Madison, MS

Remember when you were a kid and your mom always yelled, "Are you still in the shower? You're wasting water."? Well not only were sending gallons down the drain but spending hard earned cash heating more water.

Ready-Set-Go ... Get a Timer: Use a shower timer and try to keep your shower limited to below five minutes, the shorter the better – sometimes just being aware of how long you have been in the shower will help you keep your shower time shorter. This may be very difficult, especially since we Americans average close to ten minutes, but any time that you can trim off will help.

Don't Be a Dope When You Soap: Turn the water off when you soap up! While you are shampooing your hair or soaping your body, you do'nt need the water running down the drain. In fact, it is almost easier if the water is off.

Go With the Flow - Low Flow: Buy a low flow showerhead. Make sure that your showerhead uses not more than 2.2 gallons per minute (gpm). It is best if you can find one that uses only 1.5 gpm. Realize that some showerheads, especially older showerheads, have a flow of around 6-8 gpm! Also, using a low flow showerhead does not mean that you have to sacrifice water pressure. There are many different, excellent low flow showerheads that you might even like better than your current, 6 gpm showerhead!

For more infomation on Building Smart and Saving Energy contact me at gary@garynsmith.net or toll free at: 1-877-809-6139.

What factors will you consider in selecting, locating, and installing windows in your new home? When selecting windows you should choose those with low potential for condensation. For best results in Mississippi, windows must have a U value less than or equal to 0.50 and a solar heat gain factor (SHGF) less than or equal to 0.40, or must be Energy Star® or NFRC labeled.

The location of windows in your new home is also important. Daylighting is a technique of using natural light from the sun and the sky and incorporating it into your home via the windows. Using daylight is free and efficient, which translates to lower energy consumption and utility savings.

When using daylighting, be mindful of the seasons. In the summer, the sun’s rays are more intense. To avoid over-heating, window coverings or overhangs should be used to shield the windows from solar heat gain. In the winter, the sun moves on a different seasonal path creating less warmth. You may want to consider locating more windows on the south side of the home to take advantage of the natural solar affect, and locating fewer on the north facing windows. Plant trees on the south facing wall of your home to shade the home in the summer.

Windows must be installed correctly to protect moisturesensitive materials from rainwater intrusion. Install head flashing over the tops of the windows. Shingled drainage paper must be wrapped into the rough openings on the sides and bottom of the window. Pan flashing, which allows water that penetrates the window, or the window installation, to drain outside of the wall assembly and away from the house, must also be used at the bottom of the windows.

For more information about window installation and Best Building Practices contact me at gary@garynsmith.net or call me toll free: 1-877-809-6139.

When you price your home above its market value, fewer buyers will show interest in your property. When you price your home below market value, you increase the number of interested buyers. In the end, the price you set and the interest you create should reflect your selling goals.

What is a Comparative Market Analysis? A CMA can vary from a two page list of comparable home sales to a 50-page comprehensive guide. A Standard CMA report will include:

Active Listings: Active listings are homes currently for sale. These listings matter only to the extent that they are your competition for buyers. They are not indicative of market value because sellers can ask whatever they want for their home. It doesn't mean any of the prices are realistic. The offered sales prices do not reflect market value until they sell, and in buyer's markets, for example, most sell for a lot less.

• Pending Listings: Pending sale homes are formerly active listings that are under contract. They have not yet closed, so they are not yet a comparable sale. Unless the listing agent is willing to share information about the pending sale -- and many are not -- you will not know the actual sold price until the transaction closes. However, pending sales indicate the direction the market is moving. If your home is priced above the list price of these pending sales, you could face longer days on the market.
  
• Sold Listings: Homes that have closed within the past six months are your comparable sales. These are the sales an appraiser will use when appraising your home for the buyer, along with the pending sales (which will likely have closed by the time your home is sold). Look long and hard at the comparable sales because those are your market value.
  
  
• Off-Market / Withdrawn / Canceled: These are properties that were taken off the market for a variety of reasons. Usually the reason homes are removed from the market is because the prices were too high. The median prices of this group will almost always be higher than the median prices of comparable sales.
  
  
• Expired Listings: This group will reflect the highest median sales price because they did not sell and were probably unreasonably priced. Some of the expired listings could also show up as an active listing, listed by a new agent at a new price.

Before putting your home on the market or listing with a real estate agent, get a Comparative Market Analysis, The Herrington Realty Team wants to offer you this FREE report to tell you how much your home is worth. Click the HOME VALUE button below to get your FREE home market evaluation today.

Ready to Buy or Sell Your Home? Now is a GREAT Time! The Herrington Realty Company has Madison MS, Brandon MS, and Ridgeland MS agents eagerly waiting to assist you.

We have several Homes for Sale in Madison MS, Brandon MS, and Ridgeland MS. Search the local MLS for 1000's of homes in the Jackson, MS Metro area.

We are so thankful to have the opportunity to live in the safest city in Mississipp, Madison the Cityi! This is attributed to a wonderful task force of dedicated police officers and city officials that care about what they do with a passion. To show our thanks to these fine men and women my local church, Parkway Pentecostal Church, put on a law enforcement appreciation lunch! We had a wonderful turnout of well over 100 law enforcement personnel. I think that was in part by having four cooks from, Jerry's fishouse, that attend our church to cook over 100 pounds of catfish filet! It was so yummy! While there I was able to talk to some of the officers, and I didn't realize that each applicant has to have 60 hours of college credit and some were even working toward there masters degree. They also utilize a combination of citizen programs and proactive police presence to keep crime to a minimum level. Wow, what a great place to live! To find out more about Madison properties for sale click the below link to start your search!

YOUR TICKET TO FAMILY FUN

DATE: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28^TH

TIME: 6-9 P.M.

FIREWORKS 9 P.M.

HEADLINER: THE TOKENS

PLACE: LIBERTY PARK, MADISON MS

Madison families and friends will be chugging into FreedomFEST station at Liberty Park with a ticket for a trainload of fun, festive entertainment. Not just another whistle-stop for fall festival goers, this year's event promises to "top the charts" in musical entertainment with one of the most treasured doo wop bands of the 1960's....The Tokens.

Family entertainment and wholesome fun is what FreedomFEST 08 is all about. The traditional Pumpkin Decorating Contest for children, kindergarten through eighth grade, will again be a place for little artists to display their talents. Judges will award prizes to three age groups in the categories of "scary," funny faces," and "pretty pumpkins."

The traveling Petting Zoo is always on the favorite pre-school activities; while the children's entertainment and games will include the always popular pony rides, gyroscope, trackless train and Smiley the Clown. New this year will be the addition of the strolling 8-foot Stilt Walker.

For extra excitement at FreedomFEST Station at liberty Park, Madison folks will be asked to bring their special delivery ticket and puzzle solution to the Bank Plus tent for the chance to win $150 of Sacagawea coins. A winner will be drawn from the correct entries and announced on state at 7:00 p.m. to close FreedomFEST 08 with a bang.

Admission to FreedomFEST 08 is free. For further information on the pumpkin decorating contest rules, or to volunteer, please call the City of Madison Parks and Recreation Department at 601-853-9109.

Click Here for Information on the City of Madison, MS

Click Here For More Madison MS Real Estate Homes for Sale

Ready to make the move to Madison, MS? We have several Homes for Sale in Madison MS, Brandon MS, and Ridgeland MS. Search the local MLS for 1000's of homes in the Jackson, MS Metro area.

If youre Relocating to Madison MS or live in this area and would liketo view some of the homes currently listed on the market call Herrington Realty Co. today at 601-977-1114 .