HOME BUYING 101: A CRASH COURSE IN BUYING YOUR FIRST HOME

Want to step into the housing market with confidence? You’re in the right place. This guide to buying your first home can help you figure out which house will be right for you as well as everything that leads up to it, like finding the right real estate agent and the perfect mortgage to fit your needs. Get excited: the next stage of your life begins now.

Prep School: Quicken Loans Wants You to Have a Great Experience Purchasing Your First Home. Are You Ready?
Buying your first home is a big deal, and a big step. At Quicken Loans, most of us have been where you are right now, and we want to help you to enter the market as an expert. We can help you have your mortgage in place (so you can grab your perfect home before someone else does) and know exactly what to expect. After all, a house is one of the largest purchases you might ever make, and this is not the time for unwelcome surprises!

A Short Course in Refinancing Your Mortgage
Welcome to the Home Loan U Guide to Refinancing from Quicken Loans. Here, you’ll learn the important advantages of refinancing, as well as information about your options and home loan products that can better your situation. If you’re looking for the tools you need to make an educated decision on refinancing your mortgage and the knowledge you need to achieve your financial goals, you’re in the right place.

Your life changes, and your mortgage should change with it. Whether you are moving, staying put, have a lot of expenses, or experience a change in your finances, it’s important to make sure your home loan is keeping up with you. Here are some of the most common reasons that homeowners choose to refinance:

A home loan is usually the biggest financial transaction you’ll ever make. But loans are sometimes taken without too much tho ught. And since HDB stopped providing market rate loans to HDB flat buyers, it means an additional 20,000 novices could be introduced to the arcane world of private-sector loans this year. That’s a lot of new clients for the banks to gobble up. To ensure you don’t get chewed up by slick marketing, scan this beginner’s guide to home loans (useful for HDB or private properties).

What is an HDB market rate loan?
Regular concessionary HDB loans are subsidized and restricted to certain borrowers – for example, a first-time buyer of an HDB flat. Other buyers, such as those whose income exceed $8,000 per month, or have already benefited from a concessionary rate loan, will have to get a “market-rate loan”. The market-rate is tied to one set by POSB. But since January 1, HDB (via POSB) will no longer offer market-rate loans and borrowers will have to get loans from privatesector lenders, including the three big local banks and six foreign full banks. In a nutshell: financial institutions will provide housing loans to HDB flat buyers, just as they do to private property buyers.

Step one: Understanding basic hydraulics
Hydraulics is defined as the study of fluid behavior, at rest and in motion. Properly designed piping, with sound hydraulics, can greatly reduce maintenance problems over the life of an irrigation system. Controlling the water flow velocity, holding velocity within proper limits, reduces wear on the system components and lengthens service life. Poor hydraulic design results in poor performance of the irrigation system, leading to stressed landscaping material, or even broken pipes and flood damage. Lack of design know-how can also cost the system owner more money because the designer may over-design the system to avoid unknown factors. In addition to wasting money, a poor hydraulic design will often waste water. Hydraulic analysis is important to minimize financial risks, produce efficient designs and eliminate waste.

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THE SECRET LIFE OF ROOMS explores the true fundamentals of interior design. Color and proportion and furniture styles are the heart of interior design, but its soul lies in the relationship of people to things and spaces. Our video describes this human aspect as “the secret life of rooms”.

The Secret Life of Rooms explores:

1. Why interior design and decoration is far more than creating a pleasant space.
2. Why “people” is the starting point for all design and styling.
3. How the appearance and design of rooms actually changes behavior.
4. Why a chair far more than merely something to sit on?
5. What is the difference between style and design?
6. Can a well designed interior can lack style and a stylish room lack design.
7. How interiors are status symbols even in the most humble of apartments.
8. Why a room that is unused is not necessarily useless.

10 Ways To Save on Furniture

1. Never pay retail! Most furniture brands can be purchased at 50% to 80% off retail at factory outlets. I found factory owned factory outlets for about 99% of all major furniture brands, including Thomasville, Henredon, Drexel-Heritage, Baker, Hickory Chair, Bernhardt, and Century.
2. You’ll get the best deals (50% to 80% off retail) if you go to the outlets in person, most of which are located in North Carolina. The average travel cost to fly to North Carolina and stay for the weekend is $450. The savings on just one sofa or armoire can more than cover the expense of traveling to North Carolina. In general, if you’re buying more than two pieces of furniture, you’ll get the best deal overall if you go to North Carolina personally.