Going Green without Sacrificing a Thing

Did you know you can go GREEN without changing a thing in your house. Once you have replaced the lights in your home with CFL's these tips will help you further reduce your Carbon Foot Print and help you save a little green at the same time.

Did you know?

• The average household receives 20 bills per month - so a typical family can save almost $100 per year in postage alone by going online to pay bills.
  Statistic, NACHA, The Electronic Payments Association
  
  
• If all U.S. households viewed their statements and paid their bills online it would save 2.3 million tons of wood or 16.5 million trees!
  Source: Javelin Strategy & Research, 2007
  
  
• One large tree can provide a day's worth of oxygen for up to four people.
  Source: Tree Canada Foundation

Green Tip #1 - Get rid of those annoying bills and statements from your mail box.

Many companies now allow you to receive your statement online and via email. This one is a big green savings that doesn't cost you a thing and really helps reduce oil dependency and our environment. Less mail means smaller trucks and lighter loads which translates into lower emissions and less fuel.

Green Tip #2 - Pay your bills online or by phone

Save time, money and gas by paying your bills online or by phone. I use a combination of online bill pay options including MSN Bill Pay (MSN.com), my bank's bill pay, and my vendors online payment process. I am less keen on bank bill pay services and only use them when I am paying a credit card or bank loan from that institution. They tend to grab the money first then pay the bill later - a way to keep from paying you interest. The biggest savings is when you pay direct to the vendor cutting out all fees. I like MSN bill pay because they do not take the money from my account until the day I tell them to deliver the payment, even if the payment is by mail.

A word of caution with online bill pay and pay by phone. Some companies, especially credit card and finance companies, charge hefty fees when you pay by phone or pay online. If the company charges a hefty fee for this service, then use your bill pay service. Most companies that offer this service want to get your payment on time and do not charge a fee.

Green Tip #3 - Archiving your statements

Many companies now allow you to view your statements for a year or more online. But as we know the government forces us to keep them longer. Once you get your statements online it will be important to archive them for future reference. Printing them and storing them defeats the purpose of having your vendor offer them online. I use a service called Carbonite (carbonite.com) to back up all of my pc files including my documents. You can do this for less using backup program like Norton Ghost or copy them to USB Jump Drive, CD/rw or DVD/rw. Your local office supply can help you with backup technology. There are also online services popping up that will accept your documents as well as your photos. Use caution with placing your personal information on a free site for two reasons, first security and second these companies seem to fold quickly when the law knocks on their door and they are more than happy to hand over your personal information which is stored on their servers without asking.

Just a note from the geek in me. If you are not backing up your computer you are leaving yourself wide open to loss, regardless how you pay your bills. Everyone is concerned about losing photos and other important documents by way of fire and other natural disaster and they do not realize they are more vulnerable to loss because a little mechanical storage device failed without notice or warning.

Don't worry you won't put your friendly mail carrier out of a job. Everything can not be processed this way and there is always that non-green junk mail. What you will do is lighten the load which will take less fuel to deliver and more important save a few trees which will help our planet process the emissions that are produced.

Michael Zimmer is the President of The Meadows of Southington Condominium Association, Inc. Michael has served on the board of directors for this 166 unit complex in Southington for over 15 years and has held the position of President for the last 12 years. He can be contacted via email at mjzimmer@bigplanet.com.

Looking for a solution to a financing nightmare?

Have you really tried to work with your lender to correct that sub-prime loan? Most people do not. I am not talking about speaking with the robo-collector who has just one annoying purpose in life - be nasty to get you to pay up. It is not in their best interests to help you out of your current situation since they generally collect a commission every time you cough up a little cash to make them go away.

I am talking about speaking with an officer within the institution itself to work out a solution to the problem before your property goes into foreclosure. Once the property goes into foreclosure, you are still in a position to refinance but generally the lender will be looking to tack on all of the fees associated with the legal action.

Before we get into details I am not offering legal advice, I am simply sharing a possible solution which is being used successfully right now by savvy investors and the State of Connecticut to save a home from strict foreclosure.

You may be in the drivers seat...

The lender already put out the money on your property, the loan is already in place the lender is looking to recover that money plus a fee. Wise investors are walking into the middle of these deals and assuming your note by doing little more than paying closing costs and assuming your payments, turning your bad loan into a good one.

Lenders are failing every week because a large percentage of their loans are going bad. With foreclosures reportedly up over 120% this year it is no surprise that the lenders are in hot water. It has reached the point that some lenders are unable to attend all of their foreclosure hearings and homeowners are unsure of what they should do.

This could be your one chance to turn their misfortune into your opportunity to save your home. Generally when a property becomes delinquent 60 days or more it is considered in default and turns into more red ink on the lenders books.

In an up economy lenders love these transactions because they are few but very lucrative to the institution as they translates into additional income by way of extra fees and interest and when the economy is rolling the lender can quickly flip the property, recover their money, and keep the profits. In a down economy like we are in now the lender has a harder time recovering the fees and chances are they will be stuck with that property leaving them holding the debt. This means red ink and lenders do not want to show losses.

Ways you can turn this around?

If you are being forced into foreclosure because your mortgage was based on an introductory rate, which jumped up after a period and you are now unable to make your payments you can use your previous payment record to show good faith with your lender. Obviously you have a history with the lender that shows you have the ability to pay your mortgage. If you have a lawyer, it is probably better to let them do this work for you. It is faster and easier for them to contact the right people and make your offer.

