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During a segment that aired on Sunday December 5th, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told 60 Minutes reporter Scott Pelley that he believes the growing income gap in America is “creating two societies.”

Pelley: The gap between rich and poor in this country has never been greater. In fact we have the biggest income disparity gap of any industrialized country in the world. And I wonder where you think that’s taking America.

Bernanke: It’s a very bad development. It’s creating two societies. And it’s based very much, I think, on educational differences. The unemployment rate we’ve been talking about. If you’re a college graduate, unemployment is 5 percent. If you’re a high school graduate, it’s 10 percent or more. It’s a very big difference. It leads to an unequal society, and a society which doesn’t have the cohesion that we’d like to see.

New Census figures from this past September show that the income gap between the country’s richest citizens and its poorest is the widest ever recorded.

According to the Associated Press, “The top-earning 20 percent of Americans – those making more than $100,000 each year – received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., compared with the 3.4 percent earned by those below the poverty line.”

While most of Bernanke’s interview with Scott Pelley was devoted to defending the Fed’s decision to buy $600 billion in Treasury securities that was intended to hold down interest rates, Bernanke also called for reform of the nation’s tax code.

Watch the full interview:

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No doubt about it, homeowners are finding ways to be “green” these days, for both environmental and financial reasons. That means using more environmentally friendly and efficient products at home to reduce the harmful impact on our environment. One of the best ways to do this is to use bamboo. Here are a few ways you can help the planet and make your home beautiful at the same time.

Bamboo Floors
In addition to being easy to maintain and looking good, hardwood floors can help minimize allergens and pet dander. One of the best materials for hardwood floors, you might be surprised to know, is bamboo. It’s not the uneven strips and reedy poles, though, that you might first think of when you think of “bamboo.” The strong material is precision milled into regular, smooth pieces for use in flooring. Its fine grain provides surprisingly high strength and durability. Bamboo floors are just as versatile and smooth as any other hardwood floor. It is made in a wide variety of colors and you can get it in the form of planks, tiles and typical strips in the traditional style.

Bamboo Window Treatments
Many homeowners have bamboo window coverings and shades on their patio or in their windows. Bamboo window treatments simply add a touch of elegance and simplicity to a room or area that other window treatments simply can’t match. Bamboo shades and window treatments can also take more heat and sunlight without cracking and fading. Bamboo shades can also help to block noise.

Bamboo Furniture
It’s not unusual to see bamboo lawn and patio furniture. The modern bamboo furniture made for use indoors, though, is much different. Bamboo furniture made for use inside the home is of a high quality and it is can be very elegant. Famous interior designers have produced many varieties of today’s bamboo furniture and they can combine steel or aluminum and other products to create pieces that can be conversation pieces that are comfortable as well. And on top of that it’s environmentally friendly as well.

Bamboo Accents
Wherever you go for home decorating ideas nowadays, you can find any number of practical and decorative items made from bamboo. Countertops, cabinets, picture frames, and even dishes and carpets can be made from bamboo and they can be a great addition to go with just about any overall decor. The living bamboo plants are a great way to incorporate a touch of Feng Shui. Adding just a few plants can add an exotic look.

Since bamboo is so ecologically friendly and versatile, it can be a great option regardless of whether you’re completing work on your new home or fixing up a home you’ve lived in for years. In addition to that, bamboo replaces itself in nature much more efficiently than the comparatively much slower-growing hardwoods, and so using it helps save hardwood forests and the animals that depend on them.

To learn all about Lafayette CO homes from Colorado’s own resident experts, click here.

Owning several properties and renting them out to responsible tenants is a good way to generate some income. Some landlords have just a few places that they can rent out while others manage a significant enough business to make a full time income. Irresponsible tenants, though, can cause serious problems. That’s the primary reason why it’s so important to check out potential tenants with as high a level of care as you are able. Here are seven suggestions for determining whether your applicants will be good tenants.

