Insuring High-Value Items on Your Renters Policy | South Salem Real Estate

What you don’t know about your renters insurance policy can hurt you, especially when it comes to insuring high-value possessions such as artwork, furs, jewelry or collectibles.

Renters policies typically cover those items — up to a point. Payouts for these items often have limits, which may come up short of the amount you’d need to replace your belongings. Fortunately, there are ways to make sure all your possessions receive adequate protection.

The case for renters insurance

If you’ve purchased renters insurance, you’re already in the informed minority. Only 37 percent of renters have insurance, according to a 2014 survey conducted for the Insurance Information Institute. Meanwhile, more than 95 percent of homeowners have home insurance.

The big reason for the disparity is that most homeowners don’t have a choice. Their lender requires them to have home insurance as a term of their mortgage, because it protects the lender in case of damage from fire, wind, hail and other covered perils. While some landlords require tenants to purchase insurance, it is not standard procedure.

Another reason many renters don’t purchase insurance is that they mistakenly believe that the landlord’s policy covers them. But the landlord’s policy protects the building and the landlord’s possessions within it – not renters and their belongings. For that, tenants need their own coverage.

Protecting high-value items

One of the reasons you purchase renters insurance is to protect your possessions – your furniture, clothing, electronics and other belongings. However, as mentioned above, standard policies can limit how much you’ll receive for particular items. Jewelry coverage might be limited to $1,000, for example.

If you own a family heirloom that’s worth, say, $5,000, you have two options:

• Schedule an endorsement. An endorsement extends full coverage to the item as part of the policy. It often is the most economical way of making sure you have the protection you need, and it keeps all your coverage with one provider.
• Purchase a personal articles floater. This is a separate policy, usually purchased from a company that specializes in covering high-value items. It will cost more, but there usually are no deductibles, and coverage can apply outside the home as well.

Either way, you’ll need an appraisal of your high-value items to document their value. The appraisal can be the beginning of a home inventory, which can help when you have to file a claim.

A home inventory is a room-by-room list of your possessions that should include photos of each item, their serial numbers, and receipts, if you have them. One of these sample forms can help you get started.

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http://www.zillow.com/blog/high-value-items-renters-policy-170585/

Parisian Flat’s Redo Revolves Around a Terrace View | South Salem Real Estate

It was the terrace that made the owner of this apartment fall head over heels for it,” says architect Manuel Sequeira. He was in charge of the radical overhaul of this 753-square-foot flat in the 20th arrondissement (district) of Paris. “It was her number-one criteria before purchase,” he says. But the client, a manager in the information technology sector, couldn’t fully see the potential of the dark and partitioned apartment at first. It was only after talking with Sequeira, who proposed a modular and open space, with plenty of light, that she was able to picture herself there.

Manuel Sequeira Architecte D.P.L.G

Manuel Sequeira Architecte D.P.L.G

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: An IT manager
Location: 20th arrondissement of Paris
Size: 753 square feet (70 square meters)

Sequeira and his client decided to redesign the apartment to enable the light from the terrace to reach every corner. This was when the idea of a modular loft with large windows became obvious.

Manuel Sequeira Architecte D.P.L.G

The apartment was built in the ’70s, and the blueprints reflect the era. Numerous walls, all connected by a long corridor, resulted in dark rooms and less living space.

“The layout of the apartment was poor,” says the architect, who took down the inside walls and created a large living-dining room and a spacious bedroom. “The separation between the living room and the terrace then disappeared.”

 

 

 

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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/34693325?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u860&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery7

 

Can a Debt Collector Fax My Employer? | South Salem Real Estate

A reader, Joanne, wrote to us concerned because a debt collector had sent a fax to her employer, and right at the top of the fax was her Social Security number, available to anyone who happened to grab it from the fax machine. Here's what she asked:

Can the debt collection agency send a fax to my employer disclosing my Social Security number on an unsecure fax line inquiring … to fill in employment information about me? I feel violated that they exposed my SSN publicly.

At our request, she sent a copy of the document, and we showed it to Troy Doucet, a consumer protection lawyer who practices in Ohio.

He discussed debt collector letters with us, and indicated placing a Social Security number on a fax is only one potential problem. There could be other concerns that are far more serious.

Can They Do That? 

Debtors are often confused about what collectors can and can't say to others about their debts, including their employer. The good news is that federal law restricts debt collectors' contact with third parties.

Doucet said in an email, "a debt collector may only contact employers, family, or friends for the purpose of locating the debtor, and is prohibited under the FDCPA from conveying information that would indicate the purpose of the communication is to collect a debt." The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is designed to protect consumers from abusive, deceptive or unfair practices by debt collectors.

