With Halloween just around the corner it's time to start thinking about the best possible ways to decorate around the home to get everyone into the Halloween mood! This year, we've brought you three creative and fun ways to make your house look absolutely spook-tacular! 

 

Pumkin Luminary Halloween Jars:

With a mason jar, some tissue paper, and some pieces of black felt you can create this one of a kind jack-o-lantern that's much less intimdating and sure to last longer than a real pumpkin!

Click the photo below for a full tutorial on how to make these cute and spooky halloween friends!

Carve-By-Color Pumpkins:

If you are looking for that real pumpkin feel, this can be a fun activity to do with adults and children alike! These…

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Today in our Market Updates series we will be talking about boomerang buyers and what their recovery means for the housing market.

As seen in the infographic above provided by our friends at KCM, a boomerang buyer is defined as a former homeowner who has gone through a "short sale," "foreclosure," or "bankruptcy" in the past few years and has been saving for a downpayment in preparation of the expiration of the waiting period, in order to qualify once again for a mortgage. 

Between 2006 and 2014 over 7 million homeowners went through a short sale or foreclosure. However, in 2014 about 350,000 homes were sold to return buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors up to 1 million consumers have already restores their credit since the…

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Today in our Market Updates series, we have some interesting information about the average interest rates and mortgage payments throughout the last 4 decades and into today. 

The infographic above, provided by our friends at KCM (Keeping Current Matters) shows the difference in interest rates and mortgage payments from the 70's to today. In the 70's the average interest rate was at 8.86% with average mortgage payments costing about $1,589. In the 80's the average interest rate skyrocketed to a whopping 12.7% with average mortgage payments costing about $2,166. In the 90's interest rates lowered to a similar 70's rate at 8.12% with an average mortgage payment of $1,484. In the 2000's the interest rate lowered again to about 6.29% with average…

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In today's edition of Market Updates, we'll be using this amazing infographic from our friends at KCM (Keeping Current Matters) to discuss the benefits of hiring a real estate agent.     Whether you are buying or selling, hiring a real estate agent holds many advantages for everyone involved in the buying/selling process. They understand all the paperwork that has to be filled out, know all the tips and tricks for negotiating deals, have knowledge and experience in all aspects of real estate, know the proper values of any home, and have a clear understanding of the current market conditions. Hiring a real estate agent makes every step of buying or selling a home a simpler process. You'll have a cunning and educated person taking care of all…

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My vegetable garden did not do as well as in summers past, but my grandson and I were able to harvest some beans (we ate them immediately after picking), a few small tomatoes, a few green peppers, a bunch of hot peppers, four butternut squashes and lettuce.  Luckily for us, our neighbors have shared their long green Sri Lankan beans which have also attached itself to my Rose of Sharon so we had plenty to keep our bellies filled. Below is the last of the long green beans and tomatoes. 

Even the figs have been slow to ripen.  Now is the time to get your composting sifted and placed on top of your flower and vegetable beds and around your fruit trees.  I was told that next year my apples will be perfect if I prep the soil correctly with compost.  If you…

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