Jane McMullan

As an incentive to stimulate home building and add jobs, the Valparaiso City Council voted Monday, April 25th to waive three building permit fees thru October 2012. The waived fees include the permit fee, sewer connection charge, and park impact fees. The waiver is an effort to lower the cost of home ownership and move some of the approximatley 1,100 vacant buildable lots within the city. Only 32 building permits were pulled by builders in the year 2010.

The move should come as good news to many affected in the challenging economy including new home buyers, area developers, builders, subcontractors, and building supply stores. It should help to reduce the barriers to entry, and lower the ultimate cost of home ownership. The City of Valparaiso reportedly has a strong financial position, and feels the incentive is important for job creation while maintaining relatively low tax rates for residents.

Did you ever want to visit just one website that would help you find something fun to do in the area?

Each week my friends and I go through the same thing, looking for the most fun things to do.

I got the idea from a young woman in Austin Texas who has a FB page entitied 365 Fun Things to Do in Austin Texas. Well I tell you, I lived in Austin in the 80's, and it's not so hard to find such a number of things to do.

Once I started looking around at a number of different sites here in NW Indiana, I thought I would give a similar site a try. Notice I left off the 365 things, but who knows, with everybodies help, we might find that there are even more than 365 fun things to do in NW Indiana.

Please check out http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fun-Things-to-Do-in-Northwest-Indiana/111597978923024

and like, comment, and befriend it. I'm looking forward to hearing what others know about FUN THINGS!

Pace for Paws is preparing to coordinate another Yappy Hour Fundrasier during the Summer 2010. With the busy first time homebuyer season, we were not able to plan for a May event, but we are ready to start planning, and hoping to raise additional funds for the Humaine Society. We will notifying all those that attended last year as soon as we have the date, as well as advertising in the Newspaper and online. Last year's look-a-like contest was very close. This year we will be adding the best dressed pet to our list of games. There sill also be a silent auction, lots of good food and drink. We had a blast last year, and we expect this year to be even more fun!

Don't forget that when selling your house, it will help you to sell it much faster if you stage. I am an accredited

home stager and Realor who will be happy to help you with this, at not charge. Don't wait too long to get your

house on the market to attract either first time home buyers, who will receive up to $10,000 in tax refunds,

and also recieve a "move up" tax credit yourself for $6,500. You don't actually have to move up, you can

downsize, and you don't have to sell you present home to receive the credit if would choose to keep it

as a rental until the market improves.

The clock is ticking. You must have an signed and accepted purchase agreement by April 30th to qualify for the $8,000

tax refund. Also, the interest rates may start to rise after March 30th, because the feds are removing their support

in buying up mortgage backed securities at that time. Something to watch for for sure. Don't wait too long.

In addition to that, the MCC tax refund is still available. This is a refund that you recieve for many years, based on the

interest that you pay each year on your mortgage. You can up to $2,000 refunded to you for more than 10 years,

Please call or email me if you would like more information on these programs. 219-508-3598.

janemcmullan10@gmail.com.