Tag Archives: market research

Home Ownership or Rental?

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When it comes to renting your home vs. owning, many people have long said that it’s always cheaper in the long run to own. Even if your mortgage payment is a couple hundred bucks more than rent, you get tax breaks. Plus, when you’re done paying, it’s YOURS. So it’s smarter in the long term.

But times are tight, and many folks don’t have the luxury of thinking “long-term.” And home ownership numbers have taken a hit. Despite historically low 3.7% interest rates…

The home ownership rate in the U.S. fell slightly from 66% to 65% during the first quarter of 2012 — the lowest in 15 years, according to the latest data by the U.S. Census. (It peaked at just over 69% in 2004.) SmartMoney.com

Basically, people with stable jobs and equity in their existing homes are buying new ones, but nobody is buying their old house. So there are a bunch of single-family homes being rented now…about 1/3 of all rentals.

So, while nationwide it IS still cheaper to buy rather than rent, there are a few places in the country where that formula is upside down, including:

  • Northern New Jersey: Mortgage is $529 higher than rent, with some of the highest property taxes in the US.
  • Long Island, NY: Same story.
  • California: Like, all of it. Has the greatest number of counties where it is cheaper to rent.
  • Seattle, WA: One place rents for $2000/mo, while a comparable place costs $4000/mo to buy – and that’s WITH a 20% down payment!
  • Honolulu, HI: I guess you could always live on the beach, right?

So, are you renting or owning? By choice? How about your friends and family? Let us know…and have a great weekend!

Fill the Money Pit Wisely

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Um, yeah…you’ll need more than that.

They say the average US household has lost 40% of its wealth in the last 5 years, largely due to plummeting home values.  Often, when people can’t sell, they renovate. Either they are trying to make the house they are stuck in more livable, or make it more attractive to a potential buyer. And no matter what they spend, they tell themselves it’s not an expense, but an investment.

It’s the magic phrase uttered by almost anyone who’s ever considered the cost of home remodeling: “We’ll get it back when we sell.”  Unless you keep those projects practical, though, you might just be kidding yourself.   Bankrate.com

Then they list the types of remodels you might want to avoid:

  • Home Office: Will cost you up to $29,000 but you’ll only get 46% back upon sale.
  • Backup Power Generator: Hey, they had that windstorm in Ohio a couple of years ago, and my mom was without power for 2 weeks! But this once-in-a-blue-moon convenience costs about $15K, and you will get back 45.8% upon sale.
    Adding a Sunroom: Costs $75K, and you will get back about half of that.
  • Upscale Master Suite Addition: Succumbing to HGTV envy will cost you upwards of $220K and, again, you could make half of that back.
  • Adding a Bathroom: $20K to $40K, depending on your tastes, and a 53% return.
  • Garage Addition: Dad’s dream is expensive, up to $90K, and you will get a 54% return.

There’s more at the original article, so check it out!

(photo: homesnhouses.com)

Facebook Fade?

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“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” would be really cheesy here. So I won’t write it.

Will Facebook disappear in 5 to 8 years? That seems to be the thrust in an article, entitled “Facebook Will Disappear in 5 to 8 Years.”  But first, let’s define ‘disappear.’ The author means faded in significance, not dead and gone.

“In five to eight years (Facebook is) going to disappear in the way that Yahoo has disappeared. Yahoo is still making money, it’s still profitable, still has 13,000 employees working for it, but it’s 10 percent of the value that it was at the height of 2000. For all intents and purposes, it’s disappeared.” CNBC.com

So, still around, but far from the big gun it is today. But why? He says it’s evolution, and a new age is beginning. The web started with big portals like Yahoo. Remember Yahoo was your home page, you had mail, you had news sources from everywhere posted on  the page? That’s a portal. Then came the social media age, first with Myspace, and then dominated by Facebook. Now, everyone is moving to mobile devices and leaving the desktop behind. Facebook has admitted its troubles in mobile, primarily the inability to make any money from the platform.

So, if all of this is true, what’s next? Do you have any ideas? Do you know of any cool apps or services that could possibly inherit Facebook’s mantle? Let us know!

Legal High?

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“but mom, it’s TOTALLY legal!”

Hey, moms and dads! Got teenagers or kids in college? Then rush right over to YouTube and search “salvia.”

Salvia Divinorum – a type of synthetic marijuana, often known as “K2” or “Spice,” and bath salts products are often sold in legal retail outlets as “herbal incense” and “plant food,” respectively, and labeled “not for human consumption” to mask their intended purpose and avoid FDA regulatory oversight. Synthetic marijuana consists of plant material that has been laced with substances that users claim mimics the primary psychoactive active ingredient in marijuana, and are marketed toward young people as a “legal” high. ConsumerAffairs.com

Hey what could be wrong about buying fake drugs from a shady convenience store? Well, as I said, watch the videos. From my observation, when it goes bad, it looks like the user experiences a wave of mind-bending terror. Seems to only last about 10 minutes, but who knows what permanent damage might be going on?

