INSURANCE: 7 Flood Insurance Myths

Much of what you know about federal flood insurance may be flood insurance myth.

Myth #1: Hurricanes, not floods, are the No. 1 natural disaster and cause the biggest economic losses in the United States.

Hurricanes grab the headlines, but because floods happen in virtually every part of the country, they cause more losses than any other type of natural disaster.

What causes floods?

• Rising rivers

• Storms

• Early snowmelts

• Manmade problems from the construction of roads, shopping malls, homes, and industrial complexes

• Hurricanes

Myth #2: Everyone who lives in a flood zone has to buy flood insurance.

Nope. You must buy flood insurance only if you meet all three of these criteria:

• You buy a home in a special flood hazard area where there’s a 1% chance of flooding in any year.

• Your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program.

• You buy your home using a loan from a federally insured financial institution, or a Fannie Mae- or Freddie Mac-guaranteed loan.

If you don’t meet these three requirements, no one will make you buy flood insurance.

About 5.6 million home and small-business owners live in the more than 21,000 communities that participate in the flood insurance program, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Myth #3: Flood insurance is always expensive.

Flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program is sometimes expensive and sometimes cheap, depending on how much your home and its contents are worth.

• It can cost up to $6,000 a year if you buy the highest possible coverage of $250,000 and live in a high-risk area.

• It could cost $472 for $35,000 in damage coverage in a high-risk area.

• It can cost as little as $129 a year for $20,000 of rebuilding coverage and $8,000 in contents in a low-risk area.

Premiums vary a lot based on where you live. If you want to buy $250,000 of building coverage and $100,000 of contents coverage, you’d pay about:

• $6,000 in a high-risk coastal area

• $2,700 in a high-risk inland area

• $400 a year in a low-to-moderate-risk inland area.

Myth #4: Taxpayers are footing the bill for federal flood insurance.

The NFIP doesn’t spend any tax dollars. The government sets the premium rates high enough

MORTGAGE & FINANCE: Things to Consider In Applying for a Mortgage

If you are hoping for a positive outcome from your mortgage experience then carefully consider all your options and buy within your means so that you can sustain your payments. Borrowers unsure of which approach is best can fall back on certain time-tested strategies for ensuring they don’t overextend.

Here are a few tips to boost affordability when arranging your mortgage:

1. Know what you can afford.  A mortgage pre-approval helps you establish a price range and the maximum mortgage you can reasonably afford.  Most lenders will lock-in a rate for up to 120 days when pre-approving potential borrowers for a mortgage.

2. Look at your current debts.  When applying for a mortgage, besides looking at your (GDS) a lender will also look at your total debt service ratio (TDS). How much of your total income is going towards various types of debts, including car loans, credit cards, and other consumer loans?  A mortgage agent can advise on restructuring your current debt (by increasing the amortization and lowering payments on your car loan, for example), to ensure that your TDS ratio is acceptable to prospective lenders.

3. Look into a longer amortization.  Some lenders will offer mortgages with amortizations longer than the traditional 25-year amortization which result in a lower monthly payment. But our new mortgage rules is capped at 25 years. Those opting for a longer amortization should plan to make lump sum payments down the road or increase their monthly payments (say, after receiving a salary increase), to lessen the amount of interest they pay throughout the life of their mortgage.

4. Increase the size of your down payment.  Increasing the size of your down payment means a lower monthly payment.  A common way for first-time buyers to come up with more cash for a down payment is to make use of the federal Home Buyers’ Plan to withdraw up to $20,000 each from a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) without tax penalty to buy or build a qualifying home.  Also, many lenders allow the down payment to come from a properly documented gift, and a borrowed down payment may be possible for some borrowers.

5. Consider locking in your rate for a longer period of time. If you’re uneasy about fluctuating interest rates and your ability to meet any increases, then a fixed-rate mortgage

HOME INSURANCE: What's Covered, What Isn't

Looking to know more about home insurance in the wake of Hurricane Sandy? Republished here is one of AOL Real Estate's best guides to understanding a homeowners policy. 
Many homeowners are baffled by trying to figure out the maze that is home insurance. Take Stephanie and Eric Jones, who for 15 years paid too much because they weren't clear on which coverage they needed and which they didn't.

