10 Spring Cleaning Tips & Tricks

Spring is the perfect time to open up the windows in your house and clean every surface inch. But don’t waste precious hours of spring sunshine while you stay in and clean.
Use these 10 tips to quickly get your home spic and span.

1. Have a plan.

When it comes to spring cleaning, the best approach is an organized approach. “I recommend having a plan, which includes an outline of the areas you plan to clean, a schedule with time slotted to do that work (for you and any family members), as well as a list of products, tools and even cleaning techniques or tips pertaining to those areas,” says Melissa Maker, blogger and host of the popular YouTube show “Clean My Space.”

2. Choose the right supplies.

When you’re making your spring cleaning plan, take inventory of what supplies you need to gather to begin cleaning. Once you figure out what you need, be sure to choose the most effective and powerful cleaning supplies so that the product is doing most of the work — not you.

3. Clean room by room.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you are going from room to room to complete various tasks. Choose to target one room at a time so you can see the results of your productivity quickly and not get discouraged.

4. Work smarter, not harder.

Don’t scrub any more than necessary. Simple steps like soaking pots and pans before you scrub them, waiting for cleaning products to sit before you wipe down surfaces, and using the self-cleaning setting on your oven can save you tons of time.

5. Clean your cleaning supplies.

Did you know your cleaning supplies, such as sponges or microfiber cloths, are most likely the dirtiest items in your home? It goes without saying that you can’t effectively clean your home with dirty supplies. So be sure to disinfect sponges or other cleaning supplies in a mixture of one part bleach and nine parts water for 30 seconds.

6. Don’t forget the ____.

There are several items in our homes that we often forget to clean on a regular basis. Among forgotten items, Maker recommends cleaning behind the oven, bathroom exhaust fans, refrigerator coils, and window coverings.

7. Focus on the MIAs.

Spring cleaning can be a huge undertaking (especially depending on the size of your home), so Maker suggests focusing on the MIAs, or the Most Important Areas. When deciding which area to choose, think about the most visible ones, like the living room or home office.

8. Get rid of the clutter.

You can never truly have a clean and tidy home if you are buried in your own stuff. When cleaning out your things, remember the 80/20 rule: Only 20 percent of the items we own are truly important — so 80 percent of our belongings are just getting in the way.

9. Hire a professional for large jobs.

While many of us would be happy to tackle tasks like power washing the exterior of the house or shampooing the carpets and rugs, most of us probably don’t have the tools or experience necessary to do a sufficient job. Get friends’ recommendations on local cleaning companies that can get larger tasks done while everyone is at work or school.

10. Figure out ways to be more efficient in the future.

While you are cleaning and organizing your home, take note of all the clutter that you most often find. For example, if you are finding that most of your clutter is paper, figure out the best ways to go paperless throughout the year.

Homes Getting Less Affordable for Many

Housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable in many cities, a new report from RealtyTrac reveals. Their First Quarter 2016 Home Affordability Index shows that home price growth is exceeding wage growth in 61 percent of the nation's housing markets.

In the first quarter of this year, average wage earners would need to spend about 30.2 percent of their monthly pay in order to afford mortgage payments on a median-priced home. Last year earners on average would need to spend 26.4 percent of their monthly wages.

“While the vast majority of housing markets are still affordable by their own historic standards, home prices are floating out of reach for average wage earners in a growing number of U.S. housing markets,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at RealtyTrac. “The recent drop in interest rates has helped to soften the blow of high-flying price appreciation in some markets, but the affordability equation could change quickly if interest rates trend higher and home prices continue to rise faster than wages.”
These metro areas are the least affordable compared to their historic norms:

• Denver
• New York City
• Omaha, Neb.
• Austin, Texas
• Dallas
• San Francisco
• St. Louis, Mo.

On the flip side, these metro housing markets are the most affordable compared to their historic norms:

• Boston
• Baltimore
• Birmingham, Ala.
• Providence, R.I.
• Chicago

Source: RealtyTrac

Freddie Mac Sold $1.4B in Nonperforming Loans

Freddie Mac has sold $1.4 billion in deeply delinquent, nonperforming loans.

The Nationstar Mortgage-serviced loans were offered as seven separate pools of mortgage loans. Community Loan Fund, a New Brunswick, N.J.-based nonprofit financial institution, won the bid for two Extended Timeline Pool Offerings. The two pools consisted of Florida mortgage loans with a total unpaid principal balance of $64.6 million, the agency announced in a press release Wednesday.

Two unnamed for-profit entities were the winning bidders for five Standard Pool Offerings, with a total unpaid principal balance of $1.2 billion.

The loans have been delinquent for an average of four years. The sale consisted of two transactions, an Extended Timeline Pool Offering on March 10 and a Standard Pool Offering on Feb. 25, after Freddie Mac began marketing the transaction to potential bidders on Jan. 21.

The transactions are projected to settle in April and May 2016.

