home of the Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE) designation one of the top new designations in real estate. More details coming soon! #NRG #HAR

http://tweetvite.com/event/NRGfeb09

Check out the tweetups on Tweetvite.

One of the first mistakes first time home buyers make, is to try and buy to MUCH home. As a first time home buyer you may qualify for a lot more home than you need to buy. I advise my clients to buy a home that fits their needs and still allows them to have a quality of life. You need to have a balance between monthly payments of your new home and the quality of life you want to live.  Take into account all of your monthly outflow of cash of all of your bills.  If you the max amount you where qualified for you might not be able to have cable TV, Internet, new blinds or be able to the furniture you want in your new home... You need to ask yourself "how much do I want to afford" and come up with a plan BEFORE you start looking for that new home.

Check out these sites: http://nhl.gov/buying/index.cfm#afford http://www.har.com/usearealtor/dispWhyRent.cfm

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources: http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or http://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at http://www.danfrankrealty.com/. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com

Welcome to the most current Housing Trends eNewsletter. This eNewsletter is specially designed for you, with national and local housing information that you may find useful whether you’re in the market for a home, thinking about selling your home, or just interested in homeowner issues in general.

Please click on this link to view the JANUARY-2010 Newsletter Housing Trends eNewsletter:
http://budurl.com/NewsletterJan09

The Housing Trends eNewsletter contains the latest information from the National Association of REALTORS®, the U.S. Census Bureau, Realtor.org reports and other sources.

It also includes press releases with charts and videos, key market indicators and real estate sales and price statistics, a video message by a nationally recognized economist, maps, mortgage rates and calculators, consumer articles, plus local neighborhood information and more.

If you are interested in determining the value of your home, click the “Home Evaluator” link for a free evaluation report:
http://budurl.com/HomeEvaluator

Sound decisions can only be made with accurate and reliable information, and I am happy to be a trusted resource for you. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with this monthly eNewsletter, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have and to the opportunity to be your REALTOR® in the future.

Sincerely yours,

Danny Frank
Keller Williams Realty Pearland
2734 Sunrise Blvd., Suite 208 Pearland TX 77584
713-581-4702
danfrank@kw.com


(While I hope you find the information contained in this eNewsletter useful and informative, if you wish to no longer receive it, you may click on the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the newsletter.)

Water Heaters: 5 Tips to Save Energy

By: Joe Bousquin

Published: August 28, 2009

Water heating accounts for up to 25% of household energy costs, but there are inexpensive things you can do to increase efficiency and reduce energy bills.

n the fight to save energy, your water heater is a born loser. That’s because most houses in this country have a conventional storage-type water heater. That 50-gallon tank in the basement wants to keep water hot, so it will be ready whenever you turn on the tap. But as the water sits, it naturally begins to cool down, a process known as standby heat loss. When it does, the burner or heating element kicks on to warm it up again, in a constantly repeating cycle. According to the Department of Energy, water heating accounts for 14% to 25% of your household’s total energy costs. But there are easy, low-cost steps you can take to reduce standby losses—and your hot-water bill, too. Try these five, and you’ll start seeing a difference right away.

Wrap your heater in a blanket

Just as you wouldn’t send little Susie out into the cold without a jacket, your water heater needs help to stay warm, especially if it’s in an unheated space. A fiberglass insulating blanket can cut heat loss by 25% to 40% and save 4% to 9% on the average water-heating bill of $308, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

Insulating blankets are cheap, usually less than $30 at the home center, and it’s easy to install one yourself. Follow the included directions, and take care not to block the thermostat on an electric water heater or the air inlet, exhaust, or top of the tank on a gas unit.

If your water heater is fairly new, check the manufacturer’s recommendations first. Many newer units already have insulating foam built in; on these models, an after-market jacket could block a critical component.

Install low-flow fixtures

One of the surest ways to cut hot water costs is to use less of it. According to the ACEEE, a family of four uses 700 gallons of hot water per week. By installing low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators, which cost as little as $10 to $20 each, you can cut hot water consumption by 25% to 60%. These devices are easy to install and will save 14,000 gallons of hot water annually, plus the energy it takes to heat it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates the average U.S. household water bill at $474 a year. By cutting water consumption in half, you’ll save more than $200 annually.

