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Further
Reading ...
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Things to Consider Before Firing Your Boss - Charles Fuchs
While a home based business has many advantages and perks, it also has its share of disadvantages. Before firing your boss and opening the doors of your own home based business, it’s good to be aware of these things so that you can plan for them and...
How To Furnish Your Home Office Inexpensively - BB Lee
How To Furnish Your Home Office Inexpensively...... Home Office Tip 3 by BB Lee(C)2003 This is part 3 in a series of home office tips! Furnishing your home office should be a cost effective and easy process. Follow these tips to furnish a home...
"Passion or Weakness?" - Kathy Stone
“Passion Or Weakness?” By Kathy Stone O.K., I did it. I used the internet too much at work and lost my job over it. In my exit interview, when they told me they would have to terminate me – I feebly replied “It’s a weakness.” Oh, how I could have...
The Pro's and Con's Of Debt Consolidation Loans - Wes Atkins
You are swimming in debt. You have 4 credit cards maxed out, a car loan, a consumer loan, and a house payment. Simply making the minimum payments is causing your distress and certainly not getting you out of debt. What should you do? Some people...
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Avoiding A Bad Investment Is Easier Than You Might Think
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Written By:
W. Troy Swezey
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Human nature being what it is, none of us can get serious about the idea of buying a house without experiencing at least a few small twinges of worry. What we fear, of course, is making a mistake. And the mistake we tend to fear most is buying a “lemon” – a house that doesn’t simply fail to satisfy our hopes but turns out to have so many flaws that it’s a disastrously bad investment.
The good news is that the danger of getting stuck with a lemon of a house is one of the most easily avoided dangers in the whole universe of personal finance. Prospective homebuyers are protected in many ways, and they can further strengthen their defenses by taking a few simple, commonsensical precautionary steps.
The first of your protections is the fact that in many places sellers are required by law to make problems known to potential buyers – and are liable under the law if they fail to make adequate disclosure.
For obvious reasons, however, most of us prefer to steer clear of legal entanglements even when the law is on our side. In the housing market we do this by identifying problems before closing the deal. And identifying problems isn’t necessarily all that difficult. Even a person who’s not an electrician or plumber or construction expert often can identify areas of potential concern simply by being alert when visiting a house that’s on the market.
It’s a simple matter, for example, to turn on faucets and showers to test water pressure. In a bathroom it’s a simple matter to turn on the hot water both at the sink and in the shower at the same time and then flush the toilet and watch for drastic drops in pressure or temperature. This is highly likely to produce evidence of whatever problems are lurking in the plumbing system.
Most homes should provides at least 200 amps of electrical power, and it’s usually possible to confirm this simply by checking the - continued below ...
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numbers on the circuit-breaker panel. Check, too, for extra-heavy 220 –volt outlets where they’re needed for a washer, dryer and other heavy appliances – and for the grounded three-prong outlets needed for computers and power tools.
A house that’s been standing for years but still has straight walls and ceilings and remains free of cracks and the stains that indicate leaks is likely to be structurally sound.
Are the basement walls damp – or even wet? Have termites left their calling cards – tubes or tunnels where the walls touch the ground, or wood debris around baseboards?
Wherever you see such things, things that you wonder about because you don’t understand them or wouldn’t expect to find them in a completely sound structure, you can be confident that it’s time for further examination. Keep an open mind about what that further examination might lead to, however. Things that can look like big trouble to the amateur eye sometimes turn out to be quite trivial when an expert checks them out.
The word “expert” is a crucially important one to remember. Ultimately, before closing on the house of your choice, you should have it inspected by a professional – one who has solid credentials and a solid reputation and whose work is guaranteed. Your purchase should be contingent on the results of the inspection. Your realtor can help you make all this happen, thereby reducing your risk to the vanishing point.
W. Troy Swezey is the author of “AVOIDING A BAD INVESTMENT IS EASIER THAN YOU MIGHT THINK." As a Realtor at Century 21 Paul & Associates, he has helped many individuals with their real estate needs. Visit his web site to download his free e-book, “REAL ESTATE SECRETS EXPOSED.” http://www.TroyIsMyRealtor.com or mail to: TroyC21@usa.net
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The art of discernment re on-line business. - Robert Van Rumpt
This is where you are expecting some profound words of wisdom…Right? Well maybe but more likely just more opinions on a topic that is so broad that it is hard to see the trees because of the forest(s). I have been looking at what seems to be,...
Homegrown Terrorists Spook the Stock Market - Charles Payne
The negative, and at times scary news seems to be coming hitting the stock market from all corners of our world. Just as the headlines from the geopolitical realm let up, the glare of terrorism raises its ugly head again. This time with a twist that...
Junk Mail? - Robert J Farey
Junk mail works. Why does it work? How does it work? These are very important questions. To make it work, it has to appeal to the emotions. They have to make claims that inspire you to click on that ‘yes’ button. They inspire you with tales of...
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