However, there are many lenders who won’t refinance homes that are under water. In order to encourage lenders to refinance homes, the government unveiled the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) in 2009. However, some homeowners did not qualify under the program requirements. As a result, in an effort to make the program more accessible, changes were announced to the program.

Expanding the Eligibility Requirements

One of the biggest changes is that the cap on the loan to value ratio has been lifted. In the original requirements, any home that had a loan to value ratio of more than 125% was ineligible. However, now, if you meet other requirements, you might be able to refinance even if you owe more than 125% of the value of your home. This can be helpful for homeowners who live in areas where the home values have plummeted by quite a bit.

Before, in order to be eligible for HARP, missing a mortgage payment was not allowed. Now, as long as you haven’t missed a payment in the past six months, it won’t disqualify you if you missed a mortgage payment in the last 12 months. The program has been extended through December 31, 2013, and gives time for homeowners to work to meet eligibility requirements for an eventual refinance.

Another change meant to provide advantages to homeowners is the way that fees have been cut for some borrowers. Under old rules, shorter-term loans sometimes carried higher fees than expected. The new rules cut borrower fees so that those wishing to refinance to shorter terms can do so without incurring extra expenses.

Eligibility Requirements for HARP

Not everyone is eligible for HARP, however. In order to qualify, you must have a mortgage owned by or serviced by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Additionally, you must owe at least 80% of the value of your home, and meet the payment requirements. If you have already refinanced using HARP, you won’t be able to get another HARP loan with the program.

As you can see, HARP is designed to help those who wouldn’t normally be able to refinance do so. And, of course, the mortgage payment requirements mean that only those who have been largely responsible in making their payments are eligible. Indeed, the program is aimed at those whose home values have fallen, and those who wish to refinance so that they can improve monthly cash flow.

Realize that it will be a couple more months before lenders can start implementing the new HARP requirements in some cases. Contact your lender to learn whether or not you are eligible, and to find out when the new guidelines will be followed. In the meantime, you can prepare to make yourself as attractive as possible to lenders by improving your credit score, and remaining up to date on your mortgage payments.

(Photo: Jeremy Brooks)

Home Affordable Refinance Program HARP Expands Eligibility from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Of course, even appraisers have different ideas of how to value a home, and valuation models based on computer algorithms can result in different estimates for the same home. If you are preparing to sell your home, or if you are looking to refinance, here are some things to consider about what affects the value an appraiser attaches to your home:

Location

You always hear that the most important thing is “location, location, location.” This is one of the prime factors that goes into your home’s appraisal. A 2,000 square foot home in a desirable neighborhood close to amenities is considered more valuable than a similar-sized home in a remote location, or a rough neighborhood. Nearby schools, parks, and medical facilities all figure into the value your home derives from its location.

How Other Homes Have Sold

The price similar homes in your neighborhood have sold for matters. We bought our home for $187,000 four years ago — just before everything crashed. The county appraises it for $181,000 for tax purposes. However, in our subdivision, similar homes have been selling for between $165,000 and $178,000. Those sales numbers are going to influence the “market value” of our home if we decide to sell or refinance.

Condition of Your Home

Have you taken care of your home? It’s important to realize that a home that has been neglected is not going to be considered of as high a value as a home in good condition. This includes cosmetic issues as well as major issues. No matter the appraisal, if someone drives up to a home with poor curb appeal, it isn’t going to be “worth” as much to the potential seller. Cleanliness is important as well when considering the worth of your home.

Upgrades and Amenities

If your home has upgrades, such as granite countertops, or amenities, like a deck, then it is worth more. However, understand that if the upgrades are put in wrong, or with poor workmanship, they can actually work against you. Realize, too, that some upgrades aren’t worth as much as others, and that in some housing markets, or locations, added amenities can work against you.

