House Windows Melting A Toyota Prius

by Tom Royce on January 25, 2012


MeltingwitchTypically when you think of a battle between a house and a Prius, you add a dose of a drunk driver and a garage and you are done… But not today.

It looks like that super efficient windows are reflecting so much energy onto a car parked in Southern California that it is melting the plastic exterior parts of a lady’s Prius parked outside of the building.

A SoCal woman says the energy efficient window installed in a neighbor’s condominium is melting the plastic components on cars parked in her carport. Heather Patron of Studio City was dealing with a mystery regarding her Toyota Prius.

“The side view mirrors were melting,” says Patron. “Anything that was plastic on the car was melting.” Patron then observed a powerful beam of light that was reflecting off the window of a next door condominium, casting a concentrated beam over her carport.

CBS2’s Randy Paige placed a thermometer in the pathway of the beam on a partially cloudy day. The temperature registered over 120 degrees in less than five minutes.

“I’m positive that this window is what is causing the damage to my car,” says Patron.

Patron is not alone. Reports across the country have alleged damages brought on by concentrated sunlight reflected off of energy efficient windows. The National Association of Home Builders is now conducting a study on the matter. via CBS LA

There is no regulations against these types of windows but it will be interesting. And it makes me wonder if we are going to see melting Prius’s around the country in the coming years.

Progress…

Tags: , ,

{ 0 comments }

Top 10 States With Highest Down Payment

by Tom Royce on January 8, 2012


Affordable-housing-massWhen buying a home, one of the key components is the down payment. Back a few years ago when the housing bubble was hitting it’s peak, there were no money down loans floated out there, but those are ancient history. Now you need hard money to make the loan.

Lending Tree commissioned a study and measured the states on what the average down payment for a home was in each state. From the low 3.5% down FHA and VA loans to the private loans that are looking for 15% to 20% or higher, the range for all the states in the country range from the high in New Jersey of 13.71% down to the low of West Virginia at 11.86%.

To be honest, I was a bit surprised the difference between the states is so little. This tells me that lending standards are tightening up, borrowers are having enough skin in the game to protect the banks from losing too much in foreclosure, and that the lending environment is becoming healthier.

This is all good news for the real estate industry.

Top 10 States With Highest Down Payment

  1. New Jersey –  13.71%
  2. Washington D.C. –  13.50%
  3. New York –  13.47%
  4. Hawaii –  13.33%
  5. California –  13.22%
  6. Florida –  13.16%
  7. Alaska –  13.06%
  8. Connecticut –  13.03%
  9. Nevada –  12.98%
  10. Massachusetts –  12.98%

See all 50 States here at Lending Tree

{ 27 comments }

When Should A Real Estate Professional Tell Someone To Walk Away From Their Mortgage?

by Tom Royce on December 16, 2011


WalkingawayAs real estate professionals, your goal is a healthy and vibrant real estate marketplace. Lots of selling and buying of homes is a good thing, as is a healthy credit report and sufficient cash on hand by your buyers and large amounts of home equity with your sellers.

But if the last few years has taught us anything, that is not always the case. Heck, in some markets, that rarely is the case.

So being a real estate professional you also end up answering many questions about people having their homes underwater at this year’s Christmas Parties. 

Economic editor Megan McArdle writing in the Atlantic has a very thought provoking post out today discussing “When Should You Default on Your Mortgage?” Here is an excerpt but you should also go read the whole article. It is an issue that is on the table for many of the people in your marketplace and may help you as a trusted real estate professional giving solid and powerful advice.

As you can see, I think that people who are in financial trouble and cannot make their mortgage payment have a perfect right to walk away–and to do so as early as possible if there is no reasonable likelihood that their circumstances will change.  On the other hand, I think that if modest lifestyle changes like less steak and more hamburger, less cable and more library books, can make your mortgage payment affordable, I think you have an obligation to make those changes.  And if those changes aren’t even necessary–if the default is purely and simply because you would like the bank to eat the lost equity rather than you–I don’t think that’s right.

But for all the discussion of those people, I’m not sure how many of them there are.  Some, undoubtedly–in a country as big as the US, there is always some jerk doing almost anything you can imagine.  But given what we know about bankruptcy, I tend to think that the overwhelming majority of people walking away from their houses are doing so because they cannot support both the home, and a basic decent life for their families.  Obviously, I also tend to think that’s how it should be.

Read the whole article at “the Atlantic”.

And if you have any suggestions from the trenches on Megan’s advice, leave them in the comment section. Odds are there will also be people fighting through a rough mortgage right now reading this post and they will appreciate any and all help you can offer.

{ 33 comments }

Home Sales Really 20% Less – NAR Changing 5 Years of Home Sales Data

According to CoreLogic the number of homes sold as reported by the National Association of Realtors could be off by 20% over the past 5 years. Heads should roll, but they probably will not over this. The National Association of Realtors said a benchmarking exercise had revealed that some properties were listed more than once, [...]

Read the full article →

Thanks Barney For Everything

Might as well go visit your good buddy Christopher Dodd in Ireland. Original here.

Read the full article →

Why No Word on Huge Bonuses At Freddie and Fannie

 Questions arise over the bonuses being paid to Freddie and Fannie Executives.

Read the full article →

Real Estate Trends of the Baby Boomers

A rather lengthy but very interesting infographic from Coldwell Banker on how Baby Boomers are looking at real estate as they hit their golden years. What caught my eye is how the younger baby boomers look at real estate differently than the older part of the generation… See a larger version here at the Coldwell [...]

Read the full article →

Top 10 Most Popular Cities For Real Estate Searches

One of the key indicators on where people are looking to move, or more accurately dreaming of moving, these days involves internet searches. Realtor.com has come out with it’s results for September and Chicago is leading the way. So if you are looking to sell your home in one of the top 10 markets you [...]

Read the full article →

Home Ownership Losing It’s Appeal?

This can not be good news for the real estate world. But as long as home prices continue to fall and labor markets remain weak, economists say the low rates won’t be enough to lure buyers and spur a rebound in the housing market anytime soon. “People’s perceptions of likely future home prices have been [...]

Read the full article →

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Stop Debt Reductions

Remember when they said centralized lending was the best thing for the American homeowner? Well, let’s be honest, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are probably one of the biggest impediments of the housing recovery now. Instead of loans being controlled by a local or state bank that would have a better understanding the of the [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Sponsors

Atlanta Internet Marketing