The Cassidy Team: North Shore Realtors » Hot Off The Press!

Bed Bug Information

Deborah — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 20:33:26 +0000

We have been hearing a lot about bed bug infestations. They are finding them in places other than hotels; they have shown up in many retail stores and brought back to your home on the new piece of clothing, or in your suitcase from traveling. The following 2 sites will help you identify Bed Bugs, and help you select a safe, EPA approved pesticide to help rid the home of bed bugs. Reducing clutter, covering mattresses, vacuuming etc. will also help to prevent them from making your home theirs.

Tips to prevent infestations:

http://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/

The EPA pesticide database:

http:www.epa.gov/bedbugs/productsearch

Share and Enjoy:

Did You Know?

Deborah — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:42:45 +0000

The fifty-two playing cards in a typical deck represent

The fifty-two weeks in a year;

The four suits, the four seasons.

Share and Enjoy:

Did you know this?

Deborah — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:49:11 +0000

Play-Doh was originally formulated as a compound to clean wallpaper.

Share and Enjoy:

Costs Then and Now:

Deborah — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:38:57 +0000

Interesting Trivia:

In 1970

Home Cost: $23,450

Ave. Household Income: $9400

New Car: $3450

Gallon of Gas: $.36/gal

Postage Stamp: $.06

In 2010

Home Cost: $214,000

Ave. household Income: $50,303 (2008)

New Car: $28,400

Gallon of Gas: $2.86/gal

Postage Stamp: $.44

Interesting Trivia:

Share and Enjoy:

Did you know…..

Deborah — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:16:54 +0000

That one can of oil can contaminate 2 million gallons of drinking water! Please recycle your used oil: Take your used oil, antifreeze, and other household chemical waste to a service station or recycling center. Go to www.swalco.org to find out where a drop off location is, or when they will be having a local mobile facility drop off day near your home! They also have information of recycling used gym shoes!

Share and Enjoy:

How to Permanently delete private data on your computer

Deborah — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:32:41 +0000

If you are donating an old computer to a charity or just want to make sure that sensitive information is deleted forever, there are a few things you can do. For PCs, try file shredder (www.fileshredder.org ) or KillDisc ( www.killdisk.com ).Both free programs can permanently remove files. On a Mac, just put the files in the Trash and select “Secure Empty Trash” from the Finder menu.

Share and Enjoy:

Recipe Search Engine

Deborah — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:48:14 +0000

Since people are always on the run, here is a way to put something together at the “last minute” without eating at the usual killer fast food chain. It finds dishes you can make with ingredients you have on hand. At www.supercook.com enter an ingredient, and the site generates a list of recipes that use the ingredient. Click on the recipe to read it, or click on any other ingredient you have to narrow the list. What a great way to snack or eat healthy!

Share and Enjoy:

BETTER CREDIT SCORE, CHEAPER HOUSE PAYMENT

Jennifer — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:50:47 +0000

If a family put a 3.5% down payment on a $172,900 house with a resulting loan of $166,850. Here is what their bottom line would look like…

Score	Rate	Monthly Payment	Total Cost
760+	4.981%	$893.75	$326,900
700-759	5.203%	$916.50	$335,090
680-699	5.380%	$934.83	$341,689
660-679	5.594%	$957.22	$349,749
640-659	6.024%	$1002.93	$366,205
620-639	6.570%	$1062.30	$387,578

Less than 620: it will be tough to get a loan.

Difference between the top score and the bottom one? Over $60,000 in real savings.

Share and Enjoy:

How is your FICO Score Calculated? And how can you Improve it?

Deborah — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:24:36 +0000

Payment History (35%) How often you are late and by how many days, set up automatic payments to guarantee you’re never late. Pay your bills on time and you will improve your score within months.
Total Debt (30%) Higher debt loads work against you; “Usage Ratio” is the difference between what you owe on credit cards and your available credit. To keep that ratio low, don’t max out the cards, and don’t cancel cards that you don’t use. For best scores, use no more than 9 percent of your available credit; if you go above 50% your score is headed for a hudge nose dive.
Duration (15%) The longer that you’ve had an account the better. One late payment on a two year account will hurt your score more than if you had the cardfor 2 decades. Avoid opening new accounts unless necessary and keep the oldest cards active.

To improve your score:

Get the 3 Free Credit Reports from www.AnnualCreditReport.com Use No other site! Pull on eevery 4 months.
Check for mistakes. Are there accounts you don’t recognize, names that aren’t yours, incorrect addesses, date of birth, social security number or inaccurate reports? Have the credit bureaus combined your information with that of someone with a similar name> Do you still have your identity?
Report errors. One study found that 79 % of all credit reports had mistakes; 1 in 4 contained errors serious enough to have a significant negative impact on scores. Report errors to the appropriate credit bureau. It has 30 days to investiagte and respond.
Don’t get flipped. Say you owe $1,000 with a credit limit of $5,000, be sure it shows $4,000 of available credit.
Time your inquires. There is no “permanent” credit report. It’s some number stored in a computer file that changes constantly as lenders send in updates. The very best strategy is to constantly improve your financial habits so your score goes up and stays up.

Share and Enjoy:

FICO Scores and your Credit Report

Deborah — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:50:01 +0000

The Fair Credit Reporting Act guarantees you access to a free credit report from each of the 3 nationwide reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax and TransUnion – every 12 months. For a safe and secure way to obtain your free credit report start by going to www.ftc.gov. on “Free Credit Reports” and that will take you to another link, www.AnnualCreditReport.com. If you follow these directions, the information that you submit should be safe.
We can get FICO scores based on the TransUnion and Equifax credit reports from www.myfico.com for only $15.95 each. FICO Scale ranges from a low 300 to a high 850. The higher the better.
Your FICO score (Fair Isaac Corporation) is a big consideration in your mortgage qualification.

Share and Enjoy: