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Families are trying to determine whether or not now is the time to buy a home. Some are advising these families to sit out the current real estate market and instead rent for the next year or two. We do not agree with this advice. Homeownership means a lot to a family. We also realize that the financial aspects of purchasing a home today can be a concern. The challenge is any advice given by someone in the real estate community is immediately dismissed as self-serving.

For this reason, we want to give you the advice of three entities not involved in real estate sales:

Citigroup

 ”When we examine the relationships between mortgage payments and income and mortgage payments and rent, we see that these relationships have also reverted back to or below equilibrium points. In

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The idea for a children’s aromatherapy-scented book about a rescue dog came to Margaret Hyde in a dream.

“I woke up with the idea for it in the middle of the night, four years ago,” said Hyde, author of the Mo’s Nose book series. “I got up, wrote the idea and wrote the first version of the first story. I even saw it illustrated in Japanese ink brush in my dream.”

The dog in Hydes dream belonged to her best friend Amanda Giacomini, whom she asked to illustrate the first book, Mo Smells Red. Giacomini didn’t know how to use Japanese ink brush, but learned the skill for the books.

Most of the six books focus on the special dog using his nose to see a color. In the latest installment, Mo Smells Pink, Mo smells things such as pink grapefruit bubble bath and pink peppermint ice cream.

Hyde, 37,  grew up loving scratch-and-sniff stickers and scented markers, so she always wanted the Mo’s Nose books to be scented. She also wanted

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They say that there is no such thing as the word “free” in today’s world. I beg to differ. As a self-proclaimed penny pinching, closet couponer, I know that statement couldn’t be further from the truth. There are plenty of companies willing to give away their products and services at no cost to you. You, my friend, just have to know where to find such a bargain.

In today’s economy, the ability to stretch a dollar is a necessity not something to hold you over between paychecks. That’s why I felt it was appropriate to write a primer for my fellow deal seeking dudes and divas. Here’s how a beginner can get started scoring free stuff:

You don’t have to spend hours upon hours scouring the internet to get the best free stuff around. Just follow the suggestions that I have listed here and prepare to have your inbox and mailbox flooded with freebies. Have your own suggestions? Please share them below!

and and and

By far the largest number of emails I receive has to do with my posts on severance pay. The questions often have to do with whether an employee received a reasonable package when terminated. The issue always is that reasonable is a contextual question both in terms of the personal circumstances of the ex-employee and the period of the economic cycle one is dismissed.

I typically do not post severance related comments on the blog to shield the privacy of the commentator who may be sharing very personal information. However, the common theme centers around where one can go to determine whether they are receiving a fair severance pakcage. Keeping in mind that I live in Ontario, and the information I provide is confined to this jurisdiction, I would offer these practical steps if one has been dismissed.

First, do NOT hide in shame if you have been dismissed. In this day and age, everyone gets down-sized, right-sized, dismissed or however they spin ones dismissal.

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When will demand for housing return to historic averages? What impact will foreclosures continue to have? Where are interest rates headed? There are no simple answers to any of these questions. However, the most difficult question to answer seems to be is where are home prices headed?

Clear Capital maintains that prices seem to be stabilizing in their most recent Home Data Index Market Report.

“The latest Market Report results through May suggest that home prices are starting to ease back from the heavy declines seen over the winter. W

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Two and a half years after arriving in Hong Kong in 1996, and having travelled all over Asia grumbling about how cruddy, boring and unstylish all the available travel guides were, I moved to Bangkok.

I had swiftly come to realise that not only were these guidebooks not written for me, they were written by people with completely different lifestyles, values, needs and interests. Moreover, they were predominantly written by people who didn’t actually live in the city at all, but who were paid to visit and record their thoughts, then edited by someone in a foreign city who had probably never travelled to that destination.

To me, this just seemed all wrong, on every level. To understand and ‘know’ a city I think you must live there, full stop.

Today, Bangkok can seem a bewildering and challenging city to the first-time visitor, but in 1999 you couldn’t even buy unsliced bread or emulsion paint in any colour other than white. To stop

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In the event you need to pay a substantial amount of debt, you might soon begin experiencing messages or calls from collection agencies hired by your creditors. If you are a citizen of New York State, though, you might have particular legal rights according to state guidelines in relation to debt collection agency. For your own proper protection, you ought to familiarize your self with these privileges. Otherwise, you won’t know if your debt collection businesses phoning you are working illegally.

Below are actually legalized issues with regards to a number of the widespread collections concerns for debtors inside NY:

Laws of Limits: A statute of limitations on a debt is the time frame after the very last settlement created throughout which a consumer may be sued properly for payment. I

Read full post…

In the event you need to pay a substantial amount of debt, you might soon begin experiencing messages or calls from collection agencies hired by your creditors. If you are a citizen of New York State, though, you might have particular legal rights according to state guidelines in relation to debt collection agency. For your own proper protection, you ought to familiarize your self with these privileges. Otherwise, you won’t know if your debt collection businesses phoning you are working illegally.

Below are actually legalized issues with regards to a number of the widespread collections concerns for debtors inside NY:

Laws of Limits: A statute of limitations on a debt is the time frame after the very last settlement created throughout which a consumer may be sued properly for payment. I

Read full post…