Turn down the temperature

Many water heaters come from the factory with the temperature set needlessly high. For every 10 degrees you turn it down, you’ll save another 3% to 5% on your bill, according to ACEEE. A setting between 120 and 140 degrees is plenty hot for most uses. Just don’t go below 120 degrees, which could lead to the unsafe growth of bacteria inside the tank.

If the thermostat on your water heater doesn’t have a numbered gauge, put it midway between the “low” and “medium” marks. Wait a day, then measure the temperature at the tap with a standard cooking thermometer. Keep adjusting this way until you hit your target temperature.

Drain the sediment

Tanks naturally build up sediment, which reduces the unit’s efficiency and makes it more expensive to operate. “Imagine an inch of sand inside your water heater,” explains David Chisholm of manufacturer State Water Heaters. “When you get a layer at the bottom of the tank, you have to heat up that sediment before you can heat up the water.”

Draining the tank is relatively easy. Turn off the water and power to the unit (set the burner on a gas unit to “pilot”). Then connect a garden hose to the spigot at the base of the tank. With the other end of the hose at a lower spot outside the house where discharging hot water poses no danger, carefully lift the pressure-relief valve at the top of the tank and turn on the spigot; water should begin to flow. While most manufacturers recommend draining the tank once or twice a year, you don’t have to drain it completely; in fact, the Department of Energy recommends draining less water more often—just a quart every three months.

Insulate exposed hot-water pipes

Like blanketing the tank, wrapping hot-water pipes with insulation reduces standby losses. Water arrives at the tap 2 to 4 degrees warmer, which means you won’t have to stand around as long waiting for it to heat up, thus saving water, energy, and money. While this isn’t an expensive job to do yourself—six-foot-long, self-sealing sleeves easily slip over pipes and cost about $2.50 each—it could take some effort, depending on where your hot water pipes are. Exposed pipes in the basement are an easy target, but if pipes are in a hard-to-reach crawl space or inside walls, it might not be worth the trouble.

Joe Bousquin’s work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, and Men’s Journal. The owner of a 79-year-old home in Sacramento, Calif., he has a new reverence for his water heater.

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources: http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or http://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at http://www.danfrankrealty.com/. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com

I have the new T-Mobile MyTouch and love it....

By: Oliver Marks

Published: September 1, 2009

Doing home-improvement jobs yourself can be a smart way to save money, but choose the right DIY projects or you’ll end up paying dearly.

Look for maintenance jobs that are relatively easy and need to be done regularly, so you can hone your skills over time. Image: Comstock/Getty Images

Why pay someone big bucks to do something you can just as easily do yourself? That’s the thinking that has gotten more Americans than ever swinging their own hammers. In a recent Time magazine poll, nearly a quarter of people said they were taking on more home-improvement projects themselves—understandably so, when you consider that it usually means a 50% to 75% discount, since all you pay for is materials.

But sometimes doing it yourself costs more than it saves, like when you decide to replace the toilet, end up flooding the basement, and have to pay a pro to fix your mistakes. Or, worse, if you become one of the more than 100,000 people injured each year doing home-improvement jobs. Here are some guidelines for deciding when DIY can save you money and when it could cost you.

Stick to routine maintenance for savings and safety

Seasonal home maintenance is ideal work for the DIY weekend warrior, since you can plan tasks in advance and get to them when your schedule allows. Because these are repeat projects, your savings will add up to big bucks over the years. Just by mowing your own lawn, for example, you can save $55 to $65 a week for a half-acre lawn during the growing season. The bigger the lot, the bigger the savings: with two acres, you’ll pocket around $150 per week.

When It Pays: Look for maintenance jobs that are relatively easy and need to be done regularly, so you can hone your skills over time. In addition to mowing, other good ones are snow removal, pruning shrubs, washing windows, sealing the deck, painting fences, fertilizing the lawn, and replacing air conditioner filters.

