Blog Carnival Edition No. 4

Welcome to the July 30, 2008 edition of a carnival of everything home.  The next carnival is scheduled for August 13th.

Remember to include a link back to this post.  Thank you to everyone who contributed and is a part of this Carnival.  I really enjoy hosting it and reading all of the posts.  Enjoy!!

Green Living

Tiffany Washko presents Scrapping Green posted at Natural Family Living Blog.

Amanda Harris presents The Green Glass Company posted at Pajama Mommy.

Lovelyn presents Natural Weed Killer posted at The Art of Balanced Living.

Ben Dinsmore presents Heating Your Home with Geothermal Energy Can Save You Big! posted at Trees Full of Money, saying, “Geothermal heat pump systems are without question one of the most exciting products in the world’s quest for alternative and renewable energy sources.”

Jeff Tincher presents I Was Shocked to Learn My Daily Water Consumption | West Glenmoore, PA - Beautiful. Green. Home. posted at West Glenmoore, PA - Beautiful. Green. Home..

Kristy presents Money Monday: Carless for a Month posted at Our Life in Colorado, saying, “Can we boycott gas for a month?”

Fiona Lohrenz presents Going Organic…Why We Should! posted at Child Care Only.

michelle presents Green Tips to Save Money on Your Bills This Summer posted at InventorSpot.com.

Lane Wright presents Reducing Your Carbon Footprint posted at Vegan Bits.

Home Improvement

Alaia Williams presents What does your closet look like? « One Organized Life Blog posted at One Organized Life Blog, saying, “So, when doing your own organizing - in your closet or elsewhere - keep your focus on what is important to you.”

George L Smyth presents One Minute How-To - How To Finish New Furniture posted at George L Smyth, saying, “Marc Spagnuolo explains the steps that will allow you to properly finish that new piece of furniture.”

Mark J. Donovan presents Basement Remodeling | Finishing Basement | Finished Basement posted at HomeAdditionPlus, saying, “This article provides some important advice on embarking on a basement remodeling project.”

john carroll presents Economic forecast and home replacement windows: What you should watch for posted at Replacement Windows | US Home Improvement, saying, “Replacement windows wil save you money.”

Andrew Caxton presents Home Decorating Reviews Blog posted at Home Decorating Reviews.

Raymond presents How To Kill Roaches And Get Rid Of A Home Cockroach Infestation posted at Money Blue Book.

Marsha Hudnall presents Healthy Eating: Saving Money at the Grocery Store posted at A Weight Lifted, saying, “Money-saving tips for grocery shopping”

Other

AdmirableIndia.com presents Trip to Ooty: Day 2: Part 1: Ooty Lake - Boat House and Thread garden, Ooty posted at AdmirableIndia.com.

TherapyDoc presents The Denial of Aging posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, saying, “Getting older means it gets harder to fix that faucet.”

Sheila Danzig presents Free to Earn a College Degree posted at Degree Talk Blog.

Fiona Lohrenz presents So You Want to Start a Home Day Care Business? posted at Child Care Only.

Jason Rusch presents Info On A Boxer Dog Diet posted at boxerdogessentials.com.

Laura Williams presents Around the Homestead Today… posted at Laura Williams’ Musings, saying, “Gardening and Canning”

Michael Davis presents 20 Money Saving Tips For Traveling with a Large Group. posted at Family Hack, saying, “A mother of seven shares tips on traveling cheaply with a large group.”

Jason Rusch presents More Useful Boxer Dog Training Tips posted at boxerdogessentials.com.

Andrew Scotchmer presents How To Better Budget Your Income posted at Complete Kaizen, saying, “How to tweak your household income and have more to spend and save.”

Larry Russell presents Living Expense Tracking Methods posted at Pasadena Financial Planner.

GP presents You Gotta Get Out of Your Kitchen posted at Innstyle Montana- Come on Inn, saying, “Beliefs about what we should be able to do often get in the way of actually doing. We feel we should be more organized, more creative, better in one way or another.”

John McKeen presents Rice Cooker - The Different Between Fuzzy Logic & One Button Rice Cooker posted at Rice Cooker Review.

GP presents Can?t Curb my Enthusiasm posted at Innstyle Montana- Come on Inn, saying, “Down home lessons learned from our horses.”

Real Estate

Adam presents How to Beat Mortgage Fraud posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “Mortgage fraud is a hot button issue in today’s housing market. Find out how to protect yourself from being the next homeowner to be foreclosed on.”

Adam presents Is Buying That House Right Now Right For You? posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “Before you jump into the housing market, which is beginning to lean more towards buyers, you need to ask yourself a few hard questions.”

Adam presents Feds to Release New Mortgage Lending Bill?Is It Good or Bad? posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “Who will this new bill really help?”