The first page of the fax requested job title, dates of employment and address of the employer. Such an inquiry, if it were a genuine effort to locate Joanne, or if she had a judgment against her, would likely be perfectly legal and appropriate. However, without a legal judgment, the request goes beyond what is likely allowed under the FDCPA because it is asking for more than just her personal contact information. Nevertheless, an employer is not required to respond to a faxed request for information.

Are They For Real?

The second page of the fax raises some concerns because it uses language that is often used by scammers to scare consumers into paying debts they may not owe. It lists a "case number" and a message.

"This Law Office is investigating [consumer name redacted] on pending charges out of [consumer's County]. Please complete & return promptly. We also would like a copy provided to [consumer]." That is, the fax also asks the employer to share the letter with the alleged debtor, which may be an illegitimate effort to pressure the debtor into paying.

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/debt-collector-fax-employer-103028267.html

How to Design a Garden for Native Bees | South Salem Real Estate

Most people are aware of the honeybee crisis, but honeybees aren’t the only ones in trouble. Other pollinators are also in decline. Since becoming aware of the honeybee crisis, researchers have put more emphasis into studying all pollinators. They have learned that native bees not only pollinate crops alongside honeybees, but also improve the efficiency of honeybee pollination. And some native bee species are even more efficient at pollinating than honeybees.

Nurturing a garden habitat for native bees gives them a place in which to live, eat and raise their young. Creating a habitat for bees is creating a wildlife habitat for all, because it attracts other wildlife, such as butterflies, birds, hummingbirds and other insects. See how and why you should design your garden for native bees below.

Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Why should I care about pollinators? Pollinators provide important services to us and the ecosystem. Bees, birds and bats pollinate more than a third of our crops. From our morning coffee and evening wine to our lunchtime pear and sandwich mustard, the foods on our table owe their existence to pollinators. Most pollinators are insects. Butterflies, moths, beetles, European honeybees, native bees and even flies and wasps are all part of the parade of insects that pollinate our homegrown vegetables, our orchards of apples and other flowering plants around the globe.

What can I do for pollinators? Pesticides, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation have had the largest negative impact on pollinators. We can help by simply providing a pesticide-free habitat. Any home gardener, with even the smallest garden, can make a difference. Besides, it’s great fun.

Pete Veilleux, East Bay Wilds

Features of a Native Bee Habitat

1. Diversity with blocks of color. This large block of orange California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) with another large block of deep blue ceanothus will attract native bees better than a few of each plant placed here and there.

The Xerces Society promotes planting a diversity of flowering plants for pollinators in large blocks of color. Like a flashing neon light, diverse plants in blocks point all the pollinators to the party. The Xerces Society says to provide:

• Several different plant species flowering at the same time
• A combination of flowering annuals and perennials
• Flowers of different sizes, shapes and colors
• Blocks of color: patches of about 3½ feet by 3½ feet of a single plant species and flower color
• Year-round food: flowering plants in all growing seasons

Pete Veilleux, East Bay Wilds

Many of our home gardens can’t have that much diversity, but you’d be surprised how many pollinators you can support in a small space. Do what you can with the space you have. This new garden has been designed so these Clarkia and poppy (Eschscholzia californica) annuals will be replaced by flowering perennials as the year progresses. As the garden matures, some of the annuals and perennials will be replaced by flowering trees and shrubs.

Debbie Ballentine

2. Native plants for native bees. The UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab has been studying native bees and their food choices over the past decade. Through The Urban California Native Bee Survey, the researchers discovered that local native bees prefer local native plants over nonnative ones four to one. This isn’t surprising when you think about the millennia that insects and plants have been evolving together.

Native bees need both nectar (carbohydrates) and pollen (protein) to feed themselves and their young. Some plants provide one or the other, while plants in the aster family, such as Pacific aster (Symphyotrichum chilense), provide both pollen and nectar.

In my opinion, the aster family is the single most important family of plants for insects, not only for the one-two punch of pollen and nectar but also because the central “disk” of each flower is actually many flowers. Here you can see the many flowers on the central disk of a seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus). This disk provides pollinators with a high concentration of food on a single landing pad.

 

 

 

 

 

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http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/32351570?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u724&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery4

Housing Price Gains Hit The Brakes In June, S&P/Case-Shiller Says | #SouthSalem NY Real Estate

In another indicator that the double-digit housing price gains of 2013 appear to be behind us, price increases continued to slow in June, S&P/Case-Shiller home price data released Tuesday shows.
The National Home Price Index gained just 6.2% in the 12 months ending June 2014, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites gained 8.1%. That’s a dramatic shift from the double-digit, year-over-year price increases that had become the norm in the second half of 2013 and the first part of this year. All three indices saw their rates slow significantly from last month, when the year-over-year price changes for 10-City Composite stood at 9.4%, the 20-City at 9.3%, and the National Index at 7.1%.

