Is Renting Furniture a Scam ?

Posted on February 6, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Rental furniture is a subject of contention among apartment-dwellers and others, perhaps because renters already spend a significant portion of their monthly incomes on property that ultimately won’t be theirs. The concept of renting one’s furniture, too, makes some people feel a little unsettled — and frivolous with their budgets.

For some, however, it’s a worthwhile consideration, particularly for those who live a nomadic lifestyle (consultants, for example, or other executives who spend a portion of their lives city-hopping on a series of short-term assignments). If you’re constantly packing up and heading to your next temporary hometown, how cost-effective is it to keep moving your furniture to the tune of a $1,000 or $2,000 per move? Or if you’ve mustered enough nerve to take the plunge and move where you’ve always wanted to live, with the philosophy that you’ll spend two years there and see if it works for you, then again, rental furniture could be a good bet. If your plans suddenly change, you’ll be able to return rented furniture, and won’t be faced with the double financial whammy of both an impending move the hefty cost of new furniture that you now have to ship.

One noteworthy advantage of renting versus buying furniture is that many rental companies, such as CORT Furniture Rental, for example, offer high-quality, brand-name items — tables, lamps, beds, sofas — that you’d be likely to find in your nearest department store. If waltzing into Macy’s and buying that bed you’ve always wanted has always been a financial impossibility for you, it could be yours — though not technically — if you rent instead.

Rent-to-own furniture companies have been the subject of considerable scrutiny recently. Although not every rent-to-own company merits suspicion, consumers are well-advised to be wary; in some cases, consumers could end up paying as much as 50 percent more than the retail price for an item purchased through lease or rent-to-buy plans. Many furniture rental companies require that an item be leased for a minimum of one or two years before it may be purchased.

The rent-versus-buy issue all comes down to whether you’re the type of home owner who places a premium on your surroundings — meaning that your home and your environment are high on your priority list — or whether you’re happy enough living on a futon with a TV tray and a few crates for end tables. But of course, if you ever plan to entertain or have guests — particularly if there’s a possibility of your associates dropping by for any length of time — you’ll need to graduate beyond the student dorm/cinder block look.

But the furniture rental market reaches beyond just the nomadic executive. The newly separated or divorced, home disaster victims, relocation service providers, and developers in need of model home furniture all rely on furniture rental companies. In addition, these companies often are able to make deliveries within 48 hours, in contrast to the often lengthy waits required when home owners buy furniture.

“If you’re going to be in a place for under two years, it’s an absolute: Renting will be more cost-effective than buying furniture,” says Edward Rosenfeld, president of International Furniture Rentals (IFR), based in Hawthorne, N.Y.

If you plan on remaining in your digs beyond two years, however, you may want to consider buying your furniture, or at least a portion of your furnishings, because renting becomes a less economically wise decision once your stay lengthens to three years and more. Although the prospect of moving all of that furniture later on down the road doesn’t excite you, month-to-month payments may not, either. And after all, moving one’s furniture is essentially a one-time expense.

If you’re unsure whether to rent or buy, it helps to do a little cost comparison of your own, either by visiting furniture rental outlets (bring along your floor plan and a few notes on color of carpet, desired styles, etc.) or by researching their respective Web sites. If you’re relocating on a frequent basis, and your lifestyle demands flexibility, compare the cost of renting to the cost of shipping furniture from one destination to another and then back again. Should you be called away on yet another assignment, you’re probably going to have to store your furniture if you own it. Note that some companies reimburse their employees for furniture rental expenses.

Consumers should also ask for the furniture’s country of origin. Do a little investigative work, and find out who the maker is and what kinds of materials were used (imitation leather, after all, is a far cry from bona fide leather). And be sure to ask about guarantees and return policies, should an item either arrive damaged or break down later due to low-grade quality or construction. When it comes to furniture rental, the timeless caveat applies: Let the buyer — or in this case, renter — beware.

