Press Release: An Evaluation of Consumer Trust in the Major Home ...

Research quantifies consumer trust in major home improvement service directories like Angie?s List, the Better Business Bureau and ServiceMagic

Today, BuildZoom announced further findings from their 2012 survey of US homeowners. The research initiative was undertaken to better understand consumer habits and perspectives with regard to hiring home improvement contractors.

Part 2 of the initiative asked consumers to rank the major home improvement service directories in terms of trust. Key findings include the following:

1. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) ranked as the most trusted consumer resource, followed by Angie?s List.

2. Craigslist ranked as the least trusted consumer service with ServiceMagic receiving the second lowest ranking.

3. Respondents who reported high levels of satisfaction with home improvement contractors were more likely to trust the BBB while consumers who reported low levels of satisfaction with home improvement contractors were more likely to trust ServiceMagic and Yelp.

Further research and visual representations of the findings are available on the BuildZoom blog.

Research Methodology

The survey results are based on a non-random, opt-in, online sample of 546 consumers who reported hiring at least one home improvement contractor in the past year, recruited via email invitation from the BuildZoom homeowner database.

About BuildZoom

BuildZoom empowers homeowners to make better hiring decisions by providing them with a simple and effective way to find the best service provider for their next job. BuildZoom uses a Big Data approach that analyzes over 1.8 million remodeling contractors in the US against a broad set of quality indicators such as their license status, BBB ratings, consumer feedback and more. Each contractor is given an independent rating that determines their placement on BuildZoom.com, where consumers can freely browse and search to find the right service provider for their next job.

Posted On: Los Angeles, CA May 23, 2012

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June 1, 2012 - The Rental Standard - RentJuice

Image by jumpyjodes via Flickr

This week, RentJuice covered the ways you can use LinkedIn to build your business online. We also examined the office dog?s work habits and concluded that every real estate professional needs some creativity and flexibility in their work schedule. Stay on top of property management by having a checklist this move-out season, and know the clues to tell when something illegal might be going on under your rental property?s roof.

Tenant Move-Out Checklist - It?s move-out season, and with all the moving going on, it?s smart to have a system established for the process.?Here?s a checklist of the items you should go over with your tenants before the keys and security deposit are returned.

How To Use LinkedIn for Your Rental Business -?If there?s one social media account you shouldn?t skimp on, it?s LinkedIn. Learn how to use your account to network, get recommendations, and get involved in the real estate industry.

3 Golden Rules of Rental Business You Can Learn From Our Golden Retriever ? Our Golden Retriever Summer?s?playful and carefree attitude can still offer learning lessons to rental professionals everywhere. Here are three Golden Rules for your rental business that you can take away from the RentJuice dog.

Tenant Warning Signs You Cannot Ignore ? Just because you have a signed lease doesn?t mean the tenancy will be smooth sailing.?What are the warning signs that something fishy may be going on in your property?

How To Use Google Places to Market Your Rental Business -?When renters are looking for their next apartment, many of them are doing local searches.?When you use Google Places, your business website is likely to rank higher on a renter?s Google search results page. We?ll show you how to list your property on Google Places.

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A Family's Journey Through Adoption | Being Pregnant

Let?s just get this out of the way:

I?m not pregnant.

So then why am I back on Being Pregnant for Babble?

Well, here?s a little story:

Once upon a time (hang in there, it?s going to get better) there were two kids, Diana (12) and Sam (13) who met in 7th grade. Sam liked to set things on fire and Diana liked to wear high-water pants. They were friends.

Fast forward to high school where they both were significantly better dressed and looking, and best friends. Best friends that really liked each other. A lot.

So senior year they ?went out?. Right before Sam headed to the Marines following graduation he asked Diana to marry him. She said yes. And almost 2 years later, at 19 and 20, they were married.

The next 6 years brought war, PTSD, alcoholism, marriage counseling, moving, lots of deployments, and the question of if they ever wanted kids ? because Diana didn?t like to barf. (Oh, the irony of this?) Finally, they decided to look at adoption as a different choice. International, since both had traveled overseas and seen the living conditions there. They felt their hearts pull for that.

And right before they paid an agency to start, they decided to try to get pregnant ? and three weeks later they were. 8 very long, very sick months of hyperemesis later, Bella was born a few weeks early after 6 weeks of preterm labor and bedrest. They spent the next year trying to figure out why the child puked so much (severe reflux), and debating if they ever, ever wanted to do this again. As much as they loved her.