5 Surprising Ways to Save for a Down Payment

Saving for a down payment does not have to be an impossible feat for your would-be buyers. HouseLogic recently featured several resourceful ideas to help them save up for a down payment on a home.

Crowdsource
Maybe instead of a traditional wedding registry, your buyers use a site geared to saving up for their future home. Sites like Feather the Nest and Hatch My House can be sites used to raise funds for a down payment. Hatch My House says it’s helped raise more than $2 million in down payments on home purchases.

Ask for the sellers help.
The home seller may be willing to help buyers with the closing costs, via seller concessions. However, realize that lenders do limit concessions, depending on the mortgage type. For example, the FHA’s mortgages have a cap of 6 percent the sales price; Fannie Mae-backed loans have caps between 3 percent and 9 percent.

Explore government options.
Some home buyers may find down payment help from state, local, or even national programs. For example, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development offers several programs, such as assistance with down payment and closing costs. Most HUD programs are geared to individuals who meet certain income or location requirements. Check out links by state. HUD also offers assistance through its Good Neighbor Next Door Sales Program for law enforcement officers, firefighters, teachers, or EMTs. For veterans, the VA offers loans that often require zero down payment or private mortgage insurance.

See if your employer will help.
Employer Assisted Housing (EAH) programs can assist low- to moderate-income employees with a down payment through their employer. Ask the human resources or benefits personnel at your employer if your company participates in an EAH program.

Look into special lender programs.
Some lenders offer specialized programs to help too. With FHA mortgages, borrowers may need just 3.5 percent for a down payment (but make sure they take into account mortgage insurance, which could add another $300 to a monthly mortgage payment). Some lenders, such as TD Bank, offer a 3 percent down payment with no mortgage insurance program. Check with your regional bank for possible down payment assistance or first-time buyer programs.

Source: “5 Ways You Didn’t Know You Could Save for a Down Payment,” HouseLogic (Oct. 26, 2015)

For the First Time in Weeks, Rates Move Lower

On the heels of last week's decision by the Fed to keep rates unchanged, mortgage rates dropped slightly this week, after four straight weeks of increases.

“The Federal Reserve’s decision last week to maintain the current level of the Federal funds rate combined with the reduction in their forecast for growth triggered a 3-basis point drop in the 10-year Treasury yield,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “As a consequence, the 30-year mortgage rate declined 2 basis points to 3.71 percent. However, comments this week by several members of the Fed, including the presidents of the Richmond, San Francisco, and Atlanta banks, indicated that a June rate hike is still on the table.”

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending March 24:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.71 percent, with an average 0.5 point, dropping from last week’s 3.73 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.69 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.96 percent, with an average 0.4 point, falling from last week’s 2.99 percent average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.97 percent.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.89 percent, with an average 0.5 point, dropping from last week’s 2.93 percent average. Last year at this time, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.92 percent.

Source: Freddie Mac

Transform Your Junk Drawer (Without Spending a Dime)

Kick off your spring cleaning with this fun and easy organization project. A cluttered drawer full of junk quickly becomes neat and tidy with a little help from some basic household items and recyclables.

1. Gather small cardboard boxes, tubes, and even egg cartons, as well as glass jars, plastic bowls, and other trays and dishes handy for holding small items.
2. Take a look at your junk drawer to see what kind of odds-and-ends you need space for.
3. Cut the boxes down to a height that will fit inside the drawer. 
4. Cover the boxes in leftover wrapping paper.
5. Take everything out of the drawer and fill it with the paper-covered boxes, jars, and trays.
6. Group like items in each space.

Enjoy having everything you need right at your fingertips!

Wrong House Razed: Google Maps Glitch?

The owners of a tornado-damaged duplex in Rowlett, Texas, arrived home on Tuesday to find something unexpected: Their home had been leveled by a construction crew.

“I pull up, and — sure enough — it’s gone,” says Lindsay Diaz, one of the home’s owners. “There’s nothing left. …  How do you make a mistake like this? I mean, this is just the worst.”

Some media reports are partially blaming Google Maps. The site confused the two addresses and pointed the company to the wrong duplex, according to reports. The company had a demolition permit to tear down another duplex that was one block away.

Billy L. Nabors Demolition CEO, George Gomez, told the media that his crew made a mistake but then added it’s “not a big deal.”

City officials quickly fired back. “I think this is a huge deal,” city manager Brian Funderburk says. “The home owners were in the process of trying to figure out what it was going to take to repair their home and now they’re looking at rebuilding instead. I think this is a very big deal.”

The home’s owners, Lindsay Diaz and Alan Cutter, have filed a police report.

The couple owns both sides of the duplex. After a Dec. 26 tornado tore through the area, the couple said they had been waiting on insurance and a possible Federal Emergency Management Agency to decide on repairs of their home.

Source: “Company Says Demo Mistake ‘Not a Big Deal,’” ABC-WFAA.com (March 24, 2016)