 

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Your home maybe making you sick

Posted on February 5, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Our homes have long been considered safe havens from all that is potentially harmful. When it comes to air pollution, however, we can’t shut the door on outdoor toxins. Posing a more immediate threat, however, are the toxins born within our own homes. There’s a flip side to making your home more energy-efficient. Sealing those doorways and weather-stripping and caulking those air leaks helps keep air inside. It’s good news for our monthly budgets — and bad news for air quality. Considering that we spend 90 percent of our time indoors — 65 percent of which is spent in our own homes — adequate ventilation is imperative. Sometimes even the air outside is cleaner that what we breathe inside our homes.

Gary Branson, a writer for the online homeowners’ resource HouseNet, Inc., tells the following harrowing story about household-generated air pollution:

“An engineer was wearing an air pollution monitor while touring the Los Angeles freeway system. He forgot to turn the monitor off when he arrived home and was surprised to find that the air inside his home was 10 times more polluted than the freeway air.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that the home air pollution levels may be as much as 20 times worse than outdoors. And the ironic part of all of this is that the occupants themselves are the source of poor indoor air quality.

For the most part, toxins come from what we bring into our homes. And many of these toxins are coming from places where you’d least expect them — try furniture, for instance. Believe it or not, that innocent-looking sofa in the corner of your living room could be releasing formaldehyde into the air. Some other culprits: water heaters that emit exhaust fumes, lead-based paints, paints insulated by asbestos. And, occasionally, toxins grow naturally within your home — for example, the mildew growing between your shower tiles, those dust mites who sleep with you in your bedding each night, and the radon seeping into your basement.

Homeowners aren’t merely passive receptacles for these toxins, however. Like most energy-saving strategies, air pollution remedies are cheaply and easily attained — and usually generate dramatic results.

Appliances that subsist on fuel combustion — water heaters, gas ovens, clothes dryers, fireplaces, and furnaces, for instance — could release carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NO2) indoors if either they’re not functioning efficiently, or if an obstruction blocks their vents to the outside. We all know about the potentially lethal effects of carbon monoxide, and most of us are well aware of the merits of having a carbon monoxide detector, but nitrogen oxide’s effects have received considerably less publicity. NO2 irritates both the eyes and respiratory tract. It’s also important to note that carbon monoxide is odorless, so detection is more difficult than, say, formaldehyde, a component of cigarette smoke which not only lurks in some pieces of furniture but may also be emitted by common household items such as particleboard, paneling, glues, fabrics, and some carpeting adhesives. People who are exposed to formaldehyde may suffer from eye and throat irritation, headaches, or nausea.

And, of course, our kitchens and garages contain some of the biggest air-polluting culprits: cleaning products such as pesticides, oven cleaners, bathroom cleaners with pungent odors, and hobby-related products such as paints and lead solder. It’s easy to overlook, but cooking — particularly frying — is responsible for the formation of pollutants. A range exhaust hood in the kitchen used frequently throughout your meal preparations will help remove air pollutants. Microwave ovens are the mainstay of every kitchen — and rightfully so. They significantly cut both cooking time and grease.

Our home heating and cooling systems, if not properly inspected and maintained on a yearly basis, may become clogged with mold, mildew, dust, and other irritants. Cleaned heating systems also cut back on the need to light fires on very cold nights. Under those weather conditions, an abundance of fireplace smoke is trapped indoors, inside your tightly sealed home.

It goes without saying that smoking indoors creates pollution. Heavy smokers, in particular, could be turning the white paint on their walls a dingy yellow color. “If you are a smoker and doubt the effect cigarette smoke has on indoor air and cleanliness,” Branson says, “hold a piece of white paper up against your ceilings. You may be amazed to see how dirty those ceilings are.”

 

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Childproofing your Home

Posted on February 4, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Ignorance is bliss … and danger. Children often seem hardwired with an inherent curiosity for all that is hazardous. If you’ve lived in your current home for a length of time and are convinced you’ve covered all your bases when it comes to childproofing, here’s betting you haven’t. And if you’re preparing for a move, it’s easy to overlook hazards around your new home, given all of the excitement and hustle-bustle that you unpack with your belongings.

