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Trivia about Valentine’s Day

 

Valentine’s Day Trivia about Valentine’s Day About three percent of pet owners give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets. One-third of all Valentine’s Day cards are accompanied by gifts. Hallmark has more than 1,330 different cards specifically for Valentine’s Day. About one quarter of Valentine’s Day cards have humorous messages. American women say they’d rather receive chocolate than flowers on Valentine’s Day. Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and sweethearts. About one billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year. The holiday is second only to Christmas in terms of the number of cards sent. The celebration of Valentine’s Day can be traced to the ancient Roman holiday of the Lupercal, which honored Lupercus the Lycaean, who protected flocks of sheep from wolves. Seventy percent of those celebrating Valentine’s Day show their affection by giving a card. Others make a telephone call (49 percent), give a gift (48 percent), plan a special dinner (37 percent), give candy (33 percent), have a meal in a restaurant (30 percent), or give flowers (19 percent). Pope Gelasius declared February 14 to be Saint Valentine’s Day in 498 A.D. Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentine’s Day candy box in the late 1800s. The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine’s Day. The Chocolate Manufacturers Association of America says 36 million boxes of chocolate are sold for Valentine’s Day. About 110 million roses, most of them red, will be sold for Valentine’s Day this year. Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent on the telephone, an “improvement in telegraphy,” on Valentine’s Day, 1876. Valentine’s Day was originally associated with the mating season of birds. Fifteen percent of women in the United States send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day. During Abraham Lincoln’s campaign for President, a Democrat named Valentine Tapley swore he would never shave again if Abe were elected. Tapley kept his word and his chin whiskers went unshaved from November 1860 until he died in 1910, attaining a length of 12 feet six inches. Americans spend $655 million each Valentine’s Day on candy, making it the fourth biggest holiday of the year for confectionery purchases, after Halloween, Christmas and Easter (in that order). In the U.S., it’s estimated that 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for Valentine’s Day. During Victorian times, it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine’s Day card.

Home Affordability

Homes are more affordable today than at any time in recorded history. It’s not only because home prices are down, though — it’s because mortgage rates are. Low mortgage rates extend a buyer’s housing budget farther than falling home prices ever could. But with mortgage rates changing every 4 hours on average, affordability can be short-lived.  Every time mortgage rates change, so does your budgeted maximum purchase price. And the changes can be dramatic.  Example: For each 0.125% increase to mortgage rates, your maximum purchase price must fall by 1.45% to stay “in budget”.

Tip: Mortgage rates are the biggest factor in home affordability. The lower you can get your mortgage rate, the more homes that you will find that meet your monthly budget. Rising mortgage rates can quickly erase your savings.

Picking the Proper Mortgage Product to Fit Your Needs

Mortgage rates are a major influence on your monthly housing budget, but, they’re outside of your control. Mortgage rates based on the price of mortgage-backed securities; bonds bought and sold on Wall Street. You can, however, control with which mortgage product you finance your home. And, by making better mortgage choices, you can avoid “over-paying” on your home loan.

New-Home Design Trends Can up Your Home’s Value

Perhaps you’re in the market for a newly built home. Or maybe you’re in the process of having a home built. Or maybe you’re considering a remodeling project to your existing home. No matter what your scenario is, take into consideration the latest home-design trends highlighted by leading architects and builders at the International Builders’ Show held earlier this year in Orlando, Fla.

