Month: May 2016

Categories
Ranch and farms for sale Ranch land for sale Ranches in montana

How to Make the Most Money From Your Ranch Property

Fly fishing

Choosing to buy a ranch for sale comes with many responsibilities. Whether you own more than 100,000 acres like the Flying D Ranch that Ted Turner bought in 1988, or if you have a more modest-sized property, knowing how to make improvements to the ranch property is important. Here are some tips to help you improve your ranch real estate once you’ve purchased a ranch for sale.

Grazing Management
Having good grazing management can lead to increased carrying capacity, animal productivity, and better efficiency in labor. As a result, the need for fed feed is greatly reduced. For those who prefer to graze year-round or most of the year, it is best to combine nutrition planning and grazing.

Cattle have the ability to graze in tough conditions. For this reason, help them during extreme weather conditions by feeding them when snow depth or severe crusting makes it impossible to graze. Studies show that light to moderate grazing typically encourages forb production.

Large Herds
Grazing management is easier with large herds as they are more cost-effective. This is because ranchers are able to survive with less fencing and stock water sites. They also improve the efficiency of labor. It is simply easier to check on 500 cows in one herd rather than 500 cows in five herds. Evaluate exactly how much space the ranch for sale you are interested in has and how that will effect your herd size.

Culling Program
When partnered with a low-cost and effective heifer development program, a good culling program can result in very little cow problems. This includes a short calving season with uniform, highly marketable calves. It will also result in reduced need for labor to address cattle issues.

Marketing
Think of the bigger picture when it comes to marketing your animals. Constantly keep marketing in the back your mind continuously thinking about how to sell each animal to its best use at the highest price. If you, group similar animals together and sell them to your advantage.

Animal Handling
To improve production, practice good animal handling. This will also result in an increase in buyer acceptance of your product and less risk associated with buying and selling. Learn effect techniques to impress your buyers, who will them like your cattle better.

Provided you do not have any conservation easements on your property, you should be able to implement the above tips and begin seeing your business generate revenue. Conservation easements are limitations placed on properties with the intent to preserve the natural resources on the land. With proper grazing management, large herds, a good culling program, good animal handling, and marketing always on the brain, you are sure to be on your way to making the most of any ranch property for sale. Find more.

Categories
Clothing donation center Red cross clothing donations Red cross donations

Clothing for the Needy Burned and Stolen in Two Separate Incidents

Donate clothing

Unfortunately, despite good people in the world who work with clothing donation centers and donate clothing, there are still bad seeds in this world. There have always been bad people, but it stings a little more when the bad that is done affects clothing donation centers.

In two separate incidents within one day of each other, used clothing donations were either stolen or destroyed.

According to CBS Detroit, in Michigan, three bins containing more than 1,500 pounds of donated clothing were destroyed by a fire.

Police are looking for a suspect after St. Vincent de Paul workers noticed the bins burnt to a crisp when they got to work.

“We are just distraught over this,” Michelle St. Pierre said. “Just the fact that somebody would do that. I guess that people just don’t realize that we really rely on those donations to help the neighbors in need.”

Another sad story involving a clothing donation center happened in Pennsylvania. WNEP reports that thousands of dollars in donated items were stolen at Hamilton Township.

According to state police, this isn’t the first time that the clothing bins have been burglarized. The Community Aid donation bins have been hit more than 12 times over the last few months — resulting in thousands of dollars in clothing being stolen.

“I think it’s a terrible thing, “Dinh Daugherty said. “I mean you know, why would someone want to do something like that? It’s a donation. It’s for people who are in need.”

A theft this past April resulted in more than $2,500 worth of donations being stolen.

“Stop it if you can, but how can you when it’s right out here in the open?” Art Faber asked. “You can’t police it all the time. You’d have to have someone watching the bins and I don’t think that will work.”

It’s unknown whether or not the bins will be moved into a safer location at this time.

“It’s a horrible thing, Daughtery added. “I mean, especially when you are trying to do something good and people are doing bad things.”

Don’t let the bad acts of a few stop you from going to donate clothes. You can still help people in need.
To see more, read this.

Categories
Choosing a home builder Master planned communities Taylor morrison homes tampa

4 Mistakes that New Home Owner’s Often Make

Homes by westbay

When you first begin looking for homes for sale, it can be a very exciting time. You’ve discussed what to look for in a new home and might be working with a home builder and have been explained the best ways to how to buy a new home. However, buying a new home is not without it’s risks and negative aspects. Here are a few things you should know if you want to know how to buy a new home.

