For the past few weeks I've been giving you some tips on ways to update your Wilmette or Glenview home to make it more appealing to buyers. Today we're going to discuss the other side of the remodel spectrum. Today's topic concerns remodels it's better NOT to spend your money on.  Extra-Special Remodels Let me preface this by saying, if you want to add a particularly specialty remodel to your home for your own pleasure, especially if you plan to continue to live in your house for several years, by all means go ahead. However, if you're adding the remodel simply to improve your home's value, don't bother. A fabulous kitchen in a neighborhood of mediocre home isn't likely to increase your home's value. Likewise, while updating an old bathroom is more than worth the bother, putting in a sp... 09/24/2009

It could be a good time to invest in real estate, given the abundance of foreclosures and other distressed properties with reduced prices. It could also be a bad time to invest in real estate, if you don't know what you are doing. There's the rub. "It's a good time to invest, but it is difficult. Now when you go out to invest you are competing with a dozen offers. The investors are back," says Chuck Cryder, the broker for Century 21 A Property Shoppe in Salinas, CA. Just like buying a home to live in, taking the real estate investment plunge requires taking stock of your financial goals, planning and lifestyle before taking the plunge. Pretty much like buying any property. If you've got the time, the money and the lifestyle that lends itself to managing a real estate investment, you are... 09/24/2009

Now it's official. The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board himself has said it publicly that it looks like the recession is over. Here comes the recovery. But there was a big footnote in Bernanke's speech on the economy last week in Washington: Don't look for a dramatic recovery. It'll be more like a slow moving, plodding sort of improvement where the economy inches toward expansion. But there'll be no sudden, splashy return to economic boomtime anytime soon. Bernanke's point about the end of the recession was underscored by a 2.7 percent jump in retail sales for the month of August, according to the Commerce Department. That's an important indicator because the key to pumping up the economy again is to get consumers spending, and that appears to be happening. Not just for auto sales,... 09/23/2009

A new federal law beginning April 2010 will require all contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in private homes, childcare facilities, and schools (built prior to 1978) to be certified in the prevention of lead contamination. According to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) document titled What You Need to Know About Lead Poisoning, "Despite laws established in the 1970s to make people aware of the dangers of lead and its poisonous effects, lead poisoning in children remains a common, yet preventable, environmental health problem in the United States." Heavily-leaded paint is in about two-thirds of homes built prior to 1940 and one-half of homes built from 1940 to 1960, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission ... 09/22/2009

Novice and experienced antique collectors alike will want to pay a visit to Chicago's Merchandise Mart's International Antiques Fair, running from October 2-5. Tickets are $15 each and may be purchased online or at the door.  The Fair includes over 100 international dealers offering a wide range of antique styles including 20th Century Design, Americana, Asian, Folk Art, Furniture, Glass, Paintings, Jewelry, Tribal Art and much, much more. There will surely be something to thrill every collector who visits the Fair.  To celebrate this year's Lincoln Bicentennial, the Fair is hosting a special display of several historic flags and banners, as well as the only original bed from Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois, home that has survived all these years. Also on display will be the table that ... 09/22/2009

The first major change to the $8,000 home buyers tax credit began moving through Congress last week, giving hope to real estate and building groups pushing for extension of the entire program before it expires Nov. 30. House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Congressman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, combined several smaller bills into the “Service Members Home Ownership Act of 2009” late last week, with a floor vote expected this week. The bill is intended to correct a flaw in the original tax credit legislation: By requiring buyers to occupy and own their first home for 36 months to fully qualify for the credit, the program creates serious problems when military, Foreign Service and intelligence agency personnel are transferred overseas. During their absence, they are not occup... 09/21/2009

McLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.04 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending September 17, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 5.07 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.78 percent. The last time the 30-year FRM was lower was the week ending May 28, 2009, when it averaged 4.91 percent.The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.47 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.50 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.35 percent. This is the lowest the 15-year FRM has been since Freddie Mac started tracking it in 1991.The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate m... 09/18/2009

