About Real Estate: How to get your home on a TV show
There a few simple steps owners can take to improve their chances of having their home featured on one of the growing number of real-estate-related television programs.Q. My husband and I are huge fans of the HGTV network, especially the shows where they remodel a room or sometimes an entire house. How are the homes chosen? Could we apply to have our own house fixed up?
A. I#146;m a big fan of cable#146;s Home Garden Television, too. Experts who host its various remodeling shows provide their services for free, and labor from needed contractors or subcontractors usually is donated.
The shows are taped all over the nation at various times of the year: in mid-July, producers were looking for homeowners willing to be filmed in South Florida, San Francisco, Los Angeles and the Northeast#146;s Tri-State area.
Owners hoping to have their projects featured on any of the network#146;s shows must apply by answering some basic questions that appear on the company#146;s website, www.hgtv.com, and must also usually supply photos of the property that they want to remodel.
To raise their chances of being chosen, HGTV General Manager Kathleen Finch recently said, owners also should send in a video of their home, themselves, their family or friends. #147;The first thing you look at is not the home in need of a makeover, but the homeowners. The most important thing is someone who really wants to be on television,#148; Finch said.
Translation: The more gripping the story you have for the needed makeover, or the more personable you come across on the video, the better the chance you and your home will be selected for TV stardom.
Q. I came across an odd word in a real estate advertisement and couldn#146;t find a definition for it in my dictionary. So, can you tell me what a #147;garalow#148; is?
A. It#146;s a made-up term that combines #147;garage#148; and #147;bungalow.#148; A garalow is sort of like a garage apartment, except that the dwelling unit sits next to the garage instead of on top of it.
Q. I divorced two years ago. I recently applied for a loan to buy a new home, but the application was rejected after the bank ordered my credit report and found out my ex-wife has a legal judgment against me for $9,000 in unpaid child support. The information on the report is correct, but isn#146;t it illegal for the credit bureau to report such personal information? Can I sue the bureau or the bank for invading my privacy?
A. You could sue, but you probably wouldn#146;t win. Federal law allows credit bureaus to record and publish court ordered child-support judgments, which then stay on a person#146;s record for seven years from the date the judgment is filed.
Frankly, I#146;m a bit dismayed that you#146;re trying to buy a house when you#146;re already behind $9,000 in payments to your ex-wife and kids. It#146;s also worth noting that many lenders take an unusually dim view of applicants who have a child-support judgment on their credit record. Banks figure if someone is willing to turn his or her back on the family after a divorce, there#146;s no reason to think the borrower will take payments on a mortgage any more seriously.
Do the right thing: Pay your ex-wife the money you owe, and don#146;t even think about buying a house until you#146;re sure you can handle both your future child-support obligations and mortgage payments. You likely will feel better about yourself, and your kids will feel better about you.
Q. We have just refinanced with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of $140,000, with an interest rate of exactly 5 percent and monthly payments for principal and interest totaling $752. If we add an extra $50 per month to each payment, how much sooner would we pay off the loan, and how much would we save in interest charges?
A. You will pay $130,558 in finance charges in the next 30 years if you keep the $752-a-month repayment schedule that the bank provided. Adding an extra $50 to each future payment would cut your finance charges to $110,808 #8212; a $19,750 savings #8212; and would allow you to retire the debt three years and 11 months sooner.
If you can stretch your budget a little more by adding $75 per month instead of $50, you will trim $27,383 from your overall financing costs and own your home free and clear four years, five months sooner than you would if you stuck to the bank#146;s 30-year repayment plan.
Ÿ For the booklets #147;Straight Talk About Living Trusts,#148; or #147;Free and Clear: Getting the Mortgage Monkey off Your Back,#148; send $4 for each and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to David Myers/Trust, P.O. Box 2960, Culver City, CA 90231-2960.
$PHOTOCREDIT_ON$© 2011, Cowles Syndicate Inc.$PHOTOCREDIT_OFF$