Homemade Products For Summer

Homemade Flea Repellent

Mix equal parts white vinegar and water together in a spray bottle. Spray directly on your dog’s coat and brush or rub in.Fleas hate the smell and taste of vinegar; and do their best to avoid it.

Homemade Weed Killer

• 1 gallon of white vinegar
• 1 cup of table salt
• 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap

Mix everything together making sure the salt is completely dissolved. Put into a spray bottle and spray directly onto the weed.

The vinegar is what kills the weeds, but the dish soap holds the vinegar in place so it stays on the plant instead of running off.

Mix Your Own Cleaning Solutions

• Ammonia, diluted with 3 parts water in an empty spray bottle can be used to clean windows, appliances and counters.
• Full strength pine oil is great for deodorizing garbage cans, and scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom floor.
• Baking soda can be used instead of scouring powder and also removes stains and odors from refrigerators and coffee pots.
• A sprinkle of dry baking soda before vacuuming will freshen the carpeting.

Renting or Buying:Advantages and Disadvantages

Renting		Buying
Advantages		Disadvantages
More fixed costs for the term of the lease		Variable costs
Not gaining equity, but not losing it either		Equity may go up, down, or stay stagnant
When the lease is up, you can just move		If you want to move, home generally must be sold
There is generally less work in maintaining a home or apartment		Work needs to be done by you–or paid for by you
Smaller amount of “up-front” cash		Generally a larger initial investment–the downpayment

Renting

Buying

Disadvantages		Advantages
No matter what happens with the value of the home, you will never gain equity		Over time, the mortgage balance decreases and equity builds, even if the value of the home does not increase
Limited–or no–ability to personalize your living quarters		The ability to remodel and redecorate the home to match your needs and desires
No tax advantage to renting. Your landlord gets any and all tax breaks that are available		There can be tax advantages attached to home ownership. Consult competent legal and/or accounting advice for details for your situation

Click on the link below for any Open Houses

Open Houses

Income Tax

What Are Taxes?

In 1913 the 16th Amendment (an addition) to the U.S. Constitution was approved. This created the modern U.S. income tax system. Each year residents of the United States are required to file an income tax form based on their income during the year. One type of income is called wages. Most taxpayers are employees and earn a money in exchange for their work. Taxes are taken out of their pay check. At the end of the year they are sent a form stating how much they earned for the year and how much taxes were with held. Calculations on a tax form is done to see if the taxes with held during the year was enough or too much. If it was too much then you get a refund of the taxes you over paid or if you didn’t pay enough then you would owe the extra.

There are many factors used to calculate your taxes including credits, dependents, filing status, and deductions. Depending on the above factors the government has set up what is called a standard deduction that is taken off of the income you earned during the year and what is left is your taxable income.

Itemized Deductions

Certain kinds of deductions are called itemized deductions. If you have enough of them to beat the standard deduction, it is usually a good idea to itemize. For most taxpayers, owning a home makes itemizing worthwhile. To deduct expenses of owning a home, you must file Form 1040 and itemize your deductions on Schedule A. There are three primary areas: real estate taxes, home mortgage interest, and mortgage insurance premiums. Generally, your real estate taxes, home mortgage interest, and mortgage insurance premiums are included in your house payment.

If you have investment property other items can be added to the above list. Advertising, utilities, repairs, maintenance, supplies, and professional fees. All of which can be used to make your deductions higher therefore lower your taxable income.

There are also credits which the government gives you a certain amount of money to take off your income before it is taxed. Energy credits are one of these. You can claim a credit for energy-saving home improvements made for the cost of skylights, outside doors, windows, pigmented roofs and high-efficiency furnaces, water heaters and central air conditioners installed this year in a primary home. This is usually not what you paid for the improvement but a standard deduction for what type of improvement. I look for other items to be added each tax year.

1974 Tornado

Do You Know?
Various Native American tribes perceived tornadoes in different ways. Some saw them as a cleansing agent, sweeping away the ragged and negative things of life. Others saw them as a form of revenge for dishonoring the Great Spirit.

Tornado legends were also passed on to the early settlers. One such legend has it that tornadoes will not strike between two rivers, near the point where the rivers join.

Do You Know?

The difference between a Tornado Watch and a Tornado Warning?

• A tornado watch means conditions are right for tornadoes to develop.
• A tornado warning means a tornado has been spotted either in person or through radar.

(Click on the picture above to see video of the 1974 Louisville, Ky F4 Tornado)

Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms and can strike with little or no warning. Within minutes, a tornado can destroy entire neighborhoods and leave a path of devastation that stretches for miles.

It was April 3, 1974. I was in the third grade and my mom had just picked me up from school. We only had a couple of blocks to walk home when we heard the sirens. We took shelter in another school that was close by in the basement. The next day we drove to the Cherokee area and walked through what was left of many houses. I remember seeing homes that had entire walls missing exposing their furniture. At that time I wasn’t aware of how lucky we had been or appreciate the seriousness of the situation.

The Louisville tornado touched down at 4:37 p.m. near Standiford Field airport. It first damaged The Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, and destroyed the majority of the horse barns at the center and part of Freedom Hall.

The tornado continued its 22-mile journey northeast where it demolished most of Audubon Elementary School and affected the neighborhoods of Audubon, Cherokee Triangle, Cherokee-Seneca, Crescent Hill, Indian Hills, Northfield, Rolling Hills, and Tyler Park. When it was all over two people were killed, injuring 207 people, over 900 homes destroyed, and thousands of others damaged. Cherokee Park, an historic 409-acre municipal park located at Eastern Parkway and Cherokee Road, had thousands of mature trees destroyed.

In case of a Tornado Warning there are several things you can do to stay safe

The safest place is in basement

· Get under sturdy furniture

· If you don’t have a basement, seek shelter in an interior hallway or closet

· Use blankets or pillows to cover your body

· Evacuate all mobile homes and vehicles and seek substantial shelter

· If no shelter, lie flat in the nearest ditch or low spot and cover your head with your hands

Encourage your family members to plan for their own safety in many different locations. It is important to make decisions about the safest places well BEFORE you ever have to go to them

Online Sleuthing for Homebuyers

A Monthly Newsletter from Sheila Barrett

The web has helped homebuyers find places to live for years, but a number of sites have emerged that provided a raft of information beyond price, location and photos.

Comparison Shopping

Trulia.com and Zillow.com will show you just about any type of information about a house. Users can enter a city, town or zip code and see a listing of every home for sale, sort by price, address, number of bedrooms or bathrooms, broker or type of home.

What the Neighbors Say

Other sites are designed to give users a look at neighborhoods through the eyes of the people who live there. On StreetAdvisor.com based in Melbourne, Australia, buyers can look for input from residents of a particular street, about their neighbors, local services and more.

Is It Green

Several sites cater to concerns about energy efficiency and the environment. Walkscore.com rates the walkability of a neighborhood by the proximity of stores, restaurants, schools, parks, libraries and more. At EnergyStar.gov users can find builders working with the EPA to build homes that meet the government’s Energy Star standards for energy efficiency.

Schools

GreatSchools.net and SchoolMatters.com give information for public and private schools, including test sores, student ethnicity, student-teacher ratios and spending per pupil. Parents can rate schools for principal leadership, teacher quality, extracurricular activities, parent involvement, safety and discipline.
Source: The Real Estate Journal

Interactive maps for Kentucky and Louisville Metro

Metro Mapper is an online news organization that provides interactive maps for the Louisville Metro area and Kentucky free of charge for residents and visitors. Interactive maps include sex offender, crime, restaurant, historic site, traffic cam, and real estate maps.

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