Financing the purchase of a home could be the most complex financial decision you'll every endure. You need all the help you can get. To help get you started with the basics, the Federal Reserve offers "5 Tips for Shopping for a Mortgage," because, well, the fundamentals always apply. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Check your budget. You must have a budget so you can estimate what you can afford to pay for a home, including the mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and monthly maintenance and utilities. You also have to have enough to save for emergencies. Plan ahead to have enough to afford your monthly mortgage payments for several years. Check your credit report to make sure that the information in it is accurate. A higher credit score may help you get a lower interest rate on... 09/17/2009

It's not news that 9 out of 10 of today's prospective home buyers use the Internet to scope out homes for sale in the area of interest to them. If you're one of these house hunters there are several sites you may want to look at in your search.  Two of the most famous are Trulia and Zillow. They're both well-known and pull in about 3 to 4 million unique visitors a month. However, there are some others that are not so well-known that are worth looking at for the things they offer home buyers.  The first one is Listingbook. It's data is fresh as dew on the morning grass since it comes directly from MLS. You can easily find local listings and open houses in the area you're shopping. An account does have to be set up through a broker, but nothing says you can't work with other brokers as we... 09/17/2009

Even when a home is financially underwater (the total mortgage balance is greater than the value of the property) owners will usually make serious efforts to keep from defaulting. But only up to a point. If it gets too far underwater, people will let it go -- even if they can afford to make the payments. While there may be an intuitive sense to this, the fact is not widely recognized. Today's "home rescue" programs – loan modifications and the like – are based on the assumption that homeowners will not default on mortgages as long as they can afford to make the payments. In many cases, this assumption may be mistaken. The Making Home Affordable program has resulted in far fewer trial loan modifications than had been anticipated. In partial response to this disappointing fact, the admini... 09/16/2009

If you're living in Glenview, Wilmette or Northbrook, you're close enough to enjoy all the great names in entertainment Chicago has to offer, practically on your own doorstep.  To purchase tickets for some of the many upcoming entertainment and sporting events coming to the Chicago area, visit American Towns Chicago Tickets.  Local sporting events available in the next few weeks include baseball with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, football featuring the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, more baseball from the Chicago White Sox at US Cellular Field and even hockey with Chicago's Blackhawks at the United Center.  Entertainment includes a relatively new but highly popular group, recently featured on America's Got Talent, Jersey Boys, singing at the Bank of America Theatre. The Blue Man G... 09/15/2009

McLean, VA – Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.07 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending September 10, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 5.08 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.93 percent.The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.50 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.54 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.54 percent. Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 4.51 percent this week, with an average 0.5 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.59 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.87 percent.One-year Treasury-indexe... 09/14/2009

The world has changed. There was a time when a landlord rented a vacancy by placing an advertisement in the local newspaper and waited for the phone to ring, or tenants to visit. The classified sections of the local newspapers were packed with ads. You had to be very creative to leap out of the pack of ads. Apartment properties with more vacancies to fill (due to their size) used additional advertising sources like For Rent and Apartment Finder magazines. These methods of advertising were successful for many years. These companies extended their products by offering on line listings. They were joined by online competitors such as apartments.com, rent.com, Forrent.com, rentals.com and rentalsonline.com to name a few. Each one promising super results with different pricing schemes and mar... 09/10/2009

For our seventh tip, we're going to discuss the basement. If you missed any of the previous six tips, here are links to each one for your reading pleasure: Remodeling the Bathroom, Updating the Landscaping, Updating the Kitchen, Updating the Exterior, Adding Another Room, and Upgrading an Outdoor Area. If your house has a basement, here are a few thoughts on what you might do to it to add more liveable space to your home.  While homesellers in the western United States may be able to recoup around 100 percent on their investment in updating a basement, those in Wilmette and other midwestern areas will usually be more likely to only get about 73 percent of their investment back when selling a home with a remodeled basement. So you may want to really consider this improvement carefully be... 09/10/2009

