Welcome
Welcome to HomeFinanceSavingsNut.com,™ a site dedicated to providing money saving
advice, tips and ideas on all your home finance needs to live more cheaply. Advice
and tips on banking & credit, property & income taxes, buying & selling cars, buying
& selling homes, affording college, finding a job, health insurance, life and disability
insurance, homeowners insurance, automobile insurance and more. Start reducing your
home finance costs by reviewing the tips presented below. For hundreds more tips,
advice and savings, click on the navigation buttons on the left. Tell your friends
and family about HomeFinanceSavingsNut.com so they can start saving too, and feel
free to add a link on your web site.
Banking & Credit - Many credit cards (and often debit cards) provide extended warranty
protection for purchases bought with your credit card. This protection will usually
double the initial warranty on the item purchased up to an additional one year of
warranty protection. Credit cards often will also provide coverage for theft or
damage to any purchases you made with the card, for up to ninety days under certain
conditions. If covered, they will either repair or replace the item free of charge.
Property & Income Taxes - It is not unusual for the appraised value of a parcel of
real estate to be inaccurate. If the property appraiser in your tax district can
be shown that the appraised value of your property is not accurate, they will very
often reduce the appraised value, resulting in a tax savings to you for at least
the current year, and perhaps for many years to come. So, consider challenging your
appraised value to see if you can reduce your property taxes. It is generally very
easy to do.
Buying a Car - Remember, just because the dealer’s monthly lease payment or finance
payment is smaller than what you found elsewhere, does not mean it is cheaper. You
need to compare interest rates and the number of monthly payments that are required,
as well as the amount of any down payment and fees required. The primary objective
in negotiating financing is to lower your overall cost of financing, not just achieve
the lowest monthly payment.
Buying a Home - In many states, the seller needs to fill out a disclosure form of
any known defects in the house and property. The disclosure form may also ask if
all work on the home has received any required permits from the city/county building
department. If un-permitted work has been done, make sure the purchase is contingent
on the seller getting a post-permit from the permitting authority and the work passing
required inspections for building codes. Otherwise, once you close, you will be
responsible. Also, the disclosure form may also provide information on any common
easements on the property. Make sure you ask for this form. If a form is not required,
ask the questions in your offer.
Selling a Home - Your home will sell at a higher price, and more quickly, if you
take a few simple steps to make sure your home is presented in the best possible
light. Many people underestimate the importance of how others view their home, particularly
interested buyers. Any investment in making your home look as good as possible is
worth it many times over. Some sellers even pay for a “pre-inspection” by a qualified
home inspector to demonstrate to potential buyers that the home has no major defects.
Affording College - Unpublished tuition discounts of 50% or more are being offered
by many colleges in the form of merit grants to the most desirable students, regardless
of income. The largest discounts are often available to students whose grades and
test scores rank in the top 20% of the school’s applicant pool. However, lately
some schools have been offering tuition discounts based solely on income levels,
with some even relatively high levels of income qualifying. Check with the college
admissions office or financial aid office.
Finding a Job - Before submitting your resume for a particular position, it is sometimes
helpful to “customize” your resume for the particular job you are applying for. This
is particularly true with any job objective you may include in your resume’. But,
sometimes you can further strengthen your resume’, for a particular job, by emphasizing
aspects of your prior experience and accomplishments that directly relate to the
job opportunity at hand. Just make sure you are always truthful and accurate
Health Insurance - If you are required to pay the full cost (or almost full cost)
of the health insurance you receive from your employer, and you are fairly young
and in good health, consider shopping for health insurance on the open market to
see if you can save. The employer’s group health insurance rates are often based
on the average age and average health profile of the entire work force. If you are
young and in good health your cost to buy insurance on the open market may be considerably
less. Just make sure you buy a policy that cannot be canceled if you become ill.
Life & Disability Insurance - Most life insurance companies offer lower rates per
dollar of coverage as the amount of coverage purchased increases. In other words,
the per dollar cost for $250,000 of coverage may be considerably higher than the
per dollar cost of $500,000 of coverage. Make sure you check and take advantage
of these types of price breaks.
Homeowners Insurance - Loss or damage to personal property is only covered up to
the actual cash value of the loss. In other words, if the personal property damaged
or lost is not brand new, the settlement you receive from the insurance company may
be less than it will cost to repair or replace the personal property. To avoid this
exposure, you will need to purchase a “Replacement Cost Coverage” endorsement.
Automobile Insurance - Once you have chosen a reasonably priced automobile insurance
company, you may want to have them continue as your insurer for many years to come.
They may be a great company and they may continue to be reasonably priced. Or they
may not. Companies change rate structures and individual’s driving records and needs
change. Therefore, every couple of years it pays to do a little checking to see if
significantly better rates are available elsewhere, and if it makes sense to change
companies. Make sure any new policy is in effect before the old policy is dropped.
Retirement & Passing - Some people purchase “funeral packages” ahead of time. This
provides the advantage of making a decision when emotions are low, as well as having
more direct input into arrangements for your own funeral. Costs can be saved by
buying only what you want, and by having more freedom to “shop around.” These plans
also provide for spreading the cost of a funeral out over a period of several payments,
and eliminate the immediate financial burden at the time of death. However, if you
are interested in this type of arrangement, be aware that sometimes many things change
over time. People move, funeral providers go out of business or their operation
is less attractive, wishes of the family may change, etc. So, if you do consider
a pre-paid plan, make sure any plan you buy has maximum flexibility.
Thanks for visiting HomeFinanceSavingsNut.com™ and we hope the ideas and tips for
saving money on all your home finance needs will make life just a little bit better
for you and your family.
