Blog - Michael Inkman

6 Essential Spring Cleaning Chores to Make Your Home Shine

April 12, 2013 by Michael Inkman Leave a Comment

Spring Cleaning Tips For April 2013 If the thought of cleaning your Austin home this spring doesn’t bring a smile to your face, you’re not alone.

To help you get going now, here is a short list of the 6 essential spring-cleaning chores.

1. Store winter clothes.

It’s time to pack away your winter clothes.

Coats, sweaters, and bulkier clothing need to be inspected, cleaned and packed away.

Store your clothes somewhere clean, cool, dark and dry.

2. Wash window treatments.

You’ll be surprised at the huge amount of dirt and grime that a thorough window cleaning removes.

Wash blinds, launder curtains that are machine washable and send drapes to the dry cleaners.

While you’re at it, dust the window casing, wash your windowsills and clean any window hardware.

3. Clean carpets and upholstery.

You need to deep clean your fabrics that have absorbed a winter’s worth of dust and germs.

Shampoo your carpets and clean cloth furniture.

Open windows to speed the drying process, which can take a day or more.

4. Wash woodwork, walls, baseboards and cabinets.

Even if the walls of your home don’t look like they need cleaning, they do.

Just enough dust clings to vertical surfaces to warrant a seasonal bath.

Using a sponge and dish-washing soap, wash the surface in sections to make sure you don’t miss a spot.

5. Clean light and ceiling fixtures.

To clean your light fixtures, remove the light bulb and fixture if possible.

Wash the glass fixtures in soap and water. Wipe the light bulbs with a rag.

If the fixture cannot be removed from the ceiling, use a damp cloth to wipe it off and then dry the fixtures.

The easiest way to clean your ceiling fans is to use a vacuum with a soft nozzle attachment.

6. Check your coils.

Caked-on dust can cause your refrigerator to overheat, so take the time to clean the condenser coil.

It’s usually found behind the toe grille.

Clean it with a long-handled bottle brush and a vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment.

Put on your favorite music and start your spring cleaning today. It’ll be done before you know it.

Then you can relax and enjoy your sparkling clean home.

If you’re getting ready to sell your home and need more cleaning tips to help smooth the sales process, call your favorite licensed real estate professional today!

Fed Meeting Minutes Reveal Rising Wealth Among Homeowners

April 11, 2013 by Michael Inkman Leave a Comment

The minutes for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting held March 19 and 20 were released on Wednesday April 10, 2013.

These periodic meetings by the FOMC cover a wide ranging group of topics that impact the overall economy in the United States.

The decisions made and acted upon from the FOMC meetings often sway the real estate and residential financing markets.

Some highlights of the recent FOMC minutes for the March meeting include:

Jobs and Unemployment Gaining Steam

The unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent in February.

While lower than the average unemployment rate for Q4 2012, the rates of long-term unemployment and part-time employment for economic reasons saw little change, and both measures remained high.

This suggests that the economy is improving in some areas, while others including employment are not so quick to recover.

Housing Markets Looking Robust

U.S. housing markets continued to improve during the inter meeting period, but construction of new housing faced obstacles including tighter credit and in some areas a lack of available building space.

While housing prices are improving, employment rates and wages will also need to expand for consumers to keep pace with rising home prices.

Some of the Fed Meeting participants continued to be very positive about the prospects of the real estate sector noting rising home prices and demand.

At the same time, an overall tone of restraint and caution was expressed regarding the continuing purchase of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS).

Any slowing in the Fed’s commitment to their previous levels of MBS purchases may create upward pressure on Dallas home mortgage interest rates.

Personal Finances and Consumer Confidence

Household expenditures rose modestly during January and retail sales, excluding auto sector, increased at a strong pace in February. Sales of light autos also rose.

Household wealth also increased for homeowners due to increases in home values, which is good news for current homeowners and may be an incentive for new home buyers to move forward and purchase real estate.

Recovering Economy Leads Toward Government Spending Pull Back

The FOMC minutes suggest that the Fed is not likely to end its quantitative easing (QE) program immediately, but the first quarter of 2014 was cited as a potential date for the program to end.

Gradual decreases in the Fed’s purchases of bonds and mortgage backed securities are expected before QE ends, and this could cause mortgage rates to rise as MBS prices fall.

Federal Jobs Report Shows Biggest Increase Since 2008

April 10, 2013 by Michael Inkman Leave a Comment

Federal Jobs Report Shows Robust Job Growth April 2013 The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued its Job Openings and Labor Turnover report for February on Tuesday, June 9th, 2013.

The data was mixed with preliminary figures for all non-farm jobs increasing from 3.62 million jobs in January to 3.93 million jobs in February.

This was the highest month-to- month increase in jobs since May 2008.

