Unless you drive a hybrid car or ride your bike to work, there's no way to escape the high gas prices. But there are ways you can get better gas mileage out of our vehicles - which will save you money in the long run, according to Edmunds.com, an online resource for automotive information.
Here are 10 to help you get better gas mileage:
- Follow the Recommended Maintenance - A well-maintained vehicle will operate more efficiently. Fouled spark plugs, dirty air filters and clogged fuel filters will diminish fuel economy.
- Keep Tires Properly Inflated - Under-inflated tires require more energy to roll; properly inflated tires can improve fuel economy by as much as 3 percent.
- Take a Load Off - Heavier vehicles require more energy to move. Pack light and remove unnecessary items from the car.
- Don't Drive Aggressively - Hitting the gas pedal hard after stopping, slamming on the brakes and speeding all decrease fuel efficiency.
- Use the Highest Gear Possible - Lower gears use more power, so manual transmission drivers should switch to a higher gear when driving at a steady speed, and automatic transmission drivers should avoid using "sport" mode.
- Use Cruise Control Selectively - Cruise control is a great asset on flat roads, but isn't the most efficient on hilly terrain.
- Think Clean - Keeping your car washed and waxed improves its aerodynamics, thereby improving fuel efficiency. On a long trip, a quick run through a gas station car wash might more than pay for itself.
- Avoid Excessive Idling - An idling car burns fuel. Whenever possible, turn your car off while waiting, and try to avoid drive-through windows and long toll booth lines.
- Think Before You Ventilate - Air conditioning consumes more fuel, while rolled down windows decreases aerodynamics. Roll down windows when in slow-moving traffic; use the air conditioner when traveling at high speeds.
- Combine Your Errands - Cold engines use more fuel than warm engines. Combining errands means the engine will be warmer for more of the trip.
The HBH Group is an expert real estate team with extensive experience in Internet marketing, staging and creative financing. Call us today for a no obligation visit to see how we can help you sell your home in this more difficult market!
Our real estate team is connected to:
- Buyers and sellers of commercial and residential real estate.
- Investors in both the above classes of real estate.
- Property acquisution, leasing and management services for investors of commercial and residential real estate.
- Business brokerage to help you find and acquire a local business.
We would love to assist you as you invest in Texas and the greater Austin area. Call us to find all we can offer you and to ask for a FREE information package!
This information is brought to you as a public service of the The HBH Group Realty Team with Keller Williams Realty. You can learn more about us at our websites located at: http://www.TheHBHGroup.com/ and http://www.TheHBHGroup.biz/ or contact our offices at (512) 439-3772 or toll-free at (877) 268-1877.
We teach a monthly real estate investment seminar in the Greater Austin area and YOU ARE INVITED to this FREE event. Simply call our offices to reserve you seats! Also ask about the investors club that we are forming in the North Austin markets currently - We would love to have you participate!
Here are some other Buyer's Resources from Our Website: Seven steps to buying your home
Deciding how much house you can afford Making your home wish list Opting for new home construction
How can a real estate agent help me? 10 things you should ask a real estate agent
Location, Location, Location Mortgage Calculator Contact us about buying your home
And some seller's resources as well:Eight steps to selling your home
How can a real estate agent help me sell my home Practicing good seller's etiquette
How to price to sell and still make a profit Understanding the buyer Increasing your home's appeal
Mortgage Calculator Contact us about selling a property
The HBH Group/HBH Property Management
101 E. Old Settlers Blvd., Suite 190
Roundrock, TX 78664
To contact us:
Phone: 512-439-3772
Toll-Free: 877-268-1877
Fax: 512-579-4248
E-mail: info@TheHBHGroup.com
Websites: http://www.TheHBHGroup.com/
http://www.TheHBHGroup.biz/
Blogs: http://RoundRockRealEstateBlog.info/
http://www.RoundRockRealEstateBlog.com/
The great thing about a self-directed IRA/401K is that although you are limited as to how much you can put in on the front every year, you can make all the profit that you can and pay no tax on the gain! If you are 49 & below, you can only contribute $5,000 annually to the IRA (Age 50 & up can contribute $6,000). And if you already have an IRA or 401K, you can roll those balances into a Roth vehicle and begin today to make larger returns with the following options and more:
It should be evident now that an astute saver and investor can become a private money bank and enjoy much greater returns tax-free. Contact the vendors above or your CPA for more detail and contact a local real estate investment club as well for a supply of loan applicants needing cash to finance their individual real estate ventures.
real estate ventures and business purposes or to persons who may have experienced personal tragedies and may need funding quick that is unsecured. Many of these lenders are using IRA/401K balances in a self-directed manner to provide these loans although there are large firms that provide this service as well. The HBH Group has connection to many on a national and local level that we can put you in contact with.
