ZABASEARCH. Free People Search and Public Information Search Engine

Trying to find an old friend or family member? Go to: www.Zabasearch.com

Just put in the name & the state, and chances are good you will find who you are looking for. Sometimes it even displays their year & month of birth. A few times, you will see some of their old addresses, but if you really want to find somebody, it's a good start.

 

 

Vinegar. Ever think of using vinegar for cleaning things? Yeah, me neither. There are so many uses for vinegar. Check out the Vinegar Institute website to see what all it can do for you. I'm going out to buy some vinegar today!  http://www.versatilevinegar.org/usesandtips.html

 

Sound Off! Just had a friend call me who sounded disgusted. Here's what he said, and I quote>..." I just heard on the news that our Missouri legislatures say that if you are over 21, it's ok to text on your cell phone while driving! I thought they were supposed to pass laws that were for the good of the people. How in the world is texting on your cell phone while driving a 3,000 + pound vehicle down the road, at any speed, safe? Are these legislatures nuts? Are they on drugs? How can that be considered acceptable? In California, it's illegal to talk on your cell phone while driving without a headset or blue tooth device, and here in Missourah, the politicians think preoccupation with a cell phone text key pad is SAFE while driving?

I am absolutely flabbergasted that anyone can think that would be a law that is good for the people. Maybe they don't ever keep up with the news to hear about fatal accidents that were caused by people texting.

 

I also had a friend call me & asked if I saw where they built a $492,000 Welcome Center in Chester, Illinois (the home of Popeye). Chester, IL in 2000 had a population of about 8,000 people. So, they build that welcome center, with the majority of funding coming from the State of Illinois. Every time I see the news, the Governor of Illinois is always saying how broke Illinois is right now. Illinois has had to lay off State Troopers & others because of lack of funds, so, how did that get approved? An interesting thing to note is that after the center was built, a study was done to judge it's economic impact! Anybody with any brains left out there? Who is minding the store? Unreal! What's tragic is, the list goes on & on & on, in all levels of government. Well, if you want to see a picture of Popeye & Olive Oil, take a ride to the Chester, IL Welcome Center!

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There seems to be an increase in late closings these days because of new Appraisal and Lending guidelines. I had a closing that was 2 1/2 weeks late. The Buyer had great credit, things were great, etc.. We even had a loan approval from the mortgage company they were using. It was turned down the day before closing from an Underwriter in California. Fortunately, the house was vacant & nobody had moving trucks loaded up ready to roll. There was no reason they should have been turned down. It was maddening. So, the lender took the transaction to a different Underwriter & it went thru just fine.

 

It's like we are at the mercy of these people, and we have absolutely no control in getting an approval quickly. Makes a Realtor feel like a fool, telling their clients they have no answer yet from the lender, on a daily basis. Some of the lenders are great about keeping us informed, but many times, it is the people behind the scenes that are 'out to lunch'. They drag their feet, don't return phone calls, and leave everybody in the dark. We have seen memos recently saying that we can possibly expect to see some delayed closings. I'm 'old school' when it comes to business. When we agree to a particular date & terms, you do everything possible to make it happen for your clients. I grab the bull by the horns to make things happen like it is supposed to.

 

 

There are so many problems behind the scenes out there, sometimes it makes you feel like your blood was just drained out of you, or you got kicked in the gut. You would not believe all the irrational & incompetent stuff that goes on sometimes. It's my job to make it all go smoothly though. That's why using a Realtor with 38 years of experience is important today. I pity the folks who use their Sisters friends Cousin, or somebody, who just got into Real Estate.

Friendship alone isn’t enough to establish a professional’s credentials. Use tough standards when selecting an agent, just as you would when hiring an attorney, a doctor, or hiring an accountant to handle your taxes. A true friend will understand and appreciate that this is a business decision and will offer their credentials and expect to compete for the listing. Besides, if a problem or challenge develops while selling your home, do you want to risk damaging a friendship or family relationship? I have had a few listings thru the years where I sold homes for other Realtors. They did not want to deal with their relatives, because they wanted to stay 'Family', so they asked me to sell their relatives homes. 

