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30
May
By Jim Hasek
Homeowner Tips, ,

The Green Thumb: Four Easy Ways To Get More From Your Home Garden

Growing a home garden creates beauty, oxygen and even food for our families to enjoy. If you're looking to get more from your home garden, here are four easy ways to improve a green thumb. A Good Foundation For Your Garden Good soil is the foundation of a healthy garden. By using quality soil, you can give your garden plants the best start possible. Adding a variety of organic matter to soil will give plants a happy home to grow in. Add two to three inches of organic matter to your garden bed at the beginning of each season. Compost,…
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29
May
By Jim Hasek
Homeowner Tips, ,

5 Tips To Protect Yourself When Buying Newly Constructed Real Estate

Buying newly constructed real estate isn't much different from buying an "already used" home. What variances there are, however, can make all the difference between buying a diamond or a lemon.  Here are a few tips to keep in mind when buying new construction: Tip #1: Don't Use The Builder's Sales Agent - Hire Your Own If they're the builder's agent, they're being paid to represent the builder, no matter what they tell you.  Your own real estate agent, who is representing you, is required to tell you the negatives as well as the positives.  The builder's agent doesn't have…
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28
May
By Jim Hasek
Uncategorized, ,

FOMC Minutes: Committee Discusses “Normalizing” Policy

April's meeting of the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee was held along with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Meeting minutes released Wednesday indicated the committee's interest in "normalizing" its monetary policy. This included the FOMC's ongoing commitment to tapering its asset purchases under its quantitative easing program. The committee agreed to taper the Fed's monthly asset purchases by $10 billion to $45 billion per month. Committee members discussed raising the target federal funds rate, which now stands at 0.00 to 0.25 percent, but the minutes clearly stated that this topic was undertaken as part of "prudent…
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27
May
By Jim Hasek
Uncategorized, ,

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – May 27, 2014

Last week's economic news was dominated by speeches given by Federal Reserve presidents, the minutes from April's FOMC meeting and commencement address given by Fed Chair Janet Yellen. The latest readings for new and existing home sales were also released. Federal Reserve Speeches Suggest Concerns Over Monetary Policy Dependence, Low Inflation Here are highlights of comments made by each of the Fed presidents' speeches. Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Fed, and John Williams, President of the San Francisco Fed, spoke at a conference held at the Bush Institute. Mr. Fisher said that 98 percent of jobs lost during the…
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23
May
By Jim Hasek
Uncategorized, ,

Did You Know? How Paint Color Choices Can Drastically Affect The ‘Mood’ Of Your Home

Whether you're sprucing up your house to sell or simply looking for a color to bring out the beauty of your home, it's imperative that you do your homework. Before you head off to your local DIY store with a paint sample in one hand and a wallet in the other, you need to ensure that you're picking the colors that are right for your home and your personality. It is true that you can never go wrong with a neutral, but you can also go so much more right with the correct color in the appropriate space, whether it's…
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22
May
By Jim Hasek
Uncategorized, ,

Three Mobile Apps That Make Home Automation Tasks Quick And Easy

These days, efficiency and productivity are the keys to life, which is why it's no surprise that home automation is a bigger topic than ever before. As more and more people become tech savvy and get used to working with handheld devices, home automation becomes a natural fit for your smartphone or other handheld device. After all, it's a true pleasure to be able to control nearly everything in your home from just one device! You have so many things to do each and every day that it would be too much of a hassle to do everything separately and…
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