Jun
05Building a Home Is Just One of the Hurdles during the Home Building Decline
Posted By: Ramon Rivas on June 5, 2010 at 5:34 amLet’s say you have the money and the resources to build a home. Within a few months, it is completed. Is it happily ever after? The answer is no because there will be a few other challenges ahead even where is no decline in home building.
When you have built your home, one thing you have to deal with is the property taxes and this could range from $1,000 to $10,000 depending on where you live. Take note that this does not yet include mortgage expenses if you have not paid yet for the house in full. The only consolation is that you pay for this on a fixed term.
While most home values go up after how many years, in some cases like during the financial crisis, its value could go down. Some analyst said that the average home value has only kept up with inflation over the last few decades so you don’t really gain that much.
If you are employed and you are told that you have to relocate, it will be hard to move right away since it takes time to sell a house.
Should there be any problems with the house, you don’t call your landlord since there is none. You will have to find a specialist to figure out what is wrong in order to fix it.
But these things should not deter you from considering building your own home even during a time when home building is on the decline. Why? Because building a home is a one time investment unlike rent where you pay a fixed amount per month and this could up the following year.
What is even better is that you live in a dwelling according to your specifications. If you don’t like it or you want to add something, you can make changes and no one will oppose your decision.
If you signed a warranty with your contractor, any problems will be taken cared of by them without any additional charges.
Since your house is new, it is more energy efficient compared to older homes thanks to new technology and you are compliant with new environmental regulations.
A decline in home building has not stopped other people from having their own house constructed. In fact, most people you ask will probably tell you that they prefer to live in their own home rather than paying rent. With that, you have a land title under your own name and no one can take that away from you unless you decide to sell and move somewhere else.
This will enable you to establish good credit with the bank when you need to apply for a loan. That may not happen right now because of the financial crisis but when it is over, you will soon realize that this was very handy.
You will also get tax cuts which will never happen if you are renting. You will be happy about this when it is time once again to pay your income tax for both federal and state since these are usually fully deductible.
There is no better time to own a home or face its challenges than during a decline in home building because both labor and materials are cheap. If you have the money to pay for it, you shouldn’t have a problem paying for taxes and mortgage.
May
29Recession’s Effects on Your Business and How to Control them.
Posted By: Ramon Rivas on May 29, 2010 at 9:54 amThe impact of recession can be very damaging not only to households but to businesses as well. Learn about these effects of recession and prevent your business from succumbing into its deadly claws.
1. Customer scarcity
When you have too few customers, consequently, your income suffers as well. The rising prices make customers too picky or less interested in giving you business. Existing customers may also be re-assessing their spending, which results in fewer orders for you. So what do you do? How about changing your customer acquisition techniques? Have you tried online marketing? This may not be suitable to all businesses but there’s no harm in considering it. Online marketing has many forms and doing your assignment will prove to be helpful in determining which technique will benefit most your business.
2. Ridiculously high credit card debt
Inflation is likely to happen during inflation, which means your expenses can be higher than normal. If you have been relying on your credit card for payments, you now need to monitor your spending really closely. This is because losing track of your expenses can surprise you one day when you no longer have enough funds to pay off all your debt. You do not want to have problem with your credit card because a bad rating will not be of great help when you are trying to obtain approval for loans.
3. Increase in cost of utilities
The rising price of food, electricity and gas can put a big dent to your business. This can be especially true if you run your business form a physical location. Increase in monthly bills means lower income. So how do you resolve this? There are so many ways to save money on utilities. One is to cut back on non-essentials. It the weather does not need for a full blast AC unit turned on, turn it off. If you can turn off the lights more often without making the business operations suffer, then do so. If you can use less expensive packaging methods or materials, please do take advantage of cheaper alternatives. Re-assess all the nooks of your business. Take a harder look to your books to get deductions. Lessen expenses in every way possible. Make the most out of technology. If you can automate parts of your business, do so. You can also hire contract workers such as virtual assistants to help you be more productive and to allow time for you to brainstorm on how to improve your business.
4. Funds gone kapoot
If you started your business using a loan, you might find yourself out of savings to fall back on if you need funds to survive the recession. To control this, have a suitable savings plan, wherein you can put in some of your income. This allows you to have a backup plan whenever the current downturn happens.
5. Low staff morale.
Slow periods mean sadder employees. Why not add incentives and create contests to boost the morale of your sales team? This is the best time to get your creative juices flowing to help motivate your employees. Having motivated employees means increased sales. So, don’t be too stingy with incentives and praises.