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Automotive Tip of the Month: A friend of mine just had the fuel pump go out on his Suburban. He had it replaced & was told that if you keep the gas tank in your vehicle low all the time, the fuel pump heats up will have a shorter life. If you consistently keep 1/4 tank of gas in the tank or less, the pump works harder & heats up, therby reducing it's life. When you have 1/4 tank of gas or less in the tank, that pump is working hard. The more gas you keep in the tank, the less your pump has to work. A fuel pump for a Suburban can run anywhere from $700 to $1,000. I guess I will be keeping my tank on 1/2 or above all the time after hearing that!

 

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Well, now that the Asian Ladybugs & Japanese Beetles have disappeared, here come the Ants! Had some people tell me that ants are getting into their homes right now still. Seems like May is when they typically come inside. When we get a lot of rain, they seem to surface again.

Here's some things you can do to get rid of them. 1. Sprinkle baby powder on the ants where they are coming into the house. They don't like the scent.  2. Use vinegar. Fill a spray bottle with white vinegar, and spray it anywhere you have seen ants. The smell will go away in a few moments as the vinegar dries.  3. Use cinnamon. Again, ants hate the scent. Sprinkle some where you see the ants invading, and you'll see them practically running away.   4. Use black pepper. If you see an army of ants in your home, sprinkle them with pepper. They will scatter. Follow them to where they are leaving your home and sprinkle the pepper in that area as well. This will help to keep them from returning. Sprinkle the pepper in your pantry and kitchen cabinets, too.  5. Use corn meal. Place corn meal in areas where you have seen ants. They will eat the corn meal. After they drink water, the corn meal will swell, killing the ants. I also heard you can use bay leaves. They don't like the scent. If all else fails, you can buy some Diazinon. Be careful when applying this where kids or pets will be hanging out.  Or...you could drop a small piece of a chocolate donut in the middle of the kitchen floor. Wait a few minutes, then there will be hundreds of them around that piece of donut. When you see them, step on them! If everything you try doesn't seem to work, better call an exterminator. I also heard that Boric Acid gets rid of them.

 

Shoe horns. Everybody knows what a shoe horn is, don't they? I got a new pair of shoes recently & couldn't find my shoe horn. So, almost every store I went in, I asked if they carry shoe horns. I got a lot of puzzled looks. Seems like a lot of people don't know what a shoe horn is. No, it's not a musical instrument. I was going to show you a picture of one here, but the one I saw said that it may be subject to copyright. Don't want to mess around with that. If you really need to see a picture of what one looks like, I can take of picture of mine & e-mail it to you....if I can find it again!


Craigslist. Cool site for selling stuff. Just a word of advice: Try not to have anybody come to your home to look at what you are selling. Meet them in a public place, or make sure you have other people at home with you when someone comes by. I just sold a non-working lawn mower on there. (Yes, I told them it didn't start). That was pretty cool, it had seen better days, so I told all about how it doesn't fire up, etc., and got 5 calls on it. I sold it to a guy who needed parts from it. I gave away an old computer monitor on Craigslist too. Turns out the guy who I gave it to was giving it to a friend of his who is in a wheelchair & needed a working monitor. Makes you feel good when you know someone will benefit from something. I always try to avoid filling up the landfills. My son sold his last car on Craigslist. Another good tip: Do a transaction like that when the banks are open. When the buyer agrees to purchase your car, head on over to your bank. Have them give you the cash or money order inside the bank. Take the money order or cash directly to the bank teller & make sure it's legit. Deposit it in your account right then & there. This way, you don't get a bogus money order, or funny money & give your car away. Plus, you don't have any money on you, so it's a lot safer going home!


Mold: Here's an interesting site about mold.  (www.epa.gov/iaq/molds/moldguide.html). It's worth taking a look at to preserve your health & your property value. You should see what a house taken over by mold looks like. Unreal! I showed a mold house last year in West County. It had a leaky pipe in the basement & water trickled over to the drywall. Well, the mold had worked its way 1/2 way up the drywall. It was green and black. Nobody lived in the house. It was a foreclosure. Had to wear a mask in that house. I didn't stay in there too long. There was an enclosed, attached porch off the kitchen. The roof of that structure leaked badly. It had green, black, & copper colored mold!

Even if you notice a small area of mold, take care of it right away. Check your water & drainage pipes. Check under the sinks. If you notice a musty smell, chances are that you may have mold growing somewhere in your home. Inspect around sink basins, bathtubs, & shower stalls . Check for deteriorated caulk or grouting, where water can penetrate into the walls or framing, allowing mold to thrive in those areas. After taking a shower or bath, use the exhaust fan, or open the window in the bathroom to help prevent a build up of moisture in those areas. Stay healthy & keep your house healthy too!

Oil spill in the Gulf. How tragic! I feel sorry for the Shrimpers & Fishermen down there. I was down there just before it happened. I should have bought tons of shrimp to put in the freezer. I see where DAWN Detergent is helping to clean up the wildlife affected by the oil. That's a good product for cleaning up oily messes. Super nice of them to help out. You would think with all the scientific minds we have in world, someone could come up with a solution to cap the flow faster than they did. How come they call it an oil Spill? Seems like an oil infusion, or an oil geyser.

 

 

Lock boxes: All of us St. Louis metro area Realtors had to change out our lock box keypads recently. They gave us a new device to open the lock boxes on the doors with. The new device has a built-in LED flashlight. Before, we had to hit our code, then aim the device at the key box, & then we could access the key. Now, they made it so we can punch in our code on the device & we have up to 5 minutes to aim it at the keybox to open it. That's great, because when it's dark or freezing out, it was difficult to punch the code numbers in at the door. Now, I can punch in my code numbers in the car with the light on, then walk up to the door & just aim to open the box to get the key. Hurray! A positive change.

In the old days, when I first started selling homes, we didn't have lock boxes. We all had to drive to the Real Estate companies office who had the house you wanted to see listed for sale. We had to pick up the key at that office, then return it that day. You sure had to keep good records on who signed out a key for your listings!

I can see clearly now: I just did my part to make life easier for everybody over 40 who needs reading glasses. Just ordered some new business cards & enlarged the size of the phone number. I can't stand most business cards that have tiny phone numbers on them. Sometimes, you need a magnifying glass to see the phone number. Well, I'm against things that make no common sense, so I made my main phone number twice the size. Maybe other people will catch on one day! At least you can see my name & phone number easily.

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(636) 939-5109. I have recommended Dave to dozens of people. Everybody was happy with his work & his fair prices. He is extremely knowledgeable on any roofing matter & does a fantastic job. He did my roof about 3 years ago. It is a locally owned company, Dave & his assistant do all the work. It isn't farmed out to people who move around the country chasing storms to get roof jobs. Dave has been in the business for over 30 years & believe me, he knows it all. Call Dave if you have any type of roofing concern or problem. A-Accurate Roofing. (636) 939-5109.

 

New FHA changes. July 1st, 2010, some more rules are taking effect on home sale transactions. One of the many changes is a check on the buyers credit, (again), within 3-5  days of closing. If a buyer goes out & buys a new car, tons of furniture, etc, prior to closing on a home purchase, this may affect their credit score. If the debt load increases enough to make a change to the buyers credit score, then it is highly possible that the buyers Interest Rate may go higher prior to closing. So, it is best not to make any major purchases until After closing on a home.

 

Antiques. If you ever find yourself in eastern Indiana, off of interstate 70, you have to stop in Centerville, Indiana. There is an antique mall there that is 85,000 square feet. It is 2 1/2 miles south of 70. Actually there are several large antique shops along the route headed towards Columbus, Ohio. I have been stopping by Webb's since they opened in 1981. They seem to have a good collection of old Marx antique toys, old signs, lots of rare & beautiful stuff. There is something for everyone there. So, if you are driving thru that way one day, take a break & stop there to check it out. They are usually open 7 days a week from 9-6. (Before you go, just type in on your computer Webb Antique Mall, Centerville, IN).