Welcome! I wanted to take a moment from the business of Christmas and share a few of my favorite Christmas things with you!

Hannah, my sweet daughter, designed this Christmas Tree. I love the whimsical ornaments and unusual look!

Another family favorite is our Christmas Village! Mark and Hannah spend hours together each Christmas creating the perfect town! Our family favorite is the Chocolatier!!! I hope you enjoyed your visit!!! I pray as you finish up your last minute Christmas preparations you will take a moment to remember the reason for the season! I pray you have an incredible day tomorrow!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Go House Hunting

This is the best part! You’ve had your credit pre-approved and know how much you can afford, so now it’s time to go house hunting. There is no magic number to house finding. You may look at one house or two dozen before you find the one that’s right for you. Just keep an open mind, and focus on the things that are really important to you, and you’re sure to find a place where you’ll feel at home.

Choosing a neighborhood

House-hunters should keep in mind the familiar adage about the three most important features of a home: location, location, location. This is because finding the right home for you and your family has as much to do with the neighborhood as with the home itself. In fact, you’ll probably notice during your search that a home in one area costs much more than a similar home in another. Factors like safety, school quality, and proximity to shopping and entertainment all contribute to demand for homes in a given neighborhood.

Beyond price, what you look for in a neighborhood probably has a lot to do with your personal situation. How far are you willing to commute to work? How close do you want to be to family and friends? Do you have young children who would enjoy a nearby playground? Picturing your day-to-day life in a certain neighborhood is a good way to predict whether you will feel comfortable there. Be clear on what you are looking for in way of location before you start and unless given good reason, don’t deviate from your plan.

Considering different house styles

You may want to look beyond the traditional detached single-family home. Condominiums, town houses, and duplexes can be more affordable options, especially if you’re looking in a densely populated area. These types of housing may not offer as much yard space or privacy as single-family homes, but those may not be as important to you as the chance to own a home in the neighborhood of your choice.

Building a new home

If you’ve looked and looked for your dream home without success, or if you want to be the very first owner of a brand new home, consider building. You’ll have much more opportunity to customize the home’s features and design, more up-to-date appliances and building materials, and usually a builder’s warranty to cover problems that come up in the first year.

Written by Jeffrey Davis © 1999 All Rights Reserved "A little something about precious time..." Warning! This is one of the most touching stories you will ever read! You will finish it with a mix of tears, goose bumps, and an urgency to acquire a jar and some marbles... "The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable. A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it. I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles". I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say. "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital." He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles." "You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years." "Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part." "It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy." "So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight." "Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time." "It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. 73 Old Man, this is K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!" You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

This Monday, I am participating in a Christmas Home Tour!!! What is sooo amazing about this very special tour?!? I will be touring thousands of gorgeous homes, gathering scrumptious holiday recipes and enjoying lots of fabulous fellowship...all from the comforts of my very own home!!! I will be joining BooMama and hundreds of other cyber~friends as we share our holiday decorations on our blogs!!! Check-out BooMama's Blog for all the details and I hope to see you there!!! Please leave a comment, so I will be sure to stop by for a visit, if you decided to join in the festivities!!!

Have your Credit pre-approved

Getting a credit pre-approval means you receive a loan commitment from your mortgage company before you have found a home. This is based on a review of your credit and finances. A pre-approval letter shows sellers that you are a qualified buyer and helps you establish a clear price range.

The credit pre-approval process

The process of applying for a credit pre-approval is the same as a typical mortgage application, except that it excludes information on the property you will purchase. Your mortgage lender collects information on your credit, income, assets, and debts, and sends this information through an underwriting system. If the underwriting process determines that you qualify for a loan, you receive a loan commitment for up to a certain amount, which is contingent on the property meeting certain criteria, such as inspections and appraisal.

Benefits of having your credit pre-approved

There are huge benefits to getting a credit pre-approval before you buy a home:

• It makes your home search more efficient since you will focus only on homes you know you can afford.
• Many sellers won’t look at an offer without a pre-approval letter from the Buyer. It lets sellers know that you can back up your offer, so they don’t have to worry about whether you can get a loan.
• It lets you know early in the process if you will have road blocks in gettina loan, so you have a chance to address problems before finding a home.
• It gets most of the mortgage process out of the way up front, so you can complete your transaction quickly after you find a home.