Your Zip Code and Your Auto Insurance Premium: How Where You Live Impacts How Much You Pay

If you move from the suburbs to the city, from one side of town to the other, or even a few blocks away, better check your policy at renewal time. Although several factors affect your car insurance premium, one of the hot issues in the past few years has been the relationship between your premium and your zip code.

Factors Insurance Companies Use to Determine your Premium

These are the most common factors that determine your auto insurance rates:

• Driving Record

• Number of Miles Driven

• Where You Live (zip code)

• Age of the Driver

• Type of Car Owned

• Amount of Coverage

• Credit

You may be a good, experienced driver, but when it comes to auto insurance in many states, your zip code is your identity. Just because you live in an expensive downtown loft with a secure garage doesn’t guarantee lower auto insurance rates. Insurance companies use a variety of things to determine how much the risk is on a particular policy. Where you live, who lives in your neighborhood, (families, young single people, etc.), what kind of car you drive, the amount of traffic in the neighborhood, and the number of claims within that neighborhood, are just some of the things that will determine what certain rates are in a particular zip code.

The cost of your auto insurance is also influenced by the crime rate in the area you are living. If you reside in a neighborhood where the risk of vandalism, theft and other crime is high, the rate of your auto insurance increases accordingly in many states, even if you have a spotless driving record. Where you reside makes a lot of difference. Those who live in areas where there is little or no traffic will definitely spend less on insurance premiums compared to those who live in cities and congested suburbs. Obviously, areas with a lot traffic are more prone to accidents.

Courtesy of Sue Richardson
Allen Tate Insurance

Where to recycle those un-recyclables

Guilford County residents can recycle much through the city and county recycling programs. But I often hear from people, “What about this? What do I do with yogurts cups, eyewear, packing materials, etc.?”

So in an effort to lend a hand, here is a quick initial hit list for those other items you're just not sure what to do with:

Yogurt cups and other #5 plastic: Most local recycling programs don’t seem to take #5 plastic, so what’s a struggling recycler to do? Through Preserve’s Gimme5 program, a partnership with Stoneybrook and Organic Valley, you can drop off those containers at any Whole Foods location or mail directly to Preserve. Preserve then recycles and turns into products like razors, toothbrushes and tableware.

Bottle caps: Aveda haircare has just launched their Recycle Caps program which encourages individuals and schools to take bottle caps, shampoo caps, ketchup caps or any type of threaded cap to an Aveda location and they will repurpose into new caps and containers.

Makeup containers: Through Origins, you can bring old makeup tubes, jars and bottles (any brand) to an Origins counter and they will recycle or use for energy recovery.

Eyeglasses: With over 250 million people suffering from poor vision worldwide, you can donate your old eyewear to OneSight. Search for a drop-off location such as Sunglasses Hut, or Sears Optical in your town and they’ll make sure it gets to someone in need.

Plastic Wraps: These include bread wraps, cereal liners, ziplocks, toiler paper and diaper wrapping, dry cleaning bags and produce bags. From a recent article at Simple Steps, major retailers like Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart as well as many local grocery stores have collection bins for these types of plastic bags and wraps.

Boxes: Just moved and have a mountain of boxes or are you looking for boxes? At Boxcycle, you can buy and sell used boxes in your local area. Just list your items and they take care of the rest.

Packing Peanuts: Uggh! How horrible is this when you open up the box. To help us out, the Plastic Loose Fill Council offers over 1500 drop-off sites so that these things can be reused again. Also, any Kinko’s Fed Ex, UPS Stores or other pack and ship locations are good places to recycle. Here’s also some other creative ideas on how to reuse these little buggers.

Though this may involve an additional trip, plan your drop off’s when you will be in the area and you’ll feel great about doing this, I promise. Luckily right here in Greensboro, we have an Aveda, Origins, Barnes & Noble and Sears Optical and Sunglasses Hut all in close proximity around Friendly Shopping Center.

And if you find yourself in a serious recycling emergency, check out Earth 911 and plug in your zip to find more local recycling options for all kinds of items.

By Jeanne Blaisdell
Special to goGreenTriad.com Writer

Bill expands tax credit for home buyers

GREENSBORO — U.S. Rep. Howard Coble introduced legislation Wednesday that could help the housing market maintain the momentum that has emerged from buyers in recent months.

The Greensboro Republican has offered a bill that would build upon the popular $8,000-maximum tax credit meant for first-time home buyers. Coble’s bill would extend the credit through 2010, open it to all home buyers and eliminate income-qualifying limits.

