1 Top 5 Best Insurance Companies

When setting financial goals, we often include building a healthy savings fund and starting a lifefree of debt. The more ambitious among us would look for ways to invest and grow their money. For those who are more cautious and would like a safety net in case things do not go as planned, getting insured is a definite must before they can consider themselves financially stable.

Insurance protects you from unexpected expenses and emergencies, but not everyone is comfortable with the idea of applying for one. Some of them even think insurance agents are merely out to get them for a commission.

But not all insurance providers are there to take advantage of you or your money. There are actually some good and reliable insurance companies out there. It is just a matter of finding a provider that could meet your specific needs.

MSN has recently released a list of the best insurance companies based on customer and claims satisfaction, value for money, along with recommendations and renewal rates. The insurance providers that have won the favor of loyal customers so far are as follows:

1. USAA
USAA, which caters exclusively to military men and their families, is an auto and home insurance provider with mainly positive reviews. In the survey conducted by MSN, customers reported a smooth claims process, the availability of various plans and discounts, and good policies with no sudden rate hikes. The company also offers affordable home insurance packages. 

2. Erie Insurance Group

Erie Insurance Group provides attractive auto insurance rates locked in within a year even if you make a claim within the said period. The provider has won the loyalty of long-time customers for reasons such as rates do not increase after your first accident, and deductibles with your plan can be reduced if you register no accidents or moving violations. Their car insurance package even covers pets injured in a car crash

3. Amica Mutual

One of the oldest auto insurance providers in the US, Amica Mutual is backed by a history of delivering outstanding car insurance policies to its customers. Being a mutual insurance company, Amica is owned by policy holders. It offers low auto insurance rates and impressive customer service. It is, in fact, one of the few large insurance companies that consistently get high rankings for customer satisfaction. Aside from auto insurance, Amica Mutual also specializes in homeowners, marine, and personal liability policies. 

4. American General
American General offers comprehensive life insurance packages to provide plan holders with income replacement, mortgage payoffs, or education funds. The insurance provider offers very low premiums to small business owners and large families, with different insurance terms available. Customers reported how their complaints have been addressed promptly and adequately, thus increasing American General’s customer satisfaction scores.

5. Kaiser Permanente
     Kaiser Permanente scored the highest for top health insurance providers. It registered high scores in claims satisfaction and customer renewal score. The company offers a selection of individual and family health insurance plans in ten states. Pricing is relatively higher over other health insurance plans but plans are mostly for the long term.

1 Easy Energy Efficiency Tips

There are lots of things you can do around the home to save energy and be more green and efficient. Rising energy prices, climate change, and ecological damage are just three reasons why we should all do our best to be more environmentally conscious, help reduce reliance on fossil fuels and save more energy, and the associated cost savings are a welcome bonus.

 

Heat Insulation in the Home

The majority of energy used in the home is used for heating and cooling systems, and people often fail to realize just how inefficient they are being with these systems.

Insulation is important to keep heat in during the winter months and to keep heat out during the summer months. Most unwanted heat transfer happens through the roof so this is the area you should focus on. There are many different types of insulation product available, including fiberglass and polyester. 

The R-value is a measurement of how insulating a piece of material is, and this is what you should use to compare between different products. The cooler and more temperate the climate you live in, the higher R-value you will need. In general you want a higher R-value for the roof than for the walls. In humid climates you need to be careful not to have a R-value that is too high, as this may cause overheating with homes that are exposed to the sun.

It is a good idea to close-off and turn off the heating in rooms that are not in use, and to check for all sources of draughts (such as vents and ducts) to ensure they are sealed effectively. This is especially important in dryer climates – always know your climate!

How Low Can You Go?

When the cold sets in, many people instinctively turn up the thermostat. But you can save significant amounts of money and energy just by turning the heating down by a single degree. Better yet, you can always turn down the thermostat in stages and see if you are comfortable with the temperature. If you get to a point where it is too cold, at least you know the most energy efficient temperature for the current weather. In smaller rooms you can often get away with having the heating turned off completely by using extra blankets for the beds.

Washing, Cooking and Cleaning

Use the lowest temperature setting on your clothes washer (or as low as you can possibly have it). Any good clothes washer will have low temperature options, and as long as the clothes you put in are not heavily soiled and do not have stains you will still gain excellent cleaning performance. To help improve the cleaning performance of your washer at low temperatures, buy detergents that work well in low temperatures.

Clothes dryers use a lot of energy, so dry your clothes outside on the line whenever possible or use clothes stands next to a window. For both washers and dryers, wait until you have a full load of clothing before you use them.

In the kitchen, the oven uses the most energy out of any cooking appliance. Reduce your reliance on your oven and switch to the microwave or the frying pan. When boiling water, you should only ever boil the amount you need. It is more efficient to boil water with a kettle than with a stove.

