February | 2009 | Realniches.com

You Can Do it, Build Your Own Solar Heating System

Why would you ever rely on a professional to build your solar home heating system when you can build your own solar heating system? The thought of starting to build your own solar heating system may be overwhelming to some, but as long as you make yourself educated and are willing to learn, it really does not have to be all that hard.

How to do it

Now if you are seriously interested in getting to build your own solar heating system, you should know that it is quite a complex process. The first step is to get a solar heating system package, which should contain 8 metal pieces composed of copper pipes, copper links, and nickel pieces, and an aluminum box which will be used to support the solar heating system divided into three different parts.

Now you are also going to need a few specific tools to create your own home solar heating system. You will need a blowtorch, tin, electric screwdriver, screws, sandpaper, tools to cut the isolating material, and joints. This is obviously not a job that you are going to want to have kids around for because it can be dangerous so make sure that they are out of the way.

Now to get started and going to build your own solar heating system, you need to clean the ends of the copper links with the sandpaper. Now you want to soft-solder the copper links to the copper pipes, screw these pieces of metal together, test the watertightness of the pipes in putting pressure water inside the pipe, and then you assemble the aluminum box.

The next step to build your own solar heating system is to cut the isolating material so that you can put this in the bottom of the aluminum box that you have just assembled. Now you put the isolating material in the bottom and add the nickel pieces upper, and finally add the polycarbonate glass.

Now you are finished and this solar heating system is going to be enough to provide the heating for a small home. This is great and remember that you can do this on a larger scale if you want to provide heating for a larger sized home. As you learn more about solar power you will see that it is certainly not a difficult process as long as you know what you are doing.

Royal Caribbean The Best Caribbean Cruise Line

There are many reasons that Royal Caribbean is the best Caribbean cruise line in the world. From their history to their current execution of the products they offer Royal Caribbean has everything you would expect from the best Caribbean cruise line in the world. The have cruises running all over the world and each brings something new and different to what the company has to offer.

What Make Royal Caribbean the Best Caribbean Cruise Line

In 1968 three Norwegian shipping companies came together and formed what was to become the best Caribbean cruise line in the world today. The then commissioned the Song of Norway the first ship in the fledgling companys fleet. It was completed and entered service in 1970. The second ship, the Nordic Prince, entered service in 1971 strengthening the already blossoming company. With this ship Royal Caribbean pioneers the concept of air/sea cruises by including air fare to Miami where the cruises began. In 1972, another ship the Sun Viking enters service. This establishes Royal Caribbean as a power house in cruise world with three world class ships offering seven and fourteen day cruises throughout the Caribbean.

The company was growing so rapidly that Royal decided to stretch the Sun Viking by placing an 85 foot section in the middle. This increased the capacity of the ship from 700 to 1000 people and was the first time this was ever attempted on a ship this large. In 1980 the same thing was done to the Nordic Prince. In 1982 the Song of America enters service. It is twice the size of the Sun Viking and can hold up to 2000 passengers.

In 1986 Royal Caribbean firmly establishes itself as the best Caribbean cruise line in the Caribbean by founding and building its own tourist destination Labadee. Royal continued to grow and expand, opening cruises that went all around the world. They still however continue to be very dedicated to where the cruise line was started in the Caribbean Islands, making it the top Caribbean cruise in the world.

From humble beginnings Royal now boasts some of the top chefs in the entire world. Complimenting this is some of the most opulent and plus accommodations you could ever wish to have. On top of this the list of exclusive stops you can choose from with Royal is unmatched throughout the world. You can search but you will not find a cruise line company that offers as many different cruises with as many amazing amenities that you can not find anywhere in the world.

Keeping Your Home: Avoid Mortgage Foreclosure

There are many financial catastrophes that can affect an individual s future and assets. Some of those catastrophes can include an illness in the family, loss of a job, accident, etc.

Subsequently, these financial catastrophes can put a strain on an individual s lifestyle. This is due to the fact that these financial disasters can hamper the person s ability to meet current financial obligations or simply prevent an individual from making a livelihood.