“Home price gains continue to ease as they have since last fall,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “For the first time since February 2008, all cities showed lower annual rates than the previous month. Other housing indicators – starts, existing home sales and builders’ sentiment – are positive. Taken together, these point to a more normal housing sector.”

To be clear, home prices are not dropping, simply rising at a slower rate. Economists like to look at year-over-year data for a better picture of the overall market trend than month-to-month data. The S&P/Case-Shiller Indices measure home prices across the nation as well as in 10 and 20 specific cities. While all cities saw home prices increases in June, every city the indices track recorded slower year-over-year price increases than in the prior month.



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http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2014/08/26/housing-price-gains-hit-the-brakes-in-june-spcase-shiller-says/

U.S. mortgage applications rise in latest week: MBA | South Salem Real Estate

Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week as demand for both refinancing and purchase loans increased, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, rose 2.8 percent in the week ended Aug. 22.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications rose 2.8 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases, a leading indicator of home sales, rose 2.6 percent.

Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.28 percent in the week, down 1 basis point from the week before.

The survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.





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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/us-usa-economy-mortgages-idUSKBN0GR11320140827

Spring Price Increases Barely Budge Underwater Homes | South Salem Real Estate

Price increases slowed so much in the second quarter that the numbers of seriously underwater homes and the percentage of equity rich properties barely increased over the first quarter of 2014.

The second quarter of 2014 saw only a small percentage decline in the percentage homes that were seriously underwater, 17.2 percent versus 17.4 percent in the first quarter of 2014, bringing it to the lowest level since RealtyTrac began reporting negative equity in the first quarter of 2012.
Some 9.1 million U.S. residential properties were seriously underwater — where the combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value — representing 17 percent of all properties with a mortgage.

The universe of equity-rich properties — those with at least 50 percent equity — didn’t change at all from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2014, at 18.8 percent of all properties with a mortgage or 9.9 million properties.

Another 8.8 million properties are on the verge of resurfacing in the second quarter of 2014, with between 10 percent negative equity and 10 percent positive equity, representing 17 percent of all properties with a mortgage, up from 8.5 million representing 16 percent of all properties with a mortgage in the first quarter of 2014.

Fewer distressed properties had negative equity in the second quarter, with 44 percent of all properties in the foreclosure process seriously underwater — down from 45 percent in the first quarter of 2014 and down from 57 percent in the second quarter of 2013. The share of foreclosures with positive equity decreased to 34 percent in the second quarter, down from 35 percent in the first quarter. Top states for foreclosures with equity include Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Hawaii and Louisiana.





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http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2014/07/spring-price-increases-barely-budge-underwater-homes/

Anderson Cooper Shells Out for a 1908 Tudor Revival | South Salem Homes

The New York Post reports that scoop-chasing silver fox Anderson Cooper just dropped anywhere between $5M and $9M on a 10,127-square-foot Tudor revival in Litchfield, Conn. The addition of the Rye House, built in 1908 and designed by Wilson Eyre, an architect and founder of House & Garden magazine, means that the CNN anchor has three tony East Coast getaways within summering distance of the converted Greenwich Village firehouse he calls home, although he's still trying to unload one of his pair of neighboring Hamptons abodes for $2.699M. It's probably safe to say that the amount Cooper shelled out for his new Litchfield County digs is at the lower end of the Post's estimate, unless he went in for a neighboring parcel as well; when the 18-room mansion was listed back in 2011 for $6.95M, it was slashed down to $5.995M without finding a buyer. The last owners, a former Miss Connecticut named Karen Shaw who starred on "Dallas" and "The A Team," and her husband, Marc, were seeking $5.3M as of this February.



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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/06/23/anderson-cooper-buys-the-rye-house-connecticut-mansion.php

Dolly Parton Lists Western-Themed L.A. Pad For $1.395M | South Salem Real Estate

21 images

In what is truly a sad bit of news for the great state of California, reigning country queen Dolly Parton has just listed her whimsical Los Angeles home for $1.395M. Considering that the beloved star has a theme park named after her, the two-bedroom Spanish-style compound is surprisingly modest, but extensively, lovingly appointed in what the diplomatic folks at Curbed LA call "shabby chic crossed with country princess decor." Every single inch of the 1,091-square-foot pad is covered in flowering cacti, floral upholstery, decorative guitars, and other Western-inspired decor choices befitting the woman who famously coined the expression "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap." Just off the petite, skylight-equipped living room, there's a private garden patio and a garage that's been converted into a sweet little guest house. Take a look at the Dolly-centric oasis, below.



