Flood Insurance Program Deeply in Debt

The National Flood Insurance program is over $19 billion in the red ink, says the Congressional Budget Office, and it will add another $900 billion a year to its debt figures. Various reasons are given, but the biggest seems to be leniency in allowing flooded home owners to rebuild, again and again, on the same ground in the country’s worse flood planes, and some claimants have received more than 10 times the value of their properties. The second biggest issue is the discounts for 2nd homes, many going to wealthy owners in very ‘high end’ areas.

Mortgage Interest Rates Continue Downward (Caution !)

New record lows for long term mortgages have been recorded in the last few weeks with all indications that the mortgage rates will continue a slow decline until it is clear that the current economic conditions in the country start to improve. Its pretty much agreed upon by all of the experts that until the job situation in this country starts to improve drastically, rates will stay as low as they are now, but will start an upward climb when the jobs picture improves.

Buying Is A Good Investment

Acording to the August 23rd issue of The Motley Fool, it is a great time to purchase your new home. Just keep these three things in mind.
• A good  Location
• A home that is priced fairly.
• Do not overbuy a home,  stay within your price range.

Energy Efficient Home Sales

Many people who say their are environmentally sensitive, will settle for less efficiency in a home, if say, they love the kitchen and baths, and/or if the efficiently hits their pocketbook.

Of course newer homes are being built with many energy efficient appliances and amenities built in. And the costs are hidden in the selling price. But you are paying for them one way or another.

Not-So-Free Credit Reports

I read an interesting article recently and immediately thought about the wellbeing of my clients regarding those ‘so-called’ free credit reports that are advertised on radio and TV, 24 hours a day. The article was published in the N. Y. Times and essentially discusses the fact that most of those ad-spots, if not all, offer credit reports to people, for a price, and are not free. The article was written by Ron Lieber.

Lieber writes: “new FTC rules went into effect on April 2, and they require sites to include a prominent notice across the top of each Web page that mentions free reports, declaring that the only authorized source, under federal law for such reports, is www.annualcreditreport.com.” 

The rules are aimed at sites like freecreditreport.com, which has been enticing people into a $14.95 per month credit-monitoring service with the promise of a free credit report. Experian, which owns freecreditreport.com, is pretty clear about its offer; it’s upfront about the fact that you’ll be enrolled in the service and that you have seven days to cancel. Still, the tactic must be pretty lucrative. To avoid having to include the FTC notice, Experian is charging $1 for reports and giving that money to charity.

The author of this article makes a good point and the message is clear:
Before you order a credit report that you think is going to be free, make sure you are aware of what you are ordering, and the possible costs involved.

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