Denver's Cherry Creek Community At It's Finest!
Every generation or two it happens, that our politics is more about ourselves than the person we seek to elect.
19th Century poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) clearly had a take on our time.
Using Life as his metaphor, he wrote:
“Come to the edge,” he said.
They said: “We cannot.” “We are afraid.”
“Come to the edge,” he said.
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.
It’s Holiday Season.
Somehow, you wind up in the pet store. The kids are with you.
Little Bobby wants that puppy for Christmas, and you really want him to have it. But you know he’s not old enough to give the animal the care it would need, and you wouldn’t have the time. We have a problem.
So ask yourself this: Would you adopt a child on impulse? Well, certainly not.
More likely you’d go home and discuss the matter with the rest of your family, first. You’d look at your lifestyle, your finances, your living arrangements, and other family commitments, then make a decision.
It’s important to consider these same issues when adopting a pet.
Too many of us act impulsively when it comes to adding a pet to the family, forgetting, perhaps even momentarily, that that adorable puppy or that lovable kitten will need house training, grooming, veterinary care, food and water each and every day, and lots of attention.
Your attention.
Now don’t misunderstand. Pets are good for people. Studies have shown that pets can help lower blood pressure and diminish depression, and oh the companionship. But if you adopt a pet you aren’t prepared to care for, or one that doesn’t suit your lifestyle, you may end up with more stress than you bargained for, and your pet becomes just another animal facing adoption. Or worse.
Animal shelters across the country are full of these stories and their unhappy endings.
So here are 6 things you should consider, and consider carefully, before bringing in a new pet:
Choosing your new pet wisely is an important first step in making it a part of your family.
And having Little Bobby join in the discussions will surely do no harm.
Banner photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
Colorado State University has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovated global health research project conducted by Brian Foy, professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology. The grant will fund Foy’s work to control the transmission of disease from mosquitoes.
Foy’s project is one of 104 grants announced by the Gates Foundation for the first funding round of Grant Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore new solutions for health challenges in developing countries. The grants were provided to all levels of scientists in 22 countries and five continents.
To receive funding, Foy and his collaborators showed in a two-page application how their idea falls outside current scientific paradigms and could lead to significant advances in global health if successful.
Foy and his colleagues at CU will work to test drugs that could prevent the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria to humans. The study focuses a class of drugs that Foy calls remarkable because they are extremely safe and renowned for their ability to kill many different parasitic worms that impact the health of people and animals. Each year, a half a billion people are infected with malaria through the bite of mosquitoes carrying the disease,according to the Centers for Disease Control. Foy hopes to develop the drugs to kill certain species of mosquitoes – known to carry specific diseases – after the mosquitoes ingest blood from a host treated with the drug.
Grand Challenges Explorations is a five-year, $100 million initiative of the Gates Foundation to promote innovation in global health.
Things aren’t as bad as they say they are.
Oh, I know it’s hard not to take everything you hear on the news to heart. But if you’re selling a home, you may have more to say about whether it moves, than you think. Of course, supply and demand and marketing and presentation play their parts, but let’s be honest, the responsibility for getting your house ready for the open market rests primarily with you.
Here are some things to consider:
Presentation – Housework is something we do that nobody notices, until you don’t do it. Your home should be clean, and without clutter. Visitors should be able to move freely from room to room without feeling like they’re going from pillar to post. If you have pets, you know the drill: remove all traces. Pet odors can cost you a second visit. Make sure your home is easy for the Realtor to show. A 24 hour notice with a one hour window on Tuesdays only, between 3 PM and 5 PM is not the path to a quick sale. Too many stipulations on showing your home can send a lot of the wrong messages about what doing business with you might be like.
Marketing – This can be one of the most important issues involved in getting your home on, and off the market with a sale. Make sure you and your Realtor are on the same page when it comes to just how your home will be presented to potential buyers. If it’s a “scrape”, or a ” fixer-upper” present it that way. Every home is not a show home, and people realize that.
