It’s Time to Stimulate Savings

The American Recover and Reinvestment act of 2009 can help out a wallet near you. That’s right, the Obama White House is not only trying to help out big business but poor peasants like us, which gives me a warm ‘ fuzzy feeling. As you may know, the real estate end of things is not going so well these days. Home values have dropped to where they were in the early 1990’s. In addition, the bank scare typically means things won’t rebound immediately. Recently the economy has show signs up recovery or slowing down in its miserable ways. But I remain skeptical and I’m not the only one. I’ve seen some experts saying real recovery won’t begin until the summer of 2011. So the bottom line is, people need incentives to buy new homes.

One good incentive is a first time homebuyer provision that says you can get $8000 back on the purchase of a new home if you make less than $70,000 annually. This is a great idea. Just remember, to get the money back you need to own the home for at least 3 years. The reason for this is obvious, to prevent a buy and quick sell, which helped get us into the inflated home prices to begin with.

Another good way to save money in the long-term is remodeling your current home. Green remodeling alternatives can provide a safe and energy efficient way to improve both a healthy environment both inside and outside your home. Take for instance asbestos, which is an old form of insulation that can cause lung problems and a deadly cancer callled mesothelioma. While rare, the mesothelioma survival rate is not good. So it’s obviously best to get rid of that nasty stuff immediately (hire a professional!). Healthy alternatives are plentiful and include cotton fiber, lcynene foam and cellulose. Using these materials will provide tax breaks that will save money in the short-term and provide energy savings for long-terms economic fruition in your bank account.

Finally, if you already own a home and need help to avoid foreclosure, you can modify your loan. By hiring a professional you can have your rates reduced and avoid forelcosure, which is one of the biggest black eyes you can give your credit score.

While none of these are get-rich-quick-schemes, they are all ways to save a little in the short-term and possibly save alot down the road.