-
Real Estate Update

- Home & Family

- Buyers & Seller’s Corner

- Home Improvement

- Wine 101

- Health & Fitness

- Recipe of the Month

- Technology Corner

- Forward to a Friend

June
2008

7 — Family
Day
8 — Write to Your Father Day
13 — Friday the 13th
14 — Flag Day
15 — Father’s Day
18 — Go Fishing Day
18 — Full Moon Day
20 — Summer Solstice

Charlotte NC Housing Market

You may be surprised to find out that there are some cities, Manhattan, Austin Texas and our own Charlotte North Carolina that have been weathering and even growing in the current market.

Blogs are growing all the time.

Next time you are looking for information regarding real estate, check out Active Rain. It’s one of the best blogging  sites to gain info on a particular area.

Second
Half of 2008 Poised for Improvement

Home sales and
prices throughout most of the country are poised for improvement
in the second half of 2008, and the recovery will vary by market,
said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun at a recent meeting.

Middle-America
cities that performed evenly over the past few years — like Cincinnati,
Milwaukee and the Kansas City, Mo., area — are likely to experience
home price gains in the 20 to 30 percent range over the next five
years, while markets like Miami, Las Vegas and Phoenix could see
prices go up as much as 50 percent during that time period, according
to Yun.

Yun blamed most
of the softening of the housing market over the last year on the
"subprime mess," where consumers with blemished credit
records got loans they couldn’t afford when the interest rates reset
to higher levels.

Yun urged the
Congress and White House to enact NAR-supported legislation to modernize
FHA programs, reform regulation affecting Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac, establish a first-time home buyer tax credit, and make the
temporary increases to the conforming loan limits established by
the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 permanent.

"These
measures would quickly stabilize the housing markets and get fence-sitters
into the market to buy homes," said Yun. "There are many
reasons for people to get into the housing market today, and very
few reasons not to. With the plentiful supply of homes for sale
at affordable prices, interest rates approaching 40-year lows, and
the strong track record of housing as a good long-term investment,
conditions are ripe for buyers."

TOP

How-To
Teach Your Child to Ride a Bike

Don’t let your
child miss out on the fun biking provides. Yes, it can be difficult
to teach a 5-year-old to ride, but the effort is well worthwhile
and provides a healthy activity and a lifetime of smiles. Following
are a few tips to get you rolling:

• The ideal
  bike for learning to ride is a bike
  that is "too small" for efficient riding. Borrow one
  if you need to.


• Make sure
  the bike is in good working condition, bolts tight, chain oiled,
  brakes working, air in tires.


• Remove the
  training wheels.


• Adjust the
  seat so your child can firmly plant both feet on the ground.


• Get a helmet
  that fits correctly. Leather gloves and knee pads are a good idea
  too, especially if you’re learning in an area with gravel.


• Practice
  in an open and flat or gently-sloping area; grass makes for a
  less-painful fall.

The primary
difficulty with learning to ride a bike is that the child is expected
to learn two skills at the same time: balance and propulsion. Instead
of trying to teach both skills at the same time, focus on balance
and steering first (without trying to pedal). Let your child simply
sit on the bike and push himself around to get use to the feel.
After your child is comfortable with this, either give him a gentle
push or find a gentle-sloping hill so he can practice coasting without
touching the ground.

After your child
can coast comfortably for about 25 feet, it’s time to add propulsion
to the equation. Hold the bike upright and give a gentle push to
get your child moving. Do not hold the handlebar or seat as this
will only hinder his ability to understand balance. In addition,
if you plan to run alongside and hold your child up, do so by holding
them at the shoulders. The process may be slow at first, but within
a few hours your child should be able to ride about 50 feet without
touching the ground.

As your child’s
balance and propulsion skills get better, you may want to raise
the seat and handlebars or move up to a bigger bike. The small bike
is only used to teach balance and propulsion skills. Once they master
these, a size-appropriate bike will be easier to propel and steer.
Most children will figure out how to start pedaling from a stationary
position without assistance after they’ve been peddling for a few
hours.

TOP

Between
saying and doing many a pair of shoes

is worn out.

— Italian Proverb

Take
the Time to Check Out the Competition

It’s pretty
much standard for the listing agent to prepare and present a home
evaluation to a home seller before they place the home on the market.
This evaluation often includes comparable homes for sale, pending
and sold home prices, average number of days on the market, and
more. While this evaluation is good, it doesn’t always give you
the whole picture.

So, before you
put your home on the market, you may want to consider spending a
weekend or two checking out the competition. This includes existing
homes and new home developments. A good listing agent will be happy
to show you a few "comps," and you can go to open houses
on your own. You only need to see a few similarly-priced homes in
similar neighborhoods to get a feel for your competition. You can
preview new homes, of course, at the development during their regular
business hours.

This research
will help you determine the best sales price at which to list your
home — a key ingredient to get your home sold fast and at top dollar.
You don’t need to go out and buy new furniture to look like a model
home, but it’s important for you to see what potential buyers see.

TOP

The
Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue
happiness. You have to

catch it yourself.

