You’ve got a dog or a cat, but how about a chicken?
It’s the hottest craze sweeping the nation. Chicken clubs! People are branching out from the traditional veggie patch in the backyard to raising poultry. From Washington DC to Wisconsin, people are keeping a couple of hens in a pen as pets, and as a source of eggs. We talked to Elaine Belanger, editor of Backyard Poultry, to get all the scratch on raising chickens off the farm.
Click through for home grown poultry
We found out from Elaine that chickens are amazing animals. Not only do they give fresh eggs, but they also apparently make entertaining and affectionate pets!
It’s a pet with benefits! Elaine says that having a couple of chickens in your backyard is basically having a pet with benefits. She says that chickens have personalities and are even somewhat trainable. Most become very affectionate with their owners. And of course, there’s the benefit of fresh eggs, which Elaine claims are more nutritious and taste better than what you might find at your local market.
Chickens are easy! Chickens are also fairly easy to raise — all they need are shelter, food, water, and a place to run, and they eat mostly anything. Elaine says the biggest challenge is protecting your hens from predators, and from neighbors who might not approve. As far as predators go, in an urban setting you’ll need to watch for hawks, raccoons, and even the occasional possum or fox. Even stray dogs and cats can be an issue, which is why a sturdy and secure coop is a must. With your neighbors, most won’t even notice you’ve got chickens, but if you’re worried about local by-laws or home owners association rules, always check before you buy your chicks.
Cost effective, but it won’t replace your grocery run. Saving money is not the best reason to be raising chickens right now. As the cost of wheat has gone up, so has the price of chicken feed. However, the good news is chickens will eat just about anything, including salad greens and bugs they find in the yard, in addition to their regular feed.
If you want more information on how to get started raising your own hens, check out the Backyard Poultry website
Boost your home’s resale value in just three days!
Did you know you can boost your home’s resale value in just three days? That’s the same amount of time as your average holiday weekend! We talked to Barr Huefner of HGTV’s Designed to Sell to get some tips on sprucing up our homes this Memorial Day weekend.
It’s true! You can make a change in your house in as little as three days, and you don’t have to break the bank to do it. In fact, HGTV’s Barr Huefner says you shouldn’t go overboard when trying to make your home more attractive to buyers. The worst thing you can do is put in something too ornate, too complicated, or try to do a project that is way beyond your skills. However, there are a few things you can do right now to make your house more attractive to buyers in this tight market:
Click through for Barr’s tips
Spruce up your curb appeal! The first thing a potential buyer sees when they drive up is the front of your house. Take a good look at it. How is the paint? Has the lawn been mowed? What are those droopy flowers in the front bed, anyway? The single most important thing you can do for your home is improve its curb appeal — it’s an easy change to make. Plant some flowers; add in some edging around the beds; put in some mulch, and paint! Nothing is a bigger turn off than peeling or faded paint. Make your house look welcoming from the outside, and buyers will be more likely to come inside to take a second look.
Got a tight budget? Grab a can of paint! If you’re low on funds, painting the interior of your home is an inexpensive way to update its look. You can buy a gallon of paint for anywhere from $20 – $30, and that gallon will, on average, cover a 10’ x 10’ room. You may want to stick with neutral colors, but contrasting colors can make a great statement as well. The other benefit: it’s super quick. In less than a weekend, you can paint the whole inside of your house, and give it a fresh, new look.
Don’t overdo it! As we mentioned, the worst thing you can do is go overboard. An incredibly ornate fountain in the front yard might look pretty, but you probably won’t make your money back on the purchase. Also, don’t over-extend your skills. If you’re not comfortable doing tile work…don’t do it. It will likely end up looking worse than the old tile you tried to replace. Just remember to keep it simple, keep it easy, and keep it quick!
Catch Barr Huefner on HGTV’s Designed to Sell, weeknights at 6 p.m. or online at: www.HGTV.com
Military families face challenges when relocating. Meet the man who helps them!
Joe Gladden is a retired Navy Captain, who decided to become a REALTOR®. He specifically helps military families with the tough process of relocation. We talked to him about the unique challenges that military members face when trying to buy or sell a house.
After 25 years in the Navy, and at least 11 geographic relocations, REALTOR® Joe Gladden knows a thing or two about the difficulties military families face when it comes to relocation. As a matter of fact, it’s the main reason he decided to become a REALTOR®!
Joe pointed out that the general public, and most REALTORS®, too, do not understand the challenges military families face when they are trying to find a place to live
Joe says the typical military family has three options when it comes to housing:
Option 1: On-base housing. What most people don’t know, is that on-post housing is scarce, with long waiting lists. And even if a family manages to get a place to live on the base, it may not be as nice as a home they could buy off-base. The military is still working to update housing at many duty stations.
Option 2: Renting. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Often, service members are faced with having to break a lease when their permanent change of duty station comes through.
Option 3: Buying a home. A family can find a home they like this way, but they also assume all the risks. While the military does pay for relocation, they don’t help families find a home. The good news for service members is if they do decide to buy, there’s a whole crop of VA loans available to help them. All of these loans are available through qualified lenders — they just have to ask — including a new 0% interest loan, as well as loans with zero down payment as well.
And, that’s probably the best way we could say thank you to our troops.
The DoD helps out the military with an expanded HAP, ASAP!
The Housing Assistance Plan, or HAP, from the Department of Defense has been around for a while — but recently, Congress expanded it. The Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Housing, Joseph Calcara, joined us on the show to explain how this is helping our service men and women in this economic downturn.
Click through for more on our interview with Mr. Calcara
As we mentioned, the HAP has been helping out military personnel, and DoD civilians, by offering financial assistance — most recently to those affected by base closures and the ensuing drop in property values. Now, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed earlier this year, there is an additional five hundred and fifty-five million dollars being made available to help people recover losses from the recent economic downturn.
Mr. Calcara explained that now up to 10,000 military families will qualify for assistance, including Wounded Warriors, families of Fallen Warriors, and those who face selling their homes at a loss when they receive Permanent Change of Duty Station orders.
The new program will reimburse families up to 95% percent of lost property value if they are being affected by a base closing, and up to 90% for all other reasons.
The best part, Mr. Calcara says, is that it’s retroactive to June 1st 2006, so if you’re a soldier who has sold a home since that time at a loss, you may qualify for the program. There is also no “sunset provision” for those who have been wounded. If you’re applying under a base closure, the program runs through 2012. Otherwise, you have until December 31st to sell your house and make you claim.
If you need more information on the HAP program, check out the Army Corps. Of Engineers website on it : http://hap.usace.army.mil/
Big changes coming in the $8000 Federal Tax Credit for New Homeowners
There’s big news from the NAR’s 2009 Summit, including a major announcement from the Obama administration!
The summit made big news this week, because the Obama administration chose the NAR’s 2009 Real Estate Summit to make the major announcement!
Click through for details about the changes:
Going forward, the $8000 tax credit will be available at the settlement table, instead of after closing, for all FHA loans. It’s a bold step that could very well help jump start housing markets all across the nation. Following up on many state programs, first time homebuyers and buyers who have not owned a home in the last three years, will now have $8000 available up-front for their down payment, and for closing costs, if they get an FHA mortgage, rather than having to wait until they file their taxes.
The U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development talked exclusively to Real Estate Today minutes after the announcement.
Click here to listen to NAR’s Talk Radio Director Stephen Gasque interview the Secretary.