Adam presents The New Housing Market Bill Finally Passes the Senate. posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals.

Adam presents The Government Seizes IndyMac Bank?What Does That Mean? posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “What does this seizure mean to the average person in the housing market, or who banks with IndyMac>”

Adam presents Mortgage Rates Are On The Way Back Down posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “Mortgage rates fell last week, after the Federal Reserve declared that inflation would level off sometime later this year. This news was released by the troubled Freddie Mac mortgage company.”

Joe Manausa presents Understanding Trends In Real Estate posted at Tallahassee Real Estate Blog, saying, “Actual inventory trend analysis helps us to understand the overall movement of our residential inventory over a period of time. Of all the trends in real estate that we study, inventory trends are the most important. The longer the period of time that we study, the less that “noise” affects our view.”

Adam presents What Happens To IndyMac?s Customers Now? posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “Now that the government has taken over IndyMac Bank, what happens to all their customers? That’s the question I’m sure thousands of people are asking themselves today. With the housing market already in a downward spiral, the seizure of one of the nation’s top mortgage lending companies only adds to the fear and confusion everybody in the real estate business is feeling, not to mention all the homeowners who got their mortgage through IndyMac. Even worse is the fact that IndyMac also has thousands of customers who bank with them.”

Adam presents Where is the Housing Market Headed? posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “the housing market slump may be just the thing you’ve been waiting for. With more and more homes going into foreclosure everyday and sellers getting so desperate to get out of the house they can no longer afford, there are many deals in real estate popping up all over the nation.”

Adam presents The Fed?s New Housing Bill Released?Too Late for IndyMac Bank posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “The Feds new housing bill is meant to protect the public from shady mortgage lending, but did it come too late?”

Adam presents Bush Lays Out Plan to Save the Housing Market posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “President Bush held a press conference today where he implied that saving mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and opening up offshore drilling where the answers to our country’s current economical problems. I don’t know enough about the world of finance to fully evaluate his plan, but I do know that oil had nothing to do with the housing market crash. True the price of gas is effecting the real estate industry right now, but the problem was originally created by shady mortgage lending practices that got people into homes the couldn’t afford.”

Adam presents How to Spot a Rise in the Housing Market posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “Ok, so the news doesn’t look so good for the housing market right now what with IndyMac being seized by the government and mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s stock plummeting. But take heart, because real estate always seems to rebound, and in fact, there are areas of the nation that are beginning to see a brighter future.”

Adam presents Why The Rising Costs of Buying a Home Could Be a Good Thing posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “Here’s the good news; more and more people are calling mortgage lenders to check on home loans. Here’s the bad news; the price of getting into the housing market is higher because those in the real estate industry are tightening the requirements.”

maria gudelis presents Main Principle of Value in Real Estate posted at Maria Gudelis.

Adam presents Why the Future Now Looks Bright for Freddie Mac posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “Freddie Mac has a plan to stay in business and save taxpayers money. One of the nation’s top mortgage lenders, Freddie Mac, has been facing some serious financial problems of late, which has had severe implications for the housing market and real estate industry. But, on Friday, Freddie Mac announced plans to raise $5.5 billion by selling common and preferred stock, in order to bolster their economic outlook.”

maria gudelis presents Question to You - Does a Stripper Pole in Master Bedroom Increase Value of a Home? posted at Maria Gudelis.

Tammy Powell presents 3 Shocking Discoveries I Made after 52 Calls to Pre-Foreclosure Sellers posted at Majestic Tech by an Enlightened Wealth Institute student.

Joe Manausa presents Housing Prices Decline Slightly - A Clear Picture Is Forming posted at Tallahassee Real Estate Blog, saying, “While there have been many articles written on the declining real estate market, most are filled with facts and figures that are difficult for the lay-person to follow. This article is filled with easy-to-understand graphs that demonstrate the modest decline in home prices.”

Adam presents Increase the Value of Your Home Without Breaking the Bank posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “it’s always a good idea to spruce up your little corner of the world; it will help increase the value of your home and make you feel like you are living in a little piece of heaven. One more plus is the fact that mortgage lenders hire real estate appraisers to research the value of your home, and the better it looks, the more money you can get for it.”

Adam presents Nervous Home Buyers May Miss Their Chance at Cashing in posted at Mahler & Associates Appraisals, saying, “Is now the right time to get into the housing market? That’s what many people are asking themselves. With the price of real estate falling on a daily basis and more and more homes going into foreclosure, the future is looking bright for people who couldn’t afford to buy a house when the market was more favorable for sellers. While it is true that many mortgage lenders out there have either decided to stop giving out new mortgage loans or tightening up their qualifications for a mortgage loan, there are still mortgage lenders out there who are willing and able to take a chance on a qualified buyer.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of a carnival of everything home using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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