A Fire Safety Escape Plan Tells Everyone .
By: Ralph Winn
In 2004, the 410 thousand residential fires in America caused more than 14 thousand injuries and 3 thousand deaths, according to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). You can prevent fire-related deaths and injuries, and even most residential fires by being knowledgeable about fire safety. Ensure your and your family's safety by creating an escape plan, teaching children fire safety and fire-proofing your home.
Fire Safety Escape Plan
A fire safety escape plan tells everyone what to do if your home catches on fire. Your family needs to discuss fire safety issues, and design an escape plan for your home. The escape plan needs to inform everyone in your family of the two safest routes out of each room in your house and where to meet once outside.
When discussing fire safety issues with your family, it is also a good idea to talk about each person's responsibilities in the case of a fire, such as who helps whom out of the house. Be sure to explain to each family member to crawl to a safe exit; don't stop to save anything, and, if possible, to alert others by yelling "FIRE!" or beating on doors as they crawl by.
Fire Safety and Kids
Fire safety and education begins with children. Tragically, children cause over thousands of residential fires each year, the majority stemming from children playing with matches. You need to teach your children to obey the following fire safety rules: Never play with matches or lighters, always have an adult help you when cooking, never touch gasoline or any other flammable liquids.
Always STOP, DROP, AND ROLL! If you or your clothes catch on fire. Never place anything into an electrical outlet and always get help from an adult if something catches on fire.
Your children are the most important people in your life, so educate them about fire safety and prevention.
Fire Safety and Your Home
Electrical fires are the most common type of residential fires in America. The following fire safety tips lower the probability of residential electrical fires: Don't overload outlets or piggy-back extension cords, Keep all combustible items, such as hairspray and household cleaners, away from all heaters, Check all electrical tools and appliances for frayed or cracked cords, Purchase electrical appliances that meet the Underwriter's Laboratory's (UL) safety requirements and Keep children away from electrical appliances, such as heaters and irons.
Electric stoves, ovens, stereos, heaters, and clothes dryers are responsible for the majority residential electrical fires. Follow all manufacturers' instructions, and use all appliances carefully and responsibly. Sometimes, no matter the precautionary fire safety steps you take, an electrical fire can still occur. If this happens, knowing the proper fire safety procedure is invaluable in keeping your home safe. Shut off burning appliances by unplugging the cord, Put out small fires with your home fire extinguisher, Do not put water on electrical fires, Get everyone out of the house and Do not try to handle large fires by yourself; call 911, report the fire, and tell them it is an electrical fire.
Educating yourself and your family on fire safety helps to lower your chances of a residential fire and gives you the knowledge of what to do in the case of a fire.
About The Author
Ralph Winn has over 32 years of experience in the security industry. Throughout his career, he has developed cost effective security programs for numerous small, medium, large commercial and government properties and for many nationally known corporations. http://www.homesecuritystore.com.
Friday, March 14, 2008
How To Work With Contractors
10 Tips for Working With a Contractor
By: Debbie Rodgers
This is the year you're going all out. You're going to build a deck, add a porch, erect a gazebo or lay a patio. You've done the research. It's well within your capability and you're looking forward to the satisfaction of creating a structure of beauty.
Or not. Yes -- you'd like to proceed with an outdoor structure but for you, it isn't a do-it-yourself project. How can you find the right person to do it for you? Here are 10 tips for hiring and working with a contractor.
1. Plan your project carefully. Clip pictures, make sketches, write a description. This will help you accurately convey to the contractor what you want the finished product to be.
2. Make a list of contractors. Ask your neighbors or friends for the names of reputable tradesmen. Contact material suppliers -- lumberyards, for example -- and ask for recommendations.
3. Get at least three written bids for the project, but don't give in to the temptation to automatically accept the lowest bid. A higher bid may be worth the price in better materials, workmanship and reliability. If you get a very low bid, the contractor may have made a mistake or forgotten to bid on everything you wanted. If they have deliberately low-bid, they may use cheaper materials or take shortcuts to make a profit.