Non-farm jobs increased by 399,000 jobs from 3.53 million in February 2012 to 3.93 million jobs in February 2013, an increase of 10.2 percent year-over-year.

More Jobs Means More Opportunities For Home Ownership

More jobs generally means higher incomes and stability which enable more families to buy homes and qualify for mortgage loans.

Hires between January and February 2013 rose from 4.30 million to 4.43 million hires, an increase of 2.70 percent.

Hires between February 2012 and February 2013 fell from 44.9 million to 44.2 million, a decrease of 1.6 percent.

Total non-farm job separations changed little month to month, and remained exactly the same year-over-year at 4.20 million separations.

Numbers of hires and separations surpass job numbers due to workers being hired on and/or separated from more than one job during the reporting period.

Regional Non-Farm Employment Shows Job Growth

Northeast: Non-farm jobs fell from 688,000 jobs in January 2013 to 647,000 jobs in February 2013, but increased year-over-year from 589,000 jobs to 647,000 jobs.

South: Non-farm Jobs fell from 1.56 million jobs in January 2013 to 1.50 million jobs in February 2013. Jobs increased year-over-year from 1.34 million jobs in February 2012 to 1.47 million jobs in February 2013.

Midwest: Non-farm jobs grew from 712,000 in January 2013 to 780,000 jobs in February 2013 and increased from 740,000 jobs to 780,000 from February 2012 to February 2013.

West: Non-farm jobs increased from 806,000 to 830,000 between January and February 2013; on a year-over-year basis, jobs showed noteworthy growth from 650,000 jobs to 830,000 jobs between February 2012 and February 2013.

It’s A Great Time To Buy Or Refinance A Home

Improving labor data indicates that the economy is on the mend, but this could cause mortgage rates and home prices to rise as the economy expands.

A gradual economic recovery suggests that home buyers and others seeking lower mortgage rates and refinancing can still find favorable mortgage terms.

But it would likely be best to take advantage of the still historic home purchase and financing opportunities that are available today.

Contact your trusted, licensed real estate or mortgage professional today to learn how the growing economy can benefit your family as well.

Lee Vanvolkenburg

15:43 23 Nov 23

Michael and his team were wonderful to deal with. They were excellent with communication and always available to answer questions. Thank you all!

williams lovos

22:54 16 Nov 23

We close on the house tomorrow! Thank you David and Michael for making my first home buying a smooth process. I had several out of the ordinary situations that would had easily not been possible to get the loan in the time that they were able to approve it. My wife and I are forever grateful for the work the team did. Thank you again!

Mario Silvestri III

16:45 16 Nov 23

Rex Perkins

16:56 15 Nov 23

Everything had been going well over the past two years since refinancing an existing mortgage. The application process, approval, servicing website, everything had been very smooth, nothing but the best service. I then had a minor issue arise. We had a wind loss claim on our home and, unfortunately, I had put off getting the check cosigned until the last minute. An issue arose as part of a minor miscommunication in terms of where the check was to be forwarded for endorsement.To make a long story short, I feared that this miscommunication and misdirected check coupled with my procrastination were going to result in the check expiring and a huge hassle on my part to go through the process again. Mr. Inkman nor his branch were in any way involved with my account or account management, yet, the check inadvertently ended up in their draft loss department and I feared this would further delay things. I was a bit frantic.One of those that I emailed was Mr. Inkman. In an era when customer service is not as valued as in the past, I was very skeptical I would meet the deadline. But, to my surprise, Mr. Inkman took it on his own to personally get things done and get the issue resolved. It appears that he tracked down the overnighted check personally, directed it for signature, packaged and overnighted the check back to me. All the while remaining professional and pleasant and providing consistent email updates on the status. It doesn't even look like he delegated, rather taking the initiative and seeing it through on his own.To me, that's not just doing a job, that's going above and beyond in terms of leadership, professionalism, and customer service. We could not be more happy. And, as a further sign of good will, the Fairway CEO actually emailed me personally to follow-up and assure resolution. Been very happy with Fairway since my refinance, Mr. Inkman's efforts only further reinforce that opinion.

Samer Fallouh

15:01 15 Nov 23

Debbie Salas

21:47 03 Oct 23

This transaction probably would not have happened without Michael. Whenever we hit a stumbling block, he found a way around it! He kept us informed and was a positive light all the way through to the end and beyond.Thanks

Eric Kieffer

22:46 16 Aug 23

Did business with Michael about 20 years ago and he was happy to help us again. He and his team did a great job. See you in another 20.

6 Essential Spring Cleaning Chores to Make Your Home Shine

Fed Meeting Minutes Reveal Rising Wealth Among Homeowners

Federal Jobs Report Shows Biggest Increase Since 2008

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