HOMES

This Blog is about your most valueable asset, your home! I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoyed writing it?

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Location: United States

Monday, August 06, 2007

The American Dream – Home Ownership!

It's an important part of the American dream. Everyone would like to become a homeowner here in the USA. I know I did! There is nothing like closing escrow on your home and knowing that it took a lot of effort, research, and determination to purchase your home! But after spending many months and viewing all the number of homes it was all worth the effort! You purchase a place you are proud of!

Today we are very lucky to be able to find the home of our dreams right on the Internet. Almost everything today is at your fingertips? This is why real estate searches on the World-Wide-Web are such a big deal these days. Everyone is turning to his or her laptops and notebooks to search for that perfect home. Believe me; it is out there. You just need the right tool to find it.

Have you ever tried real estate searches online? This is actually a fun routine. I enjoy doing this sort of thing in my spare time. So far I've narrowed down my ideal location to a spot in New England. Okay, so that's not too impressive. On the other hand, do you have any idea what region you want to purchase or build your dream home in? Trust me when I say, a lot of people do not. It's just so difficult to decide on one perfect place.

There are so many factors to consider when you're doing real estate searches. Are you married? Do you have any children? Does your spouse enjoy the same type of setting/amenities? These are all valid queries to consider when searching high and low for a wonderful house.

You should decide on a number of factors before starting your search:
1) Affordable price range?
2) Number of bedrooms and Bathrooms?
3) Size of the home, (square feet)?
4) Year the home was built?
5) Should we use a Real Estate Agent?
These are probably the basic questions you should have answers for, before proceeding forward.

Here is another list of questions that many homebuyers don’t even think about once they have located possible candidates?
1) Is the home well maintained?
2) Are the neighbor’s maintaining their homes?
3) Numbers of miles from your place of work?
4) Numbers of miles from the nearest school?
5) Numbers of miles from your place of worship?
6) The distance from the nearest Fire Station?
7) Where is the nearest fire plug/hydrant?
8) Is the home near a train track, freeway, park, or prison?
I’m sure you will think of many other questions as your search continues.

For me personally, a great deal has to do with schooling. Since I already have a child, who is now seven years old, I must make sure that I provide her with an ideal school. You know, one that's perfectly safe and truly values education. These are essential factors. You should also think about the local colleges in the area, unless you think that your child will be attending college out of state?

There are many places you can start your home search, the Internet, newspapers, Realty signs, For Sale By Owner signs, MLS, etc. If you don’t have much time you could locate a reliable real estate agent in your area? But, sometime this can become a search in it self? You’ll want to work with a full time agent! There are many part-time agents who would in the industry as a hobby or just something to do to kill time? The more years of experience the better; a veteran agent would be your best bet! You can find a good agent right online.

So start your search today! Take your time and do the research, it will pay off for you in the end….

Friday, June 22, 2007

Landscaping Ideas

Finding the best landscaping ideas is one of the easiest things in the world to do, it is amazing more people are not pros at it by now. Trees can contribute to the overall appearance of your front yard perhaps more than almost any other part of your landscaping design. With front yard landscaping you can easily express yourself and your home in a fun way.

By doing some advance planning and research, you can lay out an eye pleasing and functional design for your front yard landscaping ideas. Other easy landscaping ideas for your front yard are trees and shrubs. When looking at pictures of landscaping, pay attention to the details, ideas, and principles that are universal to most designs.

A quick browse online is going to show you just how many great landscaping ideas books have been written. The best way to see this spectacular landscaping tool of creating any size boulder is to visit them online. It would seem that with as many pictures of landscaping there are to look at online, just about everyone could find a close match to their own property that could be copied.

With just a little bit of time and attention as mentioned above, you can insure that your shrubs stay looking beautiful year in and year out, and always reflect well on your landscaping design. Using a variety of flowers in landscaping can keep the area beautiful and fragrant. Getting the whole family in on the backyard landscaping is a great idea and one way of doing so is to plant trees or flowers together.

A good way to get the whole family in on the backyard landscaping is to plant trees or flowers together. Shrubs stake out the middle ground in landscaping designs, as they are larger than flowers and yet smaller than trees. If you are landscaping a new property, when you first clear the ground and rototill the soil for your yard, you’ll no doubt find a few choice rocks you wish you hadn’t.