Location – Location is where you find it. Maybe you’re next to a busy freeway, or some other not-always-popular setting. Don’t worry about it. Do what you can about things you can do something about.
Price – Finally we come to what may be the most important issue, when it comes to selling your home. In today’s market, the least little bit of over-pricing can mean your home stands in line with others who are making the same mistake. With the number of homes on the Denver market currently at an all time high, buyers can get a pretty good idea of whose overpriced and whose not, pretty quickly. If you feel like you’re getting a good number of showings, but no offers, consider that your asking price might be a little too high. It doesn’t hurt to do a little of your own research on comps in your area. Use the Internet, consult your broker go to open houses. These are all things that you can do to insure that your property, and the price you’re asking for it remains competitive.
When it comes to Denver / Cherry Creek real estate the name of the game is supply and demand. If you haven’t done a thorough examination of your property’s presentation, marketing materials, location and price, you probably have at least some of the answers to why your home’s not selling.
Not everyone will feel like celebrating the election results on November 4th. So if you’re having an election party, here’s a way to get a feel for your guests’ post election sentiments. Everyone enjoy !
Red Margaritas
Prep: 10 min.
Yield
Makes 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup)
Ingredients:
* 4 cups crushed ice
* 1 cup pomegranate juice
* 1/2 cup orange liqueur
* 1/2 cup tequila
* 1 tablespoon lime juice
* 4 tablespoons pomegranate seeds (1/2 fresh pomegranate) (optional)
* Lime wedges
* Coarse salt
* Garnish: lime slices
Preparation
1. Process first 5 ingredients, and, if desired, pomegranate seeds in a blender 30 seconds or until frothy.
2. Rub rims of 6 glasses with lime wedges; dip in salt to coat. Pour margarita evenly into prepared glasses. Garnish, if desired. Serve immediately.
Blue Margaritas
Prep: 10 min.
Yield
Makes 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup)
Ingredients
* 1 (10-ounce) can frozen margarita mix
* 3/4 cup tequila
* 1/4 cup blue curaçao liqueur
* 2 tablespoons lime juice
Preparation
1. For an even coating around the rim of each glass, dip first in lime juice and then salt.
2. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Fill with ice to 5-cup level, and process until smooth.
Serve immediately.
You hear a lot these days about foreclosure and the trouble many homeowners face.
But there’s another group, largely ignored, who also know the despair and disruption foreclosure brings: renters.
AP Business Writer Adrian Sainz reveals that thousands of renters have become innocent victims of the mortgage crisis, forced to move because the owner of the property was in foreclosure, and never mentioned it. Some landlords continue to pocket rent long after they stop paying the mortgage, allowing a tenant to learn of the foreclosure only when a deputy knocks on the door to hand them a foreclosure notice.
The article points to Census data showing that 15 million renters, almost 40%, live in single-family homes, town homes, condos or duplexes which are owned by investors. “These types of rental properties have been vulnerable to foreclosure from the start, because they tend to be owned by small investors,” Sainz wrote .
Each state has its own rules about tenant’s rights and each state legislature can add protections for tenants if they choose. Colorado is one of them.
Recently, laws in a hand full of other states have also been passed or proposed to protect renters by requiring mortgage holders to provide sufficient notice for tenants living in foreclosed properties, but of course this comes as too little too late, for more than a few.
Apparently, The National Low Income Housing Coalition has tried to get the Federal Government to offer a small portion of the recent bailout legislation funds to help with relocation assistance for renters if they are evicted due to the owner’s foreclosure, but no cigar. The group intends to continue pursuing federal aide for foreclosure’s other victims.
Photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
Times are tight, the holidays are coming, and you’re tired of the budget. Boo hoo.
Seems you haven’t quite figured out that the best money-saving strategies are, more often than not, the simplest ones.
If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Sage advice in these uncertain times.
Here are some more DO’s and Don’ts on Budget Basics:
Budgeting and saving is hard work, and don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t, but with a little self-determination (no, make that a lot of self-determination) and planning, you’ll sail through, especially when times are tight.
