PerkStreet Financial

photo credit: Caitlin Childs

While you read this, I’m moving! As you may recall from previous posts, I hate moving. Today’s move is especially frustrating because we’re going a whole 4 blocks from where we are now, which means it’s a lot of effort packing and unpacking to go literally around the corner.

I’ll be back in September, but in the meantime send good moving vibes my way and enjoy some of my favorite moving info:

• Frugal Mama covers all the bases with her Ultimate Moving Checklist for Families. Trust me, there’s plenty of good stuff in there for a family of two to use. I’m a big fan of her idea to choose an online bank to alleviate the need to find a new bank after you move, of course!

• Kelly from Life, Love and Frugality gets some moving advice from the best frugal bloggers around over at Blog Frog.

• If you’re in Boston or San Francisco, try using TaskRabbit to help you find movers. You set the price and the stipulations (do you need a van or just a pair of hands?) and choose the bid you want to accept. Also a stress-free and affordable way to pick up last minute items from IKEA, or ask someone to make a grocery run to fill your new kitchen with food.

Ways we’ve kept our move cheap?

• We’re doing it ourselves. This was not a choice, exactly. I begged to hire movers, but September 1 in Boston is a huge moving day (lots of students in the area) and there was no room for negotiation on price. I couldn’t stomach paying $700 to go 4 blocks. U-Haul and our own (and our friend Paul’s!) brute strength it is.

• We didn’t buy boxes. Luckily Jason gave me all the boxes that his wedding gifts came in, and every time something was shipped to PerkStreet, the boxes came to me. We’re also borrowing boxes from a friend’s recent move. Finally, we got an absolute steal on large plastic bins at Target – thanks back to school sales! – which come in handy for all kinds of things and store easily once we’re all moved in.

Ways we are being wasteful:

• Food. I didn’t plan a grocery trip for things that would be fast and easy and not require dishes or pans, so we’re eating a lot of takeout. Not good on the wallet or the waistline.

For the most part it’s a frugal move. Not so sure about fabulous, though I know I’ll be thrilled once we’re moved into our new place and I get to do laundry without having to go outside and down the block with pockets full of quarters.

Got any moving horror stories/awesome stories to share? Leave them here! Not moving? Revisit Rev Up Your Rental to make inexpensive but impactful changes to your current home.

The following post is from our guest author, Phil Taylor from a blog we admire, PT Money.

This post is part of a special PerkStreet series about taking the next step to living in your dream home, whether you buy or rent.

So how do you get into your dream home as a renter? Some argue that by it’s very nature a rental is a dream home: no property taxes, no mortgage, no yard or landscape to worry about, and a landlord on call 24/7 to help fix any problems you have. Sounds nice. Unfortunately, when it comes to making home improvements, you’re somewhat limited by what the owner wants and approves. Lucky for you, I’ve gathered up a few simple and inexpensive ways to make your rental more like the home of your dreams.

Quick Tip: If your lease is ending soon, consider requesting an additional 6 months. It’s cheaper to move in the winter, when rental rates drop.

Simple and Inexpensive Changes

photo credit: mccun934

Splash on Some Paint – One of the most cost-effective ways to really change the look of your place is to put some new paint on the walls. Doing it yourself, only painting an accent wall, and using discarded home improvement store paints are just some of the ways you can paint your rooms for less. Be sure to avoid common color mistakes when painting a place you rent.

Just Rearrange – Sometimes all you need to do is rearrange the furniture to make the space feel bigger or more welcoming. If your place is cluttered, consider a garage sale or Craigslist to help you get rid of the unwanted items.

Quick Bathroom Upgrade – One of the easiest rooms to upgrade is the bathroom. Buy a new shower curtain, a new rug, and some towels and you can quickly change the look and feel of the room. If you only have a small amount to spend, just grab the new shower curtain. It will have the biggest impact.

Improvements You Can Take with You

If you want to spend a bit more money on improvements, consider investing in items that you can take with you when you leave. Items that come to mind for me are:

• Rugs
• Curtains
• Shelving
• Kitchen Racks
• Lamps
• House Plants

See these other kitchen upgrades for renters.