Although you’re landscaping only one section of the yard at a time, you still need an overall plan. Front yard landscaping is a fun expression of yourself and your home. As you know, yard landscaping is an exciting hobby for many persons and homeowners.

As you know, backyard landscaping is an exciting hobby for many men and women of all ages. Garden landscaping is a great method to bring up to date a backyard. Another benefit to using desert landscaping friendly plants is, that not only will these plants do well even in the hot sun; they will also be able to flourish in the low quality soil common to these climate zones.

The most common problem faced in landscaping is finding plants that will grow in shady areas. There is much more to landscaping than just planting plants. Autumn Joy is a perennial that you can employ well in desert landscaping.

As you can see, there are a lot of varieties of evergreen trees that accomplish many different tasks in a home landscaping design. The trick to using rock in landscaping effectively, as with any form of landscaping, is to completely incorporate them into your yard’s design. If you have read this article completely you can see I have hardly talked about plats and their species in landscaping.

For instance, maybe you send a postcard to a new subdivision with a headline that reads: "Landscaping Special for the Residents of Maplewood Park. If your garden has a swimming pool, then instead of having normal diving boards, be little creative and make it into the shape of a house or the person coming out of the mouth of an animal etc. A very famous and age old landscaping idea is the ‘circular drive design’, based on the principle of unity, which involves the use of various bed levels to create an effect.

Usually the one element that is omitted from landscaping projects and that is the use of stones or small boulders. Landscaping is an art of nurturing the environment so that its essential elements- the land, trees, plants, stones and water may co-exist in harmony. This is also a good time to consider which existing plants and shrubs won’t be a part of the new landscape.

When it comes to a great garden, it is all about the flowers and plants. According to my perception it is just provision for you and the family to enjoy the together moments when you don't want to move in the outskirts of the city by traveling a distance. By following the guidelines listed here in this article you should be able to plant any tree correctly and successfully, and enjoy it's beauty for years to come.

If your interest is landscaping, then this activity can be much fun. Spending time around your home, beautifying your home’s surroundings can bring a great feeling.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Home Insurance Coverage - How To Get Affordable Home Owner Insurance

When you first buy a home, you may become overwhelmed by all of the extra costs you never thought about having. One of those costs may be home insurance coverage. Young homebuyers may not see the need for such costly insurance, but anyone who has used their home insurance knows exactly how important it is. Many mortgage companies require specific coverage plans. Even if you choose to buy your home, without financing it, you will need home insurance coverage. Take a look at this information to learn more about home insurance plans.

When You Need It

You may think home insurance is only good in natural disasters. When a tornado, hurricane, or earthquake damages your home, your plan should cover the damage. However, there are many times you can use your home insurance coverage regardless if there is a natural disaster or not. Consider this scenario: Your hot water heater bursts and no one is home. There is so much water on your floor that your expensive hard wood flooring is completely ruined.

With home owner insurance, you would simply be responsible for your deductible. The coverage would pay for the flooring to be replaced and often will even pay for a new hot water heater. Of course, these terms all depend on the type of plan you have, but for the most part, home insurance is beneficially for large as well as small disasters.

How To Pay For It

Choosing how you pay for your home insurance coverage can be important. Some owners would rather add their insurance right into their mortgage payment. Many banks prefer you to do it this way and are happy to accommodate. Other insurance companies will allow you to pay the premium monthly, every six months, or yearly. Select companies will even offer additional discounts for those who make one yearly payment. Consider these things when setting up your home insurance. You may get a great deal when you choose the right payment arrangement.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

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Sunday, April 15, 2007

Home Insurance Guide - Secure Your Home With Home Insurance

Home insurance refers to an insurance policy that is a combination of personal insurance protections. Home insurance policy protect against certain accidents that can happen at the home. It is also known as homeowners insurance. Home is a largest investment for all thats why home insurance policy is essential to protect your home. Home insurance policies generally provide coverage against theft, fire, lightening, smoke, frozen pipes, ice and snow.

Cost of home insurance depends on the cost that is required to replace the house. It is a contract including all items that should be covered or not. Home insurance policy normally doesn't include claims against earthquakes, floods, war or Acts of God. Sometimes homeowners can purchase special insurance that provide protection against flood and earthquake.