Nearly 2 years later, Diana was still on the fence. They brought up adoption again. And started to move forward. But in the midst of the research, found that they wanted to try again to see if this pregnancy would be different. So they took the plunge. And in January they were pregnant. In Februrary they found out they were expecting twins. In March they thought they were fraternal, April brought identical boys.

And in May, after 4 months of severe hyperemesis again, Diana?s water broke at 18 weeks and 5 days, and a week later she went into labor and had her boys, Julian and Preston. Much too early to live, although Preston hung in there for 2 hours like a champ.

Once again, they looked at each other through the tears and pain that they thought very well might break their hearts in two and wondered if they could ever do this again.

They decided that they could not for a long time ? to themselves, to Bella, to a child that might not live because of what had already happened twice. Because of incompetent cervixes and the life altering hyperemesis that would happen again. So knowing this, they did what had been on their hearts for 3 1/2 years. What they had researched and looked into for months at a time.

They chose an adoption agency so they could still expand their family. Never forgetting the two little boys they wanted so very much to be a part of it.

And yes, we are adopting!

From Korea, a little boy or girl (we don?t get to choose gender before the child is referred ? and we don?t want to anyway), between 7-18 months old. This was all chosen by our age, the state we live in, and desires for our family, because we had never really considered Korea but are excited to be a part of the process. In the next year or so we will fly to Seoul and get to pick up our son or daughter.

My hope is that by blogging through this journey, some of you that have wanted to do this but hesitated (probably for many of the same reasons we did) will come to see how this all works and that you don?t need to be perfect (because we?d be out) or rich (again, out) or even a lot older (I?m 28) to adopt internationally. That if this tug is placed on your heart, maybe our journey will give you the confidence to see where that feeling would take your family.

We are thrilled. I am thrilled to share it on here with all of you.

???????

Diana blogs on more on raising a toddler daughter, the loss of her twin boys, their families Korean adoption in progress, being an Army wife, and her crazy life on the aptly named Hormonal Imbalances.

Smaller glimpses into her day are on Twitter as @lifeasaSAHM and Facebook.

MORE ON BABBLE:

These Hilarious Maternity T-shirts Almost Make Me Want to be Pregnant Again

How Babies Are Made Book

Funny Ways to Tell Your Partner You?re Pregnant

10 Most Annoying Pregnancy Terms

What Your Baby Name Choice Says About You

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Obama says economy will come back stronger

President Barack Obama jogs to greet people on the tarmac as he arrives at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Friday, June 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama jogs to greet people on the tarmac as he arrives at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Friday, June 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama greets people as he arrives to speak at Honeywell, Friday, June 1, 2012, in Golden Valley , Minn. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama speaks at Honeywell, Friday, June 1, 2012, in Golden Valley , Minn. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama greets people as he arrives to speak at Honeywell, Friday, June 1, 2012, in Golden Valley , Minn. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama greets workers before speaking about jobs for veterans, Friday, June 1, 2012, at Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions Global Headquarters in Golden Valley, Minn. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? President Barack Obama said Friday the latest employment report shows that the economy is not creating jobs "as fast as we want," but he pledged that the economy will improve.

"We will come back stronger. We do have better days ahead," Obama said at a Golden Valley, Minn., Honeywell plant where the company has taken steps to hire veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The president was responding to the government's jobs report for May, which showed that only 69,000 jobs were added during the month. That was the fewest in a year, as the unemployment rate increased to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent in April.

Obama, in a tight re-election campaign against Republican Mitt Romney, said the economy still faces a number of challenges, including Europe's debt crisis and higher gas prices, which have hurt families.

"The economy still isn't where it needs to be," Obama said.

Romney told CNBC that Obama's economic policies had not worked and the new report was a "harsh indictment" of how the Democrat incumbent has steered the economy.

Obama later told donors at a Minneapolis fundraiser that the last four years had been "as tough a period in our country's history as anything in our lifetimes, certainly since the 1930s." He said his administration had tried to make "dogged progress" but acknowledged "we're not out of the woods yet."

He said Republicans had been driven in part by a focus to "beat Obama" and he hoped winning a second term would change that mentality.

"My hope, my expectation is that after the election, now that it turns out the goal of beating Obama doesn't make much sense because I'm not running again, that we can start getting some cooperation again," Obama said.

Obama told workers at the Honeywell plant that Congress could still take steps to help jumpstart the economy. While acknowledging the political realities of an election year, he said the November election was no reason for inaction in Washington.