Don’t Rely on Valuation Web Sites

Be wary of the home values you find on valuation web sites. Valuations can vary widely between sites, as well as change significantly from month to month. In fact, there are cases in which valuations on these web sites are 50% higher or lower than an appraised value. A computer can’t be on the spot, and have all the same interpretations as a human. Additionally, adjustments to an algorithm, or a mistake in the statistical model, can throw off the valuation you receive online. While these can be somewhat helpful, remember that they are only estimates, and a local appraiser is likely to have a much better grasp of the situation.

(Photo: james.thompson)

What’s Your Home Worth? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

After looking back, here’s what why I think a realtor was worth every penny.

Time is Money

As much as I am all about this do it yourself world, we all have a certain premium that people pay us for our time. For the sake of math, let’s say that each of us is worth $20 per hour. Too high for some and too low for others but it will make the math easy. A $130,000 home at 6% commission is $7,800 paid to the realtors involved in the sale which means you have 390 hours to put in to selling your home. That’s a lot of hours but a quick look on Trulia.com reveals that homes are staying on the market for three months on average and for many, quite a bit longer. Setting a monetary value on your time is less than a perfect science but it has to be factored in to your costs.

Experience

I was fortunate to have the #2 performing realtor in my state. Despite the numerous articles I read, her experience of what buyers look for was invaluable when I was deciding which improvements to pour money in to before selling.

She also asked me if my fireplace had been used in the past 10 years of owning my home. When I told her no, she told me to list it as a non-functioning fireplace. That would later come back to save me $2,300 when the buyers had estimates drawn up to make a never used chimney function again. I could have just said no to the repair but we aren’t living in a sellers market anymore. It could have taken another six months to get a serious offer.

In another instance, the buyers had received an opinion on what they perceived to be a crack that ran down the side of my home. My realtor had a masonary contractor examine the area. He found that it wasn’t a crack in the structure but instead an expansion joint. That was another $500 saved that I probably would have paid if my second opinion was somebody who wasn’t familiar with my subdivision and how homes were constructed at that time. My realtor had worked with this person for 15 years and knew that he had a lot of experience with my subdivision.

Marketing

I could have listed my home on Craigslist or FSBO.com but she was putting it in the real estate section of the newspaper. Quickly glancing through the newspaper at pictures of homes for sale is still much faster than the internet and she knew that. Taking out a newspaper ad for even one week a month wasn’t cheap, I’m sure. She also knew how to do open houses and the volume of clients she has kept a steady flow of people viewing my home.

Legalities

There was a point where the FHA lender was upset about how a shelf in the garage was listed on the contract. My realtor took care of all of that. All I had to do was read the contracts (and there were a lot) and sign where she told me to sign. If I sold it myself I would have had to pay somebody to prepare all of the documents for me. Based on a few online sources, that would have cost me about $1,500.

I read this article about how much money some people saved selling a home on their own but here’s how I look at it: For every month my home sat on the market, I was paying nearly $2,000 in expenses for that home. I don’t have time to learn how to sell real estate while I pay month after month of expenses. I don’t have the legal or marketing knowledge or the contacts with the other realtors to get this done.

According to that same article, those who use a realtor get a higher asking price for their home. I don’t know if that happened in my case but just looking at the few examples above, the money my realtor saved me made the money I paid to her next to nothing in the end! The 6% that I paid to the realtors seemed high until I added everything up.

Do You Really Need a Realtor? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Many homeowners know the problem first hand. The housing market is in a slump. Some areas of the country have seen declines in the value of residential homes of more than 50%. Although politicians and the eternal economic optimists have said that in some areas home prices are making a rebound, in most cases, those reports are short-lived, untrue, or exaggerated. This isn’t a problem for those families who purchased at a low interest rate and don’t plan to sell their home for years or even decades but for everybody else, this has caused widespread economic disaster.

Why? Because the value of their home may be upside down meaning that they owe more on their mortgage than the actual value of the home. This makes it impossible to sell unless the homeowner is willing to sell their home and still have a mortgage payment. Second, it makes the home difficult to refinance since the value of the home is far less than the original note and even if the bank is willing to write down the mortgage, they will certainly take the opportunity to protect themselves from further value decline.