Banner photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
The Denver housing market has generally been on the decline over the past couple of years.
We all know that, and of course we’re not alone. But one of the best kept secrets in the local real estate market is that the value of homes in certain neighborhoods has actually increased over the same time period.
It seems homes near light-rail stations along the southeast line, which opened in November 2006, have increased by an average of nearly 4 percent over the past two years, according to local analysts, while the rest of the Denver market has declined an average of 7.5 percent.
Apparently, the closer a home is to the station, the more its value increases. Homes less than a half-mile from a station increased an average of 17.6 percent, while those 1 1/2 to 2 miles away increased just 0.1 percent on average. The data varied widely among stations, however.
Under its FasTracks program, the Regional Transportation District plans to create six new commuter-rail and light-rail corridors and extend three existing corridors by 2017, potentially creating other pockets where values are driven by proximity to rail and its stations.
In other markets with rail lines, single-family home values have increased anywhere from 2 percent in San Diego to 32 percent in St. Louis for example, according to data gathered by the Regional Transit District.
Transit is just one component pushing values up however. The structures and facilities developers create around the stations go a long way in helping drive the trend. And of course soaring gas prices also fuel demand for housing near transit.
Bottom line seems to be that as local transit gets bigger home prices in and around those areas will naturally increase.
Photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
Here are a few places around town to scare up some fun and give up a treat for Halloween:
Curse at Slaughterhouse Gulch
-Nov. 1: Meet horror legends Mike Myers, Jason, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface and more, 7-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 7 p.m.-midnight Friday -Saturday. $15.95, $14.95 with a coupon or canned food donation, $19.95 VIP. 3184 S. Peoria St., Aurora, 720-298-8561, slaughter housegulch.com
Frightmare
-Nov. 1: The haunted house celebrates 25 years of screams, 7-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 7 p.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday. $14, $21 VIP. 108th and Old Wadsworth, Westminster, 303-439-7391, frightmare.biz
Haunted Field of Screams
-Nov. 1: The largest haunted attraction in Colorado also features the Dead Man’s Night Time Maze, 7-10 p.m. Sunday and Thursday, 7 p.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday. Closed on Halloween night. $12-$48. 104th Avenue and Riverdale Road, Thornton, 303-913-5947, hauntedfieldofscreams.com
Haunted Mansion
-Nov. 2: Reinke Brothers hosts the oldest haunted attraction in Denver, 6-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 6 p.m.-midnight Friday, 3 p.m.-midnight Saturday and 3 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. $13. $12 with coupon or canned food donation. 5663 S. Prince St., Littleton, 303-795-5006, reinkebrotherscom /haunted.html
The 13th Door
-Nov. 1: Discover what lies behind the 13th door at the haunted Barrington Hotel, 7-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 7 p.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday. $15.95, $14.95 with a coupon or canned food donation.3184 S. Parker Road, Aurora, 720-298-8561, 13door.com
Enjoy.
Photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
Linens ‘n Things
, another corporate victim of a widespread credit crunch, will begin liquidating its remaining stores as early as this week after the bankrupt home goods retailer failed to find a buyer that will operate the company as a going concern.
The retailer, which initially struggled amid a housing slowdown and a decline in consumer discretionary spending, was finally taken down by a credit crisis that prevented possible buyers from getting the credit to fund a purchase.
As of December 31
, 2007 the company was one of the largest purchasers of home furnishings in the United States, employed some 17,500 people and had a vendor base of about 1,000 suppliers, according to court documents.
At that time, the company was operating 589 stores in 47 states and seven Canadian provinces. But the sharp decline in the housing market and a slump in consumer discretionary spending undermined the company’s ability to pay its suppliers.
The national home store retailer Linen-N-Things has announced on its website that their doors will close, with a 30% off-everything-must-go parting gift to shoppers. There are ten locations here in Colorado.
Banner photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
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The Home Cart Team at Brokers Guild - Cherry Creek Ltd"Luxury Brokers" |
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