"There's no excuse for it, not when there are so many people out there looking for work," he said.

He cited providing more money for states and local governments to help avert layoffs of teachers and first responder layoffs, saying the dollars could "serve as a buffer in case the situation in Europe gets any worse."

Obama wants Congress to support incentives to hire veterans as police officers and firefighters. He also was taking action to help service members with manufacturing and high-demand skills receive civilian credentials and licenses.

The veterans "job corps" is part of Obama's to-do list to spur job creation. It features a number of economic initiatives he has pushed before to help manufacturers, homeowners and veterans.

Obama was holding three fundraisers at a Minneapolis restaurant owned by the sons of Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton. Later in the day, he was headed to his hometown of Chicago, where he was holding three more fundraisers and staying overnight in his own home.

The events were supporting the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee of Obama's campaign, the Democratic National Committee and several state Democratic parties.

Associated Press

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Why You Shouldn't Give Up on Your 401(k) | Avid Investor Group

Between turbulent financial markets, high fees, and a lack of employer support, many workers are just about ready to give up on their 401(k) retirement plans. But even though many of the criticisms of employer-sponsored retirement plans are valid, you can still navigate the twists and turns of the 401(k) world to make great use of the plans to help you retire comfortably and securely.

Why everyone hates 401(k)s
Plenty of hawkers of financial advice ? myself included ? dwell at length about the value of 401(k) plans. They let you set aside relatively huge amounts of money ? $17,000 in 2012 ? and give many people the largest tax deduction they?ll get on an annual basis, saving thousands in current income taxes. Used correctly, they also impose discipline on savers, locking away money to devote toward the single purpose of saving for retirement.

But while the theory behind 401(k) plans is solid, what happens in practice often falls short of the ideal. Consider some of the black marks against 401(k)s:

• To many, the very existence of the 401(k) plan is an affront to the notion that employers should directly provide for their workers? retirements through traditional pension plans. Yet this year, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC??) and General Motors (NYSE: GM??) have joined the dozens of employers that have frozen at least some of their workers? pension plans in recent years, instead shunting workers toward 401(k) plans.
• Typically, a company that moves from a traditional pension to a 401(k) plan will make additional employer contributions toward workers? retirement. Yet during the recession, Ford (NYSE: F??) and FedEx (NYSE: FDX??) were just two of the many companies that suspended employer matching contributions. Although they?ve since restored their matching, the episode shows that workers can?t count on employers to stand by them in tough times.
• 401(k) plans lock workers into a fixed slate of investment options. If employers choose wisely, they may give workers access to strong low-cost investments. But all too often, employers pick investments with high fees in order to minimize their own administrative costs, which can lead to workers paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra costs over their careers.
• Given how often people switch jobs, 401(k) plans present a challenge in that they?re tied to a particular employer. Although you can transfer 401(k)s to a new employer or to a retirement account of your own, it introduces an additional hassle. Moreover, with some employer contributions requiring you to stay at a job for a certain minimum period, many workers end up forfeiting those employer contributions when they switch jobs too soon.

With all these downsides, it?s a wonder why anyone uses 401(k) plans. But with some work, it can still be worth it to save in an employer-sponsored plan.

Be smart with your retirement
The key to making the most of your 401(k) is to find its strengths. Most 401(k)s have a combination of high-fee actively managed funds and low-cost index funds. If you stick with the low-cost alternatives, you?ll generally do better over the long haul.

In addition, don?t look at switching jobs as a hassle but rather as an opportunity. Whenever you switch jobs, you can take 401(k) money and roll it into an IRA that you have complete control over. The rollover lets you pick nearly any investment you want, so even if you?re stuck in a high-fee 401(k), you can then save a bundle by moving your money into your IRA and choosing better investments of your own.

Finally, pay at least minimal attention to vesting rules for employer contributions. I?m not saying you should stay at a job you hate for an extra couple of years in order to keep a few thousand dollars of matches. But if it?s a matter of sticking it out for a month or two, it may be worth the effort.

Don?t give up
401(k)s deserve the criticism they?ve gotten, but that doesn?t mean you should give up on them. Used correctly, 401(k)s can still play an incredibly valuable role in helping you retire rich in the long run.

To learn more about how to use 401(k)s to put together a complete retirement solution, let me suggest reading The Motley Fool?s special report on retirement. It includes not only some general advice on retirement investing but also the names of three stocks that could fit well in your retirement portfolio. Don?t wait ? click here and start reading your free copy right now.

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