Statistics have proven that home accidents account for more children’s injuries and fatalities than all childhood diseases combined. Ask any emergency room doctor for proof. Child safety specialists recommend taking a room-by-room approach to childproofing your home. Let’s start with the living room:

Living room

For starters, it’s a good idea to get down on your hands and knees and take a look at your living room from a toddler’s perspective. What can you reach? The living room typically is where families store breakables and valuables. In particular, look for side tables on which breakables sit; children have been known to shake tables or grab table legs, causing what sits on top to slide off. And consider these living room temptations to which no child is immune:

  • Cords. They’re begging to be yanked. Child-safety experts have placed particular emphasis on mini-blind cords, which can choke small children. Keep all mini-blind cords out of reach. Tie together the cords of your electronics and various appliances, cleverly disguise them inside an old telephone cord, or use cord shorteners (available at most hardware stores).
  • Outlets: If any of your outlets are unoccupied, place plastic safety guards over them.
  • Lids: Glue felt, rubber, or cork on the lids of chests or pianos to keep them from slamming on little fingers.
  • Plants: Keep them high. Although your objective here is to keep a falling plant from hurting your child, the common hazard plants present is the big mess your child could create when he spills dirt on your carpeting — particularly joyous event if you’ve just watered the plant.
  • Bookcases: Secure them to the wall if you can, using shelf brackets attached to the side and/or top of the bookcase, and then screwed to the wall.
  • Furniture/counter edges: Put corner protectors on sharp edges.
  • Potential trips/falls: Tape down the corners of area rugs or electrical cords that might trip children.

Kitchen

Perhaps no other room in your home contains as many potential hazards as your kitchen. Consider just a few of the dangerous items you’ve got stored in one room: poisonous substances, sharp knives, hot surfaces, boiling water, cabinet doors, drawers, and perhaps folding doors. While these tips are hardly new, it never hurts to repeat them:

  • Secure all household cleaners in a locked box or container.
  • On your stove, keep the handles of pots and pans turned toward the wall.
  • Keep all plastic bags locked away.
  • Install childproof latches on all cabinets and appliances within your child’s reach. If you’re looking for a solution in a pinch or don’t mind the inconvenience, tie cabinet handles together using something durable — wire, twine, or nylon line, for example.

Baby’s room

Crib bar spacing should be no greater than 2 3/8 inches. Make sure all of your baby accouterment meets the standards set by the Consumer Product Safety Commission .

Stairs

Buy two safety gates — one for each end of your staircase. Look for a model that swings open for easy adult access. Or improvise with a sturdy mattress or heavy table sitting on its side. And if aesthetics aren’t of utmost importance, attach plastic mesh to your stair banister using twine, metal wire, or plastic ties.

Decks/balconies

Make sure railings are close enough together to prevent your child from slipping through them. If not, use plastic mesh (3 feet high is the recommendation by safety experts) to prevent access. Secure the mesh using thick twine or even staples, if you’re looking for a more long-term solution.

Windows/doors

  • Install window guards. Window screens are inadequate protection for children, and in some regions of the country, window guards are required by law under local housing safety codes.
  • The danger presented by sliding glass doors is by no means age-specific. Adults as well as children benefit when you mark glass doors with colored tape or stickers to distinguish them from doorways.
  • Place sleeves on doorknobs to prevent toddlers from accessing dangerous areas of the house.
  • Use door stops to ensure that doors can’t slam shut. Web site Learn2.com ‘s child safety site recommends the following makeshift door stop, using 4-inch-long sections of 1-inch quarter molding and coat hangers: First, cut the molding into 4-inch sections, one for each door you’d like to stop. Unwind a coat hanger, and using your hands (bend the wire back and forth at the same point) or a strong clipper, break off a 6-inch piece of wire for each door. Create a 90-degree bend about 1 inch from the end, and make another bend approximately 1 1/4 inches away from the first bend. This forms a hook that will hang on the hinge. File the ends down, so there aren’t any rough edges. Hammer along this bend to drive the wire about 1 inch into the molding. Slip it over the hinge, and the door can’t slam shut. Make sure that the molding rests in between the flaps of the hinge.

