If you're planning to put your house on the market soon, you probably have some cleaning to do. Most people hang on to things like old paint cans, cleaning products, insecticides and weed killers long after they're needed. But what is a homeowner supposed to do with the stuff that you just can't
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09/24/2009
Shooting approximately 630 feet into the air several times each day, the stunning Gateway Geyser has the power to reach for the sky and to lure drivers from the interstate highways of Southwestern Illinois for a closer look. If you've ever wondered about that massive fountain of water that can be
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09/19/2009
It can take weeks or even months to find out the closing price of a home in your neighborhood by scouring the traditional media for sporadically published real estate sales items. We humans are naturally curious, especially when closed comps will have an effect on the price we can set for our ow
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09/19/2009
I toured two very nice bank-owned houses in Troy, Illinois today. Both are new construction and new to the market. All that is missing is your offer. The first (pictured right) is listed for $239,000. It offers four bedrooms, three baths and 2,540 square feet of living space. The interior painted
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09/15/2009
I can recall joking with a friend some years ago that I wasn't really sure how one uses the drug called Meth. Do you shoot it, smoke it, sniff it, whiff it or what? Neither of us could figure it out. (I'll give you the answer at the end of this post.) Now, sadly, I know more than I want to about
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09/15/2009
It's been a hard year for many residents of Madison County, Illinois. Unemployed and chronically underemployed friends and neighbors are ready to work but are not finding jobs to replace those they have lost during the economic downturn. That's why this piece of good news from Census 2010 comes
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09/11/2009
Sometimes it pays to park a big, yellow Hummer outside your place of business. That's what stopped us in our tracks tonight as we cruised along Illinois Route 140 in Bethalto, Illinois in search of dinner. The behemoth billboard beckoned us into a place called Country Barbecue situated in a small
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09/10/2009
"I didn't realize there was a neighborhood back there!" That's the most common comment that I get when showing homes to prospective buyers in the Ginger Creek neighborhood of Glen Carbon, Illinois. The entrance to the popular subdivision is filled with professional office buildings that house med
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09/02/2009
Take a leisurely drive down Meridian Road in Glen Carbon and you'll pass the entrance to the lovely Somerset subdivision on the west side of the street. (Heed my advice and be sure the drive is "leisurely," if you know what I mean, because the speed limit is just 30 mph on Meridian.) Currently th
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09/02/2009
If you're on the fence about buying a home in Madison County it's time to get off. Not only can you cash in on the first time buyer tax credit (up to $8,000) but the Madison County Grant Program has secured more funds. This means you can receive $3,000 of down payment assistance in the form of
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09/01/2009