4. Many states and provinces require registration and/or licensing. For the USA, www.nationalcontractors.com provides a starting point for your state and type of construction. Click on Verify Contractors License. If licences are required in your jurisdiction, be certain to ask to see your contractor's licences and be sure that it's not expired.
5. Ask for references and then check them out. Look at the projects and ask the previous clients if they are satisfied with the quality of work done, if it was started and completed on schedule and if it is complete.
6. Get a signed, written contract and be sure you understand it. The Construction Contractors Board of Oregon claims that the single biggest cause of homeowner-contractor disputes is the written contract: not having one, having a poor one, or having one everyone ignores. A good contract should include:
The company name, address (not a post office box) & phone number, the name of the builder, contractor and licence number, if applicable
A detailed project description
A materials list
A statement that all necessary permits and inspections are the responsibility of the contractor
Starting and completion dates
Warranties of workmanship, the length of the warranty, and specifically what's covered and what's not
Contractor's guarantee that he carries liability insurance and worker's compensation coverage
A statement that clean-up will be done by the contractor
The total price and payment schedule
Be wary of hourly, time and materials or cost-plus pricing where the final price is not determined until completion of the project. Although it may seem higher, a fixed price may give you the best protection and price.
Be cautious about upfront payments for more than 15% of the contract price.
The schedule and criteria for each instalment should be clearly defined in the contract.
Any instalments should be not be required on a certain date, but correlated to work completion.
Do not pay cash. A reputable builder will ask for a check.
7. Make any changes to the project in writing with a "work order change" to avoid misunderstandings and surprises.
8. Keep pets and children away from the construction site. This will ensure not only their safety, but also that of the workers. In addition, it helps keep the project on schedule.
9. Inspect the work regularly.
10. Pay directly and promptly according to the contract.
Above all, you should feel comfortable communicating with your contractor. If you sense he is being evasive when you are getting a quote, it won't get any better during the construction period. Find someone you understand and who understands you, and who is open and forthright.
Working with a contractor takes a little preparation, but following these steps is well worth it. Are you looking forward to your new outdoor space?
About The Author
Debbie Rodgers owns and operates Paradise Porch, and is dedicated to helping people create outdoor living spaces that nurture and enrich them. Visit her on the web at www.paradiseporch.com and get a free report on “Eight easy ways to create privacy in your outdoor space”. Mail to debbie@paradiseporch.com
By: Debbie Rodgers
This is the year you're going all out. You're going to build a deck, add a porch, erect a gazebo or lay a patio. You've done the research. It's well within your capability and you're looking forward to the satisfaction of creating a structure of beauty.
Or not. Yes -- you'd like to proceed with an outdoor structure but for you, it isn't a do-it-yourself project. How can you find the right person to do it for you? Here are 10 tips for hiring and working with a contractor.
1. Plan your project carefully. Clip pictures, make sketches, write a description. This will help you accurately convey to the contractor what you want the finished product to be.
2. Make a list of contractors. Ask your neighbors or friends for the names of reputable tradesmen. Contact material suppliers -- lumberyards, for example -- and ask for recommendations.
3. Get at least three written bids for the project, but don't give in to the temptation to automatically accept the lowest bid. A higher bid may be worth the price in better materials, workmanship and reliability. If you get a very low bid, the contractor may have made a mistake or forgotten to bid on everything you wanted. If they have deliberately low-bid, they may use cheaper materials or take shortcuts to make a profit.
4. Many states and provinces require registration and/or licensing. For the USA, www.nationalcontractors.com provides a starting point for your state and type of construction. Click on Verify Contractors License. If licences are required in your jurisdiction, be certain to ask to see your contractor's licences and be sure that it's not expired.
5. Ask for references and then check them out. Look at the projects and ask the previous clients if they are satisfied with the quality of work done, if it was started and completed on schedule and if it is complete.
