Saturday, December 31, 2005
Home&Garden appears Saturdays in the St. Petersburg Times
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Make a clean sweep
It's the 2006 "fix it, dump it, defrump it" guide to everything you ought to be doing around the home. But please, for our sake, go easy.
Class explores homeowner group issues
SEMINOLE - A free course on Florida cooperatives will be from 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 18 at Seminole Gardens Association Auditorium, 8324 112th St. N.
Home Buyer U
First Time Home Buyers classes designed to help home buyers go through the process of purchasing a home and qualify for down payment and closing costs, sponsored by the Community Service Foundation from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Jan. 7 at the Pinellas County Cooperative Extension Service, 12175 125th St., Largo. Also offered from 6-9 p.m. Jan. 17 and 24 at the Sunshine Center, 330 Fifth St. N.,St. Petersburg. Free. (727) 461-0618.
House values
A look at what homes are going for in your neighbprhood
Community Living
Insurance protection against special assessments
Q. Please explain loss-assessment insurance.
Garden
January: Timely tending
Winter and spring are the best times to do major landscape renovations. Deciduous shade trees and fruit trees can be pruned, winter and spring annuals can be planted for a show of color, and hardy plants can be added to the landscape.
News
Plan while storing decorations
For many people this is the weekend to pack away the holidays for another year. As you do so, take inventory: What do you need? Replace it at the post-holiday sales. Take pictures before you disassemble your decorations: the tree, the door, the hall table. It will be easier to set things up next year with those visual reminders. Pack each room or area separately so you need not unpack everything to do one area (create a mantel box, for example, or a stairway or foyer box). Create a "things I need first" box of items you need early in the season: the tree stand, the address list, cookie cutters for early baking. And here's help: Home Depot stores will offer a clinic on storing holiday decorations at 10 a.m. Jan. 7.
St. Petersburg Times real estate search:
Regional
real estate links:
Tampa
Bay Homes - Search local MLS listings
Florida
Home Builders - features
Florida developers with Web sites.
Other
real estate links:
Cost
of Living calculator: compares
the cost of living in any two cities.
Also includes links to Salary Calculator
and Moving Calculator among other
tools.
Home
Buyer and Renter Consumer Information: From
the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
Home Buying Tips: from
the U.S. Government General Services
Administration.