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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/05/19/dolly-parton-lists-western-themed-la-pad-for-1395m.php

Land a UFO-Shaped Prefab That's Seen Better Days for $30K | South Salem Real Estate

Photo via Ebay
The Futuro wasn't the first flying saucer-like prefab around, but it might be the most flying saucer-like, which saying a lot, considering how often the shoe fits with lightweight, mobile, mass-produced holiday homes. Designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968 and discontinued in the mid-'70s, when an oil crisis made plastic prohibitively pricey, they've become something of a collectors item, with only an estimated 50 or 60 left standing. One of these rare birds recently popped up on eBay looking a little worse for wear, with a "Buy It Now" price of $29.9K. Might it be time to invest a good chunk of change into a one-room polyurethane orb?

And might this one have a kooky sideshow history?

Currently parked at a marina in the New Jersey town of Berlin, this Futuro served as a kind of tabula rasa UFO for various sci-fi-themed carny funhouses at Morey's Piers in Wildwood, N.J. (Its Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, and Star Wars makeovers are all pictured below.) According to the seller, it was last owned by a "furniture creator" who remade the window openings and added two coats of Interlux paint, and though it's pictured without the hatches or landing gear, those will come out of storage once the deal is made. To be sure, what's on offer is little more than a shell, but it could look quite fetching if restored to its former glory. Any takers?




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http://curbed.com/archives/2014/05/07/land-a-ufoshaped-prefab-thats-seen-better-days-for-30k.php

Solar is cheaper, but consumers don’t seem to know | South Salem Real Estate

Homeowners across the country are making more environmentally-conscious shopping decisions, but when it comes to powering their homes, many overestimate the cost of solar energy, according to a recent survey from a company that sells solar energy systems.

More than half of American homeowners are more likely to take consider a product's environmental sustainability into consideration than they were three years ago when making a purchasing decision, according to a survey commissioned by SolarCity and conducted by Zogby Analytics. About 62 percent said that they want solar power for their homes.

 

"We think people just don't realize how affordable solar has become. Less than half homeowners surveyed said that they realize that solar power is less expensive today than it was three years ago, when in reality the costs have fallen dramatically," said Jonathan Bass, vice president of communications at SolarCity.

About 29 percent of those surveyed said that they could be convinced to start using solar power at home if solar panel installation and equipment were free. Free solar panel installations are available in 14 states, Bass said.

 

Approximately 70 percent of all homeowners consider or investigate the sustainability of big-ticket items when making purchasing decisions, and more than half are more likely to take sustainability considerations into account today than they were three years ago, according to the data from SolarCity.

But homeowners seem to be starting small. The most popular planned clean-energy purchases in the next year are LED light bulbs (31 percent of homeowners), followed by smart thermostats, double- or triple-pane windows, hybrid cars, and Energy-Star rated hot water heaters, according to SolarCity, whose biggest U.S. competitors include Verengo Solar, Vivint Solar, REC Solar and Sungevity.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/big-data-download/solar-is-cheaper--but-consumers-don-t-seem-to-know-163348584.html

Juice up a small garden | South Salem Real Estate

Few things that you can do in the garden are more satisfying than growing your own fruit. But what if your space or time is limited? Based on my personal taste, and with a mild-climate slant, here are some choices when you have room for only one fruit tree.

These are plants that I have grown or wish I could grow. You might want to consider the same factors that I do: Will the homegrown, tree-ripened fruit taste better than what you can get from the amazing array at farmer’s markets these days? Is the tree fun or interesting or pretty to grow? Can you avoid the complications of pest control or pruning? Notice that below I don’t bring up a number of popular fruit trees, such as apples, which often need precise pest control — and so many good apples are available at markets today.

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Apricot

There’s no comparison between typical market fruit and apricots that are allowed to ripen on the tree to a near squishy, unshippable stage. Trouble is, the apricot is fussy about where it grows.

Botanical name: Prunus armeniaca, many varieties
Where it will grow: Hardy to -20 degrees Fahrenheit (USDA zones 5 to 9; find your zone). The trees are fairly hardy but bear fruit well only in climates without spring frosts. Mainly that means California’s coastal valleys.
Water requirement: Moderate; the soil must be moist while the fruit is developing.
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 15 to 20 feet tall and wide
Care: Plant bare-root trees in winter. Prune in summer after the harvest. As with most fruit trees, bone up on pruning, fertilizing and pest control.

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Apricot blossoms, just before spring’s arrival, are beautiful in their own right — especially against the dark, gnarly branches of mature trees.

See how to grow apricots

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/24506973?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u466&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery16

South Salem Active Real Estate Report | South Salem Homes

South Salem NY Weekly Real Estate Report	2/24/2013
Homes for sale	50
Median Ask Price	$732,500.00
Low Price	$199,900.00
High Price	$12,200,000.00
Average Size	3086
Average Price/foot	$368.00
Average DOM	223
Average Ask Price	$1,213,764.00

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