When It Doesn’t: Unless you have skill and experience on your side, stay off of any ladder taller than six feet; according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 164,000 people end up in emergency rooms every year because of ladder injuries. The same goes for operating power saws or attempting any major electrical work—it’s simply too risky if you don’t have the experience.

Act as your own GC on small jobs 

If you’re more comfortable operating an iPhone than a circular saw, you may be able to act as your own general contractor on a home-improvement project and hire the carpenters, plumbers, and other tradesmen yourself. You’ll save 10% to 20% of the job cost, which is the contractor’s typical fee.

When it Pays: If it’s a small job that requires only two or three different tradesmen, and you have good existing relationships with top-quality professionals in those fields, consider DIY contracting.

When It Doesn’t: Unless you have an established network of contacts who will show up as promised, the time to spend on oversight, enough construction experience to spot potential problems, and the skill to negotiate disputes between the various subcontractors, trying to manage your own project can quickly send the schedule and budget off the rails.

Pitch in with sweat equity on big jobs

Contributing your own labor on a big job being handled by a professional crew can cut hundreds or even thousands of dollars off the contractor’s bill. Tear the cabinets and appliances out of your old kitchen before the contractor gets started, say, and you might knock $800 off the cost of your remodel, says Dean Bennett, a design/build contractor in Castle Rock, Colorado.

When it Pays: Grunt work—jobs that are labor intensive but require relatively little skill—makes the best homeowner contribution. Offer to do minor interior demolition like removing cabinets and pulling up old flooring, daily jobsite cleanup, product assembly, and simple landscaping like planting foundation shrubs and grass seed around your new addition.

When It Doesn’t: If you get in the crew’s way, you may slow them down far more than you help. Make your contributions when the workers aren’t around, such as in the morning before they arrive, or on nights and weekends after they’ve left.

Put on some of the finishing touches

Unlike the early phases of a construction job, which require skilled labor to frame walls, install plumbing pipes, and run wiring, many of the finishing touches on a project are comparatively simple and DIY-friendly. If you do the painting yourself for a new basement rec room, for instance, you can easily save $1,800, Bennett says.

When it Pays: If you have the skill—or a patient temperament and an experienced friend to teach you—finish work like setting tile, laying flooring, painting walls, and installing trim are all good DIY jobs.

When It Doesn’t: The downside to attempting your own finish work is that the results are very visible. Hammer dents in woodwork, for example, or sander ruts in your hardwood floors may cause you aggravation every time you see them. So unless you have a sure eye and a steady hand, it may not pay to embark on these tasks.

A former carpenter and newspaper reporter, Oliver Marks has been writing about home improvements for 16 years. He’s currently restoring his second fixer-upper with a mix of big hired projects and small do-it-himself jobs.

Reprinted from HouseLogic (houselogic.com) with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources: http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or http://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at http://www.danfrankrealty.com/. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com

DECEMBER-2009 Newsletter Housing Trends eNewsletter

Welcome to the most current Housing Trends eNewsletter. This eNewsletter is specially designed for you, with national and local housing information that you may find useful whether you're in the market for a home, thinking about selling your home, or just interested in homeowner issues in general.

Please click on this link to view the DECEMBER-2009 Newsletter Housing Trends eNewsletter:
http://danfrank.housingtrendsenewsletter.com?Newsletter_ID=238&Period_ID=180

The Housing Trends eNewsletter contains the latest information from the National Association of REALTORS®, the U.S. Census Bureau, Realtor.org reports and other sources.

It also includes press releases with charts and videos, key market indicators and real estate sales and price statistics, a video message by a nationally recognized economist, maps, mortgage rates and calculators, consumer articles, plus local neighborhood information and more.

If you are interested in determining the value of your home, click the "Home Evaluator" link for a free evaluation report:
http://danfrank.housingtrendsenewsletter.com/dispContent.cfm?loadid=2&loadtype=0

Sound decisions can only be made with accurate and reliable information, and I am happy to be a trusted resource for you. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with this monthly eNewsletter, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have and to the opportunity to be your REALTOR® in the future.

