Halloween Homeowner Tips

You love your new house and Halloween is a great way to meet the neighbors. But you want your house to be safe. Here are some tips

• Clear your yard of as ladders, hoses, dog leashes and flower pots that can trip the young ones.
• Put pets up to protect them from cars or inadvertently biting a trick-or-treater.
• Consider battery powered jack o'lantern candles; they are safer than a real flame. If you do use candles, place the pumpkin well away from where trick-or-treaters will be walking or standing.
• Make sure paper or cloth yard decorations won't be blown into a flaming candle.
• Healthy food alternatives for trick-or-treaters include packages of low-fat crackers with cheese or peanut butter filling, single-serve boxes of cereal, packaged fruit rolls, mini boxes of raisins and single-serve packets of low-fat popcorn.
• Non-food treats: plastic rings, pencils, stickers, erasers, coins.

Twin Cities Good Value for the Dollar

Forbes.com recently ranked the Twin Cities metro area as one of the 10 best metro areas to get the best value for a dollar. In fact, it put Minneapolis/St. Paul at the eighth spot.
The survey considered economic factors such as

1. affordability of housing
2. gas prices
3. inflation
4. potential job growth

Forbes examined data from Moody’s Economy.com on the 40 largest metropolitan areas in the United States to determine job growth projections through 2012. It also calculated ratios between median house price and median income for each city. Gas price data was collected from AAA. (Learn more)

Focus on Chanhassen

Chanhassen, Minnesota is a small town located just southwest of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Chanhassen has an estimated population of 23,889 (April 1, 2007), Chanhassen has 14,427 acres in 24 square miles.

There are twelve beautiful, clean lakes wholly or partially located within the City limits: Christmas Lake, Harrison Lake, Lake Ann, Lake Lucy, Lake Minnewashta, Lake Riley, Lake St. Joe, Lake Susan, Lotus Lake, Rice Lake, Rice Marsh Lake, and Silver Lake. Chanhassen’s 500-acre park system features five community parks and 22 neighborhood parks scattered throughout the community. There are 55 miles of trails and sidewalks for walkers, bikers, runners, and in-line skaters to enjoy. The trails connect downtown, parks, and neighborhoods.
The average house sale price is $299,911. In 2000, the median age was to 34.2 years. In the community, the largest single age cohort is those residents between 35 and 44 years of age. This group consists of 4,903 persons (24.1% of the total population). The next closest age cohort consists of persons between 45 and 54 with 2,816 persons (13.9% of the total).

Median income doubled between 1969 and 1979 from $13,452 to $26,441. It doubled again between 1979 and 1989 when it reached $52,011. Almost half (49.5 %) of Chanhassen residents have college degrees, associate through graduate degrees. Almost three-quarters of residents have gone to college.

Chanhassen is a great place to live. Check out list of great Chanhassen homes that are currently for sale.

What’s your house worth?

We’re living in interesting times. Sometimes it seems like a lot to take in. Figuring out how the turmoil will impact you is a start. Zillow is a fun tool that will tell you what your home is worth – and what the homes all around you are worth.

ZIllow can be a particularly valuable tool for homebuyers. Enter in an address and again you’ll learn the value of your potential home and the homes of your potential neighbors.

Federal Housing Administration

FHA is the Depression-era home loan insurance agency that still offers 3 percent down, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with consumer-friendly credit standards, even on jumbo loans in high-cost areas of California and the East Coast. They are gearing up to help current and future homeowners.

Anyone who is in danger of losing their home should look into their HOPE for Homeowners program.

The HOPE for Homeowners (H4H) program was created by Congress to help those at risk of default and foreclosure refinance into more affordable, sustainable loans. H4H is an additional mortgage option designed to keep borrowers in their homes.

The program is effective from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2011.

As many as 400,000 homeowners could avoid foreclosure through this program over the next three years. If you are having trouble making your mortgage payments, HOPE for Homeowners may be able to help you, by refinancing your loan into a new 30-year fixed rate loan with lower payments.