Bathroom

  • As you did in the kitchen, lock or tie cabinet doors, and move all soaps and shampoos — especially colorful ones, or varieties that have tempting scents like vanilla or strawberry — to higher surfaces.
  • To protect both children and parents, place a no-slip mat or stickers on the bottom of your bathtub. Give your tub a good scrubbing first to ensure maximum sticking strength.
  • Don’t assume that because your medicine cabinet is up high, above your sink, that you don’t need to keep it locked. Head to your hardware store, and protect yourselves from the day when your child discovers an innovative way to reach that cabinet — and he will.
  • Plug your bathtub water spout with a store-bought cover. Learn2.com suggests creating your own cover with rubber hosing. Slit the hosing down the middle, slip it on, and secure it with ring clamps or nylon line.
  • Install an anti-scald valve to your faucet or shower head. Such valves prevent water from reaching dangerously high temperatures. And deciphering those temperatures isn’t as clear-cut as it may seem; while the water temperature may feel acceptable to you, it may be too high for your infant. Turn down your water temperature to a maximum of 120 degrees; this figure is almost universally agreed upon by emergency room doctors, who see far too many young patients as a result of scalding water.

Garage

The best strategy, of course, is too keep your children out of the garage. But assume the worst, and take precautions in the event your child wanders into what is certain to be one of the most dangerous rooms of your home.

  • Construct a wire mesh container for your dangerous items. Check out Learn2.com’s site for specific instructions.
  • Hide garage door openers, and make sure your garage door button is out of reach by removing any objects upon which your child could climb to reach the button. Keep your car doors locked to prevent children from turning on car lights (read: dead batteries), or from removing the parking brake.
  • Most automated garage doors (recent models, at least) reverse direction upon contact with another object. Find out if yours will by placing a cardboard box in the path of the door. If the door ignores the box and crushes it, it’s time to get a new garage door.
  • *If you must keep a storage freezer, lock it and hide the keys. The same goes for all large cabinets — prime targets for hide- and-seek games. And if you’ve got an empty freezer that you don’t anticipate using anytime soon, get rid of it.

 

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Historic Homes

Posted on February 3, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Owning a historic home these days is more a matter of reverence for history than investing to make money. Consider, for example, the case of Kentucky attorneys Sandra Freeburger and Merritt S. Deitz Jr.

Shortly before their marriage in the mid-1980s, Freeburger and Deitz paid about $90,000 for a home built in the early 1850s in the Western Kentucky town of Henderson on the Ohio River, where they practiced law together.

Before The RemodelingThe house, a one-story brick Greek Revival structure sitting on a 1.25-acre lot, qualified for registration as a national historic site. That was because the Kentucky Heritage Council, which registers historic homes for the U.S. Department of Interior’s National Park Service, determined that the architecture had been imported upriver from Natchez, Miss., where the style was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Since that time, the couple has put some $100,000 more into the property, including constructing an adjacent building in the same style architecture that now houses their law practice. This addition didn’t come easily; all plans had to be approved by both state and federal authorities, who required that the addition have a cornerstone bearing the date — 1992, so there wouldn’t be any mistake that it was not part of the original construction.

After The RemodelingWas the effort worthwhile? Was the property’s value enhanced? “One would think so,” says Freeburger, “but for us, it was a labor of love. And we would encourage other people to do it because it’s important to preserve older homes.”

That’s certainly true, but real estate agents specializing in historic homes say it’s a sentiment that few homebuyers share these days. Two reasons exist for the reluctance today to buy older homes that have historic value. The first is that two-income families of the 1990s have little time or inclination to do the extensive renovation and repairs that older homes often require. And second, qualifying for registration with the National Park Service as an historic home requires working through a maze of bureaucratic red tape.

Says Prudence Fish, historic Homes specialist with Lexington, Mass.-based Carlson Real Estate, “Today’s families don’t buy houses that need work. If they say they want to do work, they’re talking about wallpapering a bathroom. If they want an antique house, they believe these will be high-maintenance homes — and they don’t have time for that work.”