Do Your Research
I’m sure you have heard this time and time again but you really need to make sure that you find out everything you can about how to buy a new home before you actually settle down and sign on the dotted line. Unfortunately, there are real estate agents and even contractors who can tend to take advantage of first time home buyers because they realize that they don’t do the research necessary and can swindle them out of more money than is necessary. Here are a few fatal mistakes than many home buyers make.

  • Commitment Before Approval
    Don’t go house hunting before you have been approved for your loan from a lender. The risk there is that you could find a house that you absolutely fall in love with only to find out that the mortgage is way out of your price range. When this happens, it can go one of two ways. One is that you get the house anyway and end up suffering with the out of budget costs until you can get rid of the house. Or, you walk away and then compare every other home that you look at to that one. Which of course, will be nicer than anything you’ve ever seen in your opinion because it was your first love. Don’t let your emotions and excitement get the better of you. Be patient and wait for your loan to go through so that you can only look at homes that are in your correct budget range.


  • Failure to Negotiate
    Everything is negotiable. Many new home buyers do not negotiate because they are uncomfortable with being disagreeable or confrontational. However, everyone in the home buying process is prepared to negotiate and these negotiations don’t have to be a negative experience. If you will negotiate, you will probably walk away with a much better deal than you expected to get. Lenders, real estate agents and builders expect negotiations so their starting prices are usually higher than what they intend to settle on. Either that or you could end up getting a lot of upgrades included in the original price. Keep in mind that you hold all the cards. If you back out, you will lose the house but there will be other houses. However, the contractor or lender will lose your business and that is a lot more important to them than the house.


  • Signage Before Knowledge
    Before you sign with a builder, it’s important to find out the reputation of that builder. You don’t want to commit to using a certain builder, only to find out that they have terrible reviews and reputation. You should always find out if others that have used said builder had any problems or issues and what they were and how quick he or she was to address the issues.


  • Forgetting the Punch List
    You always need to see a punch list. This is the list of issues that need to be fixed. A good builder will make this for you without being asked but never assume that it is going to be done. It may be simple fixes such as popped nails or screws but it could be a big deal. Either way, you should never close on a home before you have seen the punch list.

You may feel that you have all the knowledge on how to buy a new home but there is always something more that you could find out, if you really wanted to. There’s no such thing as too much information when it comes to buying a house. There should be no surprises or skeletons in the closet that you find out only once you have closed. That could be detrimental to you.

Categories
American red cross donations Clothing donation pickup Clothing donations

How Shopping at Your Local Thrift Shop Can Help Your Community

American red cross donations

Chances are you have probably visited a local thrift store at some time in your life. You might have visited it for a Halloween costume, furniture that you could craft based on an online DIY article or even to browse through the available and vintage clothing items for sale. Thrift shops offer a lot of unique items for those looking for something out of the normal everyday shopping stores. A lot of hidden treasures have been found in thrift stores, including great pieces of furniture and clothing items that are at a great discount. Shopping at your local thrift store actually provides many benefits to the community.

Americans consume nearly 20 billion garments a year. That is 68 garments and 7 pairs of shoes per person or more than one piece of clothing purchased per week. Many of these clothing and shoe items will only be worn a couple of times before being retired as out of style or not interesting enough. Those clothing items, however, could be of great interest to someone who has not worn them yet. Many people choose to donate these items and they end up in the Red Cross donation center, for sale. Clothes donations are mostly what make up thrift store shops, but shoppers can find a variety of items for sale of interest and unique style.

When you choose to shop at a Red Cross clothing donations center or thrift store, you are providing necessary funding for those in need. The Red Cross helps out with national emergency funding, disabled veterans and even those who are homeless. Red Cross donations are either given directly to those in need or they are sold for the funds to help these people with additional needs. When you choose to shop and spend your money at the local thrift store, those funds received are being used to employ those helping with the store and is also directly providing funds to those in need.

70% of people in the U.S. give to charity each year. This might be in the form of a Red Cross pickup or in the form of direct money donations. A Red Cross donation center is full of people wishing to donate items, but choosing to shop at the local Red Cross thrift store can also be beneficial to those in need. You can either donate clothing items or purchase other donated items. Non profits continue to do good for the community and the economy. In fact, for 24 hours per day, 265 days a year, the American Red Cross provides relief for families and communities in the form of blankets, food, blood and shelter.

Donating clothing items to the Red Cross donation center can be very helpful to those people in need. However, an additional way to help is by shopping and spending money at the local Red Cross thrift stores. These types of charities also need funds to succeed, as clothing donations are not simply enough to provide for others. People also need food, water and shelter. Spending money at the Red Cross donation center allows them to utilize those necessary funds for additional things.

Categories
Donate clothing Used clothing donations

Why Donating is So Helpful to Us as a People

Red cross clothing pick up

The “I have nothing to wear” phrase is commonly said, especially out of a woman’s mouth. However, with that usually means is more something like, “I’m sick of all my clothes.” If this is the case for you and you were looking to revamp your wardrobe I have the answer for where those fold clothes can go. You could donate clothes to Red Cross and other charities and they will be out of your hair and helping someone in need so everybody wins. Clothes donations are very needed and every time you donate clothes to Red Cross you were helping somebody less fortunate than you.

As a nation Americans go through almost 20,000,000,000 garments a year. That’s about 68 garments and seven pairs of shoes her person. Narrow that down even further and it’s a new piece of clothing each week. Because of how many new clothes that we buy all the time each person on average throws away 10 pounds of clothes per year. Now if we donate clothes to Red Cross that 10 pounds per person can really be put to good use.

Red Cross clothing donations are not the only thing that the Red Cross does. They also provide relief for families and communities by providing blankets, food, blood and shelter. You’re probably familiar with blood donations that the Red Cross does but it’s even more than that. There the 13th largest charity in the United States and pretty much anytime there’s a disaster you can count on seeing the American Red Cross there. When you’re donating to a charity you want to find one that you can believe in there cause and with the amount of different things that Red Cross does for people you’re bound to find something that can make you want to donate clothes to Red Cross.

Anytime you donate clothes you were helping someone else, yes, but there are personal benefits as well. It’s a great example to set for your children and those around you. Donating shows them that you value life and you value people even if you don’t know them. It’s important for the next generation to understand that people are important. To many humans don’t consider other people and become very inward focused and selfish. Even a small clothes donation can open your mind to the world of hurting people that you are personally investing in by donating those clothes or whatever it is that you were donating.

On the logical side of donating, another great reason to donate is that it is a tax break in the coming year. Make sure you get your receipt for whatever you don’t need and then you can put it on your tax forms next year and get a credit for it. So, even though the charity is not able to buy your items from you, technically the government will pay you for giving them away. This is a great motivation to gather up all of those household items that are still in great working condition but you just don’t use. Gently used clothing, kitchen appliances, shoes that are still in good condition and other items are all appreciated and acceptable.

If you are too busy to actually take the items to the charity drop off center that there are charities that can come and pick up your donations from your house. This is very convenient and you don’t even have to be home. If you box of her bag your items and leave them out on your porch or patio then you just need to schedule an appointment to have them picked up and the charity will do so at that time. Just make sure to confirm that they will leave the receipt in your mailbox for you.

There really is no excuse to donate. There’s no downside and no negative repercussions. There’s just a matter of getting it done. But once it is done you’ll be very glad that you participated in giving someone a better life. You can never regret donating items to charity, you will only feel the personal satisfaction and hope that you get from taking part in the bigger picture instead of focusing on your own problems.

Categories
Belgian eco linen sheet set Linen fitted sheet Organic sheet sets

Have You Ever Slept in Fine Linen Sheets?

