Mortgage News Roundup - Creative Ways to Pay Your Mortgage

Happy Thursday. It’s fairly wet here this morning, and we hope you’re getting a good deluge of rain where you’re at. First, we want you to know that this Saturday the 27th is Free Museum Day. Visit the Smithsonian Magazine online to find participating museums including everything from children’s museums to grand estates.

Secondly. this Saturday is also National Public Lands day when more than 100 parks across the country will waive their entrance fees. So, maybe this is the weekend to hit Yosemite.

Creative Ways to Pay Your Mortgage

If you’ve been looking for ways to bring in more income to pay your mortgage, you may want to consider renting out a spare bedroom, or set up a room for travelers. You can list the room in sites like Airbnb, Home Away, VRBO or BedandBreakfast.com and let them do all the work of finding you guests.

Consult your attorney, insurance agent, and local zoning office if your rentals are more a full-time business than a hobby. Also, understand your obligations in being a host.

You could also rent out your garage to be office space. It may sound silly, but that’s how Google got started. And the owner of the home is now CEO of YouTube.

And if you live in a very urban area, you could rent out your garage space just for the garage space. People who drive in will feel it’s safer than a garage park, and will feel confident that they will always have a spot in the big city.

Finally, you could set up your home to provide solar or wind electricity. If you have acres of high, clear, windy land that’s near high-voltage transmission lines, you could earn hundreds of thousands from a wind-power company. Even if you’re not, today’s technology allows for small-scale projects that could power your house and perhaps help supply the neighborhood.

Do some research and figure out if this is a good way to go for you.

Best Way To Boost Your Home’s Value Overnight

Want to boost the value of your home up to 28 percent overnight? Beef up the landscaping in front of your house. Big-ticket landscaping items such as mature trees, well-formed shrubs and a green lawn can increase the value of your home up to 28% and decrease the time it sits on the housing market by 10-15%, says Florida landscape economist John Harris.

Want to find out how much? The National Tree Benefit Calculator on the Arbor Day Foundation site can give you a rough idea of how much your street-side trees can add to your property’s value.

Uptick in US Housing Confidence Driven by an Unlikely Generation

As the housing recovery continues, Americans are growing more confident in the housing market in general. And that confidence comes in part from a potentially surprising source: millennial renters, who to date have been perceived by many as largely uninterested in and/or unable to attain homeownership.

Millennial renters (aged 18-34) often have a lot of student debt and pay very high rents in many of the nation’s largest cities, which can make saving for a down payment difficult. In addition, the inventory of the least expensive, entry-level homes is also tight, according to Zillow’s August Real Estate Market Reports.

“It’s heartening to see younger renters express so much confidence in their ability to buy a home in coming years, because today’s renters by necessity are tomorrow’s buyers,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries.

Have a great weekend!