So, obviously the law is cracking down. States are suing the manufacturers and distributors, and they are trying to educate the masses. It’s kind of like those pharmaceutical commercials with the annoying list of side effects at the end. Only these side effects include “…agitation, extreme nervousness, nausea, vomiting, racing heartbeat, elevated blood pressure, tremors and seizures, dilated pupils, extreme paranoia, hallucinations, and violent behavior, which causes users to harm themselves or others.”

Anyway, I didn’t mean to go all “ABC After School Special” on you, but these are the types of things busy working parents can miss. There’s more info at the original article. And now that you’re completely terrified, have a great weekend!

(photo: blogs.villagevoice.com)

Saving on Groceries!

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Last week, we fished around for some blog ideas from our MindField family. One idea seemed particularly popular: rising food prices.

A big factor in rising food prices is rising gas prices. With diesel fuel at $4.00 a gallon, it just takes more resources to get your food from the field to the table. What can we do about that? In the short term, not much.

So, what can you do to save some money and STILL eat well, without switching to Vienna sausage and Kost Kutter Kanned Kreamed Korn? WebMD has listed 10 tips. Here, as we say, are the bullets:

  1. Buy produce in season. Ever grow a tomato plant? You wait and wait, and then BANG! You have more tomatoes than you can give away. Same deal here. In season, they are priced to move.
  2. Use sales and coupons. You know how you (and by You, I mean Me) mock that lady in the store with her thick binder of coupons? Stop doing that.
  3. Brown-bag it. Ever go to Panera or Atlanta Bread for lunch and, no matter what you order, you spend $9.00? Stinks, right?
  4. Think frozen, canned, or dried. You may not know it, but most of these items are processed at the peak of their freshness and nutritional value.
  5. Save on protein foods. To quote Modern Family, “I AM spontaneous…‘eggs for dinner’ was MY idea!”
  6. Waste not, want not. Did you know that Americans produce over 30 million tons of food waste every year? We are awesome that way!
  7. Go generic. Remember what I said about Kost Kutter Kanned Kreamed Korn? Forget it.
  8. Buy prepackaged only if you need it. That pre-washed Bag o’Salad is convenient, but you’re paying for that convenience.
  9. Buy and cook in bulk. Sam’s? Costco? If you have a big family, it might be worth the $100/year to join.
  10. Plant a garden. And plan on shooting squirrels. I hate how they take one bite of a tomato, ruining it, and then remember that they don’t like tomatoes!

There’s a lot more information at the original article, so check it out! What about you? Any suggestions?

(photo: dreamstime.com)

Financial Compatibility in Marriage?

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Shadow-people have problems just like the rest of us.

How well do you and your spouse sync when it comes to handling money? Do you agree, or agree to disagree – or just plain disagree? Did you and your honey have to come to an understanding when you tied the knot? Did you manage to do it before you got into trouble?

Maybe that’s all in the rear view mirror, but what about your kids? Are they grown and ready to get hitched? Do you worry about them or their prospective mates? Well, you might have good reason to be but, fortunately, there are some steps you can take to avoid disaster.

Even though research suggests that married couples are more likely to accumulate wealth and meet certain financial goals than their single peers, disagreements over money can derail those plans. Before tying the knot, experts recommend that couples have a series of talks about money to prevent conflicts later.   USNews Money

Here are the bullets, but be warned: some of them are not terribly romantic!

  • Know each other’s credit histories. An uncomfortable discussion now avoids surprises later. Trust me, a friend got a big surprise when she learned her new husband had previously failed to pay child support and was having his wages garnisheed FOR THE REST OF TIME.
  • Separate or joint accounts? There are good arguments for either one.
  • Long-term goals. Save for a house or retirement – or party like it’s 1999?
  • Spending styles. More often than not, you will be opposites. But that can be a good thing! You can learn from each other… or just fight a lot.
  • Who does what? Somebody has to take charge of writing the checks, licking the stamps, etc. Thankfully, it’s not me.
  • Dealing with relatives. What happens when your broke sister-in-law’s car breaks down? That could get really hairy if you don’t plan ahead.

Personally, my wife and I get along fine in this area because we pretty much addressed each of these items early on. How about you?

Anyway, it’s a good article, so check it out.

(photo: stefangauciscicluna.com)

Nutty but Legitimate Tax Deductions

yoink!