Homeowners who attempt to refinance report that banks are asking for as much as 1/3 of the value of the home as a cash down payment and without perfect credit, those nearly 4% interest rates aren’t offered. According to President Obama, for those who can qualify, they could save as much as $2,000 annually.

The New Plan
Using an existing federal refinancing initiative, the Home Affordable Refinance Program, the Federal Government will ask Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide incentives for banks to refinance loans for all homeowners regardless of their credit history or home value. The program wouldn’t require large, if any money down, and it will lock in an interest rate around 4%. According to a Wall Street Journal blog, homeowners who are not up to date on their payments shouldn’t bother to apply until they are current. The program will run through 2013 so homeowners will have more than a year to catch up.

For those who have seen paychecks diminish or even disappear, an extra $200 per month could be enough of a financial cushion to curb the large amount of foreclosures that are causing Fannie and Freddie to bleed money. It would result in more revenue if mortgage lenders renegotiated the loan terms instead of foreclosing on the loans.

How can you figure out how much money you would save on a program like this? First, find you current interest rate. In 2008, the average 30 year mortgage interest rate was 7%. For homeowners who haven’t refinanced since 2008, they will see a substantial savings under this program. If you know your rate, find one of the many mortgage payment calculators online and compare your payment to an average payment with an interest rate of 4.5%. Don’t forget about the fees that may come with refinancing.

A lot of what happens in Washington doesn’t reach citizens in a real and practical way. This program, if it is enacted the way the Obama administration hopes, will put real money in to homeowners’ pockets. President Obama hopes that it will encourage spending. Consumer finance experts hope that it will cause consumers to save and pay off debt.

How Much Can You Save on a Refinance? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

There is, however, one hidden cost that most people overlook and one that one is very difficult to quantify – time.

Maintenance

Do you know how often you need to replace the air filter(s) in your furnace and HVAC systems? It won’t matter what number you give, the answer is that it depends. Homes with pets need their filters replaced more often than homes without pets. If you live near heavily trafficked roads, such as highways, you’ll need to replace those filters more often (my friend lives near a state highway and he changes it once a month). Replacing an air filter should only take a minute but it, like many other minor maintenance items, add up and can cause issues if you forget.

Just the other day, our refrigerator started making a lot of noise. It was a repetitious noise that I attributed to a fan. I thought maybe something was stuck so I pulled out the fridge and vacuumed out the only fan I saw (which was not spinning). Cleaning out all that dust is something I should be doing more often than I do (probably once a year, I should probably clean it out twice a year) but that didn’t fix the sound. Eventually I realized it was the freezer defroster fan hitting ice build up, so I knocked away the ice and the sound went away (for the most part). Not a big deal but I spent a couple hours figuring it out.

Cleaning

I love the phrase – “No one washes a rental car.” While the original intent of the quote was to illustrate that there is pride in ownership (you will take care of the things you own), you can also take it to mean that you will need to take the time to actually clean your home. While you probably should clean your rental too, you probably wouldn’t clean it as often or as thoroughly. Let’s be honest… when you know you’re moving out in a couple months, how important is it that the stove gets clean? That the fridge gets wiped down? What about your bathroom? Not very.

Repairs

Everyone knows about repairs because unlike cleaning and maintenance, repairs are more financially costly. They also cost you more time. If it’s a repair where you need an expert, you need to take the time to vet several experts. If it’s a repair you can figure out yourself, you need to take the time to figure it out!

Our dishwasher’s water pump stopped working one day and I, having zero knowledge of dishwashers, looked to fix it. I looked at the pump, all the connections looked good, and I assumed that it was busted. I ordered a replacement part online and went to install it when it arrived. When I removed the water pump, I saw that a small piece of plastic had slipped into the pump (I’m amazed it got by the filters) and jammed it. I removed the plastic, replaced the old filter, and the thing ran like new. I returned the new pump and the entire thing cost me about $4-5 (the price of shipping back the new pump). It felt great to fix something but that cost me several hours (maybe 2-3 spread across two days).