3 How First-time Home-buyers Can Benefit From Kit Homes

Not every family can afford to purchase their very first home. Many end up living in rented flats, condos, or apartments just to be able to have a roof over their heads. In countries like Australia, the US, and some parts of the UK, kit homes are available and sold as alternative housing. These homes are prefabricated and do not cost as much as real estate properties.

The idea of living in a kit home may be too far-fetch especially for those who used to live in a lavish home with their parents and siblings. But today's economy is different and starting families are not always so fortunate when it comes to financial situations. You can avoid the problem of being in debt and having to pay a large accumulated sum for a mortgage by considering modern alternative housing.

Other than living in an apartment or condo, you can still save up for a good-sized lot within your city or suburbs. You may also loan a considerable amount if your savings are not sufficient to purchase the land. As for a kit home, there's no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars because these are already prefabricated according to style and size.

Going DIY or without the help of a contractor can also save you several hundreds to thousands of dollars in construction costs. One way to ensure that you'll succeed here is by getting some helping hand from friends or family/relatives who know home-building and construction work. If you choose among steel frame kit homes, for example, you will get the instructional guide and the complete materials to help you assemble the home's sections onsite. This is called the 'homeowner-builder' approach and you can save more if this is your chosen route.

For those who have no construction know-how, the right way to go is to look for a local contractor who can help you. Negotiating your concerns and issues right away can help eliminate possible problems of not finishing the assembly process on time and/or incurring too much labor costs in the end. Lay out your plan of approach and timeline to prevent these things to happen. A reputable contractor is the best choice if you are after faster and efficient assembly of your steel frame kit home. Besides, the contractor won't be building the entire home from scratch as it is just a matter of putting the sections together in place.

If you are one of those families who care about the environment as much as you care about your savings, you will be doing your share of preventing too much waste and pollution within your premises and the surrounding area. There will be less construction materials, wastes, paint and chemical spills, as well as unnecessary trash during and after the assembly of your kit home. You can also save on hauling the excess materials, particularly on trucking services or your own gasoline expenses.

If owning a home can be daunting for most people, it is a good idea to look for better and affordable options such as steel frame kit homes. These are as sturdy and stylish as traditionally built houses and they use modern processing for faster onsite construction; hence the lower costs.

Author's Bio:
Ben Wall has been involved in real estate property development over the last ten years. He is passionate about this industry and wishes to share what he has learned from his experience with Australian suburban real estate to those who wish to know more about the business. He is also blogging for http://www.valleykithomes.com.au/ - Australia's preferred kit homes specialist.

0 Closing Time

It’s not really fair to single out any one point of selling your home and declaring that it’s the “most important.” That being said, obviously no deal is complete until it is complete. And any salesperson will tell you that closing the deal is, if not strictly speaking the single most important step, than definitely the trickiest. Look up any classic movie speech on sales, and you’ll likely find a focus on closing. (And if Alec Baldwin is in the clip, it’s also very not safe for work!) Closing requires a delicate touch, and there are many ways to help the process along that both parties can agree too. Escrow. Simply opening an escrow account can take a lot of the anxiety from both buyer and seller out of the issue. There are so many issues involved in buying a house that the details can obscure some important things. Having a neutral third party hold all money and pertinent documents until the deal is completely finished is the best way to ensure that no one is in danger of getting ripped off. Home Inspection. There is no law that says a home must be inspected before it is sold, but they are usually par for the course. This doesn’t mean they aren’t always done, however! It would be dumb to not insist on one, and keep it mind it’s more than fair to demand that the seller paid at the very least half of the inspection costs. In fact, if they aren’t willing to eat the entire fee, it might be something of a red flag. Renegotiate. If an inspection does turn up issues, by all means, renegotiate, even if your offer had previously been accepted. Changing the price to reflect anticipated repair work is a fair demand, as is agreeing to settle at the agreed upon price so long as the repairs are made by the seller to your satisfaction. If your purchase contract states “as is,” you might not be able to get a compromise, but you are usually allowed to back out if a major problem is found that the seller can’t or won’t fix. Title Search and Insurance. A title search and insurance provides you with that peace of mind that guarantees legally that you are protected from anyone else claiming the property as theirs later on, such as a lost relative forgotten in the will or tax collector making a return round for what he thinks is his due. A title officer can perform the search and ensure that there are no clouds hanging over the title, and help you to resolve those issues before they come to a head. Just remember that buying a home is a huge investment, and no one wants to be rushed in. Using these tips as a safety net will help to ensure that the deal is closed smoothly and successfully.

Ed Michelson blogs for We Buy Ugly Houses, a national real estate company which buys and sells homes throughout the US.

0 Benefits of Buying a Home in the Winter

Most people think the combination of moving and winter is pretty miserable. Between dealing with the busy holiday season, a dwindling bank account, and inclement weather, winter isn’t usually the most ideal time to pack up and relocate.