Additionally, there are many financial obligations that need to be met in a family s life. Those financial obligations include the putting of food on the table, the paying of bills, keeping the utilities activated, car payments, etc.

In addition, one major financial obligation that a large percentage of individuals need to satisfy is that of the mortgage. Therefore, it is important to avoid mortgage foreclosure. In order to meet this challenge it is critical to know what is mortgage foreclosure and steps that can be taken to avoid mortgage foreclosure.

What Is Mortgage Foreclosure?

Mortgage foreclosure is the action taken by a financial institution when a individual does not meet their financial obigation in paying for the home that they are in the process of purchasing. These payment requirements are written in a binding contract that is signed by both the lender and the buyer.

Generally, the financial institution allows for the borrower to be late with their payments, but of course assesses late charges. However, when the individual falls behind in payments or doesn’t pay at all, then the financial institution has no choice but to foreclose or repossess the house.

Steps That Can Be Taken to Avoid Mortgage Foreclosure

There are many steps that can be taken in order to avoid mortgage foreclosure. One way is to revise one s budget to lower expenses or increase income. This process may help to free up money in order to meet one s financial obligation.

Additionally, another way to avoid mortgage foreclosure is to try and renegotiate the loan. This renegotiation may help to find a loan with a lower interest rate which will help to reduce one s monthly payment.

Also, it is important to be honest and upfront with the finance company that holds the lien on the house. This open dialogue is important especially if circumstances that are experienced prevent the borrower from meeting their financial obligation. Quite possibly the lender may endeavor to make arrangements that may alleviate the financial burden placed on the homeowner during their time of crisis.

Finally, another resource available to avoid mortgage foreclosure is to tap into government help to avoid foreclosure. This government help can be in the form of accessing advice from professional housing counselors, reading various documents and pamphlets on avoiding mortgage foreclosure, etc.

Where To Get A Loan To Avoid Foreclosure

Everyone knows the economy is really bad now. People all over are finding themselves fired or laid off, making the finances tighter than ever before. If they are wise enough to save ahead, they will probably get by easier until they get a new job. If they didn’t save up, they’ll be squirming. Finding a new job in a tight economy is harder that you think.

Even if you don’t lose your job, there are reasons to be wary. Prices are going up everywhere, and money is tight. Hopefully, your job is secure. This is the time to be planning ahead, saving up for whatever hard days you personally are subjected to. If you are starting to have trouble keeping up with your mortgage, consider getting a new loan to avoid foreclosure and loosen up finances a bit.

Benefits Of A New Loan

There are a couple of reasons you might want to get a new loan. First, if you are having a hard time keeping up with your payments, with a new loan your new payments can be lower than your current payments. If your interest rate is currently high, it can help a lot to get a lower interest rate.

If you were behind in your mortgage payments, they will pay off the portion of the old loan that you were behind, helping you start out of a good foot again with the new mortgage. In this way, a loan to avoid foreclosure can reset the clock to zero, giving you more of a chance of keeping up again.

Sometimes, when you get a loan to help you avoid foreclosure, they will actually give you cash out. You can use this cash to help you get caught up on your other bills, or to make the home repairs needed on you home. This can help ease the financial stress you are currently under but remember, this money isn’t just free, so taking a vacation with the money probably isn’t the smartest idea. You will have to pay the loan including the cash out back at some point.

Getting a loan to avoid mortgage foreclosure isn’t free. Lenders and mortgage brokers deserve to get paid, too. Fortunately, they will often roll the costs of the new loan into the loan, making it virtually free to get the loan free at the moment, anyhow.

Where To Get A Loan

If you listen to the radio, chances are you’ve already heard ads offering to help cash-strapped homeowners to avoid foreclosure by getting a loan. These companies know their business (lending to those who are on the verge of losing their home) and will be sure that the deal they offer you is in their best interest. Consequently, before you sign anything with one of them, check with another mortgage broker one that doesn’t specialize in hard to place loans. If your credit is still good enough, there’s a good chance you can get a better loan to avoid foreclosure through them a cheaper one, for sure.