Moreover, qualifying as a national historic landmark is no easy task. The first hurdle to leap is approval by a state historical commission, and each state has different standards. For example, what might qualify as an historic home in New Mexico, which joined the Union in 1912, wouldn’t even get a nod in New Hampshire, where historic means at least 200 or more years old. Then the application has to go through the National Park Service’s Historic Landmarks Program, which uses another set of criteria. Then an application goes to an advisory board, which reviews nominations and solicits comments from opponents as well as supporters. And almost every nomination attracts opponents, since designation as an historic landmark usually affects adjacent property values and uses, as well. Then after completing all of these tests, the application goes to the director of the National Parks Service for that office’s OK, and ultimately the U.S. Secretary of Interior, who makes the final determination.

After going through this laborious process (Deitz, a former federal bankruptcy judge, says it “was easier than I thought it would be”), is there a payoff?

The GardenYes, says Carlson Real Estate’s Prudence Fish. “A vintage home, if it’s in top condition, can command a premium price.” But she cautions that people don’t buy “antique” homes as an investment. “If people want to invest, they won’t look at an antique house. They buy because they’re smitten with older homes. Older homes don’t make much sense as a speculative investment. If you do it right, it’s going to cost you money.”

Another factor limiting the market for historic home these days is that some of the tax incentives offered in the past through the Department of Housing and Urban Development have expired, Fish says. She says that interest in historic homes peaked during the bicentennial celebrations of the middle 1970s, and has waned since then. Even so, she says interest still exists in the New England area, where vintage homes are a drawing card for tourism as well as history buffs. Over the past several years, she says her company has sold more than 100 antique houses, one of which she says she’s sold five times. Like Deitz and Freeburger, Fish believes it’s important to preserve historic homes even if there’s no direct investment payoff. “It’s important,” she says, “because our past housing environment is what makes us special today.”

You can get more information, including nomination forms an evaluation criteria, through the National Park Service. Or if you’re interested in finding real estate agents specializing in historic homes in specific markets, try the Lycos search engine and type in “historic homes.”

 

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Different processes for gauging pension funds’ health creating problems

Posted on February 3, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

The financial strengths of defined-benefits pension funds have come under increasing scrutiny because differing methods of gauging the strength of a fund have spurred confusion.

Changes in the actuarial assumptions used by ratings agencies to determine the likelihood a pension system would be able to pay its promised benefits decades from now have put pressure on public and corporate plan sponsors forcing them to decrease costs. These changes come at the same time they look for ways to increase returns on investments.

A brief by the American Academy of Actuaries explains how different accounting methods used to measure the health of a pension fund create different results as to the solvency of a retirement plan.

Assessing the likely ability of a pension plan to make all payments to future retirees first requires actuaries to determine the interest rate, or discount rate, at which funds will grow, the brief said.

There are two methods for determining the discount rate: the market-based method and the expected-return-based method. The market-based method uses the yield data on fixed-income investments like Treasury bonds to make its estimates. Because the rates are assured, the calculations of future pension fund estimates are considered reliable.

On the other hand, many public pension funds and some private plans use the expected-return method, which relies on data assuming a diversified portfolio that includes equities. Because the investments are more subject to market volatility than in the market-based method, assessing future growth is more prone to error.

As Moody’s and others have used expected returns as the benchmark for assessing pension plans, the amount of unfunded future liabilities has exploded because the assumed discount rate has shrunk.

Some argue that with interest rates at historically low rates, the calculation of unfunded liabilities when using the market-based method is artificially high because as rates rise the assets in pension funds will climb.

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Are businesses hanging up on voicemail?

Posted on February 2, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

The recent decision by Coca-Cola to end voicemail services for landlines had the web abuzz for days — voicemail is dead! But reports of voicemail’s demise are probably exaggerated, at least for the foreseeable future. Even as trendsetters dismiss leaving your message at the tone as an irritating time-killer, a number of more thoughtful experts are questioning whether less really is more, when it comes to communicating.

The anti-voicemail movement has been growing for several years, and there’s no doubt that the shift to texting and the efficiencies of Smartphone technology have played a large role. Why plow through a voice message when a short text can be read in the blink of an eye? And some feel that just the record of a call should result in a call back; saving you the time spent leaving a message.

The voicemail rebellion

An article back in 2009 in the New York Times was one of the first to raise the question of whether voicemail was becoming obsolete.