6. Get a signed, written contract and be sure you understand it. The Construction Contractors Board of Oregon claims that the single biggest cause of homeowner-contractor disputes is the written contract: not having one, having a poor one, or having one everyone ignores. A good contract should include:
The company name, address (not a post office box) & phone number, the name of the builder, contractor and licence number, if applicable
A detailed project description
A materials list
A statement that all necessary permits and inspections are the responsibility of the contractor
Starting and completion dates
Warranties of workmanship, the length of the warranty, and specifically what's covered and what's not
Contractor's guarantee that he carries liability insurance and worker's compensation coverage
A statement that clean-up will be done by the contractor
The total price and payment schedule
Be wary of hourly, time and materials or cost-plus pricing where the final price is not determined until completion of the project. Although it may seem higher, a fixed price may give you the best protection and price.
Be cautious about upfront payments for more than 15% of the contract price.
The schedule and criteria for each instalment should be clearly defined in the contract.
Any instalments should be not be required on a certain date, but correlated to work completion.
Do not pay cash. A reputable builder will ask for a check.
7. Make any changes to the project in writing with a "work order change" to avoid misunderstandings and surprises.
8. Keep pets and children away from the construction site. This will ensure not only their safety, but also that of the workers. In addition, it helps keep the project on schedule.
9. Inspect the work regularly.
10. Pay directly and promptly according to the contract.
Above all, you should feel comfortable communicating with your contractor. If you sense he is being evasive when you are getting a quote, it won't get any better during the construction period. Find someone you understand and who understands you, and who is open and forthright.
Working with a contractor takes a little preparation, but following these steps is well worth it. Are you looking forward to your new outdoor space?
About The Author
Debbie Rodgers owns and operates Paradise Porch, and is dedicated to helping people create outdoor living spaces that nurture and enrich them. Visit her on the web at www.paradiseporch.com and get a free report on “Eight easy ways to create privacy in your outdoor space”. Mail to debbie@paradiseporch.com
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Real Estate Fees
No More Estate Agent Fees
By: Glenn Murray
Follow a few simple guidelines, and marketing your own home can be easy. And it will save you thousands.
The recent property boom has a lot of people thinking of selling. Unfortunately, the costs of selling can really eat into your profit. There’s nothing we can do about stamp duty, but one cost we can avoid is real estate agent fees. By selling your house yourself rather than paying a real estate agent, you can save you around $20,000 on a $500,000 sale.
So what’s involved in a do-it-yourself sale? The two main ingredients are time and advertising. A quality ad and a couple of hours each week fielding phone calls and managing inspections can mean the difference between a healthy profit and disappointment.
Many people are intimidated by the marketing aspect of selling their home. But there’s really not that much to it. You just need to write a description of your property, organise photography, and place an ad. Simple!
Perhaps the most important thing to remember when organising your own sale is you’re not selling a building - you’re selling a home and a lifestyle. Here are 10 Tricks of the trade to get you started…
1) Jot down your favourite spots in the house and what you like to do in them.
2) List your favourite local restaurants, cafes, and beaches – especially those in walking distance.
3) Note any pleasant fragrances – plants like jasmine and gardenia, or evening sea breezes.
4) Mention your favourite spot for a morning coffee, an afternoon snooze, or an evening wine.
5) Write about 150 words.
6) Don’t include cars, garbage bins, or the road in your photos.
7) Tidy your house and remove any clutter before taking inside shots.
8) Capture colour both inside and out, but keep it simple.
9) Take digital photos and save to CD so you won’t need a bureau for scanning and production.
10) Invest in a prominent newspaper ad and make use of the Internet.