If only the President’s foreclosure-prevention plan worked as well as “cash for clunkers”. But it hasn’t. When the Administration announced the Making Homes Affordable plan in February of 2009, officials said they hoped it would help 4 million distressed homeowners to stay in their homes. As of this writing (8/2/09), the Administration has acknowledged that there are only 200,000 trial loan modifications under way. Clearly, lenders have been reluctant to modify loans. (Moreover, there are good reasons for their reluctance according to a recent study by the Boston Federal Reserve.) Also, many borrowers have turned out to be ineligible for the programs or – because they are so far ‘under water’ – uninterested. Whatever the cause, the result is the same: a distressed borrower typically nee... 09/09/2009

A major financial industry trade group got Washington's attention last week when it called for the total elimination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- the giant, money-losing home loan companies now under federal control. The Mortgage Bankers Association doesn't want an end to government support for the home mortgage system, however. It wants smaller, more numerous competing organizations, none allowed to ever get "too big to fail," as replacements for the current system dominated by Fannie and Freddie. At least one of the replacement companies could take the form of a cooperative, owned solely by participating banks and mortgage lenders, who'd share the risks and rewards. Underpinning the entire new approach would be federal government backing -- much like what's now provided by Ginnie ... 09/08/2009

Everyone loves being outside in the fall of the year. The weather is cooler and crisper and great new smells fill the air. This year a visit to the Wagner Farm, located at 1510 Wagner Road, near Glenview, has several different fall activities your family is sure to love.  The Wagner Farm is a real farm that was owned and operated from 1855 until 1997 by members of the Wagner family. When the last Wagner passed away, the Village of Glenview was able to purchase 18.6 acres of the property to use for educational and interpretive purposes. If you've never been to Wagner Farm or if it's already a place you love to visit, you won't want to miss the activities they have planned for the 2009 fall season.  Beginning on September 12th, the Wagner Farm first fall special event is a picnic supper, ... 09/08/2009

The fireplace tends to be forgotten when record high temperatures are hitting many parts of the country. But, regardless of the season, buyers often find fireplaces alluring.However, if your fireplace has lost some of its appeal due to an outdated look, it might be time for a makeover. Creating a unique look for your fireplace can make it very enticing to buyers. Fireplaces can be eyesores or focal points in a room. So, take a look at your fireplace and decide if it will spark buyers' interest. "If anything is out, it is brick. Nobody is really doing brick anymore. It's mostly concrete or stone," says Rick Gardella, President of Concepts in Concrete Construction.Style. Of course, every home décor style is subjective. As the times change the mass appeal of certain materials fluctuates. G... 09/04/2009

The Federal Reserve is gearing up with more consumer protection on the home loan front, as it continues its overhaul Regulation Z. Regulation Z is the wide-reaching Consumer Protection provision of Truth In Lending law enforced by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The ever-evolving regulation mandates certain detailed disclosures by financial institutions in the realm of home loans and regulates certain credit card practices and credit billing disputes. Disclosures help consumers determine if a given borrowing transaction is right for them. The greatest collapse in the housing and mortgage market in 70 years was due, in part, to consumer ignorance that caused them to buy homes they couldn't afford. "Consumers need the proper tools to determine whether a particular mortgage loan... 09/03/2009

We're up to our sixth tip already, which means there are five others you may want to go back and read: Remodeling the Bathroom, Updating the Landscaping, Updating the Kitchen, Updating the Exterior, and Adding Another Room. Today's tip is for planning an addition where the family can relax and enjoy the great outdoors in Northbrook.  I was going to call this Tip "Adding a Deck, Patio or Porch" but the more I got into it, the more I realized that that title might not be what those planning on selling their homes are interested in reading about. While adding a deck can be a beautiful step towards improving the sale of your home and making it attractive to buyers, a simple 16 x20 foot deck of pressure-treated wood can easily cost at least $11,000. This may be more than some sellers want to... 09/03/2009