Author / Stacy

AC/DC – Highway to Hell
Alkaline Trio – Movin’ Right Along
All-American Rejects – Move Along
Audio Adrenaline – Starting Over
Beach Boys – I Get Around
Beatles – Here Comes the Sun
Billy Joel – Movin’ Out
Black Eyed Peas – Meet Me Halfway
Blink-182 – Going Away to College
Bob Dylan – Like a Rolling Stone
Bob Segar – Night Moves
Bon Jovi – Who Says You Can’t Go Home
Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
Colin Farrell – Gone, Gone, Gone
Cream – Crossroads
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lodi
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Our House
Daft Punk – Around the World
Dave Matthews Band – Drive In Drive Out
Dave Matthews Band – Where Are You Going
DJ Ayres – Move On Up (Curtis Mayfield Remix)
Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way
Flo Rida – Let It Roll
Foghat Slow Ride
Foo Fighters – New Way Home
Gladys Knight – Midnight Train to Georgia
Grateful Dead – Truckin’
Green Day – Welcome to Paradise
Ja Net DuBois – Movin’ On Up (Jefferson’s Song)
Janet Jackson – Runaway
Jay Z – On To The Next One
Jet – Get Me Outta Here
John Denver – Take Me Home
Journey – Don’t Stop Believin
Kiss – New York Groove
Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song
Lipps Inc – Funky Town
Ludacris – Area Codes
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama
Paul Simon – 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Reel 2 Real – I Like to Move It
Rusted Root – Send Me On My Way
Sheryl Crow – Every Day is a Winding Road
Sublime – Wrong Way
Sweet – Fox on the Run
The Beatles – Ticket to Ride
The Black Keys – Goodbye Babylon
The Cranberries – Dreams
The Eagles – New Kid In Town
The Eagles – Already Gone
Willie Nelson – On the Road Again
Young MC – Bust a Move

With a growing bed bug problem and an in your face rat problem, it’s important to look for signs of infestation when looking at property to rent or buy.

Cockroaches, mice, bedbugs and ants are among the most common pest problems in America, according to pest control experts, and there’s a good chance you will find yourself battling one in your home at some point. But the last thing you want is to move into a new house or apartment and find those unwanted roommates already making themselves comfortable.

Brian Schoonmaker, vice president of Capitol Pest Control in Bethesda, Maryland, says having insects, spiders or small mammals in your home is unavoidable, but there are ways to keep them from invading your space.

“[Pests are in] literally every home. If you go into a home you will find an insect or rodent dropping,” Schoonmaker says.

Even if pests seem harmless, the creepy crawlies are likely something you don’t want climbing in bed with you. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn of the dangers to pregnant women in a home infested with mice that carry viruses, leading to birth defects or miscarriage simply from breathing in contaminated air. Many other pests also carry diseases or have potentially harmful venom.

Ron Harrison, entomologist and technical services director at Orkin says while pests may be everywhere, they shouldn’t necessarily cause problems. “You say, ‘OK, I just bought my new home, and now I’ve got all these little silverfish that are in the bathtub, or in the sink, scurrying around on my couch. What did I just spend all this money for?’” he says.

Any pest problem can be dealt with, Harrison says, but it’s best to have it taken care of before you move in to the apartment or house. He recommends putting it in writing that the place has to be pest-free before moving in.

Rather than waiting until they find you, follow these simple recommendations when you tour a place to find telltale signs that pests may already be squatting in your next home.

Take a good whiff. When you first step inside a home or apartment, let your nose tell you if something seems wrong.

Richard Estrada, president of ATCO Pest Control in the San Francisco Bay Area says many pests, especially mice and cockroaches, leave behind a smell you can notice in the air, particularly when the pest has made itself at home. “You should be able to detect the odor of a pretty heavy roach infestation,” which is typically described as musty or oily, he says.

Scan the room. Do you see any pests? Spotting a cockroach inside a cabinet or a mouse scurrying across the floor will immediately indicate a pest problem. Estrada says the sight of a pest in the flesh, or any traps or bait stations, should open up a conversation to discuss any pest issues. “Then you can just ask if it’s been taken care of, and the history of that [problem],” Estrada says.

Seeing them alive versus dead doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a bigger problem, but it serves as a good bargaining chip with the agent to stipulate that the home or apartment would need to be fully treated and rid of pests before moving in.

Keep a keen eye out for spots. Fecal matter is a sure sign that pests are in the home, so look for brown spots in and around cabinets that can come from cockroaches, or larger droppings from rodents.

If you see small maroon or brown spots on the walls, particularly behind a bed, or by outlets and switch plates, it may mean there’s a significant bedbug population in the room (more on that below). They could easily spread to other parts of the house if they haven’t already, or even hitch a ride into your car or office.

Carpenter ants also leave behind evidence, but not of the fecal matter variety. As wood-destroying insects, they kick out wood shavings when they nest inside of wood, explains Doug Webb, manager of technical services at Terminix in Memphis, Tennessee.?

What looks like sawdust on windowsills or elsewhere could indicate much more significant structural damage to the home due to these critters.

Bring a flashlight for dark areas. Looking in those hard-to-reach areas pests love to congregate in will help you spot signs of them, and Webb suggests bringing a small flashlight during tours to help see what may be there.

“Just shine in the cabinets, and see if you see a lot of little brown specks clustered around certain areas of the cabinets,” Webb says. “That may be an indication of German cockroaches.”

He adds that closets are a good place to shine the flashlight to check for spider webs. Shining the flashlight along baseboards and behind radiators can also alert you to any holes created by rodents, which means you should…?.

