What a great way to start a new year. Once again Durham is hosting it's annual free Paper Shredding, E-Waste and Christmas Tree Disposal Event, coming up on January 14th. Available to all city and county businesses and residents it will be open from 8AM – 2PM in the Sears Parking lot at the Northgate Mall. For full details check out the Environment RTP.org website, a great local source of information. Now you have a chance to safely clean out your home, reclaim some space, help the environment and all for free! Thumbs up to Durham's Solid Waste Management Department who is overseeing this event.

About The Durham Home Energy Savings Program

First Come- First Served- The Durham Home Energy Savings Program (HESP) is accepting application for subsidized…

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Wow, 2011 flew by and was a fantastic year personally. I appreciate how fortunate I was to have met and helped so many interesting people either buy or sell a home here in the greater Durham, Chapel Hill area in North Carolina where I live and work. You kept me incredibly busy and I'm certainly thankful.

2012 is shaping up to be another phenomenal year. In the past week alone I got one of my investor clients under contract on a foreclosure property they wanted, met with three new buyer clients and am looking forward to working with them. I've got several new listings I'll be bringing onto the market in the next few months and all and all I'm expecting another great year. I have finally gotten myself a personal assistant to do some of the back…

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North Carolina home inspections when selling

As a full-time broker for over twenty years, I have attended nearly a thousand home inspections and have dealt with the attendant negotiations that follow. Trust me: They can occasionally get ugly.

Experience has shown me that more often than not the reason they occasionally get ugly is that either the buyer, the seller or, in some instances both, really don’t understand what the purpose of a home inspection is, or what’s reasonable to expect in terms of repair requests.

Once a property is under contract, the buyer should order their home inspection(s) to be done. If you are working with a good buyer broker, I would ask for them for recommendations for home inspectors. If you purchasing directly from the listing agent I would not consider asking…

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Credit Scores and MortgagesMost of us who wish to buy a home will do so by getting a mortgage. The first requirement is that we manage to save up enough money for a down payment. In addition, there are many other costs when purchasing a home — collectively referred to as “closing costs” which may include: mortgage application fees, attorney fees, inspection fees, home owners and title insurance, property tax and possibly homeowner association pro-rations, filing fees, and others. Equally important is having a good enough credit score to qualify for a mortgage and, unlike saving up your money which everyone understands, very often many people don't really understand how this works and what it will mean and how to improve their scores. If you are one of these folks, this is the…

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Adding value back into your home Despite what HGTV might have you thinking, there are ways to add value to your home besides completely redoing your kitchen and baths, both of which can be expensive undertakings.

Re-Painting Your Interiors

The least expensive upgrade any home can get is a sharp new paint job, but there are some caveats. Painting itself is pretty easy. What's not as easy is the prep work required for a really great paint job. Be prepared to spend more time getting the room ready to paint than you will actually painting. Here are some secrets to help you make any room look awesome.

Step 1: Prepare your surfaces. If you want a great looking paint job, start with nice smooth surfaces. If your walls have little dings in them, get some sheet rock mud from your local…

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