Employ a Screening Company
There are companies that will do the task of screening applicants. They use the information you give them to determine if certain potential renters would be an appropriate match for your property. They typically get the applicant’s background check and credit report so you don’t have to. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

Have a Background Check Made
By using websites that are easy to find online, you can do a simple background check on somebody in a few minutes. This can provide you an idea of the person’s risk level.

Look for a Pattern
In the case of a potential renter who has a record of evictions, unpaid rent or skipping out before the end of a lease, they are going to be a problem. They might be able to explain the circumstances around one such unfavorable event, but anything more than one should set off a mental alarm.

Charge a Nonrefundable Application Fee
If a potential renter is willing to pay an application fee, that is a good indication that they are more serious about renting your property than someone who won’t agree to pay a fee. You can put this fee towards the new tenant’s account.

Let the Potential Tenant Know You Appreciate Honesty
If a potential renter is straightforward about any history of evictions or similar embarrassing circumstances, that’s a good indication. Applicants who try to hide their past problems are probably going to repeat the pattern. Many times, people just need another chance. You could be the one that gives them that chance if you feel that they are honest.

Obtain a Credit Report
You will have to pay to get a copy of the credit report on a potential renter. The fee will be minimal for the data you get. With a credit report, you will be able to see if they are good at paying their bills and if they tend to move around a lot. Just having this type of data won’t determine if they’ll be a good tenant, but these items should give you an idea of where to look further for indications of problems.

Conduct an Interview
The best way to familiarize yourself with and screen potential renters is to interview them. By meeting face-to-face, you can usually learn a lot about a person. You can often apply your judgment to see if they’re being truthful and decide whether you think they are sincere with their answers.

Getting the right tenants for your rental property or properties has the potential of being an involved procedure. It might seem frustrating. But taking a little time to find suitable renters before they move in could mean the difference between having a friendly and successful relationship and a relationship that ends up in front of a judge. If you use reasonably good judgment and exercise patience, you’ll select the right tenants for your rental property.

Article provided courtesy of Automated Homefinder, your Louisville Colorado real estate experts.

Most homeowners have a tremendous variety of choices in cleaning products available for those jobs that come up. Unfortunately, many of these useful products can do as much harm as good. They have chemicals that could be harming your long-term health and the environment. Fortunately, there are many natural and green products on the market these days that are safer to use in your home. Following are some of those products and what they can do.

Borax. Instead of strong commercial bleach next time, try borax. Borax is a natural mineral compound that is good for killing bacteria and mold. It also removes stains from clothing and fabric. Despite the fact that it’s a natural substance, you should keep it out of reach of children and animals.

Salt. If you’ve got some grease to clean up or for the times when you need a mild abrasive, ordinary table salt is the perfect natural product to get it done.

Lemon Juice. You can get this natural product bottled or simply squeeze it out of a lemon. It cuts through grease and helps get stains, even perspiration stains, out of clothing. Lemon juice is also used as a natural substitute for harsh chemical bleach.

Baking Soda. This is just about the most versatile cleaner you can find. It is a soft abrasive and with a little water on a soft cloth or sponge it will give a good shine to most smooth surfaces. In addition to cleaning, it removes stains, softens fabrics and removes bad odors from. Just open a box in your refrigerator or other places where odors are a problem and it will remove the smell and leave a fresh scent.

Natural Herbs. Instead of using the typical air fresheners from the grocery or a convenience store, try natural oils and herbs. They are ideal for making your home smell fresh or exotic. You can simply put your favorite herb in a pot of water and keep it simmering on the stove for a couple of hours and your home will smell great!

Bread. To absorb any odors in your refrigerator just put in two unwrapped slices of plain white bread and leave them for a few days.

These are the primary natural cleaners that you will generally find in your kitchen or at the food or convenience store. When you clean the green way, you will be helping both the environment and your family without giving up your healthy lifestyle.

Content provided through Automated Homefinder, Colorado’s best Lafayette Colorado home location specialists.

Before you can possibly start to make informed choices about your home use of energy, you need to give it some thought and start from a solid foundation of applicable knowledge, and then do a few calculations. Being informed on how you use energy in your home will let you make the best choices about replacing your appliances or changing your heating and cooling systems.