I don’t consider myself a particularly handy person. I have a repaired wall in our house, hidden behind a bookcase, that looks like the surface of the moon because I’m terrible at repairing drywall. Regardless of your knowledge and ability, maintenance, repairs, and even cleaning will cost you time that you should account for should you decide to buy. Home ownership is certainly great but not all the cost is reflected in the purchase price (or the taxes, or the insurance, or the other numbers experts are sure to accurately identify!).

(Photo: sercasey)

Hidden Cost of Home Ownership from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Putting off yearly maintenance and cleaning will cost you more money later on, according to home repair experts. Which of the home maintenance items, if neglected, may put a real dent in your wallet later on?

Dryer Vent

This is first on the list because it’s dangerous and especially dangerous for dryers who aren’t on exterior walls. The dryer vent is something we rarely think about but at least once a year we need to think about it. Any time a pipe makes a turn, the chances of a clog or backup grow. Dryers that are on interior walls almost certainly have a series of angles as well as lent having to travel a much further distance to exit your home. When a vent backs up, the dryer will eventually overheat possibly causing a fire. A dryer vent cleaning should cost about $150 but the damage it may avoid later can’t be priced. Along with the cost of a house fire, the cost of you or your family’s life is well worth a yearly $150 cleaning.

Heating and Air Conditioning

At least once per year, spend the $250-$300 to have your heating and air conditioning system cleaned and inspected. Along with avoiding the cost of an emergency repair in the middle of a snowy night (big dollar repair) they will also check for dangerous problems that could lead to a gas leak or other issue that affects the safety of your family. (Do you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home? If not, you should) Many HVAC companies have yearly maintenance plans that will bring your cost down.

Chimney

If you have an active chimney you have to have it cleaned and inspected yearly to remove the hazardous creosote that builds up. Creosote is often the cause of chimney fires that could be avoided for about $150 for a cleaning and inspection. Even if you don’t use your chimney, the inspection can reveal the lack of a chimney cap or cracks that allow moisture in to the chimney causing mold.

Tree Service

For $200-$400 every two years you can avoid the problems that come with dead or overgrown tree limbs. Limbs that lie on your roof allow more insect life to enter your home and uncut limbs can cause dangerous cracks in the tree that could cause all or part of the tree to come down on your home. Dead limbs could fall out of the tree at any time and hit your family or anybody in your yard. A couple hundred dollars is nothing compared to the costs and headache associated with those costs.

No homeowner enjoys putting money in to maintenance but a little money now will avoid the expenditure of a lot of money later. Eventually the air conditioner will be replaced but routine maintenance will extend its life so “eventually” comes a lot further in the future.

4 Money Saving Home Maintenance Tips Anyone Can Do from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

The question is – are they worth it?

What is a home warranty?

When you buy a home warranty, you’re basically signing a service contract. The contract states that, for the life of the contract, the warranty company will pay for repairs or replacement on a number of appliances within your home. The contract will spell out which appliances it’ll cover, how much you pay per occurrence (similar to a deductible), and what is not covered.

It doesn’t cover structural aspects of your home. So if your roof collapses, that would be covered by homeowner’s insurance. If your water heater leaks, the water heater would be covered (if you bought that coverage) but the subsequent water damage would be a homeowner’s insurance matter.

Is it worth it?

In the six years that we’ve lived in our home, we’ve had only one incident that would’ve been covered by a home warranty. Our water heater, which is 20+ years old, started to leak and needed to be replaced. It’s a mere $400-500 job, less if you install it yourself, and I’m sure a home warranty costs more than $80 a year. Of course, depending on how old the appliances are in your home, it might be something you could consider if you can afford the warranty but probably couldn’t afford to replace your refrigerator or stove, if it stopped working.