“In an age of instant information gratification, the burden of having to hit the playback button — or worse, dial in to a mailbox and enter a pass code — and sit through “ums” and “ahs” can seem too much to bear,” Jill Colvin reported. And she provided plenty of examples of Gen Xer’s and millennials grousing about how much time they wasted with voicemail.

Before long, others had taken up the flag of declaring voicemail to be on its way out.

“The truly productive have effectively abandoned voicemail, preferring to visually track who’s called them on their mobiles,” wrote Michael Schrage in 2013, in an article for the Harvard Business Review. “When once-innovative technologies descend — decay? — into anachronism, it’s time to put them out of your misery.”

And the critics have data on their side: Vonage reported an 8 percent drop in voicemail volume between 2013 and 2014. More tellingly, the VOIP provider found a decline of 14 percent in year-to-year voicemail retrieval. There’s no doubt that today, a substantial number of people simply don’t want to use voicemail — and many refuse to.

The Nov. 6 announcement by the Atlanta-based soft drink giant of a plan to end its landline voicemail service was hailed by many as a bold step that other companies would inevitably follow.

“If a company as middle-America as Coca-Cola is ditching voicemail, then, well, maybe this whole post-voicemail thing might go mainstream sooner than we may think,” wrote Ryan Matzner, director if strategy at Fueled, a mobile design and development company, for VentureBeat.

Coke has declined to comment on its decision, but the company did release a short statement, clarifying that the move was not primarily a cost-cutting measure.

“The main driver behind this project is not cost savings, it is changing the tools and methods in which we communicate as a company,” the statement said. “This action is aimed at streamlining preferences and simplifying systems, based on associate use and feedback.”

The statement also said employees were given the option of continuing to use voicemail, and only 6 percent chose to.

Not dead yet

In the days since Coke’s announcement, a bit of a backlash has occurred: with some making the argument that even if it is trendy to dismiss voicemail as a dinosaur technology, it still has its uses.

“Voicemail usage is declining because there are so many viable alternatives,” says Dave Michels, a telecom expert and president of Verge1 Consulting. “Yet it remains valuable because the alternatives are different, not simply better.” He adds that, for example, text messages can be misunderstood, because they lack the subtleties of tone or emphasis in a spoken message.

He also noted that most initial contacts in the business world are made by speaking on the phone — texting or email normally follow after introductions are made.

“Since people don’t typically advertise their email address, voicemail remains critical for first contact,” he says. “It’s deceptive, because most of our communications are with people we know, and then alternatives such as IM or email may be easier.”

Voicemail also offers some advantages over emails, in that they are less likely to be forwarded (and easier to erase permanently). “There is also a perception that voicemail is more confidential,” Michels says. “Doctors are willing to leave patients voicemails, but usually not emails.”

Half of the word voicemail is, of course, voice — something that carries an emotional resonance that texting or emails still can’t match. A 2014 survey sponsored by Vonage found that people prefer to hear the sound of loved ones’ voices. The survey said that in the case of a special moment or important message, people overwhelmingly prefer a phone call to text messaging.

Although the survey didn’t specifically address voicemail, it found that even younger people dropped texting for more important messages.

“Surprisingly, although millennials (18-34 year-olds) text more than they call, 67 percent stop texting and start calling when it comes to sharing special moments,” Vonage said in a release last May.

In a recent Gizmodo article entitled “You’re Wrong About Voicemail,” Leslie Horn writes that, as someone under 40, she used to think voicemail was obnoxious. But a very personal experience led her to a different conclusion. “Voicemail is great,” she wrote. “Voicemail is essential.”

Horn told the story of how her father unexpectedly passed away, and although she was too emotionally fragile at first to talk on the phone about it, the many voicemails she received were of great comfort to her, and more valuable because she could return to them whenever she wanted.

The revelation also reminded her that she had saved voicemails over the years from friends and family that she still treasured. “Voicemail is a default archive of your life. You would miss it if it were gone,” she wrote.

Michels agrees that voicemail can add a personal touch that emails and texting don’t always have. But more importantly for the business world, he added, the service allows more flexibility in communicating.