Things To Consider When Comparing Car Insurance Rates

You’re getting a new car! Maybe it isn’t brand spanking new, but that’s okay. It’s your new baby and you love it. Now you need to get insurance on it. You plan to shop around, getting several quotes good going! Comparing car insurance rates is the best way to know you’re getting the right price for your new baby.

While Shopping For Quotes

Be accurate and honest. Don’t try to fudge answers chances are, the company will find out anyhow, and then it will cost you more. Just assume they’ll pull your driving record (they will) and your credit report (they can) and let them know about any tickets or accidents. Be sure to declare all potential drivers in the household even if you don’t want them insured on the policy, the company needs to know they exist. (For example, your teenage son who doesn’t quite have his license but knows where the keys to the Camry are kept.) If your information isn’t accurate and you have an accident, there is a chance they won’t have to pay after all, depending on the circumstances.

Keep the information you give the car insurance companies consistent. Comparing rates is impossible if they’re based on different information! Decide what level of coverage you want for everything, and then ask each company the same. If you ask for a certain level of coverage with one company, ask the same from all of them. If you put rental car coverage on with one company, do the same with the others. To compare car insurance rates, they need to be for the same product.

Once You’ve Got Quotes To Compare

Be sure you’re comparing apples with apples. Regardless of what you think you asked for, double check to see if that’s what coverage your car insurance rate is for. Compare the numbers. If you said you wanted 100/300/100, but sure they are all that amount. Not only is it only fair to be comparing the same car insurance rate product, but also you need to know that you got the level of coverage you said you wanted.

Consider the individual companies. Some companies are known for their excellent customer service. Is the one you’re considering? You can check the reputations of car insurance companies online there are sites where customers can give their feedback on their treatment by the car insurance companies.

Think about the easy of contacting each company. If your favorite company doesn’t have an online presence, and all bill must be mailed in, will you be okay with that? Many people enjoy the ease of having their payment come from their checking account directly each month they almost don’t have to think about it at all, as long as there’s enough money kept in the account. Or maybe you enjoy the personal touch of an agent you can call with any questions. If so, you probably wouldn’t like the cold distancing of an online car insurance company. Comparing rates is not the only thing to consider as you shop for car insurance.

Halloween Craft Ideas For A Fairy Theme

A fairy theme is a great theme for Halloween. There are many different Halloween craft ideas that are appropriate or even great as decorations for a fairy theme. A Halloween craft idea for a fairy party will need some planning. The plans can be extensive or simple, depending on how much you are willing to spend for the party. Any kind of Halloween craft idea can help to ease the expenses.

Plans

Easy Halloween craft ideas can be seen in magazines and decorating books. These crafts usually use things that are easy to procure and the crafts are usually easy to make. Before anything else, there should be plans regarding how you intend to use them.

Fairies are usually seen as light creatures that twinkle and are dainty. Putting up light gossamer cloth that drop from the ceiling to the ground or even just a little more than halfway will create the illusion of a fairyland. You can add your Halloween craft idea to the see through cloth by using a glue gun to glue sparkling sequins or rhinestones unto it to help with the illusion. Wisps of organza ribbon can also be added to the floating cloth at the sides or the center to hang from the ceiling and downwards.

The color of the cloth, maybe thin chiffon or organza, should be several shades lighter or darker than the ribbons floating down. This Halloween craft idea can be repeated several times in the area for maximum effect. Flowers can also be the ones added to the gauzy cloth or organza for a more fairyland effect since fairies are supposed to live in flowers. The falling or floating ribbons can also be adorned with smaller rosettes or daisy like flowers for a garden effect. You might like to use silk flowers or paper flowers for this Halloween craft idea.

Other Halloween craft ideas for a fairy wonderland are decorating the walls with vines and then gluing flowers and leaves on these vines. The vines can be left to hang or be artistically secured on the wall with the glue gun or something stronger if the vines are heavy. This Halloween craft idea may be difficult for children to achieve if they need to put up the vines along the walls. Children can help decorate the vines before they are put up.

