Garages are used for many things besides their conventional reason. Many people like turning their garages into a studio, office, or an additional room of their home. However, more people want their garages to be used to hold their automobiles. If you are having trouble selling your home, you may want to touch up your garage. Garages can be a big draw to some buyers.
Since many families have around 4 automobiles they need more space to park. And many homes are being built with a 3 car garage or more, but that may not be enough. And street parking is often limited. Well, there are automobile lifts available for around $5,000. There are lifts that will take your car up or down. You may need 9 feet clearance from floor to ceiling. You pull in your first car, get out, push a button and watch the car be lifted up into the air. Then pull your second car right underneath it!
Seal the garage floors with nice stains and fresh paint on the walls can really make your garage sell. Storage and organization is very important too. Make sure all of your clutter has a hook, shelf, or cupboard.
Do you have a freeway as your backyard? Are you thinking about passing up on a great home because it is too close to a freeway or loud street. Noisy traffic can keep you awake and just be annoying. Reduce noisy traffic by turning your backyard into a beautiful tranquil landscape.
Build a nice wall around your home, because of course a wall is better than a fence to keep out noise. Insulate your doors, walls, and roof. Planting a few nice pushing around your wall can help too. Double pane windows or even soundproof windows ceases traffic noise the most! Investing in quality windows is important and not only helps eliminate loud sounds, but can also help lower energy bills and stop sunlight from fading your carpet and furniture.
Placing a few strategic water fountains around your yard will greatly help to reduce the traffic noise also. The key is to put one fountain on one side of your yard and another fountain on the other side. Many people only put a fountain on one side of their yard and then when they hang out on the other side of their yard they can hear the traffic. You could even hire a professional landscaper to turn your yard into a beautiful tranquil scenery of peaceful flowing water with lush green all around.
Time to go back to school. Hopefully all of you had a great summer! I miss school, well college. I am still learning a lot every day though! I love learning about new things. Learning helps the mind stay sharp too. Have you learned anything new lately?
Taking a new class a local community college is exciting and pretty cheap depending on what you take. I took a beginning golf class last year, it cost me about $60 for around 4 months of lessons. Now that is unbelievable! Especially when it cost $60 or more for one hour of lessons almost anywhere else. Now that summer is about over I need to get back into my routine. After all Carlsbad is known for golf, so I need to keep my game up.
You don’t need to take a community college class to keep your brain sharp though, just doing those little cross word puzzles and soduko helps. When you get settle back into your routine this fall what brain game are you going to take on?
Right now is a buyers market. Buy now, do not keep waiting for the market to lower.
If you need to sell now then do not worry. When selling your home in this market of many foreclosures there are some key components.
Price you home according to the market and make your home have value. There are many homes for buyers to choose from, but they will not necessary pick the home with the lowest price. Home buyers may choose your home because it has more goodies and is a better value for the price.
Also you may not have to price your home way down, because of foreclosures. Not all foreclosure homes are the same and many are kept up very well. Make you home stand out and get it show ready. Showing your home in pristine shape will make your home stand out amongst the sea of foreclosure homes. You can either help other homes sell, or you can use other homes to help sell your home!
Rates have gone back down! A 15 year fix is 5.875%.
Gas prices have gone down $31 barrel from last month too! As oil prices go down, the dollar gets stronger against the Euro. The local investment pool of home loan investments goes down as the foreign currency dollar gets weaker.
Our mortgage market could see more investments, which brings more supply and we need supply. Everything goes down when gas prices go down, which is why this election is an extremely important year. Are you going to vote?
I am definitely voting and have for the past several years. I think I may still be considered a young voter by some, which is odd to me. I just cannot understand why more young people do not vote? I guess they just get too busy or whatnot… I am big on politics, I even write a political blog too. Don’t worry though, I will not get into politics here too much. I just wanted to make a post about how important it is for home prices and our economy to vote this year!
Do you want to take a quick vacation before the end of summer? It can be done without spending all of you money on gas!
Come to San Diego,CA and relax at the beautiful beaches! Summer is all about going to the beach and San Diego is paradise. Travel from beach to beach along the 101 on the Coaster! The Coaster is like a train that runs through all the little beach communities. You can see great views while saving gas.
Once you vacation in San Diego and figure out that this is the place that you want to live permanently. :) You can still save on gas! The Coaster runs from Oceanside to downtown San Diego and from there you can take the trolly that goes all over San Diego.
There is also the recently new Sprinter that runs from Oceanside up to San Marcos and into San Diego! The Sprinter is great for students of the wonderful California State University of San Marcos and the San Diego State University!
Living in San Diego also enables you to walk and ride your bike everywhere. The Coastal communities are great for bike riding. Ride along the beach and up to one of the fantastic taco shops on the corner!