Even if you don’t feel up to the challenge of creating a masterpiece ad, you can employ the services of a professional for far less than the cost of a real estate agent. A professional copywriter will write an engaging description for as little as $250. Professional photographers do real estate all the time. Neville Prosser can give you all the captivating photos you need for just $330. You can get a glossy 1/8 page ad in the Central Coast Express Advocate for $628 or a ½ page ad $2514. And to advertise online at Domain.com.au will only cost you $165 for a full month.
Whether you do all the creative work yourself or employ a professional, you’ll still save thousands. What’s more, with great advertising, you’ll interest more potential buyers and maybe even sell your house for more.
The most important thing to remember at every step along the way is… Average advertising conveys a building. Quality advertising conveys a home.
About The Author
Glenn Murray heads advertising copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com .
By: Glenn Murray
Follow a few simple guidelines, and marketing your own home can be easy. And it will save you thousands.
The recent property boom has a lot of people thinking of selling. Unfortunately, the costs of selling can really eat into your profit. There’s nothing we can do about stamp duty, but one cost we can avoid is real estate agent fees. By selling your house yourself rather than paying a real estate agent, you can save you around $20,000 on a $500,000 sale.
So what’s involved in a do-it-yourself sale? The two main ingredients are time and advertising. A quality ad and a couple of hours each week fielding phone calls and managing inspections can mean the difference between a healthy profit and disappointment.
Many people are intimidated by the marketing aspect of selling their home. But there’s really not that much to it. You just need to write a description of your property, organise photography, and place an ad. Simple!
Perhaps the most important thing to remember when organising your own sale is you’re not selling a building - you’re selling a home and a lifestyle. Here are 10 Tricks of the trade to get you started…
1) Jot down your favourite spots in the house and what you like to do in them.
2) List your favourite local restaurants, cafes, and beaches – especially those in walking distance.
3) Note any pleasant fragrances – plants like jasmine and gardenia, or evening sea breezes.
4) Mention your favourite spot for a morning coffee, an afternoon snooze, or an evening wine.
5) Write about 150 words.
6) Don’t include cars, garbage bins, or the road in your photos.
7) Tidy your house and remove any clutter before taking inside shots.
8) Capture colour both inside and out, but keep it simple.
9) Take digital photos and save to CD so you won’t need a bureau for scanning and production.
10) Invest in a prominent newspaper ad and make use of the Internet.
Even if you don’t feel up to the challenge of creating a masterpiece ad, you can employ the services of a professional for far less than the cost of a real estate agent. A professional copywriter will write an engaging description for as little as $250. Professional photographers do real estate all the time. Neville Prosser can give you all the captivating photos you need for just $330. You can get a glossy 1/8 page ad in the Central Coast Express Advocate for $628 or a ½ page ad $2514. And to advertise online at Domain.com.au will only cost you $165 for a full month.
Whether you do all the creative work yourself or employ a professional, you’ll still save thousands. What’s more, with great advertising, you’ll interest more potential buyers and maybe even sell your house for more.
The most important thing to remember at every step along the way is… Average advertising conveys a building. Quality advertising conveys a home.
About The Author
Glenn Murray heads advertising copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com .
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Real Estate Investing Or Landlording?
by: Ben Ker
Real estate investing is the classic wealth vehicle that has taken people from living hand to mouth to the pinnacle of wealth.
It's the vehicle of choice because it's accessible to all of us. Everone has a least rented a house or apartment, and most of us have bought a house. So knowing what it's like to be renter or homeowner we have first hand knowledge of our customers when we set out to be real estate investors.
The classic real estate investing model is buy a bunch of houses, rent them out and in 30 years the mortgages will be paid off, the properties will have at least doubled in value, the rents will be twice what they were when you started ... with no loan payment.
The goal sounds inspiring. Imagine having 10 properties you bought 30 years ago, each for $80,000, now be worth $350,000 apiece as a result of a average annual appreciation rate of 5%. You would have a portfolio worth about $3,500,000. Monthly rents, on the low side, of $1,200 per house would give you gross monthly rents of $12,000. After T&I you probably put $9,000 in your pocket.