Other Halloween craft ideas for a fairy theme are to put up butterflies, either fabric or print outs stuck to cardboard, from the ceiling. The fabric butterflies can also be placed randomly on tables, chairs and centerpieces if there are any.

Avoiding Home Foreclosure What Makes It Difficult

If you’re one of those people who have never faced foreclosure, you don’t understand. You just don’t get how someone can get into a situation where they need to avoid having their home foreclosed on. Isn’t their home their most important asset? Shouldn’t they pay the mortgage first?

Sure, they know all those nice words and fancy ideas, but sometimes what they want to have happen doesn’t match up with what happens and they are worried about home foreclosures and avoiding their lender.

How It Can Happen

There are many ways that a homeowner goes from being delighted with their new home and cushy and comfortable making their payments. Or maybe they were never so comfortable with the amount of their payments but at least they were making them, and on time!

Usually, something happens. You lose your job, or your income goes down for another reason. Maybe you’re on commission and sales are slow. Maybe you’ve been waiting for that inheritance to come, and the old relative hasn’t died yet. Maybe you have your own business and you didn’t sell that 1,000,000 widgets at a dollar a piece that you anticipated.

Maybe your health declined, making it more difficult to work. With added medical bills, things are tighter than ever. Maybe your circumstances left you depressed, making it hard to work for another reason. Maybe you’re just burnt out and can barely get out of bed in the morning.

Whatever the reason, once the money isn’t flowing like it used to, you’ve got to make some hard choices. Should you pay the mortgage, or the electricity bill? What about the water bill can you get an extension on that one? Or maybe you’ll go the borrowing money route. Can your boyfriend lend you $500 to help you get by? Can your grandparents? And if they do, when will you be able to pay it back? Should you get a loan to avoid foreclosure on your home would you qualify for one?

At first, when the bank calls you’re not avoiding them foreclosure on your home isn’t what they’re threatening, it’s just a vague possibility in the back of your head. But they’re leaving messages after the first call, since you identified that number as the bank and now you’re not picking up. They want your payment, you’ve got late charges…and things are looking bleak.

If you aren’t able to solve your money problem soon, and you don’t make the payment, the idea of foreclosure at home can’t be avoided. The bank is threatening that every time they leave a message.

Next thing you know…you get that notice in the mail usually two or three times, certified and regular letting you know your home is in foreclosure. Avoiding it is over. It really could happen to you but let’s hope it never does.

Why You Want To Avoid Foreclosure

The economy’s in the toilet. Everyone’s saying so. It’s on the news, and the talk radio shows. Whenever they discuss the stock market, or the unemployment rate they tell us how bad it is. Things are looking pretty bleak. People all over are losing their jobs, and more all the time are losing their homes. They probably wanted to avoid foreclosure but weren’t able to do whatever they needed to do to keep the mortgage current. Millions are in foreclosure you want to avoid joining them. Seriously you don’t want to be in foreclosure.

You’ve Got A Fan Club?

Which of us doesn’t want to be more popular? Doesn’t everyone want to get more mail? Not if it is from companies promising to help you out of your FORECLOSURE and telling you how they can SELL YOUR HOUSE and SAVE YOUR CREDIT! If you can’t avoid foreclosure of your home and the bank files the paperwork, your foreclosure becomes a matter of public record. With a couple of days, you will be receiving many more pieces of mail every day, from companies who want your business. They try to catch your attention by sending you mail a few times a week for however long it takes for you to get out of foreclosure (if you are able to at all). It may seem like a trivial thing, but all that extra mail proclaiming loudly and boldly of your troubles is not only embarrassing but also annoying. That’s not the kind of popularity anyone wants.

You Thought Your Credit Was Bad Before….

Your credit will take a real hit if it has a foreclosure on it. Foreclosure is one of the big things that potential creditors look at when determining if they want to loan you money. It’s right up there with a bankruptcy they both show that when the going gets tough, you get going. You’ll walk away from your obligations if you can’t see a way of paying them. If they lend you money as a new mortgage, or a credit card, etc. – you could just as easily walk away from the loan again. Avoid foreclosure, and you avoid a nasty black mark on your record.

