REAL ESTATE INFORMATION... From: A Professional Real Estate Consultant....

2007-11-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving, Time for Family and Friends

Thanksgiving is a time for togetherness... it's an occasion to be spent in the warm and loving company of family, loved ones and friends enjoying turkey roast and pumpkin pies with them. Thanksgiving is also an opportunity to renew the ties that bind us with the ones we love... it is a time for remembering, cherishing and being thankful for all the good things you have been blessed with. So it's time to say 'Happy Thanksgiving'

Just two more weeks, friends! I'm sure you are almost done with your thanksgiving preparation. Good, if you have sent your thanksgiving invitations and done with the thanksgiving feat planning. But have you ever spare a thought on coming up with some special attraction? How about some great Thanksgiving movies?

Here's a list of the top ten Thanksgiving movies:

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Alice's Restaurant
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The Ice Storm
What's cooking
Tadpole
Pieces of April
The Myth of Fingerprints
Hannah and her Sisters
Home for the Holidays

Keep the Thanksgiving spirit scaled held high with some of the fun filled Thanksgiving movies.

Thanksgiving Turkey Low in Stock in Food Bank!

With Thanksgiving approaching fast, I am sure you're ready to roast your thanksgiving turkeys. But have you ever spared a thought about the down trodden section of the turkey population? Kate Lombardo, the Executive Director of Food Bank says that Food Bank Lower Fairfield County in Connecticut is running a shortage of turkeys for this Thanksgiving. While the food Bank had 1400 turkey at this time in 2006, this year it has only five turkeys on November 2nd in the late afternoon to distribute to needy families for Thanksgiving. “Oil is up”, said Lombardo and with this slumping economy the past donors are not as generous this year. With the present stock of only 5 turkeys the agency has to go a long way to meet the need of 3000 turkeys for Thanksgiving 2007.

Send Turkey Day eCard

If you've already prepared the Thanksgiving budget, then it's for sure that you have also chalked out the Thanksgiving dinner plan or Thanksgiving party plan. Whether you know it or not, it's now the perfect time to spare a thought over the Thanksgiving Invitation issue. Otherwise you will be too late and may end up with mess in haste, when it comes to the Turkey Day. Just follow a few simple steps to mark a name of yourself in the hearts of your special Thanksgiving guests.

Decide how many people you can afford. Considering your pre-formulated budget and the space are of utmost importance.
Make a list of the guests that you want to invite to join you at your Thanksgiving feast.
Decide whether you want to include kids in your Thanksgiving party or adults only. If you are going to invite kids you may have to be very selective regarding food and make necessary arrangements for some games and fun.
As soon as you've prepared the list, give it a second glance as you may want to exclude somebody or replace somebody with any other person.
Spare a thought on Thanksgiving invitation cards. This is the most neglected part of the story, despite of its immense importance. No point wasting time good idea to invite people online using the pre-designed invitation e-cards. and money in making your own invitation cards, since it's a
Choose the one that suits your Thanksgiving celebration theme and see what wonder you can make by this. A suggestion I would have is the following FREE website www.Evite.com. They have some invitations and e-cards

How to Make Thanksgiving Wreath?

You can have a lot of fun on Thanksgiving. But more fun comes with the planning rather than the event itself. It doesn't matter whether it's making a plan for Thanksgiving decorations or Thanksgiving dinners or other Thanksgiving activities. So, I was thinking about making stuff like special thanksgiving decorations today.

How do you make a Thanksgiving wreath? It's not all that a big deal. But it's really an awesome idea to make a thanksgiving wreath by yourself because it saves you a lot of money. Plus you'll be ready for Christmas!

Requirements:

Grapevine wreath
Glue gun
Glue Flowers (Artificial cloth sunflowers should be your choice)
Ribbon Indian corn (Plastic corn that you can find in the local craft stores)
Wood Pine Cones (You can get these at your local parks. Just pick the medium ones)
Plastic pumpkins (Sizes should not be uniform, but pick the small ones.)
Stuffed animal (You can find these in the local craft stores. Small to medium ones would be the perfect pick)

Direction:
Step 1: Start off with the grapevine wreath. Attach the small stuffed bears on the wreath first so that you will have an idea what else to put and where to give it an elegant look. You can glue a small piece of wood onto the wreath to fix the bear onto the wreath. Fix the bear in such a way that it doesn't fall off the wreath.

Step 2: Fix the pumpkins onto the wreath by gluing them well so that they don't fall off.

Step 3: Fix the sunflowers all around the wreath in a way that it gives a very decent look. If you want you can use other flowers along with the sunflowers. But then, you need to pay extra attention to the color combination.
Step 4: Give final touches by using the ribbons. Make some of the beautiful bows all along the circumference of the wreath or you can make one large bow.

You are now ready with your beautiful Thanksgiving wreath. Place it on your entrance to greet your special Thanksgiving guests.

Thanksgiving Recipes: Pumpkin Pie

A Thanksgiving feast is incomplete without food, wine and ofcourse pumpkin pie which adds the final touch of sweet but zestful splendor. Take a look:

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, EAGLE BRAND®, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Toffee Pie

Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
3/4 cup toffee baking bits
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 eggs

As you can see Thanksgiving is a day when you can have a lot of fun if you plan accordingly. This entry was extremely rewarding for me and I am planning on having a great time myself. I do have many things to give thanks to but the one thing that I am more thankful for is, the opportunity to be here at this time writing this message and be able to be of help. Thank you so very much for all your support.

Please don’t forget to comeback next month for great information.

Real Estate Market.

2007-10-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

We are in a DOWN Market Myth.
Whether you are a buyer or seller in this housing era, you perhaps are overwhelmed and scared on making a decision regarding your situation about your current or future home. Just like all of us waking up in the morning and hearing all the media description of how horrible the Real Estate market is, which to me is missing a lot of facts.