Have you felt any of these yet? If so, what are you waiting for? Try out the suggestions on how to control the effects of recession.
May
25Should You Build When There Is a Home Building Decline
Posted By: Ramon Rivas on May 25, 2010 at 12:27 pmEveryone would like to have a place that they can call their home. If you have saved enough money, you might even consider building your own instead of renting. But there is one problem, the country is now in a financial crisis. So should you still continue building one now or continue paying rent?
The answer is yes as long as you have the money in your possession. This means you don’t have to borrow money from the bank to buy the materials and pay for the people who will be doing the work.
To do that, you have to first figure out what kind of home do you want to have and set a certain budget. After getting an estimate as to how much materials and labor will cost, you also have to factor in inflation and a little allowance just in case there will be some unexpected situations later on. With all the information, you can have your contractor work on your property until it is complete.
Over time, the value of your house will go up and when you decide to sell it, you will have more money which you can use to buy or build a bigger home.
That may not be the case right now when we are presently facing a financial crisis but it will happen. One thing that could help increase its value even is to install eco-friendly mirrors or put a security system in place.
This will never happen if you continue to pay rent because you are just shelling out money and giving this to the landlord so you don’t earn any interest.
But wouldn’t it be cheaper to buy a home especially when the market value went down due to the financial crisis?
While it is true there is a sharp decline in the housing market, you have to remember that it is not brand new so you will have to conduct some repairs and maybe even renovate certain portions of the house. If the house is old, you will also have to spend a lot to make sure the temperature can be regulated during the hot and cold months throughout the year.
There are a lot of lessons you will learn when you decide to have your home built. You will learn that it is not just about hammering a nail into a piece of wood but also properly budgeting as well as managing how much cash you have so you don’t overspend thus not wasting any of your hard earned money.
In fact, when you make a home, you don’t only establish a place for yourself but also help people in the construction industry and the state. This is because you guarantee work for those who do this as a living and the money you pay for building permits adds to the local revenue.
So should you build your home amidst the decline in the home building industry? Yes because you will finally have your dream home just the way you like it with everything there that is brand new. If there is a problem, it cane easily be fixed with any additional because it comes with a warranty. It is also environment friendly or “greener” as it is up to standard with the latest environmental regulations.
The financial crisis is affecting everyone. People are losing their jobs and some have to foreclose their homes. As a result, there is a decline in home building making some doubt that now is now the right time to build a home.
But what if there was no financial crisis? What if you can borrow money from the bank? What if you have the cash on hand? If there were no problems, then yes why not build your dream home.
To help you along, this is what you have to do.
First, get in touch with the local builders that have constructed houses similar to the size, quality and features that you want. By talking to them, you get a straight answer as to how much it is going to cost for the entire project plus what materials they will use.
Since its been months or even a few years that these homes were built, you have to expect that it is going to cost more now to construct something similar. The rooms which will be the most expensive to make will be the bathroom and kitchen. The number of windows and their size is another factor as well as the vaulted ceilings and high roof pitches.
You will also have to include inflation because building a home increase from 3% to 6% annually. With this information, only look at homes that were built within the last 6 months.
Don’t forget to put a 10% additional allowance to your budget when you make your estimate because plans change and in most cases, you and you contract will encounter unforeseen circumstances. Naturally you have to deal with the situation otherwise there will be delays when everything will be finished.
Believe it not, the cost per square foot is higher for a small home than a big one. Why? Because the cost of items is spread over and a two story home if that is what you want has a smaller roof and foundation. The same goes for plumbing and ventilation.
Another thing that could reduce cost is the shape of the home. Houses that are shaped like a rectangle, square or dome shaped are more affordable to build since there are not that many angles or corners which increases the amount of labor and the materials that will be needed.
It will be much easier to select the final blueprints, which is the basis of the project once you have estimated the construction expenses.
As much as possible, work with even numbers because this reduces wasted materials. The ideal home to make should be not less than 32 feet deep otherwise your roof trusses will have to be custom made which will cost more.
If you had this property for a long time, then chances are the neighborhood around you is already well developed. You don’t have to haul a lot of dirt, do grading, clear trees or blast through large rocks if your property happens to be somewhat secluded.
No one in his right mind will construct a house when there is a decline in home building due to the financial crisis. You just have to keep these tips in mind when the economy does improve so you will already have an idea how much money you need to build it.