However, if you’ve been thinking about buying a home, now might be the perfect time to do it. Here are six reasons why buying a home in the winter is a good idea.

1. Studies show the most popular time to buy or sell a home falls between April and July. Very few people choose to move during the winter. Therefore, it is pretty safe to assume those who do so aren’t doing it by choice. Many people sell their home during the winter out of necessity – job transfers, school enrollment and financial issues are the leading causes of sudden relocation. As a result, a homebuyer can usually find a pretty good deal and definitely has the upper hand when it comes time to negotiate price.

Homebuyers should note this information is region specific. Residents in warm locations – especially those in common retirement areas like Florida – don’t tend to follow the home buying/selling yearly cycle of other, cooler locations. Also, the complete opposite information tends to hold true for popular ski and winter sport regions

8 How to Save Money By Taking a Bridging Loan

What Are Bridging Loans?

Bridging loans are modes of financing which is short term in nature. These are resorted to by people who are in dire need of raising funds immediately. These type of loans are normally secured by people in the residential homes, commercial, and semi-commercial properties sector. Arrangement for bridging loans are easy to do, and can be availed of easily within a short period of one to two weeks.

There are two types of bridging loans. One is a second charge bridging loan that is availed of in case there are arrearages in monthly amortization payments. The second would be a first charge loan which would pay off the full amount of the mortgage and any arrearages in monthly payments.
If you have the financial capability to pay off the monthly mortgage but had just encountered a few lapses, the first option is recommended to help ease you out of the financial situation. If however, availing of the bridging loan would result to a better credit standing, then the second option may be recommended. With this option, you may opt to get another mortgage loan later, to pay off the bridging loan.

The present economic downturn had a number of homeowners facing prospects of repossession due to lapses in monthly mortgage payments. The reasons why these occur are varied. These may be due to reasons of ill-health, loss of jobs, sickness in the family, and other unexpected expenses

0 How to Save Time and Money by Working from Home

We are all looking for ways to tighten the reins and figure our place in the larger scheme of things. While the world economy and your local economy was likely go-go-gangbusters in the 1990’s and early part of the new decade, in the past few years the economy has been in a tailspin and people are not living nearly the same way as they once were. It is important, then, for those looking to make some kind of meaningful change, settle your debt, or at the very least not incur any new debt to look at all possible options.

One way to get help with your debt may be actually to work from home. Depending on what your skill sets are and depending on your current employment status is, you may be able to do great things and make a surprising and memorable change by eschewing work in the traditional sense and taking on work from home. What kind of money and time can you save working from home?

Gasoline: One of the biggest expenses many of us incur as we drive in and out to work every day is gasoline. How much do you spend every week on

1 A Guide on Getting a Mortgage For Your Property

Buying a home is an important step for any adult. Whether it's your first home or your fifth, getting the mortgage is one of the most important, but often stressful, parts of buying a home. In order to get the job done and save on money at the same time, it is helpful to do your homework before you begin working on getting a mortgage for your home.

The Mortgage Comes First

If you want to look for a home without worrying about whether you can afford it, many prospective home buyers are now applying for the mortgage before going house hunting. This can help the buyers in two ways. First, the buyer will be able to know how much money a lender is willing to give them for a mortgage, letting the buyer search for homes that are specifically in their price range. Second, getting the mortgage first will also let sellers know that you are ready to go if you decide to make an offer. They will not have to wait for the bank to approve your finances.

Interest

What determines how much a person can afford is often left up to what interest rate you can get. The better your credit is going into the mortgage process, the more likely you are to get a lower interest rate. Interest rates are also based on current economic conditions, so if you do a little research you will be able to target the best time of the year to get low interest rates for your mortgage. If you settle for a higher interest rate to get the home quickly, you do have the option to refinance down the road.

The Term

Another factor that will determine your monthly mortgage payments is the term of the loan. Most first time home buyers go for the maximum term,

3 Designing a Home on a Budget

Owning a home gives people many benefits over renting, one of these being the ability to remodel, redecorate, and renovate every inch of the living space if desired. These changes can give the home a very personalized feel, as well as set the tone for the house as a whole. From redoing rooms so that they all match with each other to simply changing a few things to suit the ever-changing tastes of both adults and children, the one thing that typically holds people's decorating dreams back is the cost.

Although many types of remodeling is not cheap, there are ways to accomplish even the biggest of tasks for reduced prices - it just takes a bit of research and planning.

Read more at my post on Designing a Home on a Budget.

6 Finding Your Perfect House

With the real estate market pumping out numbers that are at an all-time low, you may be finding that it's time to start house hunting. Now, before you start hunting for that perfect house, there are a few things that you should know before signing that offer sheet. To make your house hunting process a little easier, here are some things to keep in mind:
 
Room to Grow

For starters, let's take a glance into your future. What do you plan on doing? Do you plan on having children? Do you have a family set in stone now? The reason you will want to know