These loans are attractive to investors in a remodeling project where a property is being rehabbed and flipped for profit.
It is tougher now to sell a home than ever before for many reasons, but most have to do with the information age that we live in. Home sales information is more readily available than ever before which has created the MOST educated buyer population that the industry has ever known. Buyers have access to:
the Internet.
As a result of these issues recent real estate deals have been plagued by difficulties, not in qualifying a buyer, but in getting a buyer through the final step in completing a mortgage - underwriting. Underwriters are third parties that have the responsibility of validating a loan applicant's paperwork and insuring that the risk is acceptable in making that loan. These standards are usually set by - Fannie and Freddie. Even if the loan will not be bought by Fannie or Freddie, most other secondary lenders are following suit on requiring that any underwriting changes adopted by Fannie and Freddie will also be implemented by them. 
would decrease to no more than 4 Freddie loans per person including one's personal residence. Within a week or two, all mortgage lenders had already adopted the guideline, severely restricting many investor's abilities to loan for additional investment acquisitions.
Private Money Lenders
One of the most complex details of real estate for home buyers or investors is the mortgage process and how it works (or doesn't in some cases). For the sake of brevity, this article will only scratch the surface of the process in order to give you an overview.
The secondary mortgage market is made up of entities that replenish money for the primary market lenders by purchasing the mortgages they originate with end customers. The mortgage notes are purchased at a cash discount but allow the primary lenders to recover the cash they used to originate the loans with. 
The secondary market is dominated by government organizations such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (known as Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (aka: Freddie Mac). These organizations purchase mortgage notes, and then they package them in large pools of mortgages that are in turn sold to investors via shares in the stock exchanges. There are other secondary market lenders, but these two are by far the largest in sheer volume. For example, last year around this time, Fannie Mae held $47.2 billion of securities backed by subprime mortgages, while Freddie Mac held $120.8 billion, according to the International Herald Tribune. Together they hold about $40 billion in bonds backed by home-equity loans. And overall, they own about 40 percent, or about $1.4 trillion, of all U.S. home loan debt. 
As of July 10th, Fannie and Freddie's solvency was brought into question in an interview given to the press by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Mr. Bernanke said "He believed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together own or guarantee about half of all U.S. home loans -- were ‘well capitalized' for the moment, but he included both of them in a ‘broad call for increased capital.'" Two days later U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson moved to denounce fears of insolvency by suggesting in an interview that if needed, there would be a federal or banking bailout of the big players. Since Fannie and Freddie were both established by Congress to stabilize the American home industry, federal monies can and will be used to prop them up as needed, but nevertheless stock prices in both organizations plummeted in the equity markets that same week (continued).
This past weekend I was asked by a national training company to assist them in a training class for new investors in Austin. I was floored by the volume of people looking to invest and profit from the foreclosure gold mine that is present across the country. We took approximately 50 investors on a bus tour of "opportunity areas" in north Austin and most of them were floored by the volume of what we found! There are plenty of 
opportunity properties for investors to purchase at this time in the north Austin areas.
On April 30th of this year I posted part I of this diatribe in an attempt to "educate" the REALTOR(R) and consumer community of some of the issues with short sales. That post was IMMEDIATELY boo'ed by many in the AR community (which I expected - especially from those making a living on short sales during this time of high foreclosures!). I expected 
to take a few arrows, but wanted to make sure that the community at large at least knew the dangers. 
Although the tax implications were rolled back by the Bush Administration last year (
Hope this post is educational. I am a "black hat" thinker and prefer to see the world in a worst that can happen mode, since if the worst happens here and you were the REALTOR(R) that convinced many people to short sell because they could buy another home faster, you may be bringing litigation to yourself or possibly lose your license! Be careful!
The short answer is NO! And I see many bloggers here that don't seem to understand that fact. I read a 
The real estate climate is changing all over the USA and this holds true for Texas as well. A couple of years ago I worked with many investors that were into quick-turning properties for profit. These investors are still active, but with the market a bit slower, the times are changing. The hold times on properties such as this are making the quick turn market more difficult than they previously were. On the flip side (no pun intended), the inventory of rehab-ready homes is on the rise, so there is a significant opportunity in the foreclosure and pre-foreclosure markets to pick up properties at a large discount.
So now what is a quick-turn investor to do in this market - lots of inventory, limited resale market? Why not start a buy-and-hold strategy. There are several reasons why this makes sense. Here are just a few: