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Priorities vary when we're choosing our nest and the US real estate market has a huge place in  news and Social Media now with advice and the latest stats in this drastically changing world of Real Estate.  Here are a few fun facts. When we look for a home, the amount of square footage is right up there with the amount of money we can or want to spend so top of our list. Did you know however, many, many factors contribute to the final number and it can be irrelevant to your actual available living space for things from furnishings to family. Typically the outside perimeter of the house is measured, then a garage and any unheated area square footages are subtracted from the total. Some listing realtors will measure each room and post the layout on MLS. Here's some fun math trivia. A typical wall in a standard, residential home is 4.5" thick to allow for standard requirements, not even including extra insulation or out of the ordinary requirements for pipes or electrical. So...

Deciding how much you can afford to spend for a new home can be so overwhelming, it's easy to feel paralyzed by indecision and doubt. With constant news now of "high" interest rates consuming us, one thing that needs to be said is that rates have been a lot higher and banks have been a lot more discriminating in the past regarding who they approve and how much they charge. It may surprise you to know that our parents dealt with interest rates of 16%-18% in our childhood homes and 8.5%-10%  and up, just 10 years before.  Another fun fact is that women weren't always allowed to be listed on a title as a co-owner, or to build credit like today by being included on a mortgage less than 100 years ago. That was especially problematic if a husband died or you divorced and also when a female wife was supporting her male husband financially or supplying most of their income. To quote an old ad, "we've come a long way baby" so let's say your realtor shows you ...

Happy International Womens Day  March 8, 2024 Look closely! The expressions of awe and disbelief on these players and ref's faces say it all, watching #15, the first female on this soccer team go for a head ball.  Her look of sheer determination reminds me of all the women - and men who never stopped pursuing their true passion or denied themselves their dreams. I'm so grateful for the choices and opportunities we have today  because those who came before us refused to be content with or to be bullied into accepting the status quo. My first official writing job was for Sports Journal - of all things. Luckily the Editor, who's since become a dear friend was open minded and a former athlete, always up for a challenge - no matter the tussles and flare ups they caused. He was cutting edge, and everyone that knows him honors and respects him for his fervor to take the industry up a notch, even if it meant venturing down heretofore unblazed paths and bold new ideas. I was not a...

         Just a grey chunk of rock, or an intriguing mountain with mysterious stories of history and hauntings? This is Superstition Mountain with a host of interesting history and hist-stories of its own. Its shape is curious, but from a photography perspective, unless you wait for just the right time of day to shoot it, position, and contort your body for the perfect angle-as I did here, it shoots as just another huge grey chunk of rock sitting alone in Arizona. For me, the west presented a whole different mindset for great photos because- as most of my friends know, I'm more of a purist. We did a wonderful exercise at cnn using software to enhance our photos, but since they're "news" they would only post things raw; completely unaltered in any way. For that reason, I guess I prefer to show reality in our natural world vs a computer generated work that's not really relevant to anything is my view. That said, the challenge of using what nature offers us with li...

I chose this photo to post at my profile because -like so many of my friends and followers, and hopefully me, there's so much more to it than meets the eye.  Literally. This annual migration means tens of thousands of birds fly thousands of miles to stop over every year like clockwork to refuel at this very spot.  The mountain ranges seen in the distance to the East and the West will drain melted snow - or not, and thereby dictate the success or failing of the many species that rely on this stopover every year.  I deliberately didn't edit, tweak, or photoshop this photo so read on why it's so important.   You'll see Snow Geese and Ross's Geese, species of ducks, and sandhill cranes to name a few, enjoying their layover, swimming side by side while they rest and refuel with much needed water and nutrition. Each season brings in new and different species of waterfowl and land animals to this unique section of the Rio Grande, all dependent upon our fragile climate ...