To get started, the first step is finding out what your baseload energy consumption is. Your baseload consumption includes those systems and appliances in your home that run the whole year. It includes things like the gas grills, refrigerator, computers, ovens, lights, entertainment centers, and any other regularly used appliances. If your home uses both natural gas and electricity, then you will have to figure your electricity and gas baseloads in separate calculations. It’s not too hard.

You will need about a year’s worth of electric and gas statements. If you don’t have them on hand, contact the company and have them send you the last year’s collection of bills. Next, you’ll want to take a look at how your energy usage changes during the year. Mark the numbers on a graph. The usage curve will be defined by your climate. If you live in a cold region, your highest expenses will be for heat; conversely in a hot climate your air conditioning costs will be the larger share. Find the lowest energy usage months. These months are the months that consist of mostly your baseload consumption. The idea is to identify the months for which there is little or no seasonal usage. If there happen to be a number of months that fit this pattern, use the average monthly level as your baseload figure. Measure the actual energy usage, not the dollar amount you pay. Energy prices change over time and are subject to long-term and seasonal cycles of world energy commodities like natural gas, coal, and oil. Your electricity is billed in kilowatt hours and gas is measured in therms, which is a unit of heat energy, or less commonly, in hundred cubic feet segments. Record the amount of your usage in the actual units used rather than the dollar amount of the bill so that you will have a good picture of your energy consumption at the commodity level over the years.

Now that you have found what your baseload energy usage is, it is simple to determine what your seasonal demands are. Simply subtract the baseload usage from each month to determine how much of each month’s bill is due to heating or cooling usage. Add up the amount for each month and this will give you your annual cooling and heating needs. Multiply the average baseload usage by 12 to get the yearly baseload numbers. As an extra step, to put the figures in context, you can confirm the figures by checking them against the amounts you actually paid, which can be found right on the statements. Then to find the amount of your annual costs, check the bills to see the price you pay for each kWh of electric power and each therm (or whatever metering unit your utility utilizes to bill gas usage) of gas. Multiply the annual usage and the unit price and you can see what your annual cost is. Finally, check your work against the dollar totals, and you will have the amounts exceeding baseload for reference.

So what? You can use the information you put together to put your energy efficiency projects in an order of priority. Should you buy a new, more efficient heating unit or replace your inefficient refrigerator? If you know your baseload energy usage in comparison with the seasonal, the decision will be easier to make. You will know which project will be worth investing in.

When you are ready to look into Homes in Louisville, try Colorado’s own AutomatedHomefinder.com for comprehensive free information and immediate updates on available homes, for homes that match what you are looking for.

Clearly seeing the demand for new homes diminishing, the largest U.S. luxury-home builder, Toll Brothers, Inc. has formed a unit specifically for investing in distressed real estate properties.

In a statement released today, Toll Brothers says the company has created Gibraltar Capital & Asset Management LLC to “pursue a broad range of real estate acquisition and investment opportunities,”

Such opportunities may include assisting in the workout of troubled real estate, buying loan and property portfolios, and developing sites for other builders.

Toll Brothers, Inc., under the direction of the new Chief Executive Officer Douglas Yearley, Jr., is joining forced with Lennar Corp. to make money from distressed real estate and move beyond their traditional homebuilding business.

“This announcement is consistent with our thesis that Toll needs to gain exposure to other revenue streams within the sector as the housing industry remains weak for potentially another two to three years,” Jack Micenko, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group in New York, said in a note to investors today. “We view the move as incrementally positive.”

Last year Toll Brother began increasing its land position for the first time since 2006, which included purchasing distressed lots. The company spent $143 million on buying or optioning land during the fiscal second quarter.

FULL ARTICLE

Author: David

You want to purchase the latest video surveillance cameras and home security monitoring system. You think you have found the best technology and the sales person promises you won’t need anything else to secure your property. Video surveillance cameras are one of the best home security options, but if they are not installed correctly, you are wasting money!