According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), these home-building trends are not just about style but functionality, and can serve to increase the resale value of your home as they reflect consumer preferences in housing moving forward. Check with a real estate expert to see if and how these trends can affect a home’s value in your particular neighborhood:

• Reworked Spaces: New homes are being designed to allow plenty of space for family interaction in high-traffic areas such as the kitchen, and to eliminate rooms such as formal dens and home offices that aren’t frequently used. Small spaces devoted to home management, also known as “pocket offices,” are being included in large pantries or spaces nearby the kitchen or family great room. Window seats and alcoves are being used to provide an area for private time, without taking up a lot of space. A popular and efficient location for laundry facilities is now added onto the master bedroom’s walk-in closet.
• Multigenerational Living: Many families are all living under one roof due to increasing cultural diversity and the state of the economy during the past few years. New single-family home designs reflect this with “shadow” units that are built alongside a home, separate living units that access the main floor plan through a door, or by having at least two master suites; one is usually located on the ground floor to be more accessible for elderly occupants.
• More Impact, Less Cost: Rectangular home designs are more cost effective, so new homes no longer have the formerly-popular feature of multiple roof lines or the resulting unnecessary interior volumes they created. But home designs now include innovative modifications that are still visually stimulating, such as using two windows in a corner with mitered glass to allow unobstructed views and maximum light to come in. Another example is using a mix of materials in the home’s façade such as metal, wood and stone to give the home a modern look.

Living the HIGH Life!

Most people think of tree houses as classic hallmarks of an American backyard.  A father might build one for his children as a little hideout or as a quiet place to read comic books. However, it is now time to expand your definition of a “tree house.” In recent years, the idea of the tree house has gradually captivated the creative minds of famous architects around the world, from Italy to Japan. And the resulting structures have been quite remarkable.

Blending the idea of a tree house with traditional elements of Japanese culture, Fujimori designed a tree house-teahouse amid beautiful cherry blossom trees. Swedish architecture firm Tham & Videgard also broke conventions by designing an elevated aluminum and glass “treehotel” in Harads, Sweden. Other firms throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia have also added tree houses to their design repertoires.

Many may see this as merely a temporary fad among architects and designers. Still, a vast number of these projects have inspired new, creative ideas about sustainable living in an increasingly environmentally conscious world. Indeed, perhaps tree houses will come to represent ideal real estate for individuals hoping to minimize their carbon footprints.

Credit Repair: How to Tell Fact from Fiction

While the real estate market and the overall economy continue to demonstrate signs of improvement, the current lending environment is still a dicey road for many prospective homebuyers. Stringent credit requirements are still widespread among lenders, making improving your credit profile integral to securing a mortgage.

The good news: There are many proactive steps you can take to repair less-than-perfect credit. The bad news: There are many bogus organizations that claim they can fix your credit problems quickly. Make sure you understand fact from fiction before proceeding with any such firm. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC ) offers the following red flags to watch for to help identify a credit repair scam:

Claim: The company wants you to pay for credit repair services before they provide any services.
Fact: Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, credit repair companies cannot require you to pay until they have completed the credit repair services they promised.

Claim: The company doesn’t tell you your rights and what you can do for yourself for free.
Fact: The law allows you to ask for an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as inaccurate or incomplete. This investigation doesn’t cost any money.

Claim: The company recommends that you don’t contact any of the three major national consumer reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) directly.
Fact: Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the consumer reporting company and the information provider (the person, company, or organization that provides information about you to the consumer reporting company) must correct inaccurate or incomplete information in your report. To take advantage of all your rights under the FCRA, contact the consumer reporting company and the information provider in writing.

Claim: The company tells you they can get rid of most or all of the negative credit information in your credit report, even if the information is accurate and current.

Fact: Watch out for any credit repair company that claims to be able to legally remove accurate and timely information from your credit report. Improving your credit takes time and a conscious effort to pay your debts.
Claim: The company suggests that you apply for an Employer Identification Number to use instead of your Social Security number so you can invent a “new” credit identity – and then, a new credit report.
Fact: If you follow illegal advice like this, you may find yourself in hot water. It’s a federal crime to lie on a loan or credit application, to misrepresent your Social Security number, or to get an Employer Identification Number from the Internal Revenue Service under false pretenses. You could be charged and prosecuted for mail or wire fraud if you use the mail, telephone, or Internet to apply for credit and provide false information.

Your real estate professional or financial advisor can point you in the right direction for learning the specific steps you can take to repair your credit. They can also suggest lending options that might be available to you.