“The trend in tech is more choice, not less. People expect to choose the medium they prefer,” Michels says. “This goes back to choice — if people can be more efficient with alternative forms, then they should use them. If they can’t, then they should use voicemail.”

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Even Singles and Childless need Life Insurance

Posted on February 1, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Even fun uncles can need life insurance.

Many people reasonably assume that if you’re single with no children and no one at home to support, you don’t need life insurance. Yet there are still plenty of reasons why such a person might need it.

First, a refresher on what life insurance is for. It’s not meant to be a financial jackpot that your loved ones win when you die. Instead, it’s meant to protect an income stream. It’s meant to help provide for those who depend on you if you’re no longer able to provide for them yourself. Life insurance comes in two primary forms: whole and term. Whole life insurance is part insurance and part investment, but for many people it’s not the best choice of either. Term insurance is generally better, covering you for whatever period of time you need it to. For example, you might buy a 20-year policy to cover you until your kids are on their own.

Single needs
So why might a single person need life insurance? Well, consider that even if you have no children and are supporting no dependents in your home, there might still be loved ones you support or may want to. For example, if you have young nieces or nephews and you’re planning to contribute to their educational expenses one day, you may want to ensure that such funding is available for them in case you’re not around when they need it. Similarly, you can make money available to help support your parents if you die prematurely.

Have mom and dad cosigned a big loan for you? Protect them with insurance.

Think, too, of the loved ones who are currently helping you — for example, by cosigning loans. If you’re paying off hefty student loans that your parents have cosigned for, then they’re on the hook for a lot of repayments if you die young. A life insurance policy will protect anyone who faces financial pressure in the case of your death. It can also help pay off your mortgage and help keep a business you own running until its future is determined.

Let’s not forget death itself, which is a costly event, too. Getting at least a small life insurance policy can serve to cover the costs of a funeral, a gravesite, and other “death-care” expenses, such as an obituary and cremation. Obituaries can cost several hundred dollars, and funeral and cemetery costs can approach or top $10,000.

Dying is expensive, too, and insurance can help.

Robert J Russell, founder of insurance quote site InsurancePricedRight.com, has pointed out another reason dependent-free singles should consider buying life insurance now: the prevailing low-interest-rate environment. Low interest rates help make insurance more affordable, and singles can currently lock in some low prices that they may be grateful for in the future. Policies also cost less when you’re younger, especially if you haven’t developed the sort of health issues that may crop up later, driving up your insurance costs. So if you may be marrying in the coming years, or if parenthood is looming, you are likely to really need life insurance then, and it might be more costly. Buying it now will also prevent you from being one of the many people who need life insurance but keep putting it off, only to end up dying without it, leaving their loved ones both grieving and financially strapped.

Insurance isn’t a very exciting topic, and it can often seem like you’re paying for nothing when you don’t file claims and collect money, but you’re not paying for nothing; you’re paying for financial protection, which many of us definitely need.

The $60K Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook
If you’re like most Americans, you’re a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known “Social Security secrets” could ensure a boost in your retirement income of as much as $60,000. In fact, one MarketWatch reporter argues that if more Americans used them, the government would have to shell out an extra $10 billion… every year! And once you learn how to take advantage of these loopholes, you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we’re all after. Simply click here to receive your free copy of our new report that details how you can take advantage of these strategies.

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Will Oil Prices Affect Real Estate in 2015 ?

Posted on January 31, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Texas employs some of the largest energy companies in the world. Houston alone is home to more oil companies than anywhere in the world.  In 2014 the Governor’s office reported twenty companies headquartered in Houston having total revenues just under $900 billion.

As the price of oil decreases companies begin to lose revenue such that future projects are placed on hold, hiring halted, and raises significantly reduced combined with layoffs. Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported that Texas can expect a $1.8 billion reduction of monthly cash flow from production as a result of $60/barrel oil, and currently we are below $50. Yes cheaper gas allows a typical family to drive 30% further on a single tank, but those savings have just a small impact on the local economy.

The American Petroleum Institute in 2011 produced a report stating that the oil and natural gas industry is worth 7.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but in an energy rich city like Houston this figured is far higher. Houston, like many in Texas survives off energy.  If 10% or more of the economy is harmed due to lower oil prices then the local markets must eventually suffer.

