I had some Home remodling done and on tv on home repairs show it told that a lot of that is tax deductable. I haven’t been able to find anything on the web on it. I kewpt all of my recepts for last year on all of the repairs or improvemts on my home.

You cannot deduct those types of things……..now if you had a HELOC and used the money to pay for those items you can deduct the interest that you paid on the HELOC…….

I had some home remodling done and on tv on home repairs show it told that a lot of that is tax deductable. I haven’t been able to find anything on the web on it. I kewpt all of my recepts for last year on all of the repairs or improvemts on my Home.

You cannot deduct those types of things……..now if you had a HELOC and used the money to pay for those items you can deduct the interest that you paid on the HELOC…….

I have a 6 month son. My husband works 12 hour shifts and we barely have enough to pay for bills.Daycare is so expensive and I prefer to take care of my son. I need ideas in starting a home Business.I need to work from home, I have a BFA although I don’t know what to do with it.What can I do.

The best home business that you can be sure is not a scam is one that you start yourself. It will depend on what you want, how you define to be interesting. A person may consider a pet sitting business to be the most exciting work in the world, while another person would rather watch TV than take care of dogs.

The key is to determine what your interests are, what you want to do, what is suitable for your lifestyle and your overall goals, and what can fit with your resources.

Dan Ramsey in his book "101 Best Home Businesses" has a chapter on how to find YOUR best Home business. He suggests these 10 steps:

1. List 5 things you do best
2. List how others would benefit from what you do best
3. Find out how to give people what they want
4. Learn the value of your services to others
5. Find out who else offers similar services
6. Learn from the successes of others
7. Learn from the failures of others
8. Plan your own success
9. Make low cost mistakes
10. Enjoy what you do and how you do it

He then made suggestions on the best home businesses according to type. Here are a few of them:

Best Businesses Using Craft or Physical Skills
- antique restoration
- auto detail service
- carpet cleaning business
- errand/delivery service
- housecleaning business

Best Service Businesses
- bed and breakfast operator
- caregiver
- catering service
- senior day care center
- tutoring service

Best Professional Businesses
- desktop publisher
- magazine writer
- import/export service
- income tax preparation service
- event planner

I live in a 1 1/2 storey home built in 1922. I have totally updated the home, (wiring, plumbing etc.). There has been some settling mainly on the second floor, not enough to prevent doors from closing. I purchases the home in 1999. I have not noticed any new settling since. I am wondering how long a lifespan a home built in 1922 has. I like my home but it is 84 years old. I will be entering retirement when this house turns 100. I maintain this home accordingly but I wonder if it is wise to have a 100 year old retirement Home. I would appreciate some comments on my delima. Thank you.

you shouldn’t have too much to worry about. older homes were built to last with first generation wood. my house is a 1949 and i love it. they were built so much better back then compared to what they slap together today. as an insider to construction, the trades have gone down dramatically in terms of quality.

I am a a commercial Home cleaner in Cincinnati,OH. I was just bored, and wondering how much I would make in California. I am not a a maid or a housekeeper, I clean "model homes,condos, and marketing offices" for builders like Zaring, and Ryan Homes (I will not release who I clean for). I clean homes that are not lived in, but are shown to potential home or condominium buyers – in which I’m looking for somewhere in Los Angeles area.

Thank you!

10% to 15% more in California than in Ohio, but all costs are 10 to 15% higher in California

That is, if an average American home-owner were to appraise their home today what percent would they own in equity?

More specifically, how much does this percent vary between different home-owner age brackets? And, considering this, what are the odds that the average American home-owner will ever pay off their mortgage?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. It would seem that answers to these could be of value to those of us that are younger and hoping to set somewhat realistic, lifelong financial goals.
Thanks!

I too own 100% and if it helps the age bracket is..well…over the age of 60 if that helps you any.

Added
I totally agree with George G’s assessment. People now want 40 year mortgages, nothing down, and even interest only for a few years.

My Home has been paid off for many years, I took on a 15 year mortgage with high interest rates and paid it off in 9 years. How? Because I could COMFORTABLY afford the house.

We own our house fully No mortgage value approx $550k. We are thinking that we like to retire early to near the beach. Currently we found nice homes with land in that area for $175k. Is it better to get a Home equity for the full cost of the Beach home plus any other small debit (approx $75k 2 cars and a timeshare) or continue to pay on the individual debits and add a Mortgage for the Beach house?
The ultimate goal would be to get settled into the 2nd home and then sell the current home pay off the balance and then put the rest in an investment with monthly dividends to use as retirement income until we reach retirement age and also maybe get a parttime job.

I am a mtg broker. I would do a fixed HELOC and combine all your debt into it. If you pay all your debt separate, you are paying interest on the cars, credit cards, etc which are NOT tax deductible. Your mtg debt is.

Congrats on having your home free and clear!

My landlady teaches piano from home as a full time job, would I be able to get contents insurance? I went to an online insurance site and it said I would have to call them if I share my Home with renters/lodgers (which I do) and also it assumes that ‘You do not use your home for any Business purposes or for the storage of business goods’. What insurance would I need or would it be my landlady’s responsibility to get cover? Could I be included in her insurance?

The concept of health insurance was proposed in 1694 by Hugh the Elder Chamberlen from the Peter Chamberlen family. In the late 19th century, "accident insurance" began to be available, which operated much like modern disability insurance.This payment model continued until the start of the 20th century in some jurisdictions (like California), where all laws regulating Health insurance actually referred to disability insurance.

I live in a 1 1/2 storey home built in 1922. I have totally updated the home, (wiring, plumbing etc.). There has been some settling mainly on the second floor, not enough to prevent doors from closing. I purchased the home in 1999. I have not noticed any new settling since. I am wondering how long a lifespan a home built in 1922 has. I like my home but it is 84 years old. I will be entering retirement when this house turns 100. I maintain this home accordingly but I wonder if it is wise to have a 100 year old retirement home. I would appreciate some comments on my delima. Thank you.

As long as you have updated everything that needs to be, you should be safe.

I have installed new furnaces in Homes that are well over 100 years old, and house looked great after they updated everything.

Working in many different aged homes, I’ve noticed back in the day they built houses to stand forever, now days they put the houses up as fast as they can and move on to the next one.

I paid roughly $90,000 for my home. It was a TLC home and I’ve fixed it up in the past 9 years dramatically. New roof, new walls, siding, porch, heating system, well etc. My home and property was valued at $275,000 last year. Does equity play a part in this. Am I eligable for an equity loan? I don’t want to go into it without fully understanding what it is–I also don’t want to go to my banker with stupid questions….Another thing. Im looking to build my own Home–hence the loan inquisition.

Let’s say you owe around $70K for your house & it now appraises for $275K, you can "cash out" some of your equity.

Equity is the difference between what you owe & what the home is worth or appraised at now.

There are many programs for "cashing out" equity. You could get up to 100% of your equity out. I do not suggest this &your interest rate on your equity loan will be a lot higher.

You could cash out say 80%, based on my #’s above that would total about $164,000.

& you could use this money towards a down payment & for construction costs with the home you’re interested in building.

You want to make sure you’re using your money with the best programs. Talk to a lender who will show you the pros & cons. Don’t use all of your liquid cash to sink into building a home, leverage, leverage, leverage & talk to the lender about a "Construction to Perm" loan. (Construction to finished product)