Construction employment in Kentucky declined to 61,600 in July of this year, a 7.9 percent decline compared with July 2009, when the state had 72,400 employed in construction work, the Associated General Contractors of America reported.

A couple weeks later we see some of the conventional news outlets noticing the major downturn is present nationally as well.

Sales of previously occupied homes in the United States fell 27 percent in July, the weakest showing in 15 years, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. It was the largest monthly drop in the four decades that records have been kept.

We’re just a few days away from the end of August. Then we’ll better understand whether July was a one-time adjustment or the start of a downward trend.

“How much can I afford to spend on a house” is a relevant question that comes into the mind of thousands of homebuyers all over the world. To answer this question, the home affordability calculators offered by multiple lenders play an important role.

When you are going to buy a new home, it is very important to know how much mortgage you can afford. Your repayment ability is a principal concern to the mortgage lender. Prior to purchasing your dream home, you should have a fair idea about the amount of loan the mortgage lender is ready to lend you and the amount of monthly payments that you can comfortably pay.

Seven Simple Tips

Following are seven simple tips that will help you determine how much mortgage you can afford:

1. Before beginning the search for your home, speak with at least three loan specialists. These can be from your local bank, a larger national bank or a mortgage broker.
2. At all times, you should be alert about the amount you are permitted to borrow. This amount differs from one lender to another depending upon your financial condition, assets and income. Usually, the amount will be 4 times your annual income or up to 80% of the value of the property.
3. The highest amount of your loan is also dependent on whether the mortgage is taken in your name only or in joint names with a co-buyer or partner. In case of a joint mortgage, the amount is typically 2½ times the joint annual income.
4. To find out the highest value of the property you are able to buy, make sure to also set aside the amount required for a down payment.
5. To estimate your monthly payments, work out your mortgage payments as a rough calculation. Utilize the information of the mortgage, for example, the amount of loan, repayment period and the rate of interest fixed for the mortgage.
6. The expenses that should be added to your monthly payment include mortgage insurance (if down payment is smaller), property taxes, homeowners insurance and utility expenses like water, electricity and gas charges.
7. Finally, you should make a comparison between the expenses and your net monthly income and figure out if this mortgage amount is affordable for you.

Home Affordability Calculators

The home affordability calculator helps you rightly determine how much mortgage you can afford. This is a fast and brief technique to calculate your affordability.

The question “how much mortgage can I afford” is basically a combination of two questions: How much you are able to borrow? and, What is the amount of down payment that you are able to collect? These two questions are interconnected. The interest rate of the mortgage is also factors in heavily.

Information necessary to calculate home affordability

The following information is necessary in order to determine home affordability:

• Gross monthly household income
• Loan term
• Down payment amount you are able to pay (5%-20% of the buying price of the home)
• Your monthly debts (credit card payments, student loan, automobile loan etc)
• Rate of interest or APR (% p.a.)
• Monthly property taxes

By using this information as inputs, you are able to calculate the monthly mortgage payment that you can afford and the maximum loan amount you can borrow. Subsequently, if you want to verify whether your monthly income is adequate to qualify or not, you can use your total monthly debt and monthly mortgage payment (principal plus interest) as inputs.

Great Ideas in Kitchen Appliances

Some of newest ideas involve upgrading appliances to state-of-the-art versions of our daily kitchen workhorses. There are high-end ranges, refrigerators and more from companies like Jenn-Air, Sub Zero, Wolf, Dacor and Gaggenau.

These incredible product do more than simply look good, they out-perform the average appliance, albeit at a higher price tag. If you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, do yourself a favor and investigate these incredible kitchen appliances.

Great Ideas in Kitchen Countertops

Countertops are always of interest to potential buyers of Louisville real estate and today’s choices are plentiful. Below are the main categories with estimated price ranges for each.

• Laminate – Most popular and comes in a multitude of colors, patterns and prices. Less expensive than you might think. Price: $10 to $30 per square foot, installed.
• Natural stone – Very popular material, especially at the higher end of the price spectrum. Granite and marble are the most common but slate, limestone, and sandstone are also interesting options. Price: $40 to $100 per square foot, installed.
• Solid surface – There are a number of companies that specialize in this category, most notably DuPont with their Corian line. But there are more growing annually as home buyers seek out green solutions to their countertops. Products like EnviroGLAS tout their green heredity. Price: $35 to $80 per square foot, installed.
• Ceramic tile – Huge number of color options and a great option for do-it-yourself home owners. Ceramic tiles are also easier to repair. Price: $10 to $30 per square foot, installed.
• Other great options – Butcher block ($40-$65), concrete ($80-$120), stainless steel ($120-$160).

Great Ideas in New Kitchen Products

Innovators are creating imaginative new products. Take, for instance, the combi-steam oven seen above. It may not be a product for every household but for the chefs among us, having a high-end cooking tool like this available in their own home would be a dream come true.

Designers are finding new ways to “hide” current products and make them blend into the background. First came the warming drawers like these from Wolf. So the next, natural choice would be the cooling drawers, right? These mini-refrigerators that can be built with cabinet drawer facings to give the whole kitchen a very cohesive, clean look.

