Website Building As a Low Cost Home Business Solution

There are many reasons one might want to work from home - especially as the cost of commuting goes up almost daily with the price of oil! Unfortunately, a lot of programs offering work-from-home programs are asking for a lot of money up front and it can be hard to learn all the details of the exact business model as it is kept a secret until payment is received. There is no such thing as easy, guaranteed income, so be careful of expensive offerings that cannot live up to their own hype!

Fortunately, building websites is a solid plan that doesn't require any special training or education other than what can be found Sexual Vitality for free. Hosting for a website is the main start-up cost for such a home-based business, but these days there are even free places to host a website like Blogger.com or Squidoo. Shared hosts give web publishers more control over their data, and these types of plans can be purchased for just a few dollars a month. A domain name costs ten dollars or less every year, so the total monthly cost out of pocket for a website-based home business could be anywhere from zero to ten dollars a month.

Even using a free website host, one can turn free time at home into content writing and internet marketing that builds value into a specific URL. In addition, free and shared hosts typically provide a browser-based interface for building websites, allowing just about anyone to get started publishing online regardless of their prior technical experience.

Of course, the subtle details of making a profit with a website - how to build traffic, how to monetize that traffic, and how to make your business grow - these can require some studying and research. The primary risk involved is the time one spends learning about the process, creating content, and marketing a website. There is no guarantee that this income will be enough for someone to quit their day job, but the extra revenue and skills acquired can be helpful in making ends meet during these tough economic times.

So, anyone searching for an easy and guaranteed way to make money online from home is probably going to just find scams and promises that can't be fulfilled. Regardless of where or how one works, what matters is results derived from hard work, dedication, and willingness to learn new skills and abilities.

John McDonald is a writer and website publisher working from home. Find more information about making money with websites at his site: websitebuilding.biz">WebsiteBuilding.Biz. Also, be sure to check out these websitebuilding.biz/hostingreviews/">hosting reviews before setting up your own websites!

10 Steps to a Smoother House-Hunting Experience

House hunting can be the most exciting part of the home buying process. But it's also where a lot of first-time home buyers make mistakes. Without a solid plan, the house hunting process can be a lot of effort with little reward.

Here are ten tips to help you get the most out of your house hunting experience.

1. Create a Realistic Checklist

Get out a piece of paper, put on your "realism" Generic Drugs and start writing down the things you need in a home versus the things you want. You can organize them on the page however you like, as long as you separate the needs and the wants. Put a box next to each item, and then make photocopies.

When you visit a home, take a copy of the checklist with you and write the home's address at the top. Then just go through the house and check off what it does and does not offer. This will help you remember which house had what, especially when you're looking at many properties.

2. Be a Proactive Hunter

Obviously, your real estate agent will help with the house hunting process. But don't rely solely on your agent. Go out there and do some hunting yourself. It's a necessity, but it's also exciting!

3. Get Web Savvy

The Internet can reduce your house hunting time by 50 percent or more. By previewing homes and researching neighborhoods online, you can weed out the ones you don't want to visit. This will save you time, energy and gas money! Create a new folder in your Internet favorites or bookmarks. When you find a real estate website that's particularly helpful, save it to the folder. This way, you'll only have to scour the Internet once.

4. Play Detective

When visiting a home, don't be shy about asking the sellers (or their agent) plenty of questions. Be friendly about it, but be thorough. Likewise, feel free to do a reasonable amount of "snooping." Don't violate the seller's privacy just be sure to look in all the dark corners, the basement, tools sheds and the like.

5. Validate the Asking Price

If asking prices were set in stone, they would be called "selling prices." Always compare the asking price of a home to recent sales in the area. Your agent should be expert at providing such "comps" to help you validate (or invalidate) the seller's asking price.

6. Visit During Rush Hour

That peaceful property you visited at 10:00 in the morning might be totally different at 5:30 in the evening. By visiting a home during rush hour, you're evaluating two things at once. First, you'll find out if traffic snarls make it hard to enter or exit the neighborhood. Secondly, you'll be able to judge the noise factor at its noisiest time of day.

7. Test the Drive

While we're talking about rush hour, why not test out the morning commute to your work? It might seem silly to do a rush hour commute from a home you're only considering, but think about how much time you'll spend commuting day after day. It's a big quality-of-life issue, so it deserves some consideration.

8. Look into the Future

Talk to the city or county to find out what their plans are for the area around the home. Will that beautiful forest across the street be a shopping center or a highway in two years? You won't know unless you do the research. Don't expect the sellers to volunteer such information, because it's not in their interest to deliver bad news about the neighborhood.

9. Bring a Digital Camera

Digital cameras are ideal for house hunting. You can take pictures of the homes you visit and save them in labeled folders on your computer. Which home had the swimming pool? Which one had the wood floors and crown molding? Just look at the photos and you'll remember.

10. Bring a Devil's Advocate

When visiting a home that could potentially become yours, it's easy to get wrapped up in the emotion of it all. Sometimes, emotion has a way of clouding our better judgment. A great way to counter this is to bring a friend or family member along on house hunting trips. In addition to providing company, a "disinterested witness" can offer an objective point of view. This is crucial when making such a large purchase.

* You may republish this article online if you retain the active hyperlinks below. Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett.

About the Author

BR Cornett writes on behalf of Jimmy Jacobs Custom Homes, a home builder in Georgetown, Texas since 1988. Learn more about href="jacobshomes.com/inventory/index.htm">Georgetown, Texas real estate by visiting href="jacobshomes.com">jacobshomes.com