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources: http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or http://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at http://www.danfrankrealty.com/. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com

Sincerely yours, 

Danny Frank
Keller Williams Realty Pearland
2734 Sunrise Blvd., Suite 208 Pearland TX 77584
713-581-4702
danfrank@kw.com
http://www.danfrankrealty.com

By: Mariwyn Evans

Published: August 28, 2009

Knowing what’s on your CLUE report will give you a sense of whether you’ll need to pay extra for homeowners insurance. Image: Rosanne Olson/Getty Images

Your homeowners claims don’t disappear after your insurer cuts a check because CLUE reports keep them alive for seven years—and that could cost you.

A tree falls on the roof of your house. You file an insurance claim with your agent, collect a settlement from the insurer, and fix your roof. End of story, right? Not quite. Every claim you make on your homeowners insurance is recorded in a widely used insurance industry database called CLUE, short for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange.

Almost all insurance companies use CLUE to check on the claims history of prospective policyholders. The CLUE report also includes insurance claims made on your home before you even bought it. A-PLUS is another company that maintains a loss-history database. What’s inside these reports can affect your insurance premiums, or even prevent you from getting coverage.

Your claims history lives on in CLUE

The CLUE Personal Property report, which pertains to homeowners insurance, is divided into two parts: your personal record of claims (“Claims for the Subject”) and the claims on your home (“Claims History for Risk”). The number of claims in either section will affect whether you can get insurance for your home, how much coverage you can get, and how much you’ll pay in premiums. If you’re turned down for homeowners insurance because of information in your CLUE report, your insurance company is required to let you know why you were rejected.

Since the database is used by most insurance companies, your claims history follows you from one insurer to another. Actual claims, as opposed to inquiries, remain in the CLUE database for seven years from the date you filed them. Both ChoicePoint, the owner of CLUE, and A-PLUS advise insurance carriers not to report loss information just because you called to ask a question about whether your policy will cover a particular loss. Individual insurance companies may keep a record of inquires, though.

How insurers use CLUE

Insurance companies rely on CLUE reports because statistics show that if you’ve filed a claim in the past, you’re more likely to file one in the future, says Dick Luedke, a spokesperson for State Farm Insurance. The amount of a claim is less important than how often you’ve filed, he says. “We aren’t trying to make up for past losses, but to predict the risk of future claims.”

Each insurance company has its own formula for calculating how much a claim will affect your premium, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group that provides information to consumers. Suffice it to say the fewer the claims the less you’ll likely be charged. State Farm gives a 5% discount if you haven’t filed a claim in the last five years, says Luedke. That’s $40 off an average annual premium of $804. Ask your agent if a claim-free discount is available.

Claims aren’t all that count

Knowing what’s on your CLUE report will give you a sense of whether you’ll need to pay extra for homeowners insurance, or even if you run the risk of rejection. Unfortunately, even a pristine report doesn’t mean you can be sure of getting homeowners insurance at a great price. That’s because the claims on your CLUE report aren’t the only things that affect your overall insurance risk.

Insurance companies also consider your credit score, which is based on such things as how much debt you carry, whether you pay your bills on time, and so forth. According to the Insurance Information Institute, studies show that how people manage their finances is a good indicator of whether they’ll file an insurance claim. The more likely you are to file a claim, the bigger risk you are to the insurance company. And more risk means a higher premium or denial of coverage. Other factors insurers consider include the location of your home and its type of construction.

How to review your CLUE report

If you do decide to check you CLUE Personal Property report, it’s a relatively easy process. Under federal law, you get one free CLUE report a year. You can contact ChoicePoint by telephone at 800-456-6004. You can also register online to gain access to an electronic copy of your report for 30 days. Request a form to receive a Property Loss report from A-PLUS by calling 800-709-8842. There’s a charge of $9 to have the report mailed to you, according to the company’s website.

Your CLUE report will have:

• Your name, home address, birth date, and Social Security number;
• The number assigned to the report;
• The name of your insurance company;
• The type and number of the insurance policy;
• The type of loss—fire, water, etc.—for each claim and the claim number;
• The date of the loss and the amount of each claim;
• The status of each claim: closed, pending, etc.

The report also tells you how to dispute any errors you find. Because risk calculations vary by insurance company, it’s impossible to say exactly how a claim on your CLUE report will affect your premium. That makes it tough to decide just how much value checking your CLUE yields. Still, taking less than an hour once a year to order and review your report could pay off, especially if you find an error.

Mariwyn Evans has spent 25 years writing about commercial and residential real estate. She’s the author of several books, including “Opportunities in Real Estate Careers,” as well as too many magazine articles to count.

Reprinted from HouseLogic (houselogic.com) with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources: http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or http://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at http://www.danfrankrealty.com/. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com

By: Jeanne Huber

Published: September 16, 2009

For what the typical family wastes every year on air leaks—about $350—you can plug energy-robbing gaps, start saving money, and enjoy a more comfortable home.

A typical family spends about a third of its annual heating and cooling budget—roughly $350—on air that leaks into or out of the house through unintended gaps and cracks. With the money you waste in just one year, you can plug many of those leaks yourself. It’s among the most cost-effective things you can do to conserve energy and increase comfort, according to Energy Star. Start in the attic, since that’s where you’ll find some of the biggest energy drains. Then tackle the basement, to prevent cold air that enters there from being sucked into upstairs rooms. Finally, seal leaks in the rest of the house. Here are eight places to start.

1. Insulate around recessed lights

Most recessed lights have vents that open into the attic, a direct route for heated or cooled air to escape. When you consider that many homes have 30 or 40 of these fixtures, it’s easy to see why researchers at the Pennsylvania Housing Research/Resource Center pinpointed them as a leading cause of household air leaks. Lights labeled ICAT, for “insulation contact and air tight,” are already sealed; look for the label next to the bulb. If you don’t see it, assume yours leaks. An airtight baffle ($8-$30 at the home center) is a quick fix. Remove the bulb, push the baffle up into the housing, then replace the bulb.

2. Plug open stud cavities

Most of your house probably has an inner skin of drywall or plaster between living space and unheated areas. But builders in the past often skipped this cover behind knee walls (partial-height walls where the roof angles down into the top floor), above dropped ceilings or soffits, and above angled ceilings over stairs.

Up in the attic, you may need to push insulation away to see if the stud cavities are open. If they are, seal them with unfaced fiberglass insulation ($1.30 a square foot) stuffed into plastic garbage bags; the bag is key to blocking air flow. Close large gaps with scraps of drywall or pieces of reflective foil insulation ($2 a square foot). Once you’ve covered the openings, smooth the insulation back into place. To see these repairs in action, consult Energy Star’s DIY guide to air sealing.

3. Close gaps around flues and chimneys

Building codes require that wood framing be kept at least one inch from metal flues and two inches from brick chimneys. But that creates gaps where air can flow through. Cover the gaps with aluminum flashing ($12) cut to fit and sealed into place with high-temperature silicone caulk ($20). To keep insulation away from the hot flue pipe, form a barrier by wrapping a cylinder of flashing around the flue, leaving a one-inch space in between. To maintain the spacing, cut and bend a series of inch-deep tabs in the cylinder’s top and bottom edges.

4. Weatherstrip the attic access door

A quarter-inch gap around pull-down attic stairs or an attic hatch lets through the same amount of air as a bedroom heating duct. Seal it by caulking between the stair frame and the rough opening, or by installing foam weatherstripping around the perimeter of the hatch opening. Or you can buy a pre-insulated hatch cover kit, such as the Energy Guardian from ESS Energy Products ($150).

5. Squirt foam in the medium-size gaps

Once the biggest attic gaps are plugged, move on to the medium-size ones. Low-expansion polyurethane foam in a can is great for plugging openings 1/4-inch to three inches wide, such as those around plumbing pipes and vents. A standard 12-ounce can ($5) is good for 250 feet of bead about half an inch thick. The plastic straw applicator seals shut within two hours of the first use, so to get the most mileage out of a can, squirt a lubricant such as WD-40 onto a pipe cleaner and stuff that into the applicator tube between uses.