In general, home warranties are nice to have when you buy a home, as it protects you for a year from unexpected expenses at a time when you can least afford them, it’s usually not advised unless you have extenuating circumstances.

That said, if you ask ten people about home warranties, you’ll likely get ten different opinions on it. Some people think as I do – put the savings away in an emergency fund to cover those potential problems. Some people think the peace of mind is worth the extra cost each year.

In the end, it comes down to doing the math after you get some quotes and finding the solution for you.

(Photo: phoneymanflickr)

Is a Home Warranty Worth It? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Expensive Furniture is Easier to Afford if you Rent

Have you seen the price of a quality set of furniture recently? Buying enough new furniture to decorate a whole house can be very expensive – often costing thousands of dollars. This is money that people may not have when first moving in, but rental furniture is cheaper and requires smaller monthly payments. Renting furniture enables you to decorate an entire home for a smaller amount of money up front.

Renting Furniture Does Not Require Great Credit

Homeowners often go into substantial debt buying enough furniture to decorate the living room and bedrooms. They often finance these purchases using either a credit card or store charge account if they do not have the cash, but those companies usually have high credit score requirements. Renting furniture usually does not require a good credit score. Furniture rental places offer payment plans that make it easy for borrowers with no credit or bad credit to rent to own.

Buying Furniture is Cheaper Over the Long Haul

If you have rented furniture before, you know that those small monthly payments can quickly add up over time. You will pay a bunch in interest charges and fees each month for the right to rent. Before long, you will have spent just as much on furniture rentals as it would have cost to buy it outright. Renting furniture may make sense for short-term stays, but buying furniture makes more financial sense for long term residents.

Most Rental Furniture is Used

Most furniture rental stores only offer used furniture. Plus, the furniture has probably been used by multiple households. If you want to own brand new furniture, then you will need to buy it. Even if you prefer used furniture, you can probably buy it for much less than what you’ll pay at a furniture rental store over time.

My Opinion

I like to own my stuff outright. Debt makes me itchy. Therefore, when we were in the market, we bought all of our furniture. Most of it was new, but we found a few great used pieces on Craigslist as well. In the end, we spent a ton four years ago, but we would have spent way more if we rented the same items for the last 48 months. Plus, we will be using the furniture we have for years and years to come.  I’d only consider renting furniture for temporary situations.

How about you?  Do you rent or buy?

(Photo: bfsminid)

Buying vs. Renting Furniture from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Craigslist Pricing

If you are selling something that others are selling too, you will need a competitive price to get eyeballs on your ad.  I would suggest searching Craigslist for comparable items and pricing yours on the lower end of the scale. 

For example, I am about to list our twin-sized Captain’s bed this week.  I’ve looked around and have found several in similar condition selling for $250-$300.  I will be listing ours as $250.  It is in great condition and I could probably get a bit more, but it is worth it to me to sacrifice $25 in favor of getting the bed out of my house as soon as possible.  It is taking up room in my new home office.

Craigslist Descriptions

Buyers appreciate having all of the information they want listed easily in one place.  I have learned when selling online to start my posts with a sentence or two explaining why we are selling an item and then I add the descriptive information as a bullet point list. 

Taking our captain’s bed as an example again, I will open with a quick sentence explaining that we’d like some more room in my office.  Then I will list all of the pertinent details as bullet points.  I will be sure to include it’s measured dimensions, age, and condition.

Craigslist Pictures

An ad sells better when a buyer can see a picture of the actual product.  The trick is making sure the item looks good in the picture or nobody will want to buy it.  I suggest cleaning what you want to sell, moving it into a well-lit room or outside temporarily, and taking the most flattering pictures you can.  If there are any problem areas, you will want to mention them in your post and take a specific picture of those spots.  Good pictures and complete honesty can make a sell.