Their local insurance company wasn't very responsive to the Jones' inquiries about how they could lower their rates. When the couple decided to change agencies, inspectors were sent to their property, and they uncovered roof issues. One agency was adamant that a new, $10,000 roof was needed, while another said that a simple $400 repair would be enough. It was then that they learned how different home insurance agencies could be.

"The Jones' would have definitely benefited from doing some research into the types of policies available to consumers," says Eric Sharfstein, claims director with National Underwriters Insurance. "It's easy to just say yes to everything, thinking that's the best course of action and, sadly, that leads to wasted money." Having too little coverage isn't ideal either, he says, because you may end up paying out of pocket for damage to your home.

To help, here's a comprehensive list of what homeowner's insurance covers and what it doesn't:


Differences Between Home insurance and Fire Insurance:

Dwelling fire policies are less expensive, but coverages are more limited. The more-comprehensive dwelling form is the DP-3. Dwelling fire policies are most often used by

HOME MAINTENANCE: Reduce the risk of tree damage to your home

(Money Magazine) -- Does the severe weather of the past several years have you looking up at your trees in fear? It's an understandable concern. A big storm could destroy the plants' majesty in a flash -- and send a quarter-ton branch crashing down onto your roof.

Still, before you preemptively chip a favorite tree into mulch, consider this: It may be contributing 8% to 10% to your home's value, according to Scott Cullen of the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers.

Here's how to keep your leafy assets from becoming a liability.

Schedule regular upkeep

Have your trees inspected every five years or so -- a free service offered by tree-care companies. An arborist will look for branches that are weak or hanging within 10 feet of a building, and send workers to remove them.

If necessary, they'll also buttress the tree against high winds by cabling limbs together. All this work costs about $200 to $400 a tree and is typically needed only once a decade.

In many cases the tree will more than cover the cost of its maintenance over a few years; a big shade tree will knock nearly $70 off annual air conditioning bills, says David Nowak of the U.S. Forest Service, and a large evergreen that blocks winter winds will reduce heating costs by around $60 a year.

Get removal right

When a tree becomes diseased or dangerously overgrown given its proximity to a house, your arborist will recommend taking it down.

Removing a substantial tree could cost $2,000 to $5,000, depending on its size and whether it is accessible by truck or requires climbing -- and what's underneath that the crew must protect.

You can have the stump ground down to just below grass or mulch height for $50 to $200

NEIGHBORHOODS: Boston #2 US City For Seniors

Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement recently commissioned a survey of the Best U.S. Cities for Seniors. Conducted by research firm Sperling’s Best Places, the July 2011 study ranked 50 cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas on a universal set of criteria, from transportation and housing to Healthcare and the environmen

To determine the rankings, Sperling’s Best Places assembled and reviewed independent data from existing city and state government records, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the American Medical Association, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Medicare databases and a number of other verified sources.

Top 25 U.S. Cities for Seniors 2011

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
2. Boston, MA
3. Pittsburgh, PA
4. Cleveland, OH
5. Denver, CO
6. Milwaukee, WI
7. San Francisco, CA
8. Portland, OR
9. Kansas City, MO
10. Newark, NJ
11. Nassau-Suffolk Cty, NY
12. Philadelphia, PA
13. Edison, NJ
14. St. Louis, MO
15. Baltimore, MD
16. Oklahoma City, OK
17. Salt Lake City, UT
18. Providence, RI
19. Seattle, WA
20. Indianapolis, IN
21. Cincinnati, OH
22. Columbus, OH
23. Washington, DC
24. Austin, TX
25. Chicago, IL

Criteria

In order to rank the 50 metropolitan areas in terms of their suitability for seniors, we examined data in nine categories that are key to seniors’ quality of life: healthcare, transportation, housing, social, environment, economy, health and longevity, spiritual life and crime.

High scores in these areas correlate with cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas that offer places to live that are conducive to senior living and healthy aging. Ranked on a scale of 1 to 10, categories that have a greater impact on seniors are more heavily weighted in determining a city’s total score and ranking.

Healthcare (Weight: 10)

Widespread availability of physicians specializing in geriatric issues—such as cardiology, oncology and orthopedics—is critical to supporting a senior population. The study also examined the number of hospitals per capita and their ratings based on patient reviews, the number of nursing homes per capita and their ratings, and the presence of continuing care retirement communities.

