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If you plan to lead a conventional life, odds are you will need insurance. Youll need health insurance, car insurance, and eventually home insurance. The latter is often the most perplexing since we have no prior experience with it as we do with health insurance.

What exactly is home insurance and how bullet-proof is your coverage? For starters, home insurance, in theory, provides you with financial protection against disasters. These disasters can involve your home, the contents of your home, or any liabilities within your property that could lead to a lawsuitlike when your dog bites the pizza delivery guy.

However, home insurance doesnt mean your homes invincible. Unless youve purchased specialized insurance, it cant protect you against floods, nuclear war, earthquakes, or poor maintenance. Dont slack off with your homes upkeep”negligence does not go over well in insurance court.

The most common scenario with homeowners insurance, however, involves receiving some sort of compensation for damage to your property and its contents. For when the time comes, it is important to know how compensation is calculated. The insurance company will either pay for the repair, or you can get cash value. However, while you might have paid $500 for your grill, the insurance company will pay you back whatever the grill is currently worth, usually a lesser value.

Homeowners insurance is an expense you cant avoid. And while it might feel daunting at first, theres comfort in knowing that youre protected against most calamities.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Keeping eyeglasses clean, sanitized and free of scratches may seem simple enough.

With this cleaning method, you can ensure clean, scratch-free and smudge-free results.

Lightly rinse your lenses in lukewarm water to remove dust or debris that can cause scratches when wiped dry.

For lenses with a coating, use eyeglass cleaner spray.

Dry your glasses with a soft, microfiber towel or a cloth specifically made for your glasses.

With a disinfecting wipe, wipe down all the nooks and crannies, like nose pads, ear clips and even the hinges, as they can collect hair, dust and sweat.

For a scratch-free clean, avoid acetone products.

Don’t dry or wipe glasses with a paper towel, tissues or your t-shirt.

Using the wrong products to clean your eyeglasses can result in damage.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

If you need financing to buy a house, one option you might consider is a balloon mortgage. It offers lower interest rates and monthly payments than some other types of loans, but it’s important to understand the terms and consider your future plans to decide if it makes sense for you.

How It Works

With a balloon mortgage, you make relatively low payments for a period of time, typically five or seven years. At the end of that period, the remaining balance on the loan needs to be paid off in a “balloon payment.”

If you cant afford to pay off the loan, you can refinance to the current interest rate. Depending on how market conditions have changed in the time since you took out the mortgage, your payments might rise dramatically overnight.

Another option is to sell your home before the balloon payment is due. If you get a good price, you can pay off the mortgage, and you will have benefitted from several years of low payments before that.

Reasons to Choose a Balloon Mortgage

If you want to buy an expensive house, a balloon mortgage can be an attractive option. Since the interest rates are generally lower than those for other types of loans, you might be able to borrow more money than you otherwise could and buy a bigger house.

If you recently started a job in a field where you expect your income to rise significantly in the coming years, you can take advantage of low payments now and be able to pay more later. If you know that you only want to live in your house for a relatively brief period of time, you can make low payments while you live there and then sell the house before the balloon payment is due.

Potential Downsides

If you decide to take out a balloon mortgage and plan to stay in your home and refinance when the balloon payment comes due, you need to consider the risks. If your income goes down or your credit score suffers because of too much debt or late payments, you might not be able to qualify for refinancing at an attractive rate, or at all. Then you might be forced to sell your house or risk foreclosure. Interest rates could rise between now and then, and your payments after refinancing could skyrocket. It’s also possible that property values could fall. If you owe more than your house is worth, it will be difficult or impossible to refinance, which means you could face foreclosure.

Think It Over

If you’ll definitely sell your house in the next several years, a balloon mortgage could be a smart choice that could save you money. If you plan to stay, circumstances could arise that could make it difficult or impossible to refinance, which could force you to sell or lose your house. Figure out what you plan to do and carefully consider the pros and cons before you choose a balloon mortgage.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Many hopeful homeowners may get confused by the terms modular and manufactured when it comes to property types. And while modular and manufactured homes tend to get used interchangeably, they are actually very different. Technically, both types of homes could be considered manufactured, since they are both built in a factory or manufacturing facility, but when it comes to manufactured and modular homes, its important to know the difference, especially when talking about financing.

Manufactured Homes

Constructed completely offsite and transported to their location, manufactured homes are also often called mobile homes or trailers. While they can come in a handful of different sizes, the most common are single- or double-wide. They can be located in a trailer community or on owned land, but manufactured homes are not on permanent foundations.

Lower in price, manufactured homes typically do not appreciate in value at the same rate as other types of homes. Because of this, it can be very challenging to find a mortgage lender who will finance the purchase of a manufactured home.

Modular Homes

Also called prefab homes, modular homes can come in a variety of shapes, sizes, styles and price ranges. Unlike manufactured homes, modular homes have comparable pricing to traditional site-built homes, and are similar in appearance, too. Sometimes modular homes can look exactly like site-built homes, due to the advances in modular construction and the wide variety of building styles that are available today.

Although modular homes can look just like traditional single-family homes, they are actually built in segments and then put together at the home site. Unlike manufactured homes, modular homes are constructed on a permanent foundation and are considered permanent structures.

Modular homes can be very cost effective and construction on them can be very efficient. Modular homes have to adhere to all state and federal building codes and must have the same kind of inspections as a regular site-built home. By contrast, manufactured homes only have to adhere to the standards set forth by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which tends to have more lenient rules and regulations.

Finding affordable financing for a modular home purchase or refinance isnt nearly as difficult as it is for manufactured housing, so if you need a mortgage, a modular property is the way to go.

Published with permission from RISMedia.