Day: May 11, 2020

No, You Shouldn’t Sell Your Home During The Coronavirus Pandemic

- Roshan

With house prices falling due to the pandemic, it’s tempting to take advantage of the housing market. Selling now could be a smart way to recoup the value of your home while saving money. After all, the drop in house prices should let you snap one up pretty cheaply in theory. However enticing it sounds, it’s not a good idea. The truth is that there are too many variables to factor in because the COVID-19 crisis is so unpredictable. You’re better off investing in your current property and reassessing the market in the future.

Here are the reasons why.

Credit’s Harder To Secure

Yes, the housing market is nowhere near as valuable as before Christmas. Still, banks and lenders have reacted by making it harder to secure funding. Currently, Chase is saying that people who want a mortgage will need a credit score of 700 or more, which is very high. Plus, you’ll need a 20% deposit, too. On the face of it, these conditions are too stringent for the average homeowner and exclude you from obtaining a second loan. The last thing you want is to accept funding from a payday loan company or a loan shark to make a few bucks.

Fewer People Are Looking To Buy/Sell

Money is tight at the money, so it’s not as if the demand for property is high. If anything, it’s the opposite. Even if you could find a buyer, you’d need to search for a new home, or else you’d be homeless. Usually, this is the easiest part of the process, yet the Coronavirus has made it somewhat tricky. The percentage of houses for sale across the country are in the minus column, with only Detroit and Chicago showing room for growth. So, the odds of selling and buying a home right now are very low.

Supply Lines Are Disrupted

China is a hub for cheap materials. Of course, the virus has hit the nation harder than most places as it originated in China. As a result, exports are limited, and builders’ supply lines are reduced. This could delay constructions that add value to your property. Thankfully, North American windows and doors are still affordable and accessible. This means you can spruce up the interior of your home to add value and bide your time. When the market goes back to normal, you’ll be in an excellent position to sell for a profit. You should look at getting some stylish windows for your home.

Jobs Aren’t Guaranteed

The worst-case scenario is that you lose your job. While everybody assumes it won’t happen to them, the figures paint a different picture. The rate of unemployment is at a staggering 15%. To put this into perspective, it was as low as 3.6% in January. You could be fortunate enough to keep your job, but it isn’t a sure thing. Therefore, making a massive commitment is a stretch that could hit you hard.

The short, medium and long-term are unpredictable, which is why you shouldn’t sell your home.

What Does Covid 19 Mean For The Travel Industry?

- Roshan

There are few industries which have (and will continue to be) hit by the coronavirus pandemic than travel. Due to quarantine restrictions, strict social distancing guidelines across the globe and all but essential businesses being closed- jetting off to sunnier climes and exploring new places simply isn’t possible for any of us. But what does it mean in the future, when we get our freedom back and our ability to travel? Read on to find out more.

Travel and tourism industries will be among the last to reopen

The technique that governments across the globe are using to manage the Covid-19 situation is by easing and tightening lockdown restrictions based on how well the health service is managing to cope. As cases and deaths fall, certain businesses and industries have been able to reopen (with restrictions) providing they’re conforming to guidelines. However, it’s generally accepted across the world that travel and tourism industries will be amongst the last to reopen. First there will be the gradual returning of schools, shops and other businesses which are deemed as more of a necessity. It makes sense of course, not only does preventing people from flying all over the world slow the spread, but realistically most people wouldn’t want to travel when there’s nothing open in their destination anyway. No one knows for sure when travel industries will begin to open and thrive again, but it certainly won’t be this summer. It’s looking unlikely that any of us will be getting a holiday this year!

There could be many more restrictions in place than we were previously used to

When things do reopen and we’re able to travel again, we won’t simply return to how things were before. As with everything, there’s going to be major changes in place and these will likely remain for the foreseeable future. This could involve taking temperatures or fast track testing with quarantine measures for those who test positive. No one knows exactly how things will work just yet, but we can definitely assume that major changes will occur as a result.

You might be entitled to compensation if you got ill while travelling

Just a few short months ago, coronavirus was still incredibly new and much of the world was still travelling and going about their daily lives. One of the biggest cases occurred with the  Costa Luminosa cruise ship , where passengers were forced to stay in ‘living hell’ in confined conditions. Once the ship docked, the nearly 10 hour flight lead to several passengers coughing constantly, some lost consciousness, and others had fevers so high that they had to be separated while on the flight. If you were on a flight, cruise ship or travelling at the start of the pandemic and were treated badly and got ill as a result, you might be entitled to some compensation.

RIP Jerry Stiller

- Roshan

Veteran actor and comedian Jerry Stiller, who found fame on Broadway and later in the smash US show “Seinfeld” has died from natural causes aged 92, his son Ben Stiller said Monday. Stiller and his wife Anne Meara starred on the stage and TV in the 1960s, writing and performing comedy sketches and routines together. He later played George Costanza’s short-tempered father Frank on the smash TV show “Seinfeld”, for which he won the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series at the American Comedy Awards in 1989. In 1997 he was nominated for an Emmy award for the same role. He also played Leah Remini’s father in the sitcom “The King of Queens” and starred alongside his son Ben in the “Zoolander” films.

“I’m sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes,” his son said in a tweet. “He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years,” Stiller added. “He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad.”  The eldest of four children, Stiller was born at Unity Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, to Bella (née Citron) and William Stiller, a bus driver. His family is Jewish. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Galicia (southeast Poland and western Ukraine), and his mother was born in Poland. He lived in the Williamsburg and East New York neighborhoods before his family moved to the Lower East Side, where he attended Seward Park High School.

Also in 1953, Stiller met actor-comedian Anne Meara, and they married in 1954. Until Stiller suggested it, Meara had never thought of doing comedy. “Jerry started us being a comedy team,” she said. “He always thought I would be a great comedy partner.” They joined the Chicago improvisational company The Compass Players (which later became The Second City), and after leaving, began performing together. In 1961, they were performing in nightclubs in New York, and by the following year were considered a “national phenomenon”, said the New York Times. Stiller played the short-tempered Frank Costanza, the father of George Costanza in the sitcom Seinfeld from 1993 to 1998. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1997, and won the American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series for his portrayal of Frank Costanza.

After Seinfeld ended, Stiller had planned on retiring. Kevin James asked him to join the cast of The King of Queens. James, who played the leading role of Doug Heffernan, had told Stiller that he needed him in order to have a successful show. Stiller agreed, and played the role of Arthur Spooner, the father of Carrie Heffernan, from 1998 until 2007. Stiller said this role tested his acting ability more than any others have and that, before being a part of The King of Queens, he only saw himself as a “decent actor.”

Stiller played himself in filmed skits, opening and closing Canadian rock band Rush’s 30th Anniversary Tour concerts in 2004. These appearances are seen on the band’s DVD R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour, released in 2005. Stiller later appeared in cameos in later in-concert films for the band’s 2007–2008 Snakes & Arrows Tour. Stiller appeared on Dick Clark’s $10,000 Pyramid show in the 1970s, and footage of the appearance was edited into an episode of The King of Queens to assist the storyline about his character being a contestant on the show, but that after losing, he was bitter about the experience as he never received his parting gift, a lifetime supply of “Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat”. He also made several appearances on the game show Tattletales with his wife Anne.