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Our mothers happened to be gone at that exact moment. I don’t remember where they were, but we were able to go retrieve the gun, unzip the gun case, remove the rifle, and head out into the woods to do some hunting without anyone noticing what we were doing. We had nothing in particular in mind. Indeed we did not even know exactly how to fire this weapon, and we did not even know if it was actually loaded or not. We headed up into the nearby woods, rifle in hand.

We spent a couple of hours up in the woods, but actually did not fire the gun at all. Thank goodness it never occurred to either one of us to pretend to shoot at each other, and as luck would have it, we did not get hurt. At least not with the gun. But when we headed home, walking calmly along with the rifle in hand, we spotted my mother coming toward us, waving her arms frantically.

We were almost home when my mother found us, after a frantic, hour long search. She and my friends mother had returned home to find the empty gun case lying on the bedroom floor, right where we had left it. They knew we were out with the rifle, but had no idea where we’d gone. By the time my mother found us, she was relieved to see that we were OK. We had no idea what all the fuss was about, as we were too young to even grasp the gravity of the situation.

My mother’s relief at finding us alive and uninjured quickly turned into righteous anger. When we got home, she grabbed a belt, took me to my room, and gave me a lesson in gun control that I never forgot. She tanned my hide, and I mean good…shouting the whole time about how dangerous guns are and how close we came to getting ourselves or someone else killed. As it turned out, I came closer to getting killed by my mother than I did with that gun. LOL

I always had a healthy respect for guns from that time on. About sixteen years after the rifle incident, I used a gun to save myself from a rapist who had broken into my house. I heard him coming and was waiting on him, gun in hand, when he tippy-toed into my bedroom, thinking I was asleep. I got the drop on him, pointed that gun right at his face, said a few choice words, and backed him out the door at gunpoint. He never came back, though I did spend a few sleepless nights wondering if he would. That was a moment I would not wish on anyone, but I knew that he was coming for me, and I was very thankful that I had the ability to defend myself close at hand. It may have saved my life, and it certainly saved me from being raped.

I’ve been thinking about these issues a lot, in the wake of recent events, and it seems to me that homeowners can take a much more active role in controlling access to their guns as a way to avoid many of the accidental shootings that occur each year, and help deter some of the deliberate shooters, such as the Sandy Hook shooter, who apparently had easy access to his mother’s guns.

I’d like to see builders offer an option for a locked, and perhaps hidden gun safe, built into the wall of the master bedroom of a new home. An ordinary heavy gun safe such as the kind that they sell at sporting goods stores is relatively inexpensive and virtually impossible to break into.

My neighbor’s parents had ignored their son’s hunting rifle, which they knew he had left under his bed. They gave no thought to the idea that some of the kids might decide to check it out. If that gun had been stored more securely, we would not have even known it was in the house. I keep thinking, “if only the Sandy Hook shooters’ mom had not assumed it was OK to leave weapons accessible to a son whom she already thought was dangerous enough to hide the kitchen knives and such in her car”.

From what I’ve heard in news reports, her younger kids already had an emergency plan to avoid their older brother’s tantrums. You’d think it would have crossed her mind to keep those guns securely locked up, even if the kids had been practice shooting with her. The failure to store those guns securely, and control access to them helped facilitate one of the worst school shootings in history. The bottom line is that for gun owners, gun control begins in the home. Home owners who own guns, have a responsibility to insure that those guns are under their control at all times.

Fortunately, there are a number of options for doing this. There are even wireless monitoring devices that can send you an email when your gun safe or case has been opened. It is possible in some cases to add your gun safe to your home security system and have it monitored to trigger an alert anytime someone attempts to access your guns.

Guns are also a high demand item for burglars. Having your guns securely under your control, locked away and monitored by security can deter robbers from targeting your home in an attempt to steal your weapons. That is probably a more likely scenario for the average gun owner. There are also gun locks that can prevent guns from firing. And if you have kids, using this kind of protection should be mandatory. Kids won’t need a background check to find a gun lying under the bed. That kind of law won’t do much good by itself. Home owners who own guns must take the lead in securing and keeping their own guns under control. Gun owners with children should make sure that they convey to their children the danger that is involved, and instill a healthy respect for guns at an early age.