Before you make a decision about home security cameras, assess the threats to your house and property. You need to know a general idea of where the cameras will be before you can purchase them. Knowing about where the video surveillance cameras should be placed will help you decide which kind of cameras you need. Look around your property and decide where a thief is likely to break in.

Also look for places to which you would like to provide a little extra security. You may want to place one or two additional home security cameras in this area. A thief can destroy one camera or move into the camera’s blind spot, but several cameras will be more difficult to disarm. However, a thief destroying multiple cameras will alert home security companies before he or she can make it inside your home.

Avoid positioning the video surveillance camera so high that you cannot see the person’s face. Many people installing a home surveillance system will try to place the cameras high enough that they cannot be tampered with, but are so high the camera can only see the top of the intruder’s head. This is useless in identifying a person who broke into your home. Plan to place the home security cameras at a 45 degree angle for optimal video surveillance.

Do not try to skimp on your home security system! Low resolution video surveillance cameras may not work well in the dark and will produce a fuzzy picture. When looking for information about a person who broke into your home, you need the best quality video. You cannot positively identify a thief from a few grainy clips.

Avoid using too many motion sensors. You only want the video surveillance cameras to start rolling when there is a serious threat to your home or property. More motion detectors will mean more false results and a higher chance you will miss something important. Again, motion sensors should only trigger when your home is in danger.

Put careful consideration into the decision to install hidden video surveillance cameras. While there is a lot of debate about this, many people believe a thief seeing surveillance cameras can be a deterrent. Covert cameras will catch the person committing the crime, but will not stop a crime from being committed in the first place. The best home security systems prevent crime from happening!

If you feel uncomfortable installing your own home security cameras, call the experts. You should not take chances with the security of your family, property and home. Call professional home security companies to evaluate your property and install your cameras and monitoring system. They will ensure your cameras are set up properly and ready to use. A malfunctioning video surveillance camera will not help you during a break in.

There are a number of considerations to keep in mind when shopping for a home surveillance system. The latest home security technology is no good if the cameras are positioned incorrectly or are not functioning. When in doubt, call the experts for a helping hand!

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from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

So you’ve found the apartment of your dreams, and after seeing how much the rent will be and checking your budget, it looks like you’re all ready to sign the lease and move right in. Pretty easy, right? Not so fast. If you’re a first-time renter, there are a variety of extra expenses that you have to take into account before choosing an apartment – ones that could drastically throw off your budget if you’re not ready for them.

Steps

1. Learn what utilities your lease covers. Some apartments are “all-inclusive”, but make sure you understand what is included as this is a vague term. Utilities to check are phone, Internet, cable, water, gas, and hydro.
2. Ask if there are any seasonal expenses not included in your rent, such an air conditioning fee in the summer.
3. Consider how much storage you need. Sometimes a closet just isn’t enough space to hold all of your things. Some apartments have extra storage space that you can use – whether this space is free to use or is available on a monthly rental differs from apartment to apartment. If there is no extra space in your apartment building and you really need the room, you can always look into renting an off-site storage unit.
4. Look into transportation related costs.
   • If you have a car, it’s only natural that you’re going to need a place to park it. Is parking included with your rent? If not, you may have to buy a separate parking permit, either for a space in your apartment’s lot or somewhere nearby.
   • If you don’t have a car, check out public transportation options and costs. Depending on where you live, you may be looking at buses, subways or trains.
5. Remember your laundry. Does your unit have its own laundry? Is there a communal laundry room that requires exact change? Will you need to take your laundry to an off-site location. Each option carries distinct costs.
6. Get renter’s insurance. Many leases require this coverage. It is not usually very expensive, and can ofter be combined into your car insurance.
7. Consider your smoke detector. Is it wired into the building, or are you responsible for keeping working batteries in it? If your unit has a carbon monoxide detector, the same considerations apply.
8. Remember the cost of groceries. Most people leave this out of their budget since it is highly flexible, which is a huge mistake.