The housing market in Houston is strongly influenced by the oil industry and with long term reductions in oil revenue we will see a negative impact on sales and housing starts.  Currently homes valued around $250,000 and above are witnessing growth; the remaining homes are having serious struggles with a continued reduction in sales thanks to Dodd-Frank.  With the average wage in the oil industry is upwards of $185,000 while the remaining industries average $64,000 (as reported by Bloomberg) clearly the oil industry feeds the upper end of the housing market that currently is thriving.

Schlumberger, Halliburton, and others have announced layoffs and other companies are soon to follow. If the price of oil stays near $50 a barrel home owners and future sellers should take notice. Rising property values will most likely come to a halt, and long term values may actually fall if oil stays this low.

For more information on the impact oil has to the housing market in Houston visit Builder Online and the article by Scott Davis.  He has some very interesting data indicating where gas prices should be located to maximize housing starts.

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Disappearance Of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Declared An ‘Accident’

Posted on January 29, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

Taken from Huffington Post issue:

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Malaysia declared on Thursday the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 an accident, clearing the way for the airline to pay compensation to victims’ relatives while the search for the plane goes on.

The Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared on March 8 last year, carrying 239 passengers and crew shortly after taking off from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing.

Months of searches have failed to turn up any trace.

“We officially declare Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident … and that all 239 of the passengers and crew onboard MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives,” Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said in a statement.

The announcement is in accordance with standards of annexes 12 and 13 in the International Civil Aviation, said Azharuddin. It will allow families of the passengers to obtain assistance through compensation, he said.

Malaysia Airlines was ready to proceed immediately with the compensation process to the next-of-kin of the passengers on the flight, he said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told reporters Malaysia should settle claims with the families.

“We hope the Malaysian side honors its promises and fully investigates the incident, settling claims and making peace with the families, especially continuing to make all efforts to find the missing plane and its passengers,” Li said.

Most of the passengers on the plane were from China.

International investigators are looking into why the Boeing jet veered thousands of miles off course from its scheduled route before eventually plunging into the Indian Ocean.

The search in the Indian Ocean is still going on and Malaysia is also conducting a criminal investigation, Azharuddin said.

“Both investigations are limited by the lack of physical evidence at this time, particularly the flight recorders,” he said.

“Therefore, at this juncture, there is no evidence to substantiate any speculations as to the cause of the accident.”

Malaysia said it, China and Australia remained firmly committed to the search.

“This declaration is by no means the end,” said Azharuddin.

The DCA plans to release an interim report on the investigation into the missing jetliner on March 7, a day before the first anniversary of the disappearance, a minister said on Wednesday.

Malaysia airline’s crisis worsened on July 17 when its Flight MH17, on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. (Reporting By Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah and Praveen Menon, and Megha Rajagopalan in BEIJING; Editing by Robert Birsel)

 

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Hologram vs. Virtual Tour – The Next Move to Real Estate Marketing

Posted on January 27, 2015 by robertjrussellcompanies

hologramForget a virtual tour – how about a hologram to market a listing?

That’s just what real estate developer Extell did to market One Riverside Park, a 35-story, 219-unit condominium located in the company’s Riverside South residential complex in Manhattan. In perhaps the most technologically-advanced sales tactic ever, Extell tapped holography pioneer Musion to generate holograms showcasing the condo’s interior, amenities and surrounding waterfront neighborhood. (Fun Fact: Musion is the same company responsible for the divisive hologram of Tupac Shakur that “performed” at Coachella in 2012.)

And it worked. The condo won’t be open to residents until later this year, but as of December 2014, 85 percent of units have already been sold. According to Extell’s VP of marketing Tamar Rothenberg, the company plans to employ holographic marketing for future projects.

The development is steps away from 1965 Broadway, host of RISMedia’s Power Broker Open House in September. The event capped off our annual CEO Real Estate Exchange, where 200 industry leaders conferred on topics ranging from online listing portals, legislation, broker operations, big data, recruitment and the future of real estate.

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