Take a look at the baseboards. Mice or rats will chew holes as entry points into a room where the floor and wall meet, so keep an eye on the baseboards for any small holes.

The baseboards are also a place to spot bedbugs ?while the room is empty of furniture. Bedbugs are notoriously difficult to get rid of and can also be hard to see. Keep a close eye on the outlet covers and baseboards in the bedrooms in particular, as bedbugs prefer to stick to tight areas where they can squeeze in, Schoonmaker says.

“They love any crack and crevice, and if there is no furniture, really the only place for them to be is in the wall voids,” he says.

Ask about the landlord’s pest control policy. As larger buildings with many units, apartment buildings can be particularly difficult to eradicate a pest problem.? Ask the leasing agent or property manager what company they work with and what their policy is when it comes to pests.

Schoonmaker says Capitol Pest approaches rodent problems holistically, closing up outside entrance points so new mice or rats aren’t able to come in, then setting traps and bait stations to get rid of the remaining population within the property.

However, when property managers don’t grasp the ?extent of the problem, pest control companies are left simply patching up holes, which rodents will simply recreate nearby. “It’s almost like playing whack-a-mole? sometimes, where you’re only able to treat one unit, and then two weeks later you get a call from the next door neighbor and three weeks later there’s a call downstairs,” Schoonmaker says. A leasing agent likely won’t want to tell you about any pest problems for fear of ruining their chances of making a deal, but asking what their policy is in the event of an infestation will give you an idea how they will handle any issue that may arise while you live there. That is, unless you don’t mind sharing your home with a few extra guests.

By Devon Thorsby

If you  are a renter anywhere in this great country the link below will take you to the Tenant Rights/U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Here you will be able to access all the info you need to know as a renter.

Tenant Rights

With it being holiday season and people spending so much money this time of year- here is a great article that can save you some extra cash now and all year round.

Lower Your Electric Bill

Fear of a loan denial has led some consumers with low credit scores to simply not bother applying for a mortgage. But, while you’ll still have to provide proof of your income and assets and an explanation of your low credit score, it is possible to get a mortgage with a low credit score from some lenders.

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit/low-credit-score-borrowers-get-mortgage.aspx

The FHA, or Federal Housing Administration, provides mortgage insurance on loans made by FHA-approved lenders. FHA insures these loans on single family and multi-family homes in the United States and its territories. It is the largest insurer of residential mortgages in the world, insuring tens of millions of properties since 1934 when it was created. Learn more about FHA loan requirements and guidelines.

FHA Home Purchase

Thailand

Packing is the best time to get rid of all the extra stuff you don’t want or need. Why pack it if you don’t need or want it anymore? Here are some things you should get rid of before taking the time to pack them:

Clothes- I you haven’t worn something in 6 months get rid of it. If it doesn’t fit or just isn’t your style anymore it is time to let it go.

Junk- Old posters, appliances you never use, books you’ve never read, free promo items, crappy presents you’ve never touched, and so many unmentionables. If you can’t justify a legitimate reason why you need to hold onto something, get rid of it. Junk is junk is junk and it takes up a lot of space.

Magazines- All those cooking and design magazines you are holding on too. It’s time for them to go. It’s okay to hold onto your favorites, but you don’t need them all. So into the recycling they go!

DVD and CD cases- Unless you are a truly die-hard collector and you just have to have the cases in tact, really, they’re just going to take up a ton of room. It’s so much more compact to put them all in one of those books with CD sleeves.

Old electronics- Time to get rid of any old stereo equipment, laptops, computer stuff and old remotes. If you don’t use it toss or donate it.

Mail and Notebooks- Toss all those receipts and bills that are just taking up space. Get rid of all those handwritten notebooks that you never use or reference any more.

Borrowed Items- Time to return all the stuff you borrowed.

Stuffed Animals-  They are a ton of wasted space  that could be making other children happy instead.

Bathroom Stuff- Time to purge all your almost empty bottles of lotion and other bottles. Clean out all the old make-up you never wear. Expired vitamins or medicines.

Doubles- If you already have one get rid of the other one. Especially if you barely use the first one.

Kitchen Stuff- So much and be cleaned out. Chipped anything- get rid of it! Appliances or cookware that you never use. Gadgets or as seen on TV items that take up space. Old kitchen towels. Spices and pantry item that will never or have ever been used.

Anything you forgot was there in the first place- Unless it is something you genuinely thought you lost and mourned for a long time, if you find something while you’re packing and are surprised by its existence, you didn’t miss it enough to justify keeping it in your life.

Vases and Nick-Nacks- All those vases that once came with flowers and all those little dust collecting items that have no purpose or sentimental value can all be donated or recycled.

There was a time when all you needed was a few boxes, some garbage bags and a car and you would be completely moved out. As you get older the number of boxes you need grows and does the amount of items you have. You now have gone from a few car loads to a full size moving truck. In addition to needing a truck you will probably need movers as well. A friends willingness to help move also changes We accumulate larger, heavier more substantial pieces that you want professionals to handle. But friends can still come in handy to help pack all of your other “stuff”. So throw a packing party!

Be honest and let everyone know what you expect from them. Don’t take it personally if someone declines.

Make it fun. Have drinks and food available. Play some music or have the game on as everyone is working.

Set a group goal or make it a competition between individuals and rooms that are being packed up.

Be prepared. Have plenty of tape, newspaper and packing material available for your party guests/helpers.

Use the help to organize and stack boxes and bring furniture into one room – so when the movers show up they can be in and out.

When it’s all over and you are finally moved in and unpacked at your new place have everyone that helped over for a fun night of not packing and just hanging out.