So I pose this question? Are we truly in a down Market? I really don't believe we are in a down market. I like to call it a SHIFTING or CORRECTING market. See to me, "down" is associated with "bad" and I do not see this as a "bad" market. Houses are still being bought and sold. But for many years we have been in a market where the supply of homes was low and demand for homes was high. This along with easy-to-qualify mortgage loans caused the market to lean heavily in favor of Sellers.

However there are fewer loans and more homes available than even this time last year. In many places there are even fewer buyers and some areas are even seeing property depreciation. Yes. This all looks a bit daunting ... or a LOT daunting.

The Real Estate Market to me should be regarded as a local market. I am here to tell you that in lane County things are still very good. Please take a few minutes to check out the Real Estate Outlook Video. You will find great information Regarding this issue From an independents source.

Take the time to investigate and become familiar with the process. If you or any of your friends or family are considering buying or selling their home and would like more information please feel free to contact me.

If you liked the information provided in this Blog and would like more information in a more timely manner. Please visit my website at

www.RealEstateByRuben.com

There you will find an array of useful information about selling and purchasing Real Estate.

Your Liftime Real Estate Consultant.

A buyers guide to find their dream home.

2007-09-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

What home is the right Home?

How will you know when you see the house of your dreams: A common reply is always "I'll Know it when I see it!" However, if you logically analyze your needs ahead of time, you'll be better equipped to make a decision and prioritize which characteristics are most important to you and your family in a home.

Surely you have heard the common Real Estate theory that there are three things to consider when buying a house: "Location, location, location!" While there are other important factors to consider when choosing a home, answering the following questions will remind you how important locations are in your decision.

Geography

Will you be looking in urban, suburban, semi-rural or rural areas?
Is the area sparsely populated, medium or high?
Do you have a preference with regard to natural features like woods, hills, and lowland?
Do you have a preference to be near water such as rivers, lakes, etc?
How will you be commuting to work?
How long will your commute be? Do you need to be near public transportation?

Surrounding Areas

What are the characteristics of the surrounding areas for shopping?
Is there a central Commercial district?
Are there any shopping malls?
Are there any supermarket, department and drug shopping centers?

Neighborhood Focus

What is the general appearance?
Are the homes well maintained?
What are the main types/styles of homes?
Do the homes appear to be "newer" or "older"?
How far apart are the houses

Schools

Are there both public and parochial schools?
Are they equipped to handle special needs if needed?
How do children primarily get to school?
What is the teacher per student ratio?
Are there after-school activities?
How well are the schools ranked? State and Nationally?

Recreational Entertainment

What forms of entertainment are offered?
Are there public parks, country club, and /or sports teams close by?

Community Involvement

Is there a Home Owner's Association? How active are they?
Is there a PTA and a Neighborhood Watch program in Place?

Find out the answer to these questions, and then determine which items are important to you and which you can live without.

Make a list of features and amenities that you would like to have in your home. Make a chart, rank them and find out the most important features.

As you can see there are many things to consider when purchasing your dream home.
Please come back next week when I post the next issue.

A sellers guide to getting top dollar.

If you like the information provided in this Blog and would like more information in a more timely manner. Please visit my website at

http://rubencelio.point2agent.com

There you will find an array of useful information about selling and purchasing Real Estate.

I want to be your lifetime Realtor!

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH... Making the most from the sale of your home.

2007-07-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION.
The process of selling a home can sometimes be complicated. The terminology can be confusing, procedures may be unclear, and even the participants can be ambiguous! But you can sort it out and understand the process if you learn a few terms, get to know the people involved and their role, and become familiar with your obligations and what you should expect.
1. BROKERS
Brokers, also know as Real Estate agents, cooperate to help you sell your home. Familiarize yourself with Listing Brokers and what sort of service they can offer you when marketing your home.

2. THE LISTING APPOINTMENT

When you have made a decision of whom you are employing to market your home, you will met with the broker and discuss the process of listing your home.

3. WORKING THE NUMBERS

A critical factor of selling your home and getting the most of the sale is to set the right sales price. This is why you need a professional evaluation from an experienced Realtor. Other Key factors that affect the sale are:

Market Conditions
Condition of your home
Repairs or Improvements
Selling timeframe

4. PROPERTY PROFILES

The listing Agent will prepare a folder of information about the property based on the information collected from you the seller and other data from public records. This information will include items such as: water, school districts, neighboorhood and subdivision identification, tax and other information.

5. GETTING READY FOR BUYERS

All other factors being equal, the home that makes the best visual impression often sells quickest. Use common sense as to what buyers would like to see.

Examples:

Curb appeal
Paint
Carpet
Repairs and renovation
neatness
etc.

A good first impression makes an impact on a number of level. It's not just the wy your house looks to potential buyers, but how it feels and smells to them.

Even though you spend your valuable time readying your house for a sale, the selling itself is the job of your broker. He or she will take the responsibility for marketing your home to the appropriate audiences and bringing in buyers to view the home. Make sure you ask your broker what type of marketing he or she will employ to sell your home faster.

Other items to know and get familiar with are:

The accepted offer.
Settllement.
Etc.

This information given above, is a very short version of the process, However, to receive a full version of the report please feel free to e-mail or call me, and I will immediately send you the full version of the reports.

Please come back next month when I post the next issue.

Choosing the Right Agent.

If you liked the information provided in this Blog and would like more information in a more timely manner. Please visit my website at

www.RealEstateByRuben.com

There you will find an array of useful information about selling and purchasing Real Estate.

I want to be your lifetime Realtor!