New Orleans and the state of Louisiana as a whole are among the most stable housing markets in the U.S. according to a recent report by mortgage giant Freddie Mac, the Washington Post reported Monday.

Freddie Mac rates housing markets on metro and state levels for stability over the long haul using home purchase data, mortgage payments and employment numbers, the newspaper reported. Louisiana was among only 10 states reportedly stable, while New Orleans was among only four of 50 metro areas, the newspaper found.

Read the Washington Post story here. See the full Freddie Mac report — which found that many housing markets are stalling — here.

Find more details about home prices in New Orleans here.

Sellers’ Pre-Listing Inspections

• It allows you to see your home through the eyes of a critical and neutral third party.
• It alerts you to immediate safety issues before agents and visitors tour your home.
• It may alert you to items of immediate concern, such as radon gas or active termite infestation.  It permits you to make repairs ahead of time so that …
• Defects won’t become negotiating stumbling blocks later.
• There is no delay in obtaining the Use and Occupancy Permit.
• You have the time to get reasonably priced contractors or make the repairs yourself, if qualified.
• It helps you to price your home realistically.
• It may relieve prospects’ concerns and suspicions.
• It may encourage the buyer to waive his inspection contingency.
• It reduces your liability by adding professional supporting documentation to your disclosure statement.

From Sellers’ Pre-Listing Inspections – InterNACHI http://www.nachi.org/sellersinspection.htm#ixzz32BNdIv9F

According to EnergyStar.gov – a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy – the typical household spends $2,100 each year to heat, cool, and illuminate their homes. But reducing energy bills doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive.

Up to half of the energy used in your home goes to heating and cooling. By making some smart changes in your energy usage, you can have a big impact on your utility bills.

• Skip pre-rinsing dishes. It’s good to scrape food off before putting dishes in the dishwasher, but there’s no need to rinse them. You’ll save up to 6,500 gallons of water per year.
• Replace furnace air filters often. A dirty air filter can make your furnace work harder and use more energy. Replace the filter every two to three months.
• Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). CFLs can last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs and use 75% less energy. LED bulbs are mercury-free and may last three to five times as long as CFLs.
• Insulate water heaters and pipes. Covering your water heater with an insulated water heater blanket can help retain heat, so the unit uses less energy to heat hot water. Foam or rubber pipe insulation keeps cold pipes from sweating in the summer and reduces heat loss from hot-water flow in the winter.
• Seal doors and windows. Install door sweeps at the bottom of your front and back doors to keep heat from escaping. Remove old window caulk and apply a fresh seal to retain heat in your home.
• Clean air ducts. Keep your air ducts clean to improve air flow and reduce stress on your furnace and central air conditioner.
• Upgrade your thermostat. A programmable thermostat can save you over $100 a year on your energy bill.
• Install low-flow toilets and showerheads. Toilets consume up to 40% of a home’s average water use. Using low-flow toilets can save more than 9,000 gallons of water a year. A low-flow showerhead only uses 1.5 gallons per minute while most conventional showerheads use 5 gallons per minute.
• Install ceiling fans. For summer use, ceiling fans can cool a room more efficiently than an air conditioner. For winter use, most ceiling fans have a reverse switch so that their blades force heated air down from the ceiling.
• Hire a professional energy auditor. Using a blower door or infrared photography, a trained auditor can assess where your home is leaking energy. Some utilities even offer free audits.
• Plant deciduous shade trees near the house. Leafy trees on the west and southwest sides of a house can keep your home cooler in the summer.
• Replace leaky windows. Replace single-glazed windows with low thermal emissivity (Low-E) windows to reduce heat transfer and keep your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
• Insulate walls and attic. Heat escapes through the walls and attic of homes. Blown-in foam insulation can be a very cost-effective way to seal walls, with minimal structural intrusion. Replacing old attic insulation with fresh fiberglass cover can reduce your heating bills.
• Purchase ENERGY STAR appliances. Refrigerators, televisions, stoves, washers, dryers, dishwashers, and air conditioners with this designation can save you a significant amount each month in energy bills. Start by replacing your oldest, least-efficient appliances first, before they have a major problem.
• Install solar panels. Solar panels, which can be used to heat hot water or generate electricity, can save money on your energy bills over the long run, lower your fossil fuel usage, and may qualify for tax incentives.