Here is a forum thread from shotgunworld.com that refers to several companies that can provide gun control and storage options for home owners.

Donna S. Robinson is a real estate investor, author, and entrepreneur located in Atlanta, GA. Follow her on twitter at donnaconsults, and facebook.com/realtybizconsulting.

News reports of a housing recovery are becoming more common as we approach the 2012 holiday season. But I would beg to differ with the news media on this one. Yes we probably have hit a bottom where prices are concerned, but a slight improvement in prices relative to the worst price drop in U.S. history is hardly a reason to declare that the housing market is in recovery.

When you consider that interest rates for mortgages are near all-time lows, there is even more reason to wonder what passes for a “recovery” these days. If this were any other recovery period from any previous recession, holding interest rates near zero for several years would have been enough to re-inflate the housing bubble. This is, indeed, the outcome that Bernanke and his easy money policies have been hoping for. See article here for excellent analysis of this point.

But instead of igniting a true housing recovery, these low rates have resulted in a catastrophic drop in earnings on savings for older home owners and even wealthier retirees. When it comes to the loss of earnings on savings accounts and traditional investments like CD’s, it’s a huge disaster for seniors who have spent their lives building savings for retirement, only to now find that their anticipated income is evaporating.

As a middle-aged baby boomer with an elderly but basically healthy mother, this is becoming a pressing issue that has forced us to think of ways to increase income via other investments or looking at alternative sources of funding if her savings were to run out at some point.

Born in 1934, at the height of the great depression, Mom grew up with those “old fashioned” values of frugality and conservation. She saved money and she did not waste a thing. In the world that used to be America, those values were guaranteed to translate into a comfortable retirement with solid income from a variety of relatively safe investments – like a few rental properties, some cash in an interest bearing account, and a few CD’s down at the bank.

Back in the 1990′s those CD’s were paying around 7%. In the 1980′s some were earning double digit returns. But today, not so much. At present, she’s getting about one-half of one percent on 1 year bank Certificates of Deposit. Her rental houses have rented for the same rate for about 6 years now, yet tenants are struggling more than ever to pay on time.

Property taxes have gone up, as have insurance costs. These two items now eat up about 3 months rent each year. And since 2008 her rental houses have lost about 35% of their value. As has her personal residence. What appeared to be a solid plan for long term income has now become a challenge. Fortunately for Mom she has help from well educated children who can help her make the best decisions for her benefit. But, that being said, it’s become a real challenge for her to maintain a spendable income that allows for a higher standard of living. She’s avoiding trips and putting off buying items like that new sofa she’s always wanted because of her loss of income.

The virtually-zero interest rates that the Federal Reserve continues to perpetuate are costing seniors big money in lost income on savings. Income that was predictable for years, but has now evaporated like a mist during the tenure of Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. In my opinion, a continuation of quantitative easing will only drive the prices of goods higher, while forcing income on savings and traditional investments down to almost nothing, leaving millions of seniors and retirees squeezed between a rapidly rising cost of living and much lower incomes from savings.

This is a perfect-storm type of scenario that is likely to force millions of seniors into reverse mortgages over time. If interest rates remain low, it’s just a matter of time before most seniors are living entirely off of social security. It’s an impossible economic situation for people who are too old to have the skills for “day trading” or learning about playing the commodities market. Reverse mortgages will be the only viable recourse for many senior home owners, and it’s likely that the borrower’s net proceeds from those loans will also be significantly lower, due to the higher foreclosure rates.

If you are a lender this is likely to be a booming opportunity if you deal in reverse mortgages. If you are a senior who is considering a reverse mortgage, I would advise caution. Personally I do not like or endorse reverse mortgages. But the fundamentals in the senior sector are highly likely to head in this direction.
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Donna S. Robinson is a real estate investor, author and residential market analyst located in Atlanta, GA. Follow her on twitter at donnaconsults. Her latest book, Basics Of Real Estate Investing is now available on Amazon.

You don’t have to live in Tornado Alley to have your life blown away. There are many more pitfalls today’s property owners have to evade somehow. Can you afford NOT to understand them all? You may also find that revisiting your homeowner’s policy saves you premiums, at a time when every penny can count too.