I will be opening the blinds in my new home office and taking the best pictures possible of the bed.  I’ll make sure it is cleaned off so they will have a good view of the bed itself without any clutter.  I will also roll out the drawers and take a picture from that angle so potential buyers will be able to see how much storage room they will have to work with.

My best guess is that I will be able to sell off our little bed by the end of next weekend.  Wish me luck!

Do you use Craigslist to sell your stuff?  How has it worked for you?

Using Craigslist to Sell Your Stuff from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Check Your Credit Report

If you will need a mortgage, your credit report will be one of the most important things for you to know about before buying a home.  I would highly suggest checking your credit report before you even apply for loan preapproval.  You can check each of the main credit reports – Transunion, Experian, and Equifax – for free once a year at AnnualCreditReport.com.  I personally check each one of my main reports every 4 months just to make sure nothing hinky pops up.

Tighten Your Budget

I would also highly suggest tightening your budget when you start thinking about buying a house.  The mortgage payment will not be the only extra expense that you will have to handle.  You will also want to remember the annual cost for home owner’s insurance, property taxes, and any homeowner’s association fees that you will have to cover.  Even if they are all paid annually, I bet they will be easier to pay if you save for them year round.

Plan for the Unexpected

Owning a house is a constant test of patience.  Things break, maintenance must be done, and the unexpected will take a huge bite out of your normal budget.  Before you buy a house, make sure you will be able to budget in a small emergency fund for your house.  Try planning for at least one big expense each year. 

My husband and I feel comfortable with a $10,000 home maintenance emergency fund.  We socked away $500 a month until we hit that amount and then redirected that $500 towards general savings.  Anytime we have to use the home account, we simply start adding back in $500 a month until it returns to our $10,000 goal.  I like the fact that I never have to worry whether we can handle something small like a toilet leak or something big like a new air conditioning unit.

Research Property with Resale Value

Before you buy a house, you will probably look at dozens or hundreds of properties online.  Unless you think you are buying your forever home, keep in mind resale value as you look.  Even if you don’t have kids, potential buyers in the future might, so buying a house in a really bad school district may not be the best idea.  I’d also look into crime statistics and the details of whatever homeowner’s associations you may have to deal with. 

My husband and I got lucky and bought our home in a good school district with less crime than other Houston suburbs.  We also ended up with no homeowner’s association fees since our neighborhood was permanently incomplete.  This has worked out well since we have good neighbors, but we did not research any of these things in advance and it could have turned out very differently.

What other tips do you have for someone before buying a house?

Financial Tips for Before You Buy a House from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Toss It

The easiest way to declutter your home is to just throw all of your old junk away. Some neighborhood associations have a yearly neighborhood improvement day in which they rent dumpsters so that home owners can throw away their undesirables. These dumpsters are completely free. Another option is to call a storage removal company like 1-800-Got Junk. They will pack and haul your old junk away for you for a fee. I personally have been rooting out all of our broken items and putting them out with our normal trash. It has been working great.

Donate It

You can donate many of your old items to charitable organizations or through places like Freecycle. Organizations like the Red Cross, United Way, and Goodwill would be happy to receive your old televisions, computers, clothing, and furniture. You can either take it to them or they may be able to send someone to pick it up from your home. Donating to charity is a smart move because you will feel great that your things are going to a good cause and you get a tax deduction as well.

Freecycle is useful for any of the same items or even broken ones. I joined our local Freecycle group years ago and love the fact that my stuff goes directly to someone who will use it. I’ve been able to Freecycle rugs, furniture, and even plants.

Sell It

One of the ways to declutter your home and make some money in the process is to sell your stuff. I’d suggest using Craigslist or having a yard sale. Sell the items at prices that are just too good for anyone to pass up. You might be surprised to learn that your “junk” could bring in a couple hundred bucks and free up some of the space in your home.