Home insurance policy is a contract that works for a limited period of time. Insured party has to pay an amount of premium to the insurer for each term. Sometimes insurer charges a lower premium. Another type of home insurance is perpetual insurance that is not fixed for a fixed term and can be acquired in some areas.

Buyers should read all contents of the policy at the time of purchase. They should maintain a list of personal property and review their insurance policy annually. They should read all terms & conditions before signing any type of contract.

About Author: The author owns a website on Home Insurance. Website provides information about home insurance, homeowners insurance, and some tips to buy home insurance policy at cheap rates. To get more information click: Home Insurance

Friday, March 30, 2007

Advance Learnings Of Feng Shui

In traditional Feng shui, we learn that each of the eight basic directions is associated with parts of the body, a family member, an element and more symbolism than we can explore in a single article. There is a whole branch of classical Feng shui that deals with the outside environment. What constitutes a balanced room according to Feng shui theory involves not one, but several aspects.

The next most important room, according to Feng shui theory, is the room you spend most of your waking hours in. Most people love the sight and sound of a trickling fountain, but there can actually be bad locations according to the most sophisticated Feng shui analysis. This is just one of many examples of how the outside forces influence the inside forces and you cannot do a proper Feng shui analysis without considering both the interiors and exteriors together.

Bathrooms and closet areas may be the least important from a Feng shui standpoint and every house will have several negative zones. Colors can also be seen as a bit subjective and a good Feng shui consultant will never insist that a person use a color that the client does not personally like. In Feng shui philosophy, the mountain represents people and their hearts.

In Feng shui theory, all environments can be described as "yin" or "yang. Just as a mountain is still (yin) and the ocean moves (yang), any environment can be categorized as basically yin or yang and when it gets extreme, it can throw a place out of balance.

Similarly, the house which sits at the very top of the mountain, with no hill behind it for support or any trees, this is a very vulnerable home. Feng Shui is a 3,000+ year old metaphysical practice, originating in China, but relevant to everyone since it deals with energy, nature, laws of physics and the environments we all create. As an example, we need wind and water movement as essential aspects of nature, but when the wind and water get extreme we can have hurricanes and tsunamis causing a lot of damage.

Yes, one generality is that water aligned with the northeast sector of a house can be undermining for financial luck until 2024. Color can also be used to change the yin/yang ratio of a room. Well, if the room is big enough to handle a four-poster canopy bed, the fabric draped over the frame can work as a faux ceiling and deflect away the downward pressure of the beam.

Finally, the Northwest quadrant is attached to the Father figure or some male in charge like the president of a company. But sometimes a house might sit on an unusual shaped lot and this directs the chi (life force energy) around the house in such as way that the occupants will either benefit or be undermined. What are the unseen influences?

Feng shui can be fascinating, there is so much to learn and each time you learn something knew, it’s like a new chapter in one’s life.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Bathroom Remodeling Ideas For 2007

So you’re tired of looking at your old bathroom, and want something knew? Remodeling a bathroom is high on many homeowners' lists, but the amount of money it can cost can be daunting. As you are probably all too aware, getting the kids into the bathroom for things like brushing their teeth and taking their baths can be quite a task. Whatever the size of your particular bathroom undertaking might be, keep in mind that there's probably going to be some degree of a mess and stress.

The easiest ways to start planning your bathroom remodel is to view other bathrooms. There are many ways you can enhance a bathroom but the following bathroom tip is by far my favorite bathroom-remodeling tip. Are your bathroom fixtures still taken from the medieval era? Would you want a hip yet cozy look, or a modern yet classical view of your bathroom? You can definitely have it. You can consider painting your walls or using ceramic or granite tiles to suit the concept of the bathroom.

When you've collected your entire bathroom remodeling ideas, now is the time to pull out your graph paper. If this is going to be a big project, you will need to show your bathroom renovation design in detail. If you’re getting tired of the many big expensive renovation plans and models yet you still want to give your bathroom a new look, then you can just start visualizing your bathroom remodeling ideas by taking one fixture or item at a time. When you sort your bathroom remodeling ideas into small projects, think of what’s the most important part or thing in your bathroom that needs to be improved, remodeled, or refaced.

You can just change-out the lightening and plumbing fixtures, if you wish to make a small remodel? Your friends are often the best resource for bathroom remodeling ideas that you have available to you. If you are interested in using the Internet to help give you bathroom-remodeling ideas, it may be best to perform a standard Internet search. The results that you may find online are another reason why you should use the Internet to get bathroom remodeling ideas.