If you have a big wall to cover, consider a vinyl wall decal, like this nice chandelier print from Dali Decals.

These items can add just the right touch to a boring room, and you can bring most of them with you when your lease is up.

Clear all Changes with the Super

Just to be sure you’re staying in line with your rental agreement, give the contract a thorough review prior to deciding on any changes. Also, as an extra precaution and courtesy, discuss potential changes with the landlord. Especially any changes that might have a permanent effect. And if you can, get a written record of his or her approval for the changes. You don’t want to spend money on changes that will forfeit your security deposit when you move out.

While you’re at it, ask if any of your changes can be exchanged for a few bucks off in rent. I would think most landlords would jump at the chance to create an incentive for you to make the place a little nice…more like your dream home.

This guest post comes to us from guest blogger Jim Wang. Jim writes about personal finance at Bargaineering.com.

This post is part of a special PerkStreet series about taking the next step to living in your dream home, whether you buy or rent.

Even if you’ve found your dream home, it might be even more dreamy after a refinance. With mortgage rates at historic lows, a lot of homeowners are thinking about refinancing. But how do you know if you should refinance? Should you wait? Will rates drop more? The answer comes down to your goals, your future plans, and what the numbers tell you to do.

Before you do anything, run the numbers through this refinance calculator from Dinkytown.net. You will need to guess at how much the refinancing will cost you, or ask a lender, as well as what your new interest rate might be (Wells Fargo publishes interest rates). The breakeven calculator will tell you how long until your interest and monthly payment savings pay for the refinancing. If you intend to be in the home for at least that period of time, refinancing is usually a good option.

Loan Modification

If you decide you want to refinance, then try getting a loan modification instead of a full on refinance. If the owner of your mortgage and the servicer of your mortgage are the same entity, this will be a cheaper and faster option than a full on refinance. If you can get a loan modification, also known as a contract modification, you avoid having to pay the settlement costs of the new loan.

Why would your mortgage lender want to do this? They’d much rather reduce your interest rate than lose the loan to a competitor. You still have to pay a fee, a much smaller fee, for the modification, so they are still earning a little extra revenue, but ultimately they get to retain the loan.

Clean Up Credit Report

If you can’t do a loan modification and the refinance still makes finance sense, request your credit reports (from AnnualCreditReport.com) and make sure everything is accurate and correct. If you intend to refinance within the next month, only correct the egregious errors that appear to negatively impact your score. Fix informational errors, like an erroneous address or misspelled account name, after the refinancing.

It also pays to give your FICO credit score a peek as well. If your score has taken a bit of a hit since you got the mortgage, you may not qualify for the best rates. You will want to know this before you start the refinancing process, which will likely decrease your score as lenders pull your credit.

Shop Around for Rates & Fees

Just as you did with your mortgage, it’s time to shop around for the best rates and lowest fees on your refinance. When you do, be sure to check back with your mortgage company to see what their rates are. Often times mortgage lenders will give you a break on a refinance if you refinance with them, especially if you have competing offers in hand. They may not agree to a loan modification, but they certainly want to be in the running to win your business back.

Refinancing doesn’t have to be a scary process and it really comes down to your plans and the money involved. The rule of thumb is that you should consider a refinance if current interest rates are a percent or more lower than your mortgage’s interest rate. Fortunately, with calculators, we can do much better than a rule of thumb, we can know for sure if a refinance is right for you.

Written by guest blogger Ryan Guina of Cash Money Life. Ryan is a writer, small business owner, entrepreneur, and professional in the corporate world. He also runs The Military Wallet.

This post is part of a special PerkStreet series about taking the next step to living in your dream home, whether you buy or rent.

Summer is the time of year most people move. It’s easier to make a major lifestyle change when the kids are out of school and the weather is nice. My wife and I are planning on putting our house on the market this summer and we’ve already started looking at mortgage options. If you are also thinking about moving any time soon, then read on. You’ll need this information!