#1 metro for healthcare: Indianapolis, IN

Economy (Weight: 8)

This category presents a snapshot of the region’s economic health, taking into account everything from average consumer prices and sales tax to the local unemployment rate.

#1 metro for economy: Pittsburgh, PA

Health and Longevity (Weight: 8)

In the category of health and longevity, the study looked at depression rates and mortality from cancer and heart disease in addition to life expectancy at birth and at age 85.

#1 metro for health and longevity: San Jose, CA

Social (Weight: 8)

A satisfying social life depends on numerous factors, from the existence of a sizeable peer group to recreational opportunities. The study first determined what percentage of the overall

NEIGHBORHOODS: Sperling’s Best Places Reates Boston Safest City for Children

NORTHBROOK, IL – News stories about tragic accidents, many that could have been prevented, seem to dominate today’s headlines. While accidents can happen anytime or anywhere, Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the global safety leader, commissioned a study with Sperling’s BestPlaces to determine the cities that stand out in helping prevent needless accidents and improving the safety of their residents, especially families with young children.

The study, “Safest Cities for Families with Young Children,” evaluated the 50 largest U.S. cities on specific criteria that contribute to home, community and overall personal safety. The results showed that 10 cities lead the way in helping reduce risk of fire deaths, pedestrian accidents and other mishaps that contribute to the estimated 14 million potentially disabling, unintentional injuries that children sustain each year.

The 2010 “Safest Cities for Families with Young Children” include:

• Boston
• Columbus, Ohio
• Louisville, Ky.
• Minneapolis, Minn.
• New York
• Portland, Ore.
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Tampa, Fla.
• Virginia Beach, Va.

Each city was measured on 25 criteria encompassing child-focused, safety-oriented behaviors and regulatory best practices. As part of the methodology, the study filtered out cities with the highest crime rates and considered air quality, incidence of child pedestrian accidents, injuries and drowning. The study also focused on accessibility to hospitals; response time for fire and police personnel; and laws, codes and regulations that address smoking, home inspections, smoke and CO alarms, pool safety and bike helmets. The top 10 cities had the highest frequency or values in these categories.

“There is a unique set of safety considerations that goes into developing safe homes, communities and environments for raising young children, and the purpose of the study was to bring awareness to the best practices in those areas,” said Gus Schaefer, UL’s Public Safety Officer. “We hope that highlighting the importance of these safety practices will help keep more families protected.”

Though the study names only the top 10 safest cities for families with young children, UL notes that almost all 50 cities had strong safety regulations in place related to several of the criteria. The study revealed that:

• All 50 cities have some level of local or state legislation for smoke alarms
• 47 of the 50 cities have some level of non-smoking legislation
• 47 of the 50 cities have local or state legislation requiring carbon monoxide alarms
• All 50 cities require inspections after construction or remodeling
• 39 of the 50 cities have state or local laws requiring bike helmets for children

“UL was encouraged by many of the results – it’s clear that most cities are doing great things to improve safety at home and in the community,” said Schaefer. “Just as cities are continually trying to take steps to improve safety and prevent accidents, families should do the same. Even taking a few actions can cut a family’s risk of accidents significantly and encourage safety-conscious behaviors that can last a lifetime.”

City Scorecards

Boston: With its many colleges and universities within the city and surrounding area, Boston is a center of higher education and a center for medicine. It’s no wonder then that the city has the highest number of hospitals per capita. Boston also has low child injuries and pedestrian accidents and good air quality. To protect Boston’s air quality, the Boston Air Pollution Control Commission (APCC) cooperates with local, regional, state and federal agencies to develop strategies and programs to improve air quality throughout the New England area.

Columbus, Ohio: Columbus has the lowest incidence of vehicle-related deaths and child poisonings among the top 10 cities. The city also shines in its low number of pedestrian accidents. Recently, Columbus’ commitment to safety was evident when it hosted the National

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Despite the apparent economic improvement, with the unemployment rate finally moving below 9% in November, millions will still face the possibility of losing their home through foreclosure in 2012.

While it's not a "magic bullet" that can discharge a first mortgage loan on your residence, filing for bankruptcy can buy you some time, force a mortgage lender or servicer to negotiate with you, and eliminate a significant portion of other unsecured debt, depending on your circumstances.