Realtors, home builders and mortgage brokers have all seen more business in recent months, in part, because the tax credit is spurring some would-be buyers to jump into the housing market.

Now, the tax credit only applies to first-time homeowners who buy homes before Dec. 1. In addition, single buyers need a modified adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less; married couples need $150,000.

Coble’s bill, known as the Home Ownership Moves the Economy Act of 2009, has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Coble was prompted to write the legislation after visiting Richard P. Martin, a High Point builder who couldn’t sell his houses. Martin suggested expanding the current tax credit law.

“My gosh,” Coble recalled thinking. “Why not just extend it another year? That would be an incentive to come near jump-starting the economy.”

Under current law, the tax credit does not have to be paid back unless the homeowner sells the house within three years of purchase.

Coble is seeking 50-75 co-sponsors for the bill. He sought advice from home builders and real estate agents, who liked the proposal, he said.

“Nobody discouraged me, so it’s having a positive run,” he said.

Eddie Potts, vice president of mortgage loans at NewBridge Bank for Forsyth County, said first-time buyers already have expressed interest in the current tax credit.

“If buyers in general knew that they were going to be reimbursed … I think that would generate a lot of excitement,” Potts said.

Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have been at record lows in recent months, spurring a lot of buyers.

But rates have been creeping up in recent weeks, worrying some in the housing industry that buying could start dropping off again. On Wednesday, the rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.79 percent, up from 5 percent just a couple of weeks ago.

Martin said enough people are not taking the bait of low rates and the current tax credit; some of his houses have sat idle for almost a year.

Martin started writing Coble in the winter and expressed his concerns about the housing market while showing the congressman his vacant CastleRidge property off Trafalgar Drive about a month ago.

Coble said that the economy thrives when the real estate market thrives. Martin agrees.

“Right now, we’re having a problem selling homes,” Martin said. “And I think he’s trying to get something done in Washington that will affect our community directly.”

He said the housing industry affects so many other businesses, that it cannot afford to slump any longer.

Martin likened what the economy and the housing industry are to a car and its weak battery.

“It’s not that the battery is dead, it just needs a jump start,” he said.

“Once it gets started, it’ll take care of itself.”

Friday, June 12, 2009

By Dioni L. Wise
Staff Writer
News & Record

Plastic Solar Film

Solar technology is advancing rapidly. Although solar panels are still popular, new technology is likely to encourage more people to utilize green energy sources. Solar panels may shortly be replaced by solar film which is much less expensive, flexible, and has been shown to be more effective under different weather conditions. The film is not important but instead it is the ink that converts sunshine into energy. This ink is then merely printed onto the plastic film.


There are many solar advances that have taken place but to view this particular solar film shown printing above, go to www.konarka.com

Swimming Pools: Things to Consider

Do you have a pool, or are you thinking of putting one in your backyard? Whether you have a luxury in-ground pool, or plan to blow up the simplest of inflatable above-ground pools, it is important to consider the insurance and safety implications.

Swimming pools have been steadily rising in popularity, with more than 8.3 million households owning an in-ground or above-ground pool- up almost 10 percent since 2002,according to an annual report by the Association of Pool and Spa professions.

"All pools- from a simple kiddy pool to an aquatic extravaganza- can be dangerous and need to be properly insured and comply with local safety standards," said Jeanne M. Salvatore, senior vice president and consumer spokesperson for the I.I.I (Insurance Information Institute)

According to a May 2009 report posted at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's Web Site, 886 children aged five and younger died after drowning in either a pool or spa between 2004 and 2006. The report also shows that the majority of these deaths and injuries occurred in residential settings (79 percent)and that the parents or caretakers lost contact or knowlege of the wherabouts of the children involved (46 percent) before the child managed to access the pool or spa. Fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children ages 1 to 14 years; for every child who dies from drowning, five receiveemergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries.

When considering a pool:

Contact your town or municipality
Each town will have its own definition of a "pool," often based on its size and water depth. If the pool you are planning to buy mets the definition, then you must comply with local safety standards andbuilding codes. This may include installing a fence of a certain size, locks, decks and pool safety equipment.

Call your insurance agent or company representative
Let your insurance company know that you have a pool, since it will increase your liability risk. Pools are considered an "attractive nuisance" and it may be advisable to purchase additional liability insurance. Most homeowners policies include a minimum of $100,000 worth of liability protection. Pool owners, however, may want to consider increasingtheamountto $300,000 or $500,000.