Your offer is that the lender refinance you at the original rate or an agreeable rate based on your credit and ability to pay, and add the arrearage to the new mortgage. Again the lender will probably want to add on any legal and late fees to the of the repayment amount. Your lawyer can work this out.

I am not suggesting that this is a license to steal or that your lender will be open to listening, but many have figured out that it is better to work with their borrower then get stuck with the bad debt. If you had a good relationship with the lender and then were unable to continue because the financing jumped to a level outside of your ability to pay it makes sense to give this a try. Keep trying until they take your keys away. Often your loan officer is not aware the current financial situation of the institution until they are in dire straits and need to take immediate action to save their jobs.

I always suggest obtaining legal assistance when attempting this type of transaction to ensure you are not making things worse then they already are. Many of the people in this situation today opted to use the lenders attorney to save on fees and closing costs and later found out that while the transaction may have been legal they were not really clear on of the possible future consequences of their actions. It is always best to have personal legal representation when you are entering into any type of contract.

Michael Zimmer is the President of The Meadows of Southington Condominium Association, Inc. Michael has served on the board of directors for this 166 unit complex in Southington for over 15 years and has held the position of President for the last 12 years. He can be contacted via email at mjzimmer@bigplanet.com.

Choosing A Contractor

Planning a capital improvement project is a task that requires time and knowledge. Plan your project right from the beginning. Research your project in great detail. For example, if you are going to re-side your home, check out the various siding products on the web, request samples of the products, check to see if they have a listing of local contractors that are certified to use their product. Know what you are buying before you are buying the product. It is better to be informed then uninformed.

Before hiring a contractor, it is extremely important to compare the contractors that have provided your quotes for your capital improvement project. You should solicit two or three quotes and make sure that they are apples to apples and not apples to oranges. You don’t want to have any hidden costs during the process if you can avoid it. Once you have done your research on the product and have several quotes, then do your homework on the contractors. Here is a checklist of items that you should ask for or research:

• Ask for detailed information on the contractor; i.e. name, address, phone number, how long in business, workmanship warranty, copy of license number, copy of certificate of insurance including worker’s compensation.
• After obtaining their license number, check with the state to make sure the license number is valid and that it hasn’t lapsed.
• After obtaining the contractor’s insurance information, contact the agency to research any claims that the company may have against them.
• Ask for local references to contact and possibly drive by and look at the property to review their work.
• Ask the contractor is they belong to any type of professional association or is credentialed then research the information
• Contact the Better Business Bureau to learn how long a contractor has been in business and if they have any negativity.

Once you have chosen a contractor, here are some items that should be included in the contract with the contractor:

• Parties of the Contract
• Name, Address, Telephone Number
• Scope of Work
• A contract must spell out specifically what work is to be done by the contract.
• The method for debris and material removal once the job is finished
• Compensation
• A contract should state the total agreed upon amount, when payment(s) will be made, in what manner payment(s) will be made, on what terms payment(s) will be made
• Time Period, start and completion date
• Right-to-rescind or cancel the contract
• Warranty, A warranty should state what is covered, for how long and what the contractor will do if the work or product proves defective
• Restoration
• Indemnification
• Insurance
• Copies should be provided prior to any work is to begin
• Licenses and Permits
• Copies should be provided prior to any work is to begin
• Termination
• Default
  

Never pay a contractor for the entire job in advance and avoid paying in cash whenever possible. You should make every attempt to pay a minimal or no down-payment for services and supplies and don’t make payments for incomplete work. All the payment terms should be spelled out in the contract for you and understood by both parties. Never make a final payment or sign off on the work until you are satisfied with the work that was performed.

If you do your research, know what to expect and then communicate that to the contractor and be willing to pay a fair and reasonable price, you should get years of trouble-free performance out the product you chose and knowing that you made the right decision.

Interested in becoming more involved?

Community Association Institutes - CT chapter is currently looking for individuals who are interested in helping our organization develop and grow. If you have a few hours each month and you are interested in getting more involved with the organization please contact Kim McClain via email at caictkmcclain@sbcglobal.net or by phone at 860-633-5692.

We have a range of committees that can use your help. Help us help communities across the state.

It is good to be King!

Have you run into the situation where a unit feels that the rules were put in place for everyone except them? A recent complaint about one unit, who is less than cooperative with their neighbors, reminded me of this story which also applied to them.

Several years back a unit owner started complaining about neighbors claiming that a few had 3 or more vehicles and they could not park in a reasonable distance to their unit. At the time we did not have a very clear parking policy other than our not allowing stored vehicles. This unit continued to complain and even organized other neighbors to the point that we were receiving regular complaints about units with 3, 4 and 5 cars.

The board did extensive work on the project, marking resident and visitor parking, establishing rules limiting parking to two vehicles as they requested and designated visitor parking for the remaining open spaces which were less convenient to units. We went as far as to issue parking tags so we could easily identify residents from non-residents.

Figuring that we had finally resolved this issue in the complex I approached the unit owner and let him know that the board had just passed the new rules and everyone would be limited to only two vehicles and the remainder would have to move to remote areas and use visitor parking or park on the street.

His response was “How is that going to help me?” I said “Sir we established rules and guidelines so when your neighbors with 3 or more cars park in front of your building we will be able to fine them or tow them to open up parking. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

He replied “That is not going to help me, I have 3 vehicles.”

True story...