I think you would agree this is an extremely modest goal, but what a payoff!!
What a payoff indeed ... for those who actually stick with it. You see there's a problem with the above scenario, and that is the early years are really tough.
Cashflow is slim, expenses are high, and most investors who take this on don't make it through.
They run out of cash.
The short-term solution is to change your focus from buying and holding to quick-turning houses for cash. Quick-turning houses, getting them under contract super cheap and flipping them to another investor for $5-20,000 or more will take care of your cashflow needs today while you hold your rental properties for long term growth. This is great ... money, cash!
But you are not out of the woods yet.
Your new short-term problem is management. If you are buying houses to hold for the long term you must be prepared for the fact that you will be managing them yourself, whether you take on that job as an individual or create a management company to do it. The fact remains that at some point your occupation will change from real estate investor to landlord.
And I'm afraid gentle reader, landlording is dirty, smelly business. One you do not want to be in.
There are worse things in life than being a landlord, most definitely, but that's not why you got into real estate. You got into real estate because you want the big dollars. The really big ones. The 'buy your own island' big dollars, the 'house on each continent' kind of dollars. The nine figure net worth.
Didn't you?
That net worth is available, in fact it's waiting for you to claim it, but you won't achieve the growth necessary to get there buying single family homes. As a growth vehicle they are very inefficient.
>From a real estate investing standpoint the purpose of a single family home is to give you experience doing deals, and to take care of your immediate cash needs.
After you've paid off all your debts, have 12 months living expenses in the bank, and have a kitty of say, $100,000 to $200,000 there isn't much further use for single family homes.
Unless, of course, you want to be a landlord.
As soon as you are debt free and have some starting capital you should move straight into buying apartments.
There is all kinds of leverage to be achieved by changing your wealth vehicle from single family houses to apartment buildings.
- from a value standpoint when buying apartments you are dealing with much bigger dollars, so as the years go by, you make more through appreciation.
- apartments have a much higher rent per square foot compared to houses, so property management can be brought in take management out of your hands in a cost effective manner.
- apartment buildings make sense from a business standpoint so it is no difficult to attract partner capital. - there is an abundance of apartment financing available from lenders up to 80% loan to value.
- there are many profit centers, like repairing units and increasing rents, filling vancancies, that can be capitalized on to capture upside value.
Also, because apartments are not reliant on your personal attention and can be effectively managed by property management companies you are not restricted to buying in your own local market.
By becoming aware of market cycles and tracking them closely, you can buy quality properties in any market in the US at the bottom of a cycle, and ride the appreciation to the top of the market, where you sell (or exchange out) and take huge profits.
Of course, providing you live in a market (like CA) that appreciates rapidly in an up cycle, you can achieve this with single familiy houses too. But which property would you rather have appreciating at 15% a year, a $300,000 house, or a $10,000,000 apartment building.
After 10 years a $300,000 house will turn into $1.33M. Nothing to sneeze at. But during the same 10 years in the same market a $10M apartment building will turn into $44.4M.
Which would you rather have?
It's an easy choice, and one you simply need to make.
About The Author
Ben Innes-Ker is a real estate investing warrior and author of the SMART Guide To Apartment Investing. He is constantly refining his systems to make his investing more profitable with less effort. He shares how to create a huge passive income buying large apartment buildings with none of your own money with his subscribers. To receive your Free SMART Guide To Apartment Investing, go to http://www.apartmenthouseprofitmachine.com.
Real estate investing is the classic wealth vehicle that has taken people from living hand to mouth to the pinnacle of wealth.
It's the vehicle of choice because it's accessible to all of us. Everone has a least rented a house or apartment, and most of us have bought a house. So knowing what it's like to be renter or homeowner we have first hand knowledge of our customers when we set out to be real estate investors.