Store It

If you want to hold onto some of your items for sentimental reasons but don’t have the room at home, then a storage facility is a great option. You can rent a basic climate-controlled storage unit for under $50 a month in my area and store all of the extra stuff there. Storage units are good for storing old furniture, clothes, and equipment. This way your items are safely protected in a controlled environment and your home is free of these items. I personally rather never pay for storage of things I don’t use, so I’m pursuing the other options right now.

How do you declutter your home?

How to Declutter Your House from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Moth Balls

The first suggestion that I was able to find online was to put moth balls around our plants.  Specifically, place 5 or so moth balls around each one to deter rodents and birds.  Within a day, I had gotten some moth balls and spread them around our garden. 

Before I go any further, please keep in mind that you shouldn’t do this unless you can monitor your pets and your kids at all times when they are anywhere close to the area!  Ingesting moth balls can kill people and animals, so be cautious!

Long story short, I still had freshly gnawed marks on a few other beauties the next morning.  I got back online to see what else may work.

Alternate Water Sources

Apparently, during droughts like the one we are having in Houston right now, animals will force themselves through awful smells like moth balls just to eat something with moisture in it.  A bunch of sites mentioned supplying an alternate water source in the same area as the garden but further away from the moth ball smell.

I grabbed a Styrofoam to-go container, washed it out, placed it about 5 steps away from my garden towards our tree, and filled both sides up with water.  It has now been 3 days and no new tomatoes have been mangled.  Poor squirrel or whatever must be thirsting to death in the heat.  I have a bad feeling that I am providing free water to a rat or something, but at least my tomatoes are safe for now.  In case this doesn’t work for you, here are a couple of other tips I had found.

Alternate Food Source

This is along the same lines of thinking as providing water.  I just could not bring myself to spend money on food for whatever animal had been ruining my tomatoes.  Just the idea of providing cracked corn or something made me even angrier. On the other hand, water will not cost me much at all and I do feel sorry for a thirsty animal.

Cayenne Pepper

A few sites also suggested sprinkling cayenne pepper around the garden as well.  The smell and taste supposedly keeps animals away from your precious plants.  But I thought that if moth balls didn’t do the trick, cayenne pepper was probably not going to work in these exact circumstances either.  Droughts simply brings the critters to the garden.

Have you ever had to battle off garden critters?  What affordable methods have worked for you?

Frugal Methods on Dealing with Garden Critters from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes were the first plant I thought about for our new garden.  I love them and they consistently are sold at our grocery store for more than $2 a pound, which annoys the snot out of me.  A couple of $5 tomato plants have the ability to produce more than 20 tomatoes each throughout the season.  Since that sounded about right for my husband and me, we planted two of them in our garden. 

Remember when planting tomatoes to space the plants at least 2 feet apart to give them room to grow.  Also keep in mind some system to keep away pests.  Squirrels or other rodents have been chomping away at my green tomatoes and moth balls are not working for me.  I believe we will have to try wire mesh next.

Basil

Basil was our next choice since we do use so much of it.  Basil plants are also very hardy which is necessary for beginner gardeners like us.  Our two plants have grown to be about 2 ½ feet tall in a matter of a couple of months and produce more than enough basil leaves for our marinara sauces and olive oil rubs.  They only cost about $2 each as seedlings and we’ve already saved $5 since we have not needed to buy a new package of dried basil leaves.  My next step will be to dry some leaves out for our pantry during the winter.

Cilantro

My husband’s choice for the garden was cilantro.  A couple of plants cost us $5 total and he likes adding it to all sorts of things including his rice.  He was able to cut some off multiple times, but we did not know that cilantro blooms into coriander if you don’t cut off the buds.  So now we have 2 huge coriander plants, but we don’t use coriander in our cooking much.  Oops.  Next year we will know better and will keep the cilantro maintained properly.  Thanks to our mild Houston, Texas winters, we have a shot at not losing our herbs permanently over December and January.