Tax time approaches, and there is often little to smile about. But if you’re a whaling captain or an accused criminal, and you’re looking for some last minute deductions, you’re in luck! From TurboTax:

Whale Tale: You can claim up to $10,000 for repairs to your whaling ship. The catch is you must be a Native American!

Orthodontic clarinets? A 1962 ruling said that clarinets were helpful in correcting a child’s overbite. So, if you have a prescription clarinet, claim that sucker as a medical expense!

The Dog Paddle Deduction: I have a brother-in-law with a bum knee who has been told by his therapist to swim every day. If that’s you, you could claim your swimming pool as a deduction!

Butts for Bucks: The various tools, tricks and prescriptions for kicking the smoking habit are often deductible.

Volunteer for the Wrong Reasons! If you have to hire a babysitter when you do volunteer work, that’s deductible!

Deductible Defense: Crime doesn’t pay, but sometimes your legal defense is deductible!

Bow-wow Bonus! The cost of a guard dog may be deductible from your taxes. Enough to offset your higher homeowner’s insurance premium? Probably not!!

There are more goofy deductions here. Have you heard of any other weird deductions? And aren’t you glad our tax code is so delightfully simple?

Twilight of the Mall?

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Malls, over the last 50 years, have gone from the community center in some cities to a relic of the way people once wanted to shop. While malls have faced problems in the past, the Internet is now pulling even more sales away from them. And as retailers crawl out of the worst recession since the advent of malls, many are realizing they are overbuilt and are closing locations at a fast clip. New York Times

Check out these grim statistics:

  • Sears is closing up to 120 stores,
  • Gap is closing 200 stores and
  • Talbots is closing 110.
  • Abercrombie & Fitch closed 50 stores last year,
  • Hot Topic, almost the same number.
  • Chains that have filed for bankruptcy in recent years, like Blockbuster, Anchor Blue, Circuit City and Borders, have left hundreds of stores lying vacant in malls across the country.

What’s going into these empty spaces? Anything and everything! Schools, medical clinics, call centers, government offices, churches, aquariums and auto showrooms. In one one glass-enclosed mall in Cleveland, they’re even planting a vegetable garden!

How about you? Is it the twilight of the mall era? Have your retail habits changed? Let us know!

Customer Service Online

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We saw an interesting article about major banks, and the growing tendency for their customers to use social media, like Facebook and Twitter, to lodge complaints. The question is: is that effective?

(Strategy & Research firm) Javelin analyzed more than 5,000 Tweets between customers and financial institutions to explore just how helpful (or not) the conversations proved to be. It found that only a minority of the conversations successfully resolved customer problems (36 percent for Citigroup, 11 percent for Wells Fargo, and 3 percent for Bank of America.)

So, in other words, your answer is likely to be, “please contact customer service.”

Don’t get us wrong…your issues don’t bug us here at Mindfield Online! If you are not having an efficient, enjoyable experience, we want to know about it! But, here at the blog or the Facebook page, all we can do is to pass along to the helpdesk all the bits of anecdotal details that we can. We can’t actually dig into your account and fix things. So it is much more quick and efficient for you to contact the helpdesk during regular business hours at [email protected] or 800.969.9235

So that’s the scoop. It is an interesting article, and we encourage you to check it out. And have a great weekend!

After Christmas Retail Madness!

Santa down! Send backup!

For hard-core shoppers, the day after Christmas is the real Black Friday, and a day off from work for many shoppers. Expect large chains to open early and close well past their usual hours as customers exchange unwanted presents for more desirable ones, redeem gift cards they’ve collected, and spend any holiday cash that turned up in their stockings. – Consumer Reports

Sounds like a ground zero of retail insanity: crazy price cuts coupled with people having the day off from work. I will pass. But the rest of the week? I might give the mall a try or, better yet, see what after-Christmas deals I might find on the web.

Among the post-Xmas deals you may find this year:

  • Deals on anything holiday related, from cards and wrapping paper to reindeer-print pajamas
  • Williams Sonoma: up to 88% off on Holiday items
  • Amazon.com: up to 75% off on apparel, electronics, and groceries
  • Gymboree: 50% off
  • Aeropostale: up to 70% off
  • Oshkosh B’Gosh: up to 70% off
  • Cabela’s: up to 70% off
  • Old Navy: up to 70% off
  • Pottery Barn: up to 70% off
  • Barnes & Noble: 50 to 90% off
  • Walmart: 50% off clothing and toys

Read more at Consumer Reports.

So, how about you? Did you head into combat on The Day After? How about the rest of this week? Any big returns? Gift certificates to burn off? What specials did you find? Let us know!