Related wikiHows

• How to Keep Your Rent Low
• How to Rent out Your Home
• How to Rent Residential Property in England
• How to Keep Your Rent Low

Sources and Citations

• Paramountapts.com – Original source of content, shared with permission.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Be Aware of Hidden Costs for a First Time Renter. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Author: Aditi

With shortages of land in big cities and towns, many people have started living in residential apartments or flats that save space. Purchasing a home involves many essential point that always be kept in mind. Following some tips can help you in purchasing a perfect apartment for you.

First of all, you must know what exactly you need. The type of your apartment is going to reflect your personal style and choices that you have had planned for the future. In addition, you must also find out the proximity of your residential flat to local facilities such as clinics, schools, place of work, parks, local grocery and convenience stores. One more important aspect you must consider before purchasing a flat is, assessing for how long you are going to stay here.

Money or the finance involved is another factor that should be analyzed well before going for a particular house or while looking for a flat for sale. You must assess your affordability range with acceptable alterations in your budget. A properly managed credit from a financial institution is also essential so that you do not get overburdened from the debt and at the same time meet your financial requirements easily.

After you know what credit options you have and what are your specific needs from resale flats, you can next find out what all options you can access in the market that can fulfill all your expectations. Researching on the Internet, subscribing to real estate newsletters or publications, or many other similar sources can be utilized for gathering more accurate and reliable information for the available residential flats.

Another important consideration while purchasing a flat or an apartments are the local adapted traditions and behavioral norms. The neighborhood that you are going to have after shifting in your new house may have adopted certain set of behavioral values and rules on cooperative basis which they follow for maintaining peace. You must try to know those set of rules and must follow them.

When you have finally found what you have always wanted from your own residence, you must ask your real estate agent for similar flats in the same area. Next, you should obtain the copies of necessary documents and the auction agreement if that property is meant to be auctioned.

Now, when you have negotiated with the seller finally, you can get the agreement written and signed after you pay your pre determined deposit money. The day when your property will be handled to you, you must go for an inspection of the property and find out if it is according to all the terms that have been previously described and whether it is ready to be moved in.

Book your residential apartments with the help of real estate consultants.

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About the Author: Myself Aditi Malhotra from New Delhi, India looking forward for exploring and writing articles, blogs on new topics. http://www.clickindia.com

Saying “goodbye” to a good renter is not very easy. But when it is time for your good tenant to move away, doing a final walk-through with them is essential to avoid any disputes after they have left. Were they careful with the home or did they trash it? Should they get their security deposit refunded or should you use some of it for a new paint job? These are questions you can clear up during the walk-through. To be sure that you are protected, here are some key things you should bring to the walk-through.

If possible, bring the departing tenant to the walk-through. This way, you can point out any damage that they caused that occurred since they moved into the house. The advantage is that this ensures the tenant is aware of what portion of their security deposit they will get back. If they know up front what you’re going to charge them for, there’s a much better chance to avoid a dispute a few months later.

The best way to back up any damages is to take pictures of them. If there’s a big stain on the carpet, or if there’s a hole in a door, take a picture. Use a camera that imprints the date and time on the photos, as most digital cameras can do. This just gives you better proof and shows good recordkeeping. Using a digital camera you can give copies of the pictures to the tenant if you want, by forwarding them in an email. Keep all of the pictures with the checklist and any other documentation you have about the rental.

When you are doing a walk-through on your property, bring a checklist. The checklist should include walls, appliances, windows and any other things you want to be sure to inspect. If you can, use a duplex stationery pad checklist. That way you can give one to the tenant and keep one for yourself.

All of these things are good to have with you when doing a walk-through with departing tenants, regardless of how long and smooth your relationship with them has been. Unfortunately, it happens that some tenants simply get out without giving notice. If that happens, you’ll have to get it done without them. The way your documentation will be completed and filed, though, will be just the same. You should also do a walk-through with your new tenants so they can point out any damages beforehand to assure them that they don’t get charged for it when they eventually move out. Doing a good walk-through is essential in avoiding conflict regarding damages and security deposits after a tenant has moved out.

When you want to check out Lafayette real estate for sale, get started on your research at Automated Homefinder.