Realty Insights for Home Buying, Home Selling, and Indy Info

Following is an article from SmartMoney.com: Why Buying a Home is the Best Option By Colleen DeBaise April 4, 2007 A GOOD CHUNK OF the U.S. population refuses to give up renting. We're not sure how many renters are stubborn hold-outs (the U.S. census doesn't measure in terms of obstinacy, although we do know that the majority of Americans — about 69% — own their own home). For many, the American Dream is simply out of reach for financial reasons. But, for others, it's not the money, it's the....well, we've come up with five reasons why people don't want to buy real estate. Perhaps you've used these excuses yourself — or know a colleague, a family member or a friend who has. We've enlisted the aid of experts — Stacy Francis and Nancy Flint-Budde, certified financial planners in New York City and Salem, N.Y., respectively, and Mark Schussel, a spokesman for Chubb Group Of Insurance Companies in Warren, N.J. — to counter these excuses and knock some sense i...

Thanks to Candy West for this helpful information! 5 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it: FIRST -- Emergency The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out. SECOND -- Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have th...

MIBOR and BAGI members recently gathered for the sixth annual installment of the Central Indiana Housing Summit. At the summit, they released a study on the housing affordability of central Indiana. The study, which was modeled after a national study, asked 106 elected and appointed central Indiana public officials their opinions of affordable housing and barriers to affordable housing in their communities. Following are the key findings from the study: Comparing costs of housing to wages — A comparison of the cost of housing to wages of various moderate-income occupations like police officers, firefighters and elementary school teachers suggests challenges in five central Indiana counties. Boone and Brown counties have housing costs that may be unaffordable to working families; whereas, Hamilton, Hendricks and Marion counties, while not as severe, may also have costs that make housing difficult for working families. Importance of affordable housing for working families — When asked ...