— Benjamin Franklin

5
Easy Steps to Repairing a Small Hole

Moving furniture,
installing a HDTV, hanging shelves, a broken door stop, all these
things and more can lead to a hole in the wall. Fortunately, repairing
a hole in drywall is fairly simple. Most smaller holes can be repaired
within a few hours. Here’s what you need:

• Joint compound
• Fiberglass
  mesh tape or peal-and-stick drywall patch
• Putty knife
• Utility knife
• Medium grit
  sandpaper
• Primer and
  paint

Here’s how you
do it:

1. Wipe away
   any dust or debris around the hole.
2. Cut a piece
   of fiberglass mesh tape, leaving about a half inch excess over
   the hole. Trim away any extra.
3. Apply joint
   compound over the mesh tape using a putty knife. Smooth out joint
   compound so there is no excess.
4. Let the compound
   dry, then lightly sand until the surface is smooth and edges are
   even with the wall.
5. Prime with
   flat white paint, let dry, then paint with matching wall color.

TOP

It
is a good divine that follows his own instructions.

— William Shakespeare

Wine
101: Old and New World Wine

Did you ever
wonder what it means when someone refers to a wine as an "Old
World wine" or a "New World wine"?

In short, these
expressions refer to where the wines were produced. Old World wine
refers to wines produced inside of the traditional wine growing
areas of Europe and North Africa; and New World wine refers to wines
of newer producing regions, such as the United States, South Africa,
New Zealand, Chile, Australia and Argentina.

Since New World
vineyards are generally in warmer climates than those of Northern
Europe, the grapes tend to be riper and produce wines that tend
to be correspondingly more alcoholic and full-bodied. Some wine
critics have influenced New World producers and consumers towards
a fruitier style, with more use of new oak. In recent years, however,
there has been a reaction against some of the overly oaky, alcoholic
styles that were common a few decades ago.

TOP

A
positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort.

— Herm Albright

4
Exercises to Tone Your Arms

As the weather
improves and you break out your summer wardrobe, here are a few
exercises to tone up your arms.

Bicep
Curls — Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart, abs
tight, shoulders squared and elbows tight against your rib cage.
Grip the dumbbells with your palms facing forward and slowly curl
the weights until they’re at shoulder level, then slowly drop back
down. The movement should be slow and controlled.

Triceps
Kickbacks — Using dumbbells, bend forward so your upper
body is parallel to the floor, abs tight, feet flat and knees slightly
bent. Bend your elbows so they’re even with your back. Keeping your
arms close to your rib cage, slowly raise the weights until your
arms are straight behind you. After your arms are fully extended,
squeeze your triceps, then lower your hands, returning to starting
position.

Overhead
Press — Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees
slightly bent, abs tight and chest out. Bring the dumbbells to shoulder
height, just to the side of each shoulder, palms facing forward.
Now, slowly lift the weights overhead, bringing them toward each
other as you extend your arms, pause a second, then return to starting
position.

Push-ups
— Place your hands under your shoulders with your palms on the
floor. Curl your toes upward so the tips of your feet touch the
ground. Keeping your legs straight, raise yourself using your arms
until they’re fully extended, pause a moment, then lower yourself
until your chin nearly touches the floor.

If you just
want to tone your arms, use lighter weights so you can do 12 to
15 repetitions before your muscles tire, rest, then do two more
sets. If your goal is to bulk up, use heavier weights that tire
your muscles after eight reps, take a break, then do two more sets.

TOP

Fish
Fillets with Olives and Oregano

• 4 thick pieces
  white-fleshed skinless fish fillets, such as halibut (6 oz each)


• 1 teaspoon
  salt


• 1/4 teaspoon
  black pepper


• 3 tablespoons
  extra-virgin olive oil


• 4 very thin
  lemon slices


• 1/2 cup dry
  white wine


• 1/3 cup pitted
  brine-cured green olives such as picholine, halved lengthwise
  (2 oz)


• 1 to 1 1/2
  teaspoons fresh lemon juice


• 2 tablespoons
  finely chopped fresh oregano

1. Put oven
   rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.


2. Pat fish
   dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in
   a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but
   not smoking, then sear fillets, skinned sides down, until browned
   well, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer, seared sides up, to baking dish
   (reserve skillet), then top each fillet with a slice of lemon.


3. Add wine
   to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits. Boil
   30 seconds, then pour around fish. Scatter olives around fish
   and bake, uncovered, until fish is just cooked through, 8 to 12
   minutes.


4. Transfer
   fish to a platter, then whisk lemon juice, oregano, and remaining
   2 tablespoons oil into cooking liquid in baking dish. Season sauce
   with salt and pepper and spoon over fish.

San Osvaldo Pinot
Grigio DOC 2006

TOP

Good
judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from

bad judgment.

— Rita Mae Brown

Easily
Make Posters From Your Digital Images

If you’ve ever
wanted an easy way to turn a digital image into a poster, consider
PosteRazor. This free, printing utility produces PDFs of your large
image across several pieces of regular printer-sized paper, eliminating
the need for a wide-format printer.

Simply load
your image in PosteRazor, tell it how many sheets of paper you want
it to span, and the program will produce the appropriate number
of PDF file pages. Print out the resulting sheets and put them together
to make your poster.

This is a great
solution to make posters for your kid’s birthday party, graduation,
office presentation, or artwork for your home. Of course, a high
resolution image produces the best results. PosteRazor works with
most image formats and is compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux.
It’s easy to download and use.

Check it out:
http://posterazor.sourceforge.net.

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here to unsubscribe.



Rich Ferretti

10801 Johnston Road, Suite 216
Charlotte, NC 28226

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