Increasing Your Home’s Value with Outdoor Upgrades

If you’re planning to put your North Georgia home on the market and looking for a way to set your home apart, some outdoor upgrades may do the trick! Jessica Yonker, design expert from HGTV was interviewed in a recent Equifax Finance blog article, “Increase Your Home’s Value With These Five Outdoor Upgrades” and quoted as saying, “It’s useless to have a beautiful home inside and a mess outside,” so add some curb appeal with outdoor improvements:

• Fire pits – buyers will imagine themselves curled up around a glowing fire in a fire pit, which either can be built-in (you can build a simple one yourself) or portable (attractive, portable fire pits can be found in your department store or home improvement store)
• Outdoor kitchens – go all out with a kitchen outside that will make outdoor entertaining easy; add a sink, grill, stove/oven, bar, fridge and more

Helping Your Child Develop Financial Independence

With early lessons, children can develop
financial independence and strong
credit scores.

This time of year can be an emotional one for parents with high school and college graduates. Graduation ceremonies make for proud moments, but for many parents, it is a time of reflection on their job as parents. As our young adult children walk across that stage to get their diploma, we can’t help but hope that we did the very best we could to prepare them for the real world and owning their own homes in North Georgia, and one of the most important things we can teach our children is to be financially independent. Many parents wait until after high school to worry about teaching their children about financial independence, but lessons in financial independence and saving should start sooner than that.

The Equifax finance blog recently published an article titled “Preparing Your Children for Financial Independence”, which provides some helpful tips for setting your child on the right financial path.

1.    Talk to your children about their financial goals and help them develop a plan for success. Share with your children how to earn, appreciate and manage money and set a budget for them to live within their means. Talk about how much they should save to reach the lifestyle they hope to one day have. 

ID Protection and Credit Card Lessons for Youth

Teach youth ID protection for a happier
financial adulthood.

If you haven’t discussed credit cards and ID protection with your kids and young adults, there is no better time than now! In a helpful article from the Equifax Finance blog called, “Three Lessons to Teach Your Children about Credit Cards,” experts suggest that teaching your children about credit at an early age may benefit them in the future.

First, explain to kids that credit is a loan, and a loan is borrowing money from someone else. This is a simple, yet very important concept for kids to understand. By also showing them your monthly credit card statement, explaining how interest is accrued and showing them you must pay back the money borrowed, you can help your children learn the responsibility of credit card management for their futures.

ID Theft Protection for Homebuyers

Buying a home for the first time can be a stressful process, so it’s no wonder that ID theft protection would not be at the forefront of a buyer’s thoughts. However, the experts at the Equifax Finance Blog believe that everyone should know and understand how personal information is obtained and used because this information is used in evaluating important purchases like your home mortgage, and may even affect someone applying for a new job.

In the article, “6 Ways To Prevent Identity Theft,” the finance specialists at the Equifax Finance Blog state that one important identity theft solution consumers should understand concerns their personal information.

Hurricane Sandy: The Insurance Claim Maker

Recently thousands have been dramatically affected by the overwhelming destruction Hurricane Sandy brought to the East Coast. This natural disaster has wiped out entire communities and landmarks, leaving a trail of flooding, gas leaks, power outages and tears in its wake.

People across the nation are sending relief to the victims of the East Coast, and many may have wondered how some families are going to recover from this traumatic occurrence. Thousands of insurance claims for homes and businesses are likely to flood insurance agencies in the coming weeks, so the Equifax Finance Blog decided now was a good time to give some tips with dealing with damage from natural disasters for future reference.

In their article, “Hurricane Sandy Insurance Claims Tips,” Equifax states that some results from natural disasters are not always covered by homeowner’s insurance. Take flooding for instance, memories can be lost, like your wedding photo album or grandparent’s portraits, flood waters can creep into every part of your home like your walls, furniture, lighting, electronics and more. Some of these treasures may be irreplaceable, but it could be even worse if you haven’t invested into alternate insurance to cover something like a flood.

Remodel to Attract those that are Buying a Home Without Taking on Debt

It can be difficult to attract those in the market for buying a home if your kitchen needs lots of upgrades. The kitchen is one important area that often needs attention in any home, and older homes can suffer if they don’t get some TLC.

Luckily, the experts at the Equifax Finance Blog have recently published an article to help called “DIY Home Repair and Kitchen Remodelingon a Budget.” In this article, the National Kitchen and Bath Association state the average price tag of a complete kitchen remodel costs upwards of $26,000! That is an unbelievable dollar amount for anyone, especially when selling a home. Instead of breaking the bank for your kitchen remodel, try these DIY projects to save some cash:

• A fresh DIY paint job is definitely a cheap way to start the transformation. This is a great idea for the kitchen space because it is a cheap and easy way to refresh the space. Painting in the kitchen can also allow for more vibrant colors and nice mixes of texture.

Use Life Insurance to Save your Family from threat of Foreclosure

Life insurance can save your family from massive debt,
including foreclosure

When we think of paying for insurance, we don't often think of saving money or being protected from foreclosure. But when with the sheer amount of debt that death can bring comes knocking, it can take away all kind of things your family held dear, from cars to houses to entire life’s savings. When faced with that peril, seeking protection only make sense. The Equifax Finance Blog explains in the article, "Four Reasons to Have Life Insurance Now."
The amount of debt that can come from death is staggering, from the tens of thousands that a full burial service can cost to change of lifestyle from lacking an income. Life insurance covers this staggering amount of debt and gives your family the chance to adjust to life without you. It can save them from potentially losing everything.

Moving? Don’t Forget to Notify!

Remember to notify so you don't miss notices and
owe penalties or lose points on your FICO score

It’s great: you’ve found the perfect north Atlanta new home for your family. You’ve got the closing date in mind and are giddy to call the moving company and get the key in your hand. The Equifax Finance Blog reminds us that it’s important to make sure we don’t forget to notify of moving during all the excitement with the new article, “Tell the IRS and Your State When You Move.”

When you move, even if you have forwarding set up, it can be hard for financial groups to catch up with you. Plus, it costs you time when items have to be rerouted if you don’t change your address at the source. This can mean everything from late payments to damage to your FICO score if tax agencies and credit card companies can’t get in touch with you. This can be especially bad in the case of taxes, where IRS letters turn into growing penalties on interest and eventually into a lien on your finances.

Foreclosures on the Move

Foreclosures continue to spread

The foreclosure epidemic is on the move, heading into new markets and away from the historically plagued areas. Steve Cook on the Equifax Finance Blog explains more about where foreclosures are moving and why in the article, “Foreclosures Move North to Changing Markets.”

Unfortunately, it looks like personal financial problems, as shown by foreclosures, are moving east and north. While Atlanta avoided being one of the new top three (those honors went to Kansas City, Chicago and New Jersey), Atlanta was in a couple of other prominent lists, most notably in the top 20 of the nation’s largest metro areas where foreclosures are increasing. Atlanta, with a 21 percent gain in foreclosures, was listed with 10 other northern and eastern markets where foreclosures are on the rise.

In addition to this growing problem, the backlog of foreclosures that had been held off is now beginning to make its way into many markets. While this means that they are showing up when buyers are most ready to absorb them, the increase in competition will likely hurt homeowners who are trying to sell their current residences.