Refi, Anyone? Sign Me Up!

If you’re thinking that just letting the bank foreclose is your best option, think again. Usually, you can refinance your loan, ending up with a better solution all the way around. The upside is that you can end up with a lower monthly payment, helping you avoid foreclosure now and in the future, as your payments would be easier to keep up with. The downside is that there will be costs associated with refinancing, which you will either need to pay upfront or have rolled into your new loan. But in terms of avoiding foreclosure, this answer is a sure-fire winner in many ways. Check your options before signing anything, and be sure to consider refinancing as a way to avoid foreclosure.

Solar Heating System: Reap the Benefits

Did you know that no matter what size your home may be, you can have a solar heating system in it? It is true, but there are actually more details that you are going to want to be aware of as well. For one, although a solar heating system can certainly be sized to efficiently meet the hot water demand of a single occupant home, it is important to realize that the most benefits are to be had when a solar heating system is used in a home that consumes large volumes of hot water.

Is Your Home Ready?

All homes can have a solar power heating system installed in them, but you are going to need to make sure that your home is ready for one. For example, there may be quite a few bushy trees in the area that are blocking the sun from your home, and this would mean that you are not going to be able to take full advantage of the solar power.

Therefore, you would have to make the necessary move to deal with this which would probably mean trimming or even cutting down the tree so that the sun can get a better angle at the house. Be careful here because you don t just want to go chopping down all the trees in the area so that you can have the most sunlight and instead do it in a more resourceful manner.

Professional Installation or Build Your Own?

Now there is one decision that you are going to have to make which is whether to get a professional to install the solar heating system or build your own solar heating system. As long as you do the research and spend the time learning about how these systems work and how they need to be installed in the home, the process can really be quite simple.

However, for the most part homeowners like to know that they are getting a professional installation, so they can feel secure in knowing that everything is going to be done just right.

Now that you are aware of all the benefits offered, you are surely more interested in having a solar heating system installed in your home. You will notice the benefits almost immediately, and remember that although you may be spending a bit more money initially to have the system installed, it is going to more than pay itself off within the first month or two.

Why Find Your Car Insurance Rate Online?

So you’ve heard of people who buy their car insurance online. Are rates the same? Better? Are there other reasons to get your car insurance rate online? Compare the online experience with your last auto insurance shopping adventure.

The Convenience Is A Winner

For convenience, you can’t beat online shopping for a car insurance rate. You can do it any time of the day or night, over the Internet. There’s no need to get dressed up and go into an insurance sales office. You can keep your fuzzy bunny slippers and robe on no one’s gonna see what you’re wearing as you sit down in front of your computer and shop for auto insurance.

Time’s NOT A Wastin’

If you’ve been into an insurance agents office, you know that the pace is usually pretty laid back, with just two speeds: slow and stop. They’re not in any hurry to get you in and out of there. They’ll be there all day anyhow, so let’s discuss this other alternate rider you can get on your policy, etc…. If you like that kind of socialization, please go the traditional route and visit an insurance office. Be sure you have plenty of time. For those of us who lead busier lives, shopping online for a car insurance rate fits our lifestyle. We can pick and choose which type of coverage we want often just copying the coverage we want to replace and not have an agent standing by trying to coax us to a more beneficial (to him) policy.

Changes? A Breeze!

If there are changes you want to make to your policy, if you got your car insurance rate online then it is simple to make modifications. No need to bother your agent to try out a different configuration. Check it online. How much will it save you if you take off the car rental rider? Or move your adult daughter to her own policy? Or add in your new teen driver? All these things and much more can be checked online, whenever you want, without needed to call an office.

Any Cautions?

If you don’t know what type of coverage you need, you might want to learn more. You can usually call an agent’s office or stop by and they’ll be happy to education you on the differences between liability, comprehensive, and collision. They can also help you know what amount of coverage would be right in your situation. If you already know that stuff, though, try getting your new car insurance rate online!