HUD Explains How Builders Are Focusing on the Resilience of Homes

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HUD, which stands for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, has published several guides to direct home builders on how to add resilience to the homes they build. The guides are called Designing for Natural Hazards: A Resilience Guide for Builders & Developers.

This is a big issue for the United States, as it is reported that the country spends billions each year on helping communities after natural disasters. Having builders use the tools and tricks in the guide will help reduce the cost of helping those who have been impacted by wildfires, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, blizzards and other natural disasters.

There are five different volumes for builders which include:
Designing for Natural Hazards Series Volume 1: Wind
Designing for Natural Hazards Series Volume 2: Water
Designing for Natural Hazards Series Volume 3: Fire
Designing for Natural Hazards Series Volume 4: Earth
Designing for Natural Hazards Series Volume 5: Auxiliary

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Certain Home Investments Will Save Homeowner’s Money

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Small investments can make a difference in the long run as well as some big ones. There are incentives out there if you go green under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Here are some home investments that will help save you money in the long run.

Warm up to the Idea of a Heat Pump

A heat pump will move heat from one place to another so therefore it uses less energy. A heat pump will also keep your home warmer than a conventional electric or gas system. This is one of the systems that you can get a tax credit on with the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Inflation Reduction Act gives tax credits and point-of-sales rebates. So if you get a high-efficiency HVAC, you could end up saving thousands of dollars. You can get a tax credit of up to 30% of the cost of the heat pump and up to $2,000 back for installation. A new point-of-sale rebate can give you up to 150% of the area you live in median income. It does have a $14.000 cap and only applies to heat pumps, heat pump water heaters and heat pump clothes dryers.

Get New Windows and Doors

If you have good insulated windows and doors, you will keep the heat in during the winter and the cold in during the summer. This will allow your heating and cooling systems to take a bit of a break.

The tax incentives that apply to this is great also. You can earn an energy tax credit of 30% of the cost of new windows (with a cap of $600). For doors, it is a tax credit of $250 per door for up to two doors.

Insulate Your Attic

If you have a drafty home, this could be because you have poor insulation in your attic. Insulating your attic can cut down on your heating and cooling bills. This can be solved by insulating the upper trusses which puts a barrier that will help the air that enters or escapes through the vents.

Get Smart

Smart thermostats can save you money big time. They will turn your heat and a/c on and off to maintain a certain temperature. They are perfect because you do not have to sacrifice your comfort in order to save on your heating/cooling bill. If you are at work M-F, you can set your temp a little higher in the summer and cooler in the winter. It can also be controlled by your smartphone.

Go Tankless

The last tip is to get rid of your hot water heater and replace it. Energy.gov reports that a home that uses 41 gallons or less of hot water per day, can save up to 34% in energy consumption if they go tankless. Tankless hot water heaters will provide hot water on a needed basis. This way there is no standby energy that is lost like in traditional hot water heaters.

Remember making repairs or replacing old systems is a good step in the right direction of energy savings and money savings. There are tons of incentives out there so now is the time to start the projects!

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The 2-Step Rule to Buying a Home

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Purchasing a home is a big step in anyone’s life, especially a first time homebuyer. The high mortgage rates and the up and down housing market is not helping. Rachel Cruze, a personal finance expert says the two-step rule is what you need to use to be a successful home buyer.

She says the first step is to get rid of all of your debt. Once this is accomplished, you need to have a savings built up of up to three to six months in case of an emergency.

“My husband and I followed the formula. I know that’s really hard for a lot of people because of student loans, and the obvious debt that the average American racks up. But when you have no debts and your income is all yours….it puts you in a completely different spot financially,” says Cruze.

It can be a challenge to get out of debt and then build an emergency fund on top of that. This can take time, but it still needs to be done before you decide to buy a home. Most Americans have some sort of debt, in fact, 35% have credit card debt according to a Bankrate survey done in January 2023. A whopping 43.5 million have federal student loans and 51% say they have not purchased a home due to their student debt.

A trick to accomplish this is called cash sfuffing which means you spend only money that you have in cash. “That means you start your budget with whatever your paycheck number is, and you give every dollar a place to go, down to zero,” explains Jasmine Taylor who used the strategy to pay off debt.

Many who are in the market to purchase a home, have enough of a struggle in saving for the down payment. According to the National Association of Realtors, 29% of first-time homebuyers say saving for the downpayment is the most challenging part of the homebuying process.

“When you own a home, you know very quickly that it’s really expensive,” says Cruze. “It’s everything from washers and dryers to heating and air. I mean, we had two ice machines that went out….. We got the bill and I was like, What? For an ice machine? That’s how much it costs?”

“It takes a level of maturity just to look at the facts and say, OK, regardless of how I feel, regardless of how frustrated and annoyed I am, here is where we are financially and here are the numbers that have to work for us. It may not be the home that you could have gotten four years ago, but this is the home you can have today,” says Cruze.

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