According to regulatory data provided by SNL Financial, the "big four" U.S. banks had huge amounts of one-to-four family residential loans on their balance sheets and serviced for others, for which the underlying homes were in the midst of the foreclosure process as of Sept. 30:

• Bank of America had $23.0 billion in residential mortgage loans on its balance sheet with homes in foreclosure, while loans serviced for others in foreclosure totaled a whopping $90.6 billion.
• for JPMorgan Chase , residential mortgage loans in foreclosure totaled $28.9 billion, while loans serviced for others in foreclosure totaled $54.7 billion.
• For Wells Fargo , one-to-four family mortgage loans on the balance sheet with collateral homes in some phase of foreclosure totaled $18.1 billion, while loans serviced for others in foreclosure totaled $37.7 billion.
• Citigroup reported $6.9 billion in residential mortgage loans in foreclosure on the balance sheet, and $10.3 billion serviced for others that were in foreclosure.

While President Obama's expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program , or HARP, will allow millions of borrowers with mortgage loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance their entire balances at today's low rates -- even if the borrowers owe significantly more than the homes are worth -- HARP is only available to borrowers who have been current on their loans over the past six months, and the Fannie/Freddie loans only represent about half of U.S. mortgages.

Filing for bankruptcy, of course, can't be taken lightly, and you will need the help of an attorney.

According to Geoff Walsh, a staff attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, "the first threshold question that people need to consider when they're looking at bankruptcy as an option for foreclosure is whether all of their major assets are covered by state exemption laws."

For example, in New York $100,000 in home equity is exempt if you go through bankruptcy. This means that if the difference between the market value of your home and the outstanding liens on your home is less than $100,000, you will emerge from bankruptcy still owning your home. If you have more than $100,000 in home equity, the bankruptcy trustee will sell the home, give you $100,000, and pay the rest to the mortgage lien holder.

This underlines the importance of hiring an attorney. "There are some people who can really be hurt if they file for bankruptcy without properly what the exemptions are," says Ward.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

According to Ward, a Chapter 7 filing "doesn't help if the lender has a lien on an asset," such as a house or a car, since the lien allows the lender to take back the collateral and the Chapter 7 filing "does not get rid of line or security interests."

A Chapter 7 filing is a liquidation bankruptcy, where the court-appointed trustee sells nonexempt

HOME SAFETY: Preparing for a blackout

Back in August of 2003, an overloaded aging and outdated power grid suffered a cascading failure plunging 55 million people into the dark for up to seven hours in the Northeast and Midwest U.S. and Ontario, Canada.


It was the nation's largest blackout ever.


Eight years later, almost to the month this year, a 12-hour September blackout turned off the lights in 7 million homes in the Southwest, forced two nuclear reactors offline and caused gridlock in San Diego where 3.5 million gallons of sewage spewed into the city's waterways, forcing the nation's eight largest city to close its beaches. Two month's later, the utility company still doesn't know what hit them.


A month later, a mid-fall snowstorm left 600,000 homes in the dark for more than a week in Connecticut and surrounding areas, due to too many vulnerable above-ground power lines and a woefully understaffed utility company.


It only seems like blackouts are getting smaller.


The U.S. power grid is weak, it is as fickle as the weather and you'd be foolish not to prepare for a blackout.

Just as sure as California's San Andreas earthquake fault will one day slip and release the Big One, a blackout is likely among the grid of stretched-thin power lines that crisscross the nation.


Endowed with federal authority to enforce reliability standards, the North America Electric Reliability Corporation's 2011 Risk Assessment of Reliability Performance is brimming with ominous prose, including:


• "Unexpectedly, almost one third of all sustained, automatic outages are dependent or common mode events. Though a number of protection systems are intended to trip three or more circuits, many events go beyond their design basis. In addition, a number of multiple outage events were initiated by protection system miss-operations. These events, which go beyond their design expectations and operating procedures, represent a tangible threat to reliability."


• "On the average, units appear to require maintenance with increasing regularity to meet unit availability goals. In the last three years, the Equivalent Forced Outage Rate Demand (EFORD) increased, indicating a higher risk that a unit may not be available to meet generating requirements due to forced outages or de-ratings.


• "The three leading root causes for multiple unit forced trips are transmission outages, lack of fuel, and weather."