Chives

Our last raised garden plant is chives.  I personally do not like them much since I do not like raw onion flavors of any sort, but my husband uses chives almost as much as basil.  We bought three chive seedlings for $5 total and have already harvested and used more than $10 worth in 2 months.  It goes on baked potatoes, salads, soups, and even has been gifted to others.  This will definitely be a plant we keep around in years to come.

What other valuable plants would you suggest?  I have heard that mint is a great option – any others?

Most Profitable Backyard Garden Crops from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Before making any home improvement, you should consider the cost, and the potential reward. Some items, such as enhancing your home’s curb appeal with attractive plants and a maintained yard, can help you sell your home in the future, while providing you with a beautiful home. Other improvements, though, require a little more thought and planning. And you should be aware that you want to do them right — or you could end up with an unattractive feature that detracts from your home’s value.

Common Summer Home Improvements

There are some common home improvements associated with the summer time. Not all of these are as cost-efficient as others, though. Here are some of the more popular choices for summer home remodeling projects:

• Deck: If you are looking for a place to relax in the summer time, you might consider adding a deck. According to Remodeling Magazine, you can recover up to 72.8% of the cost of installing a wood deck.
• Patio: Perhaps you don’t have the room for a deck. If this is the case, you might consider a patio. If you already have a small pad of concrete as a patio, you can widen it with the help of additional concrete. Add a few chairs, and a small table, and it can become quite pleasant.
• Pool: This is an expensive home improvement. An in-ground pool can add to the value of your home, but by the time you pay for it, and pay for the maintenance required for its upkeep, there is little chance that you will recover what you spent. If you are looking to use it to help you sell your home down the road, you will have to make sure you keep it in good condition. The National Association of Realtors point out that an above-ground pool can actually reduce the resale value of a home.
• Sunroom addition: Remodeling Magazine says that you will probably only recover about 48.6% of what you spend on a sunroom. However, it can be a pleasant way to enjoy the outdoors in an environment with some degree of temperature control. Buying one of those sunroom kits, though, and doing it yourself, might provide a less expensive alternative. However, in the long run it might not help your home’s resale value.
• Air conditioning: Once again, adding central air can be a way to improve the comfort of your home, but you probably won’t recoup the costs, including the extra energy you will use to run it. However, even though it may not increase the resale value of your home, it might be a deal clincher down the road.

Bottom Line

When you are deciding on summer home improvements, think about how you will use them, and whether you will enjoy them. For the most part, summer home improvements are going to be for your comfort and benefit. They may be nice features that can make your home a little more sellable, but they probably won’t add substantially to your home’s resale value. Don’t think of them as a financial investment; rather, consider them as purchases that might be considered an investment your own enjoyment.

Are Summer Home Improvements Worth It? from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

I decided it would be fun to put in our information from when we bought our home six years ago. We paid $295,000, put 20% down, and faced monthly rent somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500 for a 2-bedroom apartment. We know our mortgage interest rate was 5.25% and property taxes at around 1% (due to a homestead tax cap, our actual rate is 3% but the effective rate is only around 1%).

For the most part, we assume rent increases with historical inflation (~4%) and if we have a home price change of 0% (which is close to reality, our home is worth no more and really no less than it did six years ago), the calculator says we would break even at 12 years. We’re halfway there. A change of just 1% in appreciation, which is lower than the historical appreciation of homes (but more than the actual appreciation over the last six years) reduces that breakeven point by 3 years. 2% appreciation (annually each year) means we would’ve broken even in six years.

Back when I did the rent vs. buy analysis, I assumed home prices would increase with inflation. 4% appreciation with 4% inflation meant I’d break even after 3 years, a near no-brainer given my situation. Even at 3% appreciation, 3% inflation, breakeven was after 5 years.

The fun part about the calculator is the graph. It responds instantly to all the fields and tickers you play with. The wealth of information at the bottom (which you reveal when you click on a year in the graph) is also pretty handy too, especially if you like to play with numbers.

NY Times Buy vs. Rent Calculator from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.