6. Caulk the skinny gaps

Caulk makes the best gap-filler for openings less than 1/4-inch wide, such as those cut around electrical boxes. Silicone costs the most ($8 a tube) but works better next to nonporous materials, such as metal flashing, or where there are temperature extremes, as in attics. Acrylic latex caulk ($2 a tube) is less messy to work with and cleans up with water.

7. Plug gaps in the basement

Gaps low on a foundation wall matter if you’re trying to fix a wet basement, but only those above the outside soil level let air in. Seal those with the same materials you’d use in an attic: caulk for gaps up to 1/4-inch wide and spray foam for wider ones. Use high-temperature caulk around vent pipes that get hot, such as those for the furnace or water heater. Shoot foam around wider holes for wires, pipes, and ducts that pass through basement walls to the outside.

In most older houses with basements, air seeps in where the house framing sits on the foundation. Spread a bead of caulk between the foundation and the sill plate (the wood immediately above the foundation), and along the top and bottom edges of the rim joist (the piece that sits atop the sill plate).

8. Tighten up around windows and doors

In the main living areas of your home, the most significant drafts tend to occur around windows and doors. If you have old windows, caulking and adding new weatherstripping goes a long way toward tightening them up. Bronze weatherstripping ($12 for 17 feet) lasts for decades but is time-consuming to install, while some self-stick plastic types are easy to put on but don’t last very long. Adhesive-backed EPDM rubber ($8 for 10 feet) is a good compromise, rated to last at least 10 years. Nifty gadgets called pulley seals ($9 a pair) block air from streaming though the holes where cords disappear into the frames.

Weatherstripping also works wonders on doors. If a draft comes in at the bottom, install a new door sweep ($9).

Before working in the attic, take some precautions

Try to do attic work on a cool day. Wear protective gear: disposable clothes, gloves, and a double-elastic mask or half-face respirator. Bring along a droplight with a fluorescent bulb, plus at least two pieces of plywood big enough to span two or three joists to support you as you work. To save trips up and down a ladder, try to move up all of the materials you need before you get started. One warning: If you find vermiculite insulation, hold off until you’ve had it checked for asbestos; your health department or air-quality agency can recommend a lab.

Jeanne Huber writes a home-repair column for the Washington Post and has commissioned three new roofs on various houses over the years.

Reprinted from HouseLogic (houselogic.com) with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources: http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or http://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at http://www.danfrankrealty.com/. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com

By: Oliver Marks

Published: September 30, 2009

Review your remodeling contract carefully and adjust it to make sure it protects you in terms of payments, work schedules, and project specifications.

Even if you never intend to pick up a hammer for your remodeling project, there’s one tool that’s absolutely essential—a solid contract. But just having one often isn’t enough. That’s because the document a contractor gives you is designed to protect him. It’s up to you to add in some basic protections for yourself. Here’s what you need to know to make sure the remodeling contract you sign includes solid legal protection for you and your home.

Hiring a lawyer to review and make changes to a contract is a safe bet, especially since each state has its own construction-contract statutes. But not many homeowners are willing to shell out $500 for an attorney review, plus $1,000 to $1,500 additional fees to make wholesale revisions to a flawed contract. However, you can hand-write changes and additions in plain English and make sure both you and the contractor initial each change to the document, says Tampa, Fla., attorney George Meyer, who is chair-elect of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Construction Industry. Here’s what you want to add (and subtract).

Project specs

Start by reviewing your contract, a process that should take several hours. The most important element of a contract is a thorough and complete description of the project, and the materials and the products that will be used. “It should say that the contractor will secure all necessary permits and approvals as well as what walls are being moved where, what type of countertops are going in, what type of sink, what type of faucet, and so forth,” says Meyer. “You can’t rely on everyone’s memory because if there’s a problem later, people may remember different things.” The contract needn’t contain these specs on its pages, it can simply refer to the contractor’s attached itemized bid. Avoid allowances, which are pools of money set aside for work to be determined later, and which often lead to cost overruns.

