Holiday Home Maintenance Tips

Home Maintenance Tip -

HEALTH & SAFETY: Safety Tips for Holiday Decorating

The holiday season is here...and with the holidays comes decorating! The following tips and suggestions will help ensure safety as you get in the holiday spirit.

Decorate only with lights that have a NOEL or U/L testing agency label. Check wires, plugs and sockets for signs of wear or defects. Remember: If in doubt - throw them out.
Do not overload outlets and extension cords. Never tie together more than three extension cords.
Be sure decorative lights used outside are approved for outdoor use.
When decorating outdoors, be aware of all power lines. Don't work near overhead power lines or anywhere there is a possibility of contacting an overhead power line, either directly or indirectly, with a ladder or other piece of equipment.
Place Christmas trees away from fireplaces, radiators, television sets, and other sources of heat that may prematurely dry out the tree and make it more susceptible to fire. Make sure the tree has a sufficient amount of water at all times.
Don't burn wrapping paper or boxes in the fireplace. These types of materials ignite quickly and may burn uncontrollably.
HOUSEHOLD TIP: Calculating Holiday Energy Costs

It's that time of year when houses shine a bit brighter. Ever wonder how much the decorative holiday lights add to a monthly electric bill? Here's an easy way to help calculate energy costs this holiday season.

Count the bulbs on all of your decorative indoor and outdoor lights.
Check the wattage per bulb.
Multiply watts per bulb by number of bulbs. (1 watt per bulb x 1,000 bulbs = 1,000 watts).
Convert watts to kilowatts - 1,000 watts = 1 kilowatt (kw).
Estimate the hours per month the lights are on. (5 hours per day x 30 days = 150 hours)
Multiply the total kilowatts by the total number of hours the lights will be on to get the total kilowatt-hours (kwh). For example, 1 kw x 150 hours = 150 kwh.
Multiply the total kilowatt-hours by the total cost of electricity per kwh. (150 kwh x $0.14 per kwh = $21) In this example, the cost of holiday lighting would be an additional $21 per month.

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Today's FM Lending Rates

30 year Fixed Conv 4.625%
15 year Fixed Conv 4.25%
30 year Fixed FHA 4.75%
5/1 ARM Conv 3.5%

Daily Rate Lock Advisory

Tuesday's bond market has opened in positive territory again following early weakness in stocks. The stock markets are showing sizable losses with the Dow down 85 points and the Nasdaq down 6 points. The bond market is currently up 11/32, which should improve mortgage rates by approximately .250 - .375 of a discount point over yesterday's morning rates.

There is no relevant economic news scheduled for release today or tomorrow. Therefore, I am expecting the stock markets to likely be the biggest influence on bond trading and mortgage rates today. If the major stock indexes move lower we may see bond prices move higher and mortgage rates improve this afternoon.

Tomorrow does bring us the first of this week's two important Treasury auctions. The 10-year Note sale will be held Wednesday while 30-year Bonds will be sold Thursday. Wednesday's auction is the more important of the two events and will likely influence mortgage rates more. Results of each sale will be posted at 1:00 PM ET. If they were met with a strong demand from investors, particularly international buyers, we should see afternoon strength in bonds and improvements to mortgage pricing those days.

There is no relevant economic news scheduled for release today, tomorrow or Wednesday. October's Goods and Services Trade Balance report will be posted early Thursday morning. This report gives the size of the U.S. trade deficit, but it is the week's least important release. It is expected to show a $37.0 billion trade deficit. Unless it varies greatly from forecasts, I don't expect it to affect mortgage pricing.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.

Ashbury, Olde South Homes

Help For Distressed Homeowners

You should check out this resource from REAL Trends Inc.

Title: New video to help distressed homeowners

Link: http://www.realtrends.com/go/view_media.php?mp_id=8650&cat_id=1366

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