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Archives for 2012
Record low mortgage rates
June 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The latest Freddie Mac report shows all-time low mortgage rates, reports the Los Angeles Times. Lenders were offering 30-year fixed loans to credit-worthy buyers at 3.66% and the 15-year fixed mortgage at 2.94%, on average. Here are the specific figures for the week ending June 28, 2012.
- 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.66% with an average 0.7 point. (Last year’s 30-year FRM averaged 4.51%.)
- 15-year FRM averaged 2.94% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.95%. (Last year’s FRM averaged 3.69%.)
- 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.79% this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.77. (Last year’s 5-year ARM averaged 3.22%.)
- 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.74% this week with an average 0.4 point, the same as last week. (1-year ARM averaged 2.97% one year ago.)
Foreclosures were also down by 2% in the first quarter of this year as compared to the previous quarter, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Year-over-year, the rate fell by 8%. Overall, about 4.5% of all home loans were 60 days or more behind on payments, said the OCC, which is 10% lower than the previous quarter and 6% from one year ago.
Declining interest rates coupled with lower prices may encourage borrowers to purchase homes now rather than later, when the market begins to support higher sales prices. The National Association of Realtors expects the median existing-home price to rise 3% this year and another 5.7% in 2013.
11 things to never put in the dishwasher
June 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A dishwasher is a beautiful thing, so handy and convenient, so wonderful for preventing a pile of moldy dishes when life loses all inertia, but there are certain things that should never enter that cave of convenience if you want them to live to serve another day.
Crystal/Hand-blown glass
Crystal and hand-blown glass are sensitive to heat so they run the risk of cracking in the dishwasher; but that’s not the only risk. Detergents can chip at them, causing them to lose their shine.
Good knives
Good knives should never be put in the dishwasher — they’re more fragile than you might think. The agitation of the dishwasher’s cycle turns the blade dull; and it can get dings and scratches from hitting other objects.
Bottles and cans
If you want to rinse cans and beans to recycle or reuse, it’s best to wash them by hand. Labels attached with glue can loosen and clog the spray arms or pump and affect dishwasher performance.
Full story at Huffington Post.
Couple Refuses to Let $4.2M Mansion Block Their View
June 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A couple in the San Francisco Bay Area wasn’t happy that a $4.2 million mansion next door was blocking their view of the Golden Gate Bridge and water. So they purchased the mansion — and are having it demolished.
Clark and Sharon Winslow purchased the home at a foreclosure auction, after owners of the five-bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom property had fallen into foreclosure and vacated the home about two years ago. The home, originally built in 1909, had previously sold in 2004 for $7 million. The couple had to get the city’s permission to tear down the house. But even though the home is more than 100 years old, the city found that it didn’t hold any historical significance and allowed the couple to demolish it.
The Winslows say they plan to use the vacant space of the former home as expansive gardens for their home, which is an 11,200-square-foot, $19 million mansion, featuring 5,000 square feet of stone terraces and a 60-foot pool.
Neighbors say they are happy the couple is demolishing the home because it’s helped improve others’ views too.
“The view is really nice now!” neighbor Roger Snow told NBC News.
Source: “Marin County Couple Pays $4.2 Million to Demolish House That Blocked View,” San Jose Mercury News
Septic Systems: It’s A Dirty Business
June 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
FUNCTION OF THE SEPTIC TANK While relatively simple in construction and operation, the septic tank provides a number of important functions through a complex interaction of physical and biological processes.
Septic Systems
The essential functions of the septic tank are to: receive all wastewater from the house separate solids from the wastewater flow cause reduction and decomposition of accumulated solids provide storage for the separated solids (sludge and scum) pass the clarified wastewater (effluent) out to the drain field for final treatment and disposal.
Primary Treatment
As stated, the main function of the septic tank is to remove solids from the wastewater and provide a clarified effluent for disposal to the drain field. The septic tank provides a relatively quiescent body of water where the wastewater is retained long enough to let the solids separate by both settling and flotation. This process is often called primary treatment and results in three products: scum, sludge, and effluent.
Scum Substances
Scum: Substances lighter than water (oil, grease, fats) float to the top, where they form a scum layer. This scum layer floats on top of the water surface in the tank. Aerobic bacteria work at digesting floating solids.
Sludge and Effluent
Sludge: The "sinkable" solids (soil, grit, bones, unconsumed food particles) settle to the bottom of the tank and form a sludge layer. The sludge is denser than water and fluid in nature, so it forms a flat layer along the tank bottom. Underwater anaerobic bacteria consume organic materials in the sludge, giving off gases in the process and then, as they die off, become part of the sludge. Effluent: Effluent is the clarified wastewater left over after the scum has floated to the top and the sludge has settled to the bottom. It is the clarified liquid between scum and sludge. It flows through the septic tank outlet into the drain field.
The Cost of Owning a Home (Last 20 Years)
June 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Notes from the report: Prices and mortgage payments are based on the median existing single-family home price, averaged from quarterly data to obtain annual prices. Mortgage payments are calculated using the interest-rate average for that year and assume a 20% downpayment and fixed 30-year term. Rent is the median gross monthly rent from the 2010 American Community Survey, indexed using the CPI for rent of primary residence. Income is median household income.
Sources from the report: JCHS tabulations of National Association of Realtors®, Composite Affordability Index (NSA) and Existing Single-Family Home Sales via Moody’s Analytics; Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey; US Census Bureau, American Community Survey; Moody’s Analytics, median household income estimates.
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Social vs Search Smackdown: A Battle of Internet Marketing Titans [Video Infographic]
June 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Some say image is everything, and that’s especially true on the Internet where the shift to visual optimization is playing an increasingly important role in the recent phenomenon of photo marketing.
In light of their numerous benefits for brands of all kinds, MDG Advertising developed an insightful infographic that illustrates the influence of images on a company’s business, branding, search, and social media efforts. For insight on optimizing images for content and commerce, along with advice on image optimization techniques, take a look at the following infographic to see why images can help make success a snap. [MDGAdvertising]<p>[pb_vidembed title=”Social vs Search Smackdown” caption=”” url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGRgGofrkmg” type=”yt” w=”600″ h=”338″]