Keep Shrubs Away from Your Home

Keep bushes trimmed at least a foot away from your house to prevent mildew, rot, and termites from attacking your home. Trim plants back from air conditioners to make them more efficient.

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Sidelined Homebuyers Preparing to Enter the Market

According to a new survey by Relocation.com, more Americans are positioning themselves to purchase a home in the near future.

The survey found that some families are opting to rent while they research for deals to purchase a more desirable home in their area. There’s no surefire way to determine when these sidelined homebuyers will enter the market, but the survey results were encouraging.

Of the 60 percent of individuals moving into rentals, 24 percent were previous homeowners renting temporarily while they look for a new home to purchase. Underscoring this finding is that for many of these families, foreclosure was not the reason for moving. In fact, the number of consumers who moved due to foreclosure dropped by 70 percent compared to Relocation.com’s February 2010 survey.

While it seems that financial and economic issues still continue to exert an effect on U.S. moving behaviors, the survey found signs that the worst of the recession crisis may be over. In the February 2010 survey, 18 percent of respondents indicated that they moved to a new location with a lower cost of living and/or cheaper rent, but this percentage dropped to 7 percent in June. Furthermore, only 4 percent of the consumers in June moved due to a job loss, a drastic drop from the 13 percent who moved for that reason in February.

When it comes to homeownership, the survey found that 18 percent of movers tracked in the June survey were homeowners who moved and purchased a new home, up from 12 percent in February. And an additional 12 percent were former renters who moved to purchase a home. The June survey also found that 4 percent of movers were able to purchase a home for the first time due to the decline in home prices, and another 10 percent moved to a bigger, better home or a better neighborhood.

Getting a Mortgage: Tougher Than It Used to Be

Freddie Mac VP Patricia McClung on what is needed in this economy for potential home buyers to get a mortgage.

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How to Repair Ceiling Water Marks

Repairing water marks on a ceiling is not a particularly difficult thing to do if you know how to do it properly, but before you begin your repairs, make sure whatever was causing the damage has been fixed. Ceiling damage can occur from a leaky roof, an overflowing bathtub or even a leaking pipe. So check your roof for leaks or a problem with the flashing. Make sure caulking around the bathtub and shower is thoroughly sealed. Generally a leaking roof will only damage the ceiling on the top floor of a house, so if you have a two story house and you see water damage on the first floor or even the basement ceiling, it is most likely caused by something else. Regardless of where the water damage appears, before you begin repairing it, make sure the true cause of the leak has been found and repaired.

Measuring the Damage

At its simplest level, you can repair a water stain on the ceiling by sealing it and repainting the area to match the rest of the ceiling. Before you start painting though, you will need to assess the ceiling to see if a drywall repair is in order. Sometimes when the drywall of a ceiling has been softened by water, it will be mushy or crumbly and will not hold paint properly. In this case you will need to cut out the damaged section of ceiling with a utility knife and replace it with a new piece of drywall. When you patch a ceiling in this fashion, make sure your drywall compound has thoroughly dried before trying to paint it. Any time the drywall has been damaged to the point of being crumbly, make sure to replace the damaged section before painting.

Light Stains

For less severe water damage you can try bleaching the area and skip repainting all together. To treat the ceiling with bleach, pour some bleach into a small container and lightly dab it onto the stained area of ceiling. You may have to apply it several times before the stain completely fades away. If a little touch up is needed, you can use white chalk or ceiling paint.

Severe Stains

For areas of the ceiling that have sustained heavier water damage, you must first be sure the ceiling is completely dry and not crumbly. Then use a good quality stain blocking primer to seal the area and keep the water stain from bleeding through the paint. When you are selecting the best primer to use for this job, look for a primer designed especially to seal out stains. After the area has been sealed, then you can paint the ceiling. Remember to let each layer of primer and paint dry completely before adding the next layer to the ceiling.

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Ways You Lose From Financial Reform

Four ways the newly passed financial reform bill could make you poorer.

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