Payment schedule

The contract should also state the total price for the job, and that it’s a fixed price—not an estimate. It should provide a schedule of how the payments will be made by linking them to milestones in the work—such as when the foundation, rough plumbing, and electricity will be completed—so you’re paying for work only after it’s done. “You should always have enough money left to hire someone else to finish the work if need be,” says Meyer. In general, the first payment should be no more than 10% of the total job and the final payment should be at least a few thousand dollars to ensure that it’s a big enough incentive to get the contractor back for the final niggling details. If you’re unsure whether the payment schedule is proportional to the milestones your contractor suggests, ask a friend who’s familiar with construction process or consult a construction attorney.

Start and end dates

A contractor’s boilerplate contract rarely includes dates for when he will begin work and when he will complete the job, so make sure those details are included. It’s not that he’ll be penalized if it runs late, only that if you ever have a major problem and need to sue him—or defend yourself from a suit he brings—showing that the contractor is, say, two months behind schedule will help you make your case. The dates needn’t be too exacting. If he says it’s a six to eight week job, eight or even nine weeks is fine for the contract, says Meyer.

Statement about change orders

Make sure the contract contains a line stating that any changes that will affect the cost of the job must be priced in writing and countersigned by both the contractor and homeowner before that work commences. That ensures that an offhand discussion about a possible change to the project won’t result in a huge unforeseen additional cost. It also helps you, as the homeowner, keep track of exactly how much you’ve added to the bottom line, so you can avoid the very common urge to keep expanding the job.

Binding arbitration

Many contractors include a line that says that rather than going through the courts, disputes will be resolved by an arbitrator. Some legal experts feel that this is a quicker and lower-cost solution to problems, so a binding arbitration clause isn’t necessarily a problem. What can be trouble is if the contract requires a specific arbitrator. “There are some big, national, well-respected arbitrators, like the American Arbitration Association,” says Meyer. “And there are other questionable arbitrators that always side with the contractor. If a particular arbitrator is specified, I’d do some internet research about the agency to make sure it’s legit.”

Warranty

Having the contractor’s warranty in the contract seems like a good thing, right? Well including it is often actually a technique for limiting how much liability the contractor has. “It’s usually loaded up with exclusions and time limits,” says Meyer, “and you’re actually better off with no mention of warranty at all because then the only limits on his warranty are what’s in the state statutes.” In other words, keeping the contractor’s warranty language in the contract will likely mean you’re agreeing to less than what state law provides. For example, state law may specify a longer warranty term than what the contractor’s warranty offers. So, unless you’re having a lawyer review the contract, strike the warranty clause.

Technicalities

There are numerous state-by-state requirements for construction contracts. He may have to include his contractor’s license number, for example, and he may have to include a clause saying you have the right to rescind the contract within a certain time period after signing. And unless you and the contractor sign the document, it doesn’t matter what it says—it’s not a valid contract.

A former carpenter and newspaper reporter, Oliver Marks has been writing about home improvements for 16 years. He’s currently restoring his second fixer-upper with a mix of big hired projects and small do-it-himself jobs.

Reprinted from HouseLogic (houselogic.com) with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Whether you're interested in buying your first home, your next home, or just want to know more about home-ownership in general, I encourage you to check out a couple of great online resources: http://www.texasrealestate.com/ or http://www.har.com/ and for all of your Pearland TX and Northern Brazoria and Galveston County real estate needs, please visit my site at http://www.danfrankrealty.com/. All of these sites offer tons of useful, real estate-related information geared specifically for Texans.

Danny Frank is a local Pearland TX Real Estate expert! You can see my entire blog at http://www.pearlandrealtyblog.com

The roof of your house protects against more than rain. The sun's rays beat down relentlessly, especially during summer. The intense heat can raise the temperature inside your home. Proper venting and insulation help keep the cool air in and the warm air out. So, too, do energy-efficient roofing materials, which take the brunt of the solar onslaught. Uncle Sam is encouraging homeowners to improve the roofs of their primary residences with a tax credit worth up to $1,500.

During 2009 and 2010, you can claim a credit for 30% of the cost of qualifying asphalt or metal roofing materials. The credit, which should be taken on IRS Form 5695 for the tax year in which the work is completed, can be split between 2009 and 2010 but can't exceed $1,500 total for both years. You can't claim more in credits than you owe in taxes.