I thought I should talk about the huge housing bill that has passed a major vote today and will be passed on for another vote on Saturday. President Bush has said he will sign it, even though he did want to veto the $3.9 billion in grants amendment, because it will mostly help lenders and bankers instead of homeowners. There is also a $7,500 tax credit to first time home buyers, if you purchase a home between April 9, 2008 and July 1st 2009. And an individual income must be under $75,000 and couples less than $150,000. The credit must be paid back interest free within 15 years. Even though the credit is not really a credit because it has to be paid back, it may help some first time home buyers a little bit.
Many people say that this bill really will not help that many homeowners though.
Here is a little bit of what Greg Johnson a great loan office that the A-Team works with says about the bill: “I have been asked to talk about the new Housing Rescue Bill and how it works. Here it is. You must have bought your home between Jan 05 and June 07 and must be living in the home. You must be spending at least 40% of your GROSS monthly income for house hold debt, principle, interest, taxes, insurance, PMI. You can be in default on your current mortgage and qualify. You must be able to prove that you will not be able to keep making your current payments and that you are not deliberately defaulting just to obtain lower payments.
Is it a good deal or a way to solve the current problem? I doubt it. Too few people can qualify and who knows if the current lender will play along. The answer is easing credit and bring more product back into the mix. This about like throwing a bucket of water on a house that is on fire.” More info on the bill at heerstheateam.com
It is summer time for where the surf meets the turf. It is time for the Del Mar horse races! The Del Mar horse races are great for everybody, even the whole family! Every Saturday and Sunday are family weekends from 1pm to 6pm. There are special activities for the kids and they get in free! One can even sit in the small restaurant overlooking the pallock and watch the magnificent horses. All the betting machines on every corner make it really fast and easy to bet too!
I love the Del Mar fairgrounds, they have a fun event after a fun event. They really know how to make north county San Diego a blast!
I went to the Opening Day of the horse races last Wednesday and it was fantastic! Opening day just has a different feel, a classy feel, even though it is a pack in feel. Many young people come to opening day and dress up in pretty dresses and beautiful huge hats, I entered my hat into the fresh flower contest too! Two members of the A-Team attended the event and had a great time even with some losses. You can bet the whole A-Team will be there again soon winning big!
I hope to see you at the Del Mar horse races winning big too!
High gas prices are hurting us all this summer. I am sure you are thinking of ways to get by during this time. If you are looking to buy your first starter home or buy a home closer to your work so you don’t have to commute as far, there are few things to consider when it comes to energy in homes.
Not only can you buy homes that are now Energy Star rated, but you can also examine an older home and its’ energy output. Don’t just look at the current owner’s energy bill, because they could have habits that are not the best, such as not turning off the lights and TV when they leave the room. Plus they may not have the best service provider either.
Look at all their appliances. Check out how old the furnace, air conditioning, appliances, and orientation of the windows. See if you need to buy the new energy efficient appliances to replace the old ones.
Check out Energy Star to locate a specialized contractor to inspect your home, if you want to consult professional advice. Two of the leading causes of energy waste are insulation and weather-stripping. Using professionals can be important for just these two causes! Having an annual maintained performed can make sure everything is running at its’ peek and help you save on your energy bill. I hope you all are managing to find ways to save this summer and have a happy one!
Happy Independence Day! I hope you all were able to drive to family and friends houses on this wonderful 4th of July! Or perhaps you are having your own BBQ at your own home and inviting a few friends over to celebrate this Independence Day! Going to the beach or a park is always a tradition on 4th of July too!
Wherever you are on America’s Birthday today I hope you are happy and celebrating your freedom! Remember our Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence, and the land of the free!
You can get a Free pocket-sized Declaration of Independence at the HeritageFoudation.com! I encourage everybody to read it with your friends and family around 4th of July!
Eat a lot of hot dogs, hamburgers, and enjoy a couple cold beverages!
Remember feel FREE to contact the A-Team with any questions on buying or selling your home!
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Do you have a freeway as your backyard? Are you thinking about passing up on a great home because it is too close to a freeway or loud street. Noisy traffic can keep you awake and just be annoying. Reduce noisy traffic by turning your backyard into a beautiful tranquil landscape. 
Taking a new class a local community college is exciting and pretty cheap depending on what you take. I took a beginning golf class last year, it cost me about $60 for around 4 months of lessons. Now that is unbelievable! Especially when it cost $60 or more for one hour of lessons almost anywhere else. Now that summer is about over I need to get back into my routine. After all Carlsbad is known for golf, so I need to keep my game up.
spending all of you money on gas! 
There is also the recently new Sprinter that runs from Oceanside up to San Marcos and into San Diego! The Sprinter is great for students of the wonderful California State University of San Marcos and the San Diego State University! 
free! One can even sit in the small restaurant overlooking the pallock and watch the magnificent horses. All the betting machines on every corner make it really fast and easy to bet too! 