The classic real estate investing model is buy a bunch of houses, rent them out and in 30 years the mortgages will be paid off, the properties will have at least doubled in value, the rents will be twice what they were when you started ... with no loan payment.
The goal sounds inspiring. Imagine having 10 properties you bought 30 years ago, each for $80,000, now be worth $350,000 apiece as a result of a average annual appreciation rate of 5%. You would have a portfolio worth about $3,500,000. Monthly rents, on the low side, of $1,200 per house would give you gross monthly rents of $12,000. After T&I you probably put $9,000 in your pocket.
I think you would agree this is an extremely modest goal, but what a payoff!!
What a payoff indeed ... for those who actually stick with it. You see there's a problem with the above scenario, and that is the early years are really tough.
Cashflow is slim, expenses are high, and most investors who take this on don't make it through.
They run out of cash.
The short-term solution is to change your focus from buying and holding to quick-turning houses for cash. Quick-turning houses, getting them under contract super cheap and flipping them to another investor for $5-20,000 or more will take care of your cashflow needs today while you hold your rental properties for long term growth. This is great ... money, cash!
But you are not out of the woods yet.
Your new short-term problem is management. If you are buying houses to hold for the long term you must be prepared for the fact that you will be managing them yourself, whether you take on that job as an individual or create a management company to do it. The fact remains that at some point your occupation will change from real estate investor to landlord.
And I'm afraid gentle reader, landlording is dirty, smelly business. One you do not want to be in.
There are worse things in life than being a landlord, most definitely, but that's not why you got into real estate. You got into real estate because you want the big dollars. The really big ones. The 'buy your own island' big dollars, the 'house on each continent' kind of dollars. The nine figure net worth.
Didn't you?
That net worth is available, in fact it's waiting for you to claim it, but you won't achieve the growth necessary to get there buying single family homes. As a growth vehicle they are very inefficient.
>From a real estate investing standpoint the purpose of a single family home is to give you experience doing deals, and to take care of your immediate cash needs.
After you've paid off all your debts, have 12 months living expenses in the bank, and have a kitty of say, $100,000 to $200,000 there isn't much further use for single family homes.
Unless, of course, you want to be a landlord.
As soon as you are debt free and have some starting capital you should move straight into buying apartments.
There is all kinds of leverage to be achieved by changing your wealth vehicle from single family houses to apartment buildings.
- from a value standpoint when buying apartments you are dealing with much bigger dollars, so as the years go by, you make more through appreciation.
- apartments have a much higher rent per square foot compared to houses, so property management can be brought in take management out of your hands in a cost effective manner.
- apartment buildings make sense from a business standpoint so it is no difficult to attract partner capital. - there is an abundance of apartment financing available from lenders up to 80% loan to value.
- there are many profit centers, like repairing units and increasing rents, filling vancancies, that can be capitalized on to capture upside value.
Also, because apartments are not reliant on your personal attention and can be effectively managed by property management companies you are not restricted to buying in your own local market.
By becoming aware of market cycles and tracking them closely, you can buy quality properties in any market in the US at the bottom of a cycle, and ride the appreciation to the top of the market, where you sell (or exchange out) and take huge profits.
Of course, providing you live in a market (like CA) that appreciates rapidly in an up cycle, you can achieve this with single familiy houses too. But which property would you rather have appreciating at 15% a year, a $300,000 house, or a $10,000,000 apartment building.
After 10 years a $300,000 house will turn into $1.33M. Nothing to sneeze at. But during the same 10 years in the same market a $10M apartment building will turn into $44.4M.
Which would you rather have?
It's an easy choice, and one you simply need to make.
About The Author
Ben Innes-Ker is a real estate investing warrior and author of the SMART Guide To Apartment Investing. He is constantly refining his systems to make his investing more profitable with less effort. He shares how to create a huge passive income buying large apartment buildings with none of your own money with his subscribers. To receive your Free SMART Guide To Apartment Investing, go to http://www.apartmenthouseprofitmachine.com.
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