Apple wants to help curtail distracted driving, which is what’s behind its latest feature that will block texts and other news alerts while you’re driving. The “Do Not Disturb While Driving” feature will be added to iPhones this fall as part of Apple’s iOS 11, the latest version of operating software for the company's mobile devices. Users can choose to disable the feature.Here’s how it works: When your phone is connected to a car u
Home buyers were in a rush to lock in low mortgage rates last week, sending total mortgage application volume soaring 7.1 percent, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.“Purchase application volume increased to its highest level since May 2010,” says Joel Kan, an MBA economist. “Refinance activity bumped up as well in response to moderating rates, but remained generally subdued.”Home purchase applications skyrocketed 10 perc
Home equity is an important part of the assets that families depend on later in life—in fact, it is one of the top two assets that households rely on in retirement, outside of a pension or Social Security benefits, according to a new report titled, “Importance of Individual Account Retirement Plans and Home Equity in Family Total Wealth.”Researchers at the Employee Benefit Research Institute compared assets in households headed by those bet
Government-sponsored financing giant Fannie Mae will ease its requirements next month, raising its debt-to-income ceiling from 45 percent to 50 percent on July 29. The move could pave the way for a larger number of new buyers to qualify for a mortgage, particularly millennials who may be saddled with student loan debt.The debt-to-income ratio compares a person’s gross monthly income with his or her monthly payment on all debt accounts, includin
Many retirees are preferring to keep a mortgage, even if they have the means to pay it off. They say they want to take advantage of low mortgage rates and tax rates and free up their savings for other uses, The New York Times reports.But without a full-time job, are they able to still qualify for a home loan? Banks say they are still willing to lend to retirees, as long as they have regular monthly income coming in, like a pension and Social Secu
There’s a reason utility bills feel like they’re taking a bigger bite out of households’ budgets. On average, utility costs—electricity natural gas, water, and sewer—add 25 percent to monthly housing costs for homeowners and 21 percent to housing costs for renters, according to a newly released white paper by ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm, and UtilityScore, a software provider for solar and other home improvement compan
More than two-thirds of Americans believe that owning a home is an essential part of the American dream, according to a new survey released by the National Association of Home Builders of more than 11,300 registered voters.“Americans continue to place a high priority on homeownership and work hard to achieve this goal for their families,” says NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald.Other recent surveys also have shown a high desire for homeownership
If you want to generate more online search traffic for your business, surveys are increasingly showing the number one tactic you need to focus more on: blogging.“It’s not necessarily the most popular tactic among small businesses,” writes Forbes columnist Brian Sutter, in referencing the WASP Barcode 2017 “State of Small Business Report.”Indeed, according to the 2017 Small Business Survey, the most effective means to garner more search
"Hallelujah" is a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, originally released on his album Various Positions (1984). Achieving little initial success, the song found greater popular acclaim through a recording by John Cale, which inspired a recording by Jeff Buckley.Following its increased popularity after being featured in the film Shrek (2001), many other arrangements have been performed by many and various singers, both in recordings a
Homes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are most in danger of damage from storms and hurricanes, but the risk spreads beyond typically affected states such as Florida and Louisiana, according to real estate data company CoreLogic.Nearly 6.9 million homes are at risk from hurricane storm surge damage, which carries a potential reconstruction value of more than $1.5 trillion, CoreLogic says in its 2017 Storm Surge Risk Report. A weaker-category hu
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