Helpful Hints for First-Time Home BuyersWritten by Rachel Greenberg
Buying a house can be a daunting task, even for someone who has owned several homes. My husband and I recently purchased our first home together, and it was hard to find good advice that we truly found useful. We had to learn a lot on our own, but at least now we feel comfortable and knowledgeable about whole process. Here are some helpful hints we picked up along way:1. Use your online resources. Almost every state and local government has a website where you can research real estate information. The data on home sales, taxes, and neighborhoods is invaluable when you are shopping for a home. We were able to find out most recent sale prices in neighborhood we selected, and we didn’t have to rely on a real estate agent to get data for us. Doing research yourself will make you more knowledgeable about market, which is key to making a good purchase. 2. Be realistic about how much you can spend. Try to buy a home in a price range that allows you to put down 20%. If you put down less than this, you will have to pay PMI (private mortgage insurance) to protect lender in case you default on loan. I know that 20% is a lot, but it’s not unrealistic. You may not be able to do it on your first home, but hopefully you can on your second home. The profits from sale of my condo enabled my husband and me to have more than enough for 20% down payment on our home. But we didn’t put it all down on home – we saved some of profits for unexpected expenses that come with buying a home. We suggest that you do same. 3. Shop for a home in winter, preferably around holidays. Since most people just aren’t interested in buying a home when they are trying to deal with holidays, you can pretty much be one of few buyers out there. We bought our home right before Christmas, and it was definitely a buyers market. We had our pick of homes and were able to underbid on asking price, even though we live in one of hottest real estate markets in country.
| | Leather Wristbands & Bracelets Sweeping the Country In PopularityWritten by Carrie Reeder
Leather wristbands & bracelets started to come into popularity about 3 or 4 years ago. Celebrities started to wear them. Slowly, general population started to wear them a little. Soon, they become no longer an accessory that was gothic or extreme, more conservative leather wristbands and bracelets were becoming common among people with many different fashion tastes. Leather cuff watches are a related accessory to leather wristbands. Cuff watches are leather band watches with wide leather bands, usually about 1.5-3 inches wide. About 3 years ago, there were about 100 cuff watches available for sale on ebay. As their popularity increased over last 3 years, there are now over 3500 cuff watches available for sale on ebay. Leather wristbands, cuffs and cuff watches have become a fashion necessity these days. Nowadays, there are many celebrities with all kinds of different fashion tastes who wear them. Leather bands is an accessory that has gone from having an extreme or punk stigma, to being completely necessary to mainstream fashion. Leather wrist accessories are no longer popular with just men. Women are wearing them almost as much as men now. There are women's leather cuff watches and leather bracelets available in most clothing stores now. There are many different kinds of leather bands available in stores now. For women, colored leather or suede bracelets and watch bands are popular. For men, it is popular for bands to be a little wider, 2 inches or more. With a leather wristband or cuff watch band, it is popular now for band to have a lot of texture, layers of leather, stitching or weaving.
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