How to get a mortgage that meets your needs

When it comes to mortgages, boring is good! When the mortgage bubble was heading full steam, banks were offering liars’ mortgages, interest only mortgages, teaser rates, balloon mortgages, Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs), and other exotic mortgages. Those are dangerous types of mortgages for the average consumer and many people on both sides of the table got burned by these exotic loans. In short – you want a plain vanilla mortgage.

Stick with a 15 year or 30 year fixed rate mortgage. As mentioned above, exotic lending terms are best left alone. The standard terms offered by most banks and lending institutions are 15 year and 30 year terms. There are pros and cons to both loans – a 15 year mortgage has less overall interest, but higher monthly payments. 30 year mortgage terms have lower monthly payments, but the longer term results in hundreds of thousands more in interest payments over the life of the loan. If you can afford it, go for the 15 year term because you will save hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan. Otherwise, go for the 30 year term, which may enable you to afford more home for the monthly payment.

Shoot for a 20% down payment – or higher. 20% is the magic number to avoid paying Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), which is required when you put down a small down payment. PMI is in the best interest of the bank and doesn’t really do anything for you except make you wallet lighter. It is an expense that is best avoided! The other benefit to putting down 20% is borrowing less money – reducing your mortgage payment and the amount of time it takes to pay off your home.

Shop around for interest rates. Don’t accept the first offer you receive – the lending market is super competitive right now and you may be able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of your loan by comparing mortgage rates. Be sure to check with your local bank or credit union, as well as the big lenders. You never know which will have the better rates.

If you can’t get a good mortgage rate, then wait. Mortgage rates are near an all-time low, but they may be a little more difficult to qualify for than they were a year or two ago when banks were handing out mortgages to anyone who asked for one. If you can’t get approved for a mortgage right away, it is probably a good idea to work on improving your credit score and saving for a larger down payment. Both of these will help you get more favorable mortgage terms.

Are you mortgage shopping right now? What’s your experience been like?

The following guest post was written by Mike from Green Panda Treehouse. Mike says: “ I work in the financial industry, specializing in personal finance. I enjoy trying to earn cash in different ways other than waiting for my paycheck every two weeks. I love to try different things and I will post true stories about them. I am currently building my own online business while working 4 days a week at my day job.”

About a month ago, we decided to put up our house for sale. While we really enjoyed our house, we wanted to have more land so our kids could run all over the place. I mentioned on my blog that I didn’t use a realtor to sell my house. I find that they are costly and don’t provide much support during the transaction.

I actually sold my house in 2 weeks! I got the price I wanted and we are now ready to move in. How could this be possible? While I wanted to save as much money as possible on the realtor, I still decided to add some “love” to my property before putting up the “for sale” sign. This is what we call home staging: adding some love to your house so the buyer will fall in love with it.

Home staging doesn’t have to be expensive and it doesn’t have to be complicated either. Here are a few tips to help you achieve an effective and inexpensive home staging:

1. Make sure your staging budget doesn’t exceed 2% of the house value (we actually used 1% in our case). We were asking $344,000 for our house and we closed at $330,000. Following this rule, I should have put between $6,000 and $7,000 to arrange my property. In fact, we managed to spend about $1,500! We spent about $500 on paint, another $500 on decorative objects, and the final $500 on small repairs to windows, screens, and shelves.

2. Remove personal items such as pictures, toys, or heirlooms. We removed several family pictures to bring it down to a minimum. The house still looked homey but you don’t have the impression that you are visiting a stranger’s house.

3. Add fresh paint where it is required. Neutral, clean colors are best. We replaced any flashy or dark color we had in the house with calmer tones.

4. Take away everything that is unnecessary in each room in order to make each look bigger. We asked my parents to store extra furniture while we sold our house, and swapped our sofa with a friend who had a nicer one. While this option is free, you can also rent furniture rather inexpensively if you think it will help you sell your house fast.

5. Buy a few colorful or trendy objects to update the feel of your house. The color will also punch up pale, neutral walls without being too personal.

Below are some before and after photos of what we did. A huge difference with just a little effort and money!