AND business was, I just didn’t know how to get there.

Available To Remove and Clean Up Unused Buried Home Heating Oil Tanks

Buried in the yards of many homes built before 1975, are heating oil tanks that are no longer in use. What once heated those homes are today an environmental hazard. Out of sight should not mean out of mind.

These home heating oil tanks have spent decades underground, subjected to nature and all its corrosive elements. Most people do not know that they have a buried oil tank. And most people do not know there is a fund available to cover the cost of soil clean up. You can tell if you have a buried tank by finding 1-2 steel pipes measuring approx 2″ in diameter sticking out of the ground.

Even if the tank has been filled with sand or foam and contains no oil, decades of drips, spills and overfill during tank filling may have caused soil contamination.

In addition to environmental concerns, buried oil tanks pose a financial liability. Before a home can be sold or re-financed, many mortgage companies require the tank be removed.

Luckily, there is a state fund to cover the cost of tank excavation and soil clean up. The fund has finite dollars, so if you would like to know more about this program and how to have a heating oil tank removed at no cost to you, please call Katy O’Kennedy at 336 409 6877 or katyokennedy@yahoo.com
Contact EllenDudley@weichert.com or call me 336-575-7249  Visit my website www.buywinstonsalem.com

Freddie Mac recently stated the average rate on a 30-year loan was 4.71% with an average 0.7 point, the lowest rate since the agency began its weekly tracking of long-term interest rates in 1971. A point is equal to 1% of the loan amount, payable as a lump sum at closing. While the decline wasn’t overly dramatic, the dip is likely to get people wondering whether it’s time to sign on the dotted line.

The 5 following questions may help you decide if now is the time to go ahead and purchase a home or refinance your current home.

Q: Why are rates so low?
A: Since early January, the Federal Reserve has been purchasing mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae in an effort to stabilize the housing market by making homes more affordable for consumers. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is managing the program, plans on purchasing $1.25 trillion of securities.

Q: Are rates expected stay this low?
A: It’s hard to tell, but don’t count on it because the lending landscape is likely to change next year. In September 2009, the Fed said it would gradually wind down the purchase program, ending it by March 30, 2010. That has some in the mortgage lending industry worried.

In a recently published mortgage survey, more than 60% of Bankrate.com’s panel of experts predicted that rates will move higher over the next 30 to 45 days. How much higher is anyone’s guess. Last year at this time, the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 5.53%.

Q: Why do different mortgage surveys come up with different average interest rates?
A: It depends on which lenders are in their sample, when the survey was taken and whether the rates quoted are the posted rate, the application rate or the commitment rate. Also, some surveys take into account the points paid to secure the rate.

But regardless of the survey, the general consensus is that rates are ultra-low right now and may be the lowest the market will see.

Q: What else does a consumer need to know?
A: The lowest rates are offered to the most credit-worthy customers who can make sizable down payments. Shop not just for the interest rate and the points involved but also for the fees involved, which can vary widely from one lender to another.

If you’re refinancing, remember the bigger the loan, the greater the payoff for finding a lower interest rate. Savvy customers put in their paperwork with a lender and set a “strike” interest rate at which to lock in the loan, a good move considering rate volatility.

Several refinancing calculators are available online that let borrowers plug in all the required numbers and determine the monthly savings and how long it will take to recoup the expense of a refinancing.

Q: So is now the best time to buy a home?
A: It depends on personal situations. Homebuyers certainly have a lot of factors working in their favor right now—low interest rates, plenty of marked-down homes for sale and an extended and expanded federal tax credit that will expire in the spring.

On the flip side, there’s growing sentiment among analysts that housing prices, which are showing ever-so-minor improvement, may fall further. The reason? Lenders are expected to get better at determining which borrowers will qualify for loan modifications. That means lenders also will get faster at moving homes through the foreclosure process.

For a private showing, call Ellen Dudley, 336-575-7249  or email Ellen@Ellen-Dudley.com

Visit my website for more information www.Ellen-Dudley.com

http://www.bhgrealestate.com/Video/StagingtoSellFirstImpressionsTheFrontoftheHouse/42088301001/42393170001

Contact Ellen Dudley, 336-575-7249 or email: Ellen@Ellen-Dudley.com

visit http://www.Ellen-Dudley.com

For more info contact Ellen@Ellen-Dudley.com

visit www.buywinstonsalem.com

Visit www.buywinstonsalem.com