You may also want to talk to your agent or company representative about purchasing an umbrella liability policy. For an additional premium of about $200 to $300 a year, you can get $1 million of liability protection over and above what you have on your home. This would also provide added liability protection when you drive.

If the pool itself is expensive, you should also have enough insurance protection to replace it in the event it is destroyed by a storm or other disaster.


Information provided by:

Sue Richardson
Allen Tate Insurance

More Tax Credits Available for First-Time Buyers

Most potential home buyers know about the widely publicized $8,000 federal tax credit for first-home purchases in 2009. What many don't know is that they also might qualify for the NC Housing Finance Agency's Mortgage Credit Certificate program, which provides an annual tax credit of up to $2,000 for as long as they own the home.

Find more information at: http://www.homes4nc.org/MCCFlyer.pdf

Homeownership Still Pays

Home-equity snapshots paint a bright picture.

By Robert Freedman | June 2009

Many Americans have taken a hit to their home equity over the past couple of years, and some may wonder if it’s really the smartest financial decision to own a home. Good news—a recent analysis of Federal Reserve data by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® shows the answer is yes.

In comparison with renters, home owners have much greater household wealth, says NAR’s April commentary on the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances. Owners’ wealth exceeds that of renters by a factor of 50-to-1: a median of $205,200 versus a median of $4,200. The main wealth difference between the two is home equity, of course. No news there. But even for households who’ve owned their home only since 2003, home equity gains are the rule rather than the exception—and in some cases, equity gains have been significant. Households who bought five years ago in Honolulu, for instance, already average nearly $272,000 in equity. In Northern California (San Francisco and Oakland), the comparable figure is $105,000.

Times are tougher for home owners in a handful of economically struggling markets like Detroit and other parts of the industrial Midwest. Households in these areas who’ve owned their home for five years or less are facing negative equity, although typically not a lot. Hardest hit are households in Detroit who have been owners only since 2003; they’re underwater by a typical $39,000. That’s significant. But in other markets where equity is negative, the numbers tend to be much smaller—$1,000 in Indianapolis, for example.

Yet the doom and gloom ends there. In all 150 markets tracked by NAR, including hard-hit markets, households who’ve owned their home for 10, 15, and 20 years have uniformly enjoyed strong equity gains despite the recent downturn. In Honolulu, 20-year owners have accumulated $485,000 in equity; in Northern California, the comparable figure is $481,000.

Even markets in the hard-hit industrial Midwest are holding up well. In Detroit, equity for 10-year owners is more than $10,000; that figure jumps to $60,000 for 15-year owners and to $78,000 for 20-year owners. In Indianapolis, the 10-, 15-, and 20-year equity gains are $19,000, $47,000, and $68,000, respectively.

The data clearly show that homeownership remains the biggest store of wealth for the typical household, even when markets are buffeted by some admittedly very rocky years.

Apple Welcomed to North Carolina

Apple has selected North Carolina as the location for a new data center. The company is expected to invest more than $1 billion in the project over nine years.

"North Carolina continues to be a prime location for growing and expanding global technology companies," said Gov. Perdue. "We welcome Apple to North Carolina and look forward to working with the company as it begins providing a significant economic boost to local communities and the state."

The facility is expected to employ at least 50 full-time employees. The legislation requires that the average wage exceed the wage standard of the county in which it's located. A data center such as this will typically contract locally for services such as server maintenance and repair, building and HVAC maintenance, landscaping and security- expenditures that could range from $5 million to $6million annually in the region and create up to 250 jobs. The North Carolina Department of Commerce projects that a data center investment of $1 billion would create more than 3,000 jobs in the regional economy,including hundreds of jobs related to construction and others created as a result of economic growth.


Source: Office of the Governor

Pending Home Sales Up for Three Months in a Row

WASHINGTON, June 02, 2009

Record low mortgage interest rates boosted pending home sales for the third consecutive month, with some benefit now from the first-time buyer tax credit, according to the National Association of Realtors^®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,¹ a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in April, rose 6.7 percent to 90.3 from a reading of 84.6 in March, and is 3.2 percent above April 2008 when it was 87.5.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said buyers are responding to very favorable market conditions. “Housing affordability conditions have been at historic highs, but now the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit is beginning to impact the market,” he said. “Since first-time buyers must finalize their purchase by November 30 to get the credit, we expect greater activity in the months ahead, and that should spark more sales by repeat buyers.”

source: National Association of REALTORS