You get the picture. It's dark.


And, right now, winter blackouts are of particular concern.


In the summer, as hot days mount and the demand grows, regional utilities can prevent a forced blackout with pre-planned blackouts, rolling blackouts, brownouts and other diversionary efforts to prevent the grid from blowing a fuse.


On the other hand, a winter storm system can turn off the lights in an instant, making preparations all the more essential.


For complete, localized blackout preparations, contact your state or local office of emergency preparedness or emergency services.


Meanwhile, get started with these pointers.


• If someone in your household is on life-support systems, you should notify your power company when the support system is installed. Life support backup is crucial.


• If a liquid or natural gas fired generator is your back up for life support or other electrical needs, follow the manufacturer's instructions to the letter. Never operate generators indoors on in any enclosed space. Never connect the generator to the home's electrical system without a code-complying transfer switch. Get advice from a licensed electrician.


• Consider an emergency back up battery system for your home computer, cell phone and other communication device that could come in handy in an emergency. Backup batteries, always connected to your computer and being charged by electricity, keep your computer or other small devices running for a half hour or more after the power goes out.


• Consider going off the grid. Solar power not only keeps going when the grid fails, it can give you a zero-cost energy bill and add value to your home worth more than the cost to install.


• Have an escape plan. If you know a storm is coming far enough in advance and don't want

HOME SECURITY: 5 Over-the-Top Home Security Devices

.‘Tis the season when families bring home the hottest electronics and gifts—and then go on vacation. Not a shabby set-up for would-be burglars. So, for kicks, we tracked down some of the most unique high-tech security devices, ranging from a mind-controlled robot dog to a personal helicopter drone. And in case you’re not a millionaire electrical engineer, we’ve thrown in some do-it-yourself tips to help you protect your new gadgets and gear.

Mind-controlled robot spy dog
Conventional dogs can scare aware away potential robbers while you’re not home, but this little tricked-out toy is more than man’s best friend—it’s an extension of man itself. Unlike a real live Fido, this remote-controlled gadget can show the owner what’s in front of it via camera, can project the owner’s voice in real time, and can be told where to go, not by treats or joysticks, but by brainwaves. It’s a gadget befitting a superhero villain.


Tip: To stop intruders right off the bat, upgrade your locks and strike plates by installing 4-screw strike plates and Grade 1 or 2 deadbolts.


Cell phone-operated locks
Everybody forgets to lock a door now and again. But not everybody has a remote system to control their locks with a cell phone and a text-messaged pin code that’s as encrypted as a password for a bank website. With this doozy, you can lock your doors or let in friends from anywhere that has cellular service. It can also notify you whenever the system’s been used.

Tip: You don’t need a cell phone to lock and unlock your doors. You just need to be careful. Before going anywhere—on a vacation or just a trip to the grocery store—make sure all of the locks on your doors and windows are functional and, you guessed it, locked.


Tweeting laser tripwire
No, it’s not science fiction. It’s actually possible to set up a laser trip wire that tweets when touched, and even takes a photo of the guilty party—though it takes more tech skills than money to build this Mission Impossible device, as is clear from the how-to on Instructibles.com.


Tip: They may not be as sci-fi fantastic as laser beams, but motion-activated lights are an effective way to deter break-ins. At less than $50 a light, they’re a cheap, real-world way to thwart would-be burglars.


Personal drone
Housed in a mailbox-like enclosure, this observant gadget can launch into the sky, record video, and return to home base all on its own—and it can be up and running within one minute of a security breach. (The biggest sci-fi fans could also use it for lightsaber training.)


Tip: Take basic security measures outside your house like locking your tool shed with a deadbolt. If your tools are easy to access, a burglar doesn’t need to bring his own to break into your home.


Fog shield
An added deterrent for the high-security home, this motion-activated fog shield acts much like the dance-floor variety, except it’s programmed to go off when an intruder is in close proximity. It won’t do much to stop the intrepid burglar, but in a tight enough space, the dense smoke might confuse them enough to second guess the heist—or break into an impromptu Macarena.


Tip: Whether or not you have an advanced security system, always remember to disable your automatic garage door opener and lock it before you go on a long trip.


Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/home-security/crazy-home-security-systems/#ixzz1eCtzE7bI