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REAL ESTATE NEWS TUESDAY!!!
Conventional Financing for Manufactured Homes Coming
December 3, 2018
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Freddie Mac has announced that it will start financing manufactured housing, which it hopes will help make homes more affordable to buyers. The mortgage financing giant says it will conduct a two-year pilot called CHOICEHome to grant conventional financing for manufactured homes with certain features, such as permanent and pitched roofs. Many of the manufactured homes also have energy-saving features, such as Energy Star Qualified Low-E windows, programmable thermostats, and minimum insulation values.
Factory-built homes that meet Freddie Mac’s specifications will be eligible for a CHOICEHome certification and CHOICEHome financing. Freddie Mac’s HomeOne and Home Possible loan programs will also be available for manufactured housing. Freddie Mac also says appraisers will now be able to use site-built housing as a comparable valuation. “Today’s manufactured homes can deliver outstanding quality at prices that are up to 50 percent less per square foot than conventional site-built homes,” Freddie Mac notes. “These savings can enable more Americans to own their own home, even in the face of an ever-widening housing affordability gap.”
Currently, more than 22 million families live in factory-built housing. That number is expected to grow, says Mike Dawson, vice president of single-family affordable lending strategy and policy at Freddie Mac. “There’s an opportunity for factory-built homes to address the housing supply shortage and quality housing overall,” Dawson says. “This new generation of manufactured housing might just be the best option for first-time home buyers, millennials, and empty-nesters looking to downsize.”
Source: Freddie Mac
How to Winterize Your Plumbing Pipes to Prevent Damage
Follow these steps to winterize plumbing pipes in a house:
1. Shut off the main water valve, turn off the water pump and the water heater. It will protect heating elements in the water heater when there is no water inside the tank.
2. Open all drain valves and all taps. Check off each on your list, so you are sure all taps are open. A closed tap could create a vacuum that will hold water inside of pipes. All valves and taps should remain open throughout the winter.
3. Using air compressors, blow excess water standing out of the pipes.
4. Open the drain valve in your hot water tank and let it discharge until it is empty. Be careful, because sometimes these hot water tanks don’t have floor drains and you will need to connect a garden hose to it.
5. Drain all the water that is left in the holding tank, especially the one located in the rubber diaphragm, the one that is used along with the water tank to build pressure. As an additional protective measure, add antifreeze to the jet pump case.
6. Flush toilets to remove as much water as you can from the tanks and the toilet bowls. If all water cannot be removed, add antifreeze to prevent any water from freezing and cracking the toilet.
7. Check all sink and tub drains that could have drain traps. Add some antifreeze on each one of them to prevent water from freezing and cracking in the traps.
Read more: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-winterize-plumbing-pipes-844862
Today in Sports History – Thursday November 29, 2018
1890 – Navy defeated Army by a score of 24-0 in the first Army-Navy football game. The game was played at West Point, NY.
1962 – Major league baseball decided to return to only one All-Star Game a year beginning in 1963.
1980 – “Monday Night Football” was on the cover of TV Guide.
1987 – Joe Montana (San Francisco 49ers) completed a record 22 consecutive passes.
1987 – Venice Glenn (San Diego Chargers) ran back an interception for 103 yards. It was an NFL record.
1987 – Bob Frosse (New York Rangers) became the second NHL goalie to score a goal. It was later ruled that he should not have been credited with the goal.
1992 – Jerry Rice caught his 100th NFL touchdown pass.
1992 – Dennis Byrd (New York Jets) was paralyzed after a neck injury in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
1995 – Grant Fuhr (St. Louis Blues) became the 11th NHL goalie to win 300 games.
2002 – Pierre Turgeon (Dallas Stars) played in his 1,100th NHL game.
REAL ESTATE NEWS WEDNESDAY
Keeping a Listing Tidy While Pets Live in It
November 27, 2018
Making sure a listing is clean when the owners have a dog or cat can be tough. Pets can leave behind messes, scratch marks, fur, dander, and odors. Home improvement website HouseLogic offers some of the following tips on how to tidy a house with pets while it’s on the market:
Steam clean all fabrics.
Steam clean carpets, rugs, upholstered furniture, and the drapes. “Job number one is to take care of [the soft surfaces in your house],” Melissa Maker, owner of a Toronto cleaning service, told HouseLogic. “They hold odors and hair like nothing else.”
Groom.
Have the pet professionally groomed to remove more hair and dander. Be sure to brush the pet regularly—outside is preferable—to get most hair on the brush and not on your sofa or rugs.
Clean tile grout.
Tile is resistant to dog stains, but the grout isn’t. Steam clean grout to lift out stains and odors. A pro can chip away the old to put in the new.
Purchase an air purifier.
Add an air purifier tower with a HEPA filter. It’ll pull hair and dander from the air before it reaches your HVAC.
Use enzymatic cleaners.
“Enzymatic cleaners are made of beneficial bacteria that eat stains and odors,” HouseLogic reports. They’re made to tackle a specific type of stain. Apply them liberally to stains, regardless of how old the stain is.
Use charcoal to absorb odors.
Charcoal can pull out moisture and odors from the air. Hide small bags around or hang it in places your pet spends time in the most often. HouseLogic recommends purchasing charcoal bags that aren’t presoaked.
Read more tips at HouseLogic.com.
Source: “Keeping Your House Clean With Dogs While It’s on the Market,” HouseLogic.com (November 2018)
This Day in History – November 26
1789
The first national Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. was proclaimed by President George Washington.
1922
Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon became the first to enter the tomb of King Tutankhamen (Tut) since it was sealed in 1323 B.C.
1940
The Nazis began to force Warsaw’s Jews to live in a walled ghetto.
1950
China entered the Korean War.
1975
Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, was found guilty of trying to assassinate President Ford.
1998
Tony Blair became the first British prime minister to speak to the Irish parliament.
2000
Katherine Harris certified George W. Bush the winner in Florida’s presidential balloting.
https://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
8 Simple Winter Car Care Tips
Winter is just around the corner. For many drivers, that also means the challenges of winter car ownership are just around the corner, too, like salted streets, icy roads, freezing temperatures and heavy snow. How can you make sure your car is well cared for during the difficult winter months? We’ve listed eight simple car care tips that can go a long way toward making sure your car stays in great shape all winter long. Continue reading…
https://www.autotrader.com/car-shopping/8-simple-winter-car-care-tips-246739
People vs Air Mattresses
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Historical facts on this day…
November 14th – This day in history
1851
Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick was published.
1889
Nellie Bly set out to beat Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg’s time of 80 days to travel around the world. She did it in 72.
1922
The British Broadcasting Corporation began its domestic radio service.
1969
Apollo 12, the second manned lunar expedition, was launched.
1995
The U.S. federal government began a partial shut down of government services after the U.S. Congress could not pass a budget.
2002
Nancy Pelosi of California became the first woman to lead a party in Congress.
2003
The most distant object ever found in our solar system, named Sedna, was discovered by astronomers at the Mount Palomar Observatory.
How Many of These 7 Real Estate Facts Did You Already Know?
There’s a ton of real estate intel on the interwebs. (Why, you’re looking at some of it right now!) But even if you consider yourself the most research-savvy digital consumer of all time, you may not know everything you need to make the wisest decisions when negotiating a real estate transaction. Maybe you’re already familiar with real estate terms like “escrow” and “easement.” But we’re not just talking about a few words that test your real estate vocabulary. We’re talking about processing the bazillions of details you’ll deal with to buy or sell a home. Here’s a quick list of things you may not already know that could put, or keep, money in your wallet while you’re in the real estate game… https://www.houselogic.com/sell/real-estate-facts/