And don’t forget about appliances for wine storage. These deluxe systems have all the bells and whistle for any kitchen remodel, you just have to pick and choose the right ones for you.

Investing in Your Home

Keep in mind that no home remodel will average a greater return amount than what you spend. Every so often a particularly savvy designer may but that’s the exception rather than the rule.

In our region, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) survey for 2009-10 says that a major kitchen remodel with mid-range quality ingredients should return 72.9%, while a minor kitchen remodel will return a 76.8% return on investment.

Using upscale ingredients, the homeowner can expect a 63.9% return on a major kitchen remodel.

Kiplinger and Forbes have been singing our city’s praises lately. Recently Forbes ranked Louisville 37th in Nation for Housing Recovery. Then Kiplinger named Louisville the regional winner for home price stability. Then, to top it off, Forbes claims Louisville real estate is the 4th most affordable in the nation.

Wow! Might be time to buy are larger trophy case?

Today we look at a recent article by Kiplinger where they rank the Least and Most Expensive Cities For Living in the U.S.A. It’s interesting to compare the two lists. Kiplinger’s list appears to focus on all U.S. cities regardless of size; whereas, Forbes’ list contains cities only the approximately 75 cities with the largest populations.

But did you notice something? Louisville, KY is the only city to appear in both lists! Are our city officials boasting enough about our great city?

Here’s the list from Kiplinger’s article:

1. Fort Smith, Ark.
2. Pueblo, Colo.
3. Harlingen, Tex.
4. McAllen, Tex.
5. Johnson City, Tenn.
6. Conway, Ark.
7. Springfield, Ill.
8. Covington, Ky.
9. Louisville, Ky.
10. Omaha, Neb.

If there’s a hot spot in Louisville real estate, it’s the Highlands. In fact, the Highlands are so popular that neighboring subdivions have “borrowed” the Highlands name for themselves so it’s tough to know where the Highlands begins and ends. Much of the draw are the amazing number of great restaurants and shops that run up and down Bardstown Road. There’s never a shortage of places to eat! As far as housing goes, there’s a wide variety of home styles, sizes and prices in Louisville’s Highlands neighborhood. Learn More »

As he explained, the Grundfos pump is really quite simple. As the hot water in your pipes cool, the pump kicks in to recirculate that water back to the water heater using the cold water line and heats it back up. This continual flow keeps hot water at you finger tips so that you do not have to run the shower for a long time waiting for the water to heat.

Sounds like a smart idea!

Home prices rose in nearly two-thirds of U.S. cities this spring. The national median price in April-to-June period was $176,900, up from $174,200 a year earlier.

I continue to maintain that now is a great time for certain people to be buying a new home. The first condition is stable employment. Once that is met, if you’re currently renting you will most assuredly improve your overall financial position if you buy a home today. Those moving up in price will also see a big benefit. Locking in on a historically low interest alone is worth the price of admission.

Only people looking to downsize should stand pat until Louisville home inventory levels return to 2005-2006 levels.

I’m sure that many real estate professionals will take exception to Glink’s observation. But the evidence is on her side. The housing market collapsed because far too many borrowers were uninformed, ill-prepared and overly optimistic about potential gain because of bad information they received and gladly embraced.

I think Ms. Singletary leaves out the integral, less complimentary reason why the market collapsed. Put simply, greed. Too many buyers bought homes they couldn’t afford to buy. This led to foreclosures, and all manner of society harm. Financial dereliction of duty.

For Singletary to try and blame the whole kit and kaboodle on real estate professionals seems to me the easy, but wrong, answer.

It should be noted that some in the mortgage business did push financial products they clearly knew their clients couldn’t afford. That is a moral deficiency as well and many of these companies are now out of business as free markets act.

Another share of blame should be shouldered by our elected officials who took pride in increasing numbers of new homeowners, touting an expansion of the American Dream, but did so at the expense of those they claimed to be serving. Enabling a family to “buy” a new house that they can not afford isn’t a good thing, it’s bad. So, when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started buying sub prime loans, it marked the beginning of the end.

Well, it’s official. Sales volume has dropped drastically across the board for the month of July, when compared to June 2010 and July 2009. See what this means for your home area.

Monthly Reports

• Area 2: Butchertown/Highlands/Germantown
  Home values continue their upward trend in this area while sales volume for July drops by half.
• Area 3: Clifton/Crescent Hill/St. Matthews
  Prices increase smartly while transactions take a dip.
• Area 6: Buechel/Highview/Okolona/Fern Creek
  Values return to normal levels as number of homes sold drops dramatically.
• Area 7: Jeffersontown/Fern Creek/Hikes Point
  Values continue their slow climb. Properties sold drop by more than half.
• Area 8: Middletown/Hurstbourne/Douglass Hills/Anchorage
  Home prices increase slightly as sales volume drops but less than overall market.
• Area 9: Prospect/Anchorage/Glenview/Lyndon
  Values finally rebound as trend turns upward. Homes sold drops by more than half.
• Area 20: Oldham County N-I71
  Both home prices and home sales drop for this area as market realizes extreme decrease in activity.
• Area 21: Oldham County S-I71
  Values move upwards as transactions tail off.