Let’s take a look at ten really good reasons you may want to look over your homeowner’s insurance policy.

1. Put simply, you simply have more things to ensure than you did before. The attic is full, the garage overflowing, and many of the new purchases may, or may not, be covered for all eventualities. Also, the value of your home’s contents has in all liklihood, gone up. Add to this the fact that the entire policy payout may not be enough to cover new items, the higher total value of your possessions and even the home, and you have a problem. Conversely, your situation may have changed in the opposite direction. Maybe the kids moved out, you decided to simplify, you simply do not need as much coverage as before. Whichever situation exists, you may be vulnerable to losing lots of money. The best way to determine this is with an inventory of your home, and an evaluation of your existing coverage.
2. You say you just remodeled? Just adding a new bath or kitchen upgrade impacts the value of your home significantly. Take today’s cost of remodeling, materials, and so on, and your homeowner’s insurance could be thousands off where replacements are concerned.
3. Rebuilding costs are up. The market value of your home is sometimes drastically different from the cost you will incur to replace it. The “real value” of the property is what you will be paying for if you have to rebuild, not the land and 2 x 4′s bought back when. This simply concept escapes many homeowners when they think about buying insurance, and especially after they have had insurance for a long time.
4. You’ve installed safety devices. Most insurance companies offer discounts when you add alarms, sprinklers, and other devices that protect your home.
5. Big ticket items like jewelry or even hi end electronics are sometimes excluded in some policies. Even if a policy has provisions for you getting a windfall and buying your spouse the crown jewels, the value of those gems will be lost if you don’t modify your insurance.
6. So you live in a flood or earthquake zone? Well, typical homeowner’s policies do not cover floods. The lightning or fire damage from some local calamity may be remedied, only to find out that all the water damage from the river overflowing is not. Flood insurance is available through some governments, but owners and renters are well advised to seek the advice of their independent agent here.
7. Your office is at home. Some policies have limitations as to whether or not you can have an office in your home. This is something you need to check out so you don’t get caught losing everything over a technicality. Go over your policy for any exclusions.
8. Changing insurance carriers. Homeowners can save a lot of money sometimes by “shopping” insurance carriers. Just combining auto, home and other coverage used to be the biggest savings here, but companies like Aviva, in Europe and the UK, offer incentives like discounts for buying online, and so on.
9. Asset protection. Most homeowners never think of their home as an asset really, but their opponent’s lawyer in a personal injury or other lawsuit may. The structural protection you need is one thing, bodily injury or property damage if someone gets injured in your back yard, is totally another. Are you covered? Can you bet your life you are, right now? You see the point we hope.  This press release via MarketWatch reveals some home economics tips you can use.
10. Home sweet, old home. Basic homeowner’s policies do not cover damage from that occur because of old pipes or symptoms some old homes experience. If you already own an older home, you have already experienced the idiosyncrasies here. Special policy add-on can help you defer loses you might otherwise incurred from owning that charming Victorian.

We have been hammered with news stories over the past couple of years about the part of the American Dream that has to do with home ownership.  Is home ownership still an aspiration, or is it just looked upon as another bad investment?  Constant hype by the real estate industry, over decades, that homes are good INVESTMENTS, brought exhilaration in the real estate market as the investment factor drove it right up to the precipice, and malaise as the market tumbled down.

This Crye-Leike listing was once the dream

Fannie Mae’s latest National Housing Survey illustrates the housing malaise:  Now  64% of Americans think owning their home is a safe investment, down from 83% in 2003 as we were ramping up for the big bubble burst.   78% of respondents believe housing prices will hold steady or increase over the next year; but about 2/3 still believe the economy is on the wrong track, and 75% believe mortgages will be harder to obtain in the future.

….but overseas investors certainly do.

To point out the difference between home owners, individuals and families who invest their fortunes, time and love into making a HOME and being part of a community , and people who buy houses for investments. Here is a headline I ran across in Inman News:

Overseas Investors Flock to Memphis Real Estate

It’s about a company in Memphis that offers turnkey investor services.  They acquire a distressed property, get a renter in it, then sell the house, the lease, and continued property management services to investors thousands of miles away – in this article from New Zealand and Italy.  A different kind of investment.

