The Right Moves

The Right Moves

You found the perfect house, signed on the dotted line and are daydreaming about life in your new home. As moving day looms, it’s also time to think about packing up your many belongings. Have you found enough boxes? How to handle those precious family heirlooms and other breakables? Here are a few tips for making your big day go as smoothly as possible:
Before You Start
• Prioritize your packing list. Consider what you don’t need to take with you, what will need extra packing care and how to best organize your things.
• Estimate how many boxes you’ll need and get them well in advance of moving day. Save newspapers to line boxes.
• Consider investing in moving insurance, which will cover anydamages or breakages during the move.
Getting Under Way
• Start early. Packing always takes longer than you think.
• Begin at the top of the house first and work your way down. Attics are a great place to start sorting.
• Move from room to room, packing and labeling carefully as you go. Clearly mark boxes that contain breakable objects. Be sure to keep all boxes that belong to a certain room together. It will make it much easier when you unpack.
• Newspaper can sometimes leave marks, so wrap your valuables in bubble wrap, blankets or pillows to avoid messy newsprint.
• Keep all of your important documents, such as birth and marriage certificates,
in the same place for easy reference.
Thinking Ahead
• You likely won’t want to shuffle through boxes on your first night in your new home, or you might be traveling long distance and have your household items show up after you’ve arrived. Either way, pack an essentials box containing a change of clothes and toiletries, as well as coffee, tea, snacks, cups, plates and utensils. A small tool kit, first-aid supplies and pen and paper are also important to have on hand.

Be Smart. Buy Now

Daily Real Estate News March 11, 2008
Why Now is a Smart Time to Buy
Now is a great time to buy a home, say the financial gurus at the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal calls it a buyers market and offers these suggestions for first-timers getting their feet wet. While their advice is solid, it’s not revolutionary, but some potential customers might find it reassuring.

Remember this is a place to live not a stock market investment, they say. Lenders want buyers to spend no more than 28 percent of their gross monthly income on mortgage payments, real estate taxes, and home insurance. Buyers shouldn’t count on stretching further because lenders won’t approve their loans.

Cash is king. Having enough money in the bank to pay closing costs that are typically an additional 2 percent to 3 percent of the price of the home is necessary.
Location. Location, location. As any good real estate professional knows, homes in good school districts where the crime is low are much more likely to hold or increase their value.
Compare. Besides just looking at the comps, buyers should examine what it would cost to rent a similar house in the same area and they might consider what it would cost to buy land and build a comparable home.
Think long haul. It will probably take at least six or seven years of living in the house to be able to sell and come out ahead.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Shelly Banjo (03/11/08)

nancymalexander.com

How to Attract Wildlife To Your garden

Welcome all species of guests to your garden

While some homeowners strive to rid their landscapes of insect and animal pests, others try to entice visitors from the animal kingdom to their gardens.
Many outdoor creatures that accent a beautiful landscape are also helpful participants in the community. Bees pollinate fruits and flowers, keeping gardens productive. Toads, frogs and lizards are fascinating to watch and eat pesky insects at a ferocious rate. Dragonflies, ladybugs and spiders also eat great numbers of unwelcome insects, such as aphids and mites. Here are tips for encouraging wildlife to come to your garden.
• Diversify
The more diverse the plants in your garden, the more wildlife you are likely to attract. Set up a complex mini-ecosystem in your back yard by choosing a variety of plants.
• Don't be too tidy
Humans appreciate neat gardens, but animals thrive in messier places. Removing faded flowers keeps the garden attractive and flowers bearing longer, but birds enjoy flowers that have gone to seed. Brush piles are an ideal place for butterflies and other creatures to overwinter.
• Provide cover
Most animals need a protected area. Shade trees provide protective cover for animals while fruit-bearing trees and shrubs provide food. Even a vine-covered wall can provide a potential nesting site for tiny birds.
• Garden organically
Chemicals throw off nature's balance and can kill helpful as well as harmful creatures. Many organic practices attract wildlife. Adding compost or other organic matter to the soil, for example, attracts earthworms. They, in turn, contribute to the health of the bed. Their constant burrowing tills and aerates the soil. They ingest organic wastes and deposit humus-rich castings in it. Earthworms also attract robins and other birds.
• Go native
Most native plants help feed or host local wildlife. They provide food for adult birds and good nectar for local butterflies as well as shelter for birds and other cre
• Go native
Most native plants help feed or host local wildlife. They provide food for adult birds and good nectar for local butterflies as well as shelter for birds and other creatures.


www.StoneHarborRealtor.com

Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show on Comedy Central. Monday, Stewart provided brilliant analysis of the recent market turmoil.

Nancy@NancyMAlexander.com
www.StoneHarborRealtor.com
800.708.5792