The information in this article was obtained from various sources. While we believe it to be reliable and accurate, we do not warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information. These suggestions are not a complete list of every loss control measure. The information is not intended to replace manuals or instructions provided by the manufacturer or the advice of a qualified professional. Nor is it intended to effect coverage under any policy. State Farm makes no guarantee of the results from use of this information. We assume no liability in connection with the information nor the suggestions made.

– See more at: http://learningcenter.statefarm.com/residence/maintenance/15-ways-to-make-your-home-more-energy-efficient/#sthash.AJVXuVAY.dpuf

Three years ago, when my husband and I first moved to our current home in Lafayette, Indiana, we got a pretty rude wake-up call about how emotions can make the process of buying a home even more costly. (See also: Your Finances: 4 Emotional Decisions to Avoid)

At the time that we moved, we were in contract on a house that we had really fallen in love with. I also happened to be seven months pregnant at the time, and we were anxious to close on the house and get settled before the baby arrived. Unfortunately, the detached garage was years overdue for a new roof, and the roof on the house itself was also in need of replacement.

Since we were already in contract at that point, the sellers’ agent decided to start playing hardball. Knowing we loved the house and that we had an immovable time constraint, she advised the sellers to refuse to fix the garage roof at all and to only pay for re-shingling the house roof, despite the fact that it was past due for a full replacement. We were in the unenviable position of having to decide if we wanted the house badly enough to accept their terms.

Thankfully, even though we had already started envisioning ourselves living in that house, we felt so uncomfortable with the agent’s tactics and the state of the roofs that we were able to do a real cost-benefit analysis and decide the house wasn’t worth it.

For many home buyers, however, logic can sometimes take a backseat when making such a big decision. Not only can your emotions get the best of you, but agents and sellers can play on those emotions to lead you into a costly mistake. Here are some of the common emotional mistakes new home buyers can make, and how to avoid them.

1. Falling in Love at First Sight

Often, this particular emotional speed bump is only described as problematic if you’re looking at houses outside of your price range. And while that certainly can be an issue (particularly if you’re looking for a mixed-use property where you can start your ghostbusting business), even falling in love with a home you can easily afford can still be an issue.

Anytime you let yourself get carried away with visions of living happily in a particular home, you leave yourself vulnerable to making a big mistake. That’s because you’re more likely to fall into the confirmation bias — a cognitive bias wherein you look for information that reaffirms your belief in the soundness of your choice and discount any information that suggests otherwise. You are so enamored of the granite counter tops and spacious sun room that you ignore the fact that your new home is in a lousy school district or has mold in the basement.

Confirmation bias was part of our problem with the home we were in contract on. We knew that there were several downsides to the house — not including the roof issue — that we had basically ignored. On reflection, we realized that a homeowner who does not take good care of a basic home structure might also neglect other aspects of home maintenance that hadn’t been revealed by the inspection — a fact that we simply disregarded when we were still in love with the house. (See also: How We Brainwash Ourselves Into Brand Loyalty)

Our situation made it abundantly clear that every home buyer needs to be willing to walk away from a sale, no matter how gorgeous the hardwood floors are. Allowing your love for a house to overcome your logic could really hurt your finances.

2. Not Seeing Past the “Trappings” of the House

When you first walk through the front door of a house for sale, it can be easy to be seduced by all the positives that the seller and agent are playing up. This is something like going on a first date with a house. The house is all dressed up and ready to impress — and it would be ridiculous to propose marriage (that is, make an offer) right on the spot.

Seeing past all the positive attributes can be even harder considering the fact that many sellers and agents are savvy enough to manipulate the atmosphere to make the house feel like your home: having the lingering scent of chocolate-chip cookies in the air (and a plateful waiting for you in the kitchen), removing family pictures and other personalized touches that might make it more difficult for you to imagine yourself in the house, and playing soothing and welcoming music. (See also: 6 Cheap Ways to Stage Your Home in a Buyer’s Market)

But as much as the home staging can show off the house in its best light, it’s a mistake to overlook all the possible downsides of the home. Having a house be a good home is about a lot more than cookies, closet space, and well-appointed kitchens. Don’t forget to think about what work the house needs, how livable the house would be for your family, and whether the neighborhood truly meets your needs.