For mothers of smaller children, it’s often the only "retreat" space they have, and so bathroom-remodeling ideas should take into account turning this space into a tranquil environment. I have a small bathroom, and not only is there a lack of space but little bathrooms can also feel small and cramped.

If the bathroom is dark, don't be afraid to add windows or skylights to brighten the space. If you conclude that everything in the bathroom is a ten and you can't decide which item to replace first, think about redoing the floor first. Look at the décor of your bathroom.

Remember, the bathroom is the most used room in the house so it should seem that it is the most remodeled room. You will want to make sure that the finish product is to your likely? Plan-out everything well in advance! Make sure you cover all aspects of your remodel with your contractor, or if you are able to perform this remodel more power to you! Good Luck!

I hope that you enjoyed this article and maybe I've given you a few ideas for yourbathroom design and remodel. While bathroom remodeling can be an exciting project it can also seem daunting because of the various aspects that need to be considered for the look and design you require.

Interior Decorating Tips

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Interior Decorating

When you are into redecorating and making your home look nice, you probably love to change your living room interior decorating theme often. Have you been considering a career in the exciting alternative decorating field of Interior Redesign? Since there has been a trend in recent years towards more earthy color tones for interior decorating, Native American Indian art can fit in nicely as part of home decor.

Native American Indian art as home decor helps bring in an atmosphere of nature in the overall interior decorating of a room. Home or interior decorating, as wrongly perceived by people ages ago, need not be expensive and need not requiring degrees and diplomas in the discipline. But because people nowadays are becoming more and more aware and involved in the interior decorating aspects of their homes, there are many homeowners that are forced into adopting their own interior decorating techniques and processes.

Whatever interior decorating scheme you choose, you need to allocate enough room for movement and accommodation of all the necessary equipment and furniture. If your office is a home-based one, then you need to select the suitable area and plan the interior decorating accordingly. Another interior decorating tip is to capture the beauty of naturally aged wood in custom designed furniture.

As far as home interior decorating is concerned, every nook and corner has to be studied so that the available space is utilized to the maximum. Your home will feel warm with the proper interior Christmas decorating scheme. While track lighting and chandeliers can’t be changed easily, you can change out your lighting to go with your living room interior decorating plan.

When interior decorating your home, don't just go from room to room. The first thought should be the scale of work, if the remodeling project involves more than cosmetic fixture replacements or surface interior decorating, it may be time to call in an plumber to assess you in your plumbing and pipe replacement. These are only a few of the areas of interior design that should be considered before starting a renovation project.

Pottery and decorative plants are also a welcome addition in home interior decorating. Original ideas can make a significant difference in your Interior Decorating plans. Discover free home decorating ideas for all rooms of your home.

Now you know how to use orange successfully in a monochromatic color scheme for your home decorating. Interior decorating is not just "having an eye" for color or recognizing quality furniture. You have seen furniture or accent pieces in decorating magazines, but it's available "to the trade" only.

Interior decorating ideas communicate to the guests too. The field of interior decorating is undergoing constant change and growth. The third of these three elements of successful interior decorating is harmony.

The next of the three elements of successful interior decorating is the Mood. Another aspect of getting home decorating bargains is the labor that can be involved with certain projects around the home. When dealing with interior paint it is not the brand that matters so much as the sheen.

A second hand store, yard sale, or even the attic is a great place to find other items that can be refurbished or simply cleaned up a bit, to compliment your interior room décor. Effective space planning and interior design requires that you plan in three dimensions - so start thinking about the space above your head and higher up on the walls. If you start to think vertical in you interior space planning you can be on your way to doubling your useable interior floor space in your home.

What better time than during the hurricane while you are in your home to deside how best to redesign and decorate your interior. Julie Rieman is an accomplished instructor in the arts faux painting and interior redesign. Julie Rieman is an accomplished instructor in the arts of faux painting and interior redesign.

Not only will they have terrific ideas for ways to incorporate recyclable materials into your home interior decorating plans. For additional information on interior decorating for your home or other renovation projects, visit Renovation Headquarters. Adam Peters writes regularly for an online interior home decorating magazine.

Visit Interior Decorating Tips