Metal vs. asphalt roofs

To qualify for the tax credit, you must use either metal or asphalt roofing materials that are designed to reduce heat gain-the amount of heat transferred into a home-and meet the requirements of Energy Star (http://www.energystar.gov), a federal program that promotes energy-efficient products and practices. Metal roofs must have appropriate pigmented coatings and asphalt roofs must have appropriate cooling granules. Asphalt materials can be either traditional shingles or modified bitumen (rolled asphalt sheets). Energy Star has a list (http://downloads.energystar.gov/bi/qplist/roofs_prod_list.pdf) of all of its approved roofing products, but only the metal and asphalt materials may qualify for the tax credit.

It's a good idea to hang on to manufacturers' certification statements (http://www.gerardusa.com/Energy%20Star/ESTaxCert.pdf) that attest to the tax credit-worthiness of the roofing materials you purchase. These can usually be found on product packaging or company websites. You don't need to file these with your tax return, but the IRS could ask for them later. Consult a tax advisor.

Dean Kucharski, a 22-year veteran of the roofing business in Pontiac, Mich., estimates that for a typical 2,200-square-foot home, a mid-range asphalt roof will run about $7,000 to $12,000, including labor. The good news is that it will likely last 20 years or more. For a metal roof, expect to pay twice as much, though it can last for 50 years, he says. If you hire a contractor, get an itemized bill that breaks out the cost of materials since labor doesn't count toward the tax credit. Materials should account for about half the bill on standard roofing jobs.

How much roof do I have?

You can get a rough estimate of how much roofing material you'll need by figuring the square footage of the footprint of your home and adding about one-third more to account for roof pitch, overhangs, dormers, gables, and so on. Roofing contractors often quote in terms of "squares." One square equals 100 square feet. So if a roofer says your house is 20 squares, it means it's roughly 2,000 square feet-20 times 100.

Once you're ready to pick a roof type, Kucharski suggests talking to an area building wholesaler or a company that specializes in roofing materials. It's important to consult with someone who knows what types of materials are appropriate for a given region's climate. Big-box retailers may not have as wide a selection or knowledgeable staff.

Finding a good roofer entails the same steps as finding any qualified contractor: ask neighbors for recommendations, collect at least three bids, check references, and get everything in writing. Craig Silvertooth, executive director of the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing (http://www.roofingcenter.org/), recommends finding a contractor through the National Roofing Contractors Association (http://www.nrca.net/), which has about 4,000 members.

Save on cooling bills

You'll get the most bang for your roof-renovation buck if you live in a hot climate, namely the South and Southwest. Expect to save between 7% and 15% on your cooling costs with energy-efficient roofing materials, says Michelle Van Tijen of the Cool Roofs Rating Council (http://www.coolroofs.org/). If you pay $300 a month to cool your home, figure you'll cut your monthly bill by up to $45.

Ironically, with roofs there is such a thing as being too energy efficient. In winter months, roofing materials with very high heat-deflecting qualities can increase heating bills. However, you're more than likely to make up the difference on your air-conditioning costs. That's especially true if you live in an area where you run your air conditioner much of the year.

Think hard before replacing a roof that's in perfectly good shape. Consider instead a roof coating, a material painted over your existing roof that offers insulation and sun reflection, says Silvertooth. Roof coating costs about 75% less than replacing a roof, though it doesn't qualify for the tax credit. Another affordable way to save on cooling costs that doesn't even involve the roof is to add more insulation (http://www.houselogic.com/articles/tax-credits-adding-or-replacing-insulation/) to your attic. This home-improvement project can even be tackled by weekend warriors, and it qualifies for a federal tax credit.

This article provides general information about tax laws and consequences, but is not intended to be relied upon by readers as tax or legal advice applicable to particular transactions or circumstances. Readers should consult a tax professional for such advice, and are reminded that tax laws may vary by jurisdiction.

Gil Rudawsky has been covering business and consumer issues as a reporter and an editor for 18 years, most recently as a business editor at the Rocky Mountain News. He lives in a house built in the 1930s, and always keeps the home's character in mind when making upgrades.

Reprinted from HouseLogic (houselogic.com) with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.