There will always be owners and renters.  The question is whether the dwelling is a house or a home.  There’s a big difference.

One of my own, a very nice Harbor Town listing

Joe Spake is a Consultant and Real Estate Broker in Memphis, Tennessee.  His blogs are Joe Spake’s Weblog and Memphis Real Estate Buzz.

This spike in so-called “negative equity” is almost a natural consequence of the 6.1 percent decline in home values. And many “underwater” home owners are just those left hanging in limbo by governmental efforts to stem the number of properties being foreclosed upon – those owners are not out in the street, but are left holding an impossible situation. According to the Zillow research, the average home in St. Louis is no worth only $130,400. The interactive chart at the end of this article from Zillow tells the tale better than 1000 words.

Chase Park Plaza luxury condo - courtesy Chase Park Plaza

But the worse news is, across the United States 27 percent of mortgages are underwater. And if this dismal figure is not bad enough, some places are in far worse shape. In Orlando, Florida for instance, 62 percent of homes are worth less than what’s owed on them – while almost three fourths of all Phoenix, Arizona homeowners find themselves owning far more than anyone would pay for their homes. Leading economists claim the housing market cannot improve until the majority of these “underwater mortgages” are cleared.

Coldwell Banker, all St. Louis can depend on evidently

According to Zillow’s so called “home value index” many of America’s biggest markets show high percentages of underwater mortgages, with some cities showing above 40 percent of home owners beneath the curve including; Atlanta, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Tampa, Sacramento, and those mentioned above.

St. Louis has more reason to be worried even above and beyond these dismal numbers too, if this writer’s cursory review of the city’s real estate presence online says anything. We will report on this aspect in the morning, but as pitiful as St. Louis’ real estate market appears, the brokers who offer help on the Internet appear even more pitiful. Wow, is all I can say. Stay tuned.

A happy couple making decisions the right way - courtesy brennaval

Closer to the Cradle

Young people today are getting  used to setting up savings plans for their down payments when purchasing a new home. While being able to evaluate one’s capacity to be disciplined enough to follow through, this too is a weapon in the arsenals of many couples just starting out. If there is one positive impact the recession has had, it is in solidifying some of these ideas in the minds of newcomers to real estate planning.

Each generation, the age at which young people enter the housing market gets lowered. This is because there has been an increase in the earning capacity of most individuals coupled with more lenient lending requirements. In the past it would have taken many years of disciplined effort to save enough money for buying a home. Nowadays, people in their twenties are earning enough to meet this requirement fairly quickly. This is a good thing, but there are shortcomings obviously.

Global interest rates are lower than the interest rates available a generation ago, which has had the effect of increasing the buying power of many young professionals. Younger professionals can now qualify for a residential mortgage because low interest rates have allowed these professionals to service a monthly mortgage payment as it now comprises a smaller percentage of their annual income.

Mortgage interest rates have also fallen considerable compared to the levels they had attained a few decades ago. They have fallen by more than 50 percent over the years. Considering the higher incomes earned by young people today, it is so much easier for them to meet monthly mortgage installments than it would have been in the past. This has also meant that they are able to buy much more expensive property than they would have been able to in the past.

More Factors Than You Can Shake a Stick At

The high levels of liquidity in the economy today have led to banks and mortgage lenders competing to give out loans for the purchase of homes. Their lending procedures have relaxed with time. It is even possible to walk in and get a pre approved loan if you have an outstanding credit history. You can apply for a mortgage and get it approved in a few days after the lender has analyses your capacity to service the mortgage.

Landlords in the recent past have started charging higher rents in an effort to meet taxes, utilities and other costs associated with owning an apartment building. Tenants on the other hand are beginning to understand that the rent they pay could easily be used as mortgage installments and the difference will be that they will be gaining equity in the house as the years go by, unlike when they are renting from someone else. This has led more young people to look for opportunities to take out a mortgage and own a home.

Buying as opposed to renting is the prudent path, particularly in this buyer’s market. But the critical issue for any age buyer is ensuring their ability to pay the bills through thick and thin. This should be abundantly clear since the events of the last three years. Search and gain access to the house you can afford first, then make it into your dream home.