3. Looking for Perfection

While some buyers can fall for the vaulted ceilings in a house whose neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone, other buyers can fall into the opposite trap — wanting their home to fulfill any and every expectation they have ever had for an abode.

These types of home buyers are what Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice, describes as “maximizers.” Maximizers are absolutely certain that there is a perfect house out there for them, and they will not be satisfied until they find the house that meets all of their requirements.

Not only will looking for perfection in this way make your home buying experience prolonged and frustrating, but it also opens you up to overspending. Once you do find a house that fits your criteria, you will feel justified in spending any amount of money in order to make it yours.

But there is no such thing as a perfect house, and even once you’ve found “perfection,” you’ll find aspects of the house you don’t like, and you’ll resent the amount of money you’ve spent.

A better way to view the home buying process is to be satisfied with a house that meets about five criteria that you deem to be most important. Not only will that open up your options, but it won’t set you up for disappointment.

4. Overestimating Your Ability to Perform Home Improvements

My husband and I are old house aficionados. We both grew up watching “This Old House” on weekends and have become the sort of tourists who drive around old neighborhoods to check out the architecture.

Because of that, we tend to fall for old houses when we’re in the market to buy. The problem, of course, is that our price ranges run to the “fixer-upper” end of the old house spectrum. Thankfully, my husband is an engineer and actually knows how to fix many things. (I excel at supervising him.) If it were up to me, however, I would not be able to afford even the inexpensive old houses we’re drawn to, since I simply do not have the handy-woman skills (or inclination) to handle repairs and improvements. (See also: DIY Home Improvement: 10 Free Options for Training and Advice)

After years of watching Bob Vila and Norm Abram, not to mention all those successful property flippers on TV, many of us may feel more confident in our abilities to handle home repairs and maintenance than we should. This is actually a symptom of the cognitive bias known as the overconfidence effect. Basically, we overestimate our ability to handle tasks.

Anyone who has ever gotten hip-deep in a home improvement project before realizing it’s beyond their abilities (like me, for example) can tell you that having to call in professionals at that point makes your project far more expensive than it would have been had you simply called in the pros from the beginning.

Basically, if you are tempted by a house that will require you to strap on the tool belt as of day one, stop and think about whether you already own a tool belt. If you have to buy one for the occasion (or locate and dust off the one your father-in-law gave you several years ago), then you should probably step away from the home purchase. Know your limitations.

Avoiding Emotional Decisions

While emotions should certainly be a part of your home-buying decision process, it should not be what is driving your purchase. You will have to live with your decision for years, and you’ll be much better off without indulging your emotional side and ignoring the rational reasons why a particular house might end up being more headache than dream home.

Did emotions influence your home — or any other — purchase?

Home’s can take a bad hit during the winter, particularly after this year’s harsh winter. Seasonal damage to a home isn’t always easily visible, but if it’s not repaired, spring and summer storms can add to the problems, says Paul Sullivan, National Association of Home Builder’s Remodelers chair.

NAHB provides home owners with the following 10 tips for preparing a home for the warmer months ahead:

1. Inspect the roof. Roofs should be checked for any loose, warped, or missing shingles. Also, home owners should check the chimney flashing and skylight seals are intact.

2. Clean and repair gutters. Home owners should clear winter storm debris from gutters and downspouts. Also, they should doublecheck that they are still securely attached to the house. Blocked or loose gutters can allow water to seep into your home and damage the trim, according to NAHB.

3. Check for any leaks. The most common culprits for “hidden” leaks: Attics, crawl spaces, and washing machine hoses. Also, look under sinks for damage from frozen pipes, and check your water heater for signs of corrosion.

4. Clear exterior drains. Remove any leaves from underground or exterior drains to prevent any backups from rain and storms.

5. Inspect siding. Inspect siding for pieces that may have come loose during winter storms.

6. Check window and door seals. Examine the exterior caulking on door and window seals to ensure it remains watertight.

7. Patch cracks. Patch cracks in concrete driveways, sidewalks, and steps to keep water out and prevent further expansion.

8. Paint the exterior. This is a good time to paint or touch up the paint on the exterior to help protect it from the weather.

9. Inspect the HVAC. Hire a qualified technician to service the home’s HVAC system to make sure it is running properly. Also, this is a good time for home owners to replace their HVAC filters.

10. Check the home’s grading. Ensure the grading of the yard slopes away from the home’s foundation to keep excess moisture at bay.