Organic sheet set

Paris is a beautiful and intriguing city, and having the opportunity to travel there is a wonderful thing. After a day walking the streets, riding the metro, and getting to see landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel tower, and the Bastille, all you want is to go back to your hotel take a quick nap before venturing to Saint-Michel for dinner out on the town.
When you return to your lavishly decorated hotel, however, you remember the one thing the city does not offer in abundance: air conditioning. But a lack of air-conditioning is a small price to pay for a vacation to the City of Light. You open a window, throw the comforter off the bed and crawl in-between the sheets. Soon, unfortunately, the cool sheets you were expecting become hot, itchy, and oppressive in the Parisian afternoon heat. As you are trapped in the oppressive warmth created by these low-quality cotton sheets, you long for the Belgian eco linen sheets gracing your bed at home. You attempt to rest despite the heat, but to no avail.
Although you are in Paris on a dream trip, in your mind you begin to think of all of the benefits of those linen sheets on your bed at home, namely their breezy, cooling nature. You make a mental note to remember this the next time you are choosing new sheets. Now that you have seen the impact of low-quality sheets, you will never again question the price difference between an average cotton sheet set and pure linen sheets. As you head to dinner still exhausted, you realize that even the City of Light can seem a little dim when you are not getting the rest you need.
Quality sheets are a luxury that you really do not notice until you no longer have them. Let’s say, for example, that you are away from home staying with a friend for a week. You have had a great time at the pool, out shopping, and up late visiting. As soon as you climb in to bed in the guest room, however, you notice something is not quite right. The minute you slide your body between the sheets you realize that you miss your organic linen sheets back home.
Pure Linen Sheets Help You Stay Cool in the Summer, Warm in the Winter
Turns out sheets are something that once you realize what you like, you can hardly do without them. While the crisp white lightly starched and ironed sheets of a hotel room might work for a night or two, it is difficult to replace the distinct feeling of linen sheets that keep you from perspiring at night. In fact, according to some studies, a person wearing linen clothes perspires nearly 1.5 times less than when dressed in cotton clothes and twice less than when dressed in viscose clothes. And while linen can keep you cool in the summer, in cold weather linen is an ideal warmth-keeper. It just makes sense then that sleeping in fine linen sheets will help control temperatures as well.
Making the decision to invest in a great pair of sheets is the first step toward getting the rest that you need to tackle the day you have in front of you. While you may not be able to control the bedding you get when you visit Paris or your best friend’s home, you definitely can control the sheets you use when you are at home.

Categories
Banquet halls in coral gables fl Best destination wedding places Places for wedding receptions

The Year of the Drone Wedding Videos From the Sky

Wedding banquet halls in miami

It’s 2016 and you’ve probably heard this from someone at some point, “literally everything has been done already.” They’re not too far off and the Simpsons probably account for about 95% of “everything.”

But it is 2016 and everything hasn’t even been created yet.

Take, for example, weddings. People love to have original, creative, and fun weddings. But beach weddings are played out and even some of the creative ones are not actually creative. But with all this new technology we have and new opportunities, if you dig a little deeper you will be able to come up with an amazing wedding idea.

People always try to find new places to have a wedding or unusual wedding venues, but they aren’t thinking about how to do these things in new and exciting ways. Weddings receptions are almost always the same, but some people — who thought a little more outside the box — were able to come up with new and exciting wedding receptions, making everyone else jealous — which is the goal after all, isn’t it?

Express News reports that in April, a wedding photographer flew drones over weddings and wedding receptions and what came as a result was astounding and original.

“It was so cinematic, like in a movie,” Amy Stark who — along with her fiance Taylor Jolly — was the star of this drone-filmed wedding video. “We thought it would be a special way to capture our special day.”

Now those are some original and cool plans for wedding videos and wedding receptions.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — also known as drones — were only available for the military for years, but now they are cheaper and available to almost anyone. Juniper Research consultant experts project worldwide drone sales to reach $481 million this year, which is an 84% increase from a year ago.

“Over the past decade, wedding videos have become increasingly popular,” Michela Hattabaugh, associate wedding style editor at Brides Magazine, said. “So it’s not surprising that drone footage is now being incorporated into those videos. Drones help you get a really cool take on the day.” Read more blogs like this. Helpful sites.

Categories
Homes by westbay Modern home builders What to look for in a new home

What to Look for When Wanting to Move into a Planned Community

Buying a new home

If you are wondering what to look for in a planned community then you have come to the right place. Planned communities can describe any type of community that was intentionally and carefully thought out and planned from the very beginning. They are usually built in areas that were previous undeveloped. The benefits of master planned communities are quickly increasing and are becoming sought after new homes. Here is what to look for in a planned community.

What to look for in a planned community

  1. A Lot of Activity
    A good community will have several different activities going on. You don’t want to see a planned community that looks deserted. Residents should be out about about, enjoying the amenities that have been provided. You’ll want to check out what kind of activities and amenities and make sure that they match your own interests. This is one of the main benefits of a planned community so don’t let this one slide, it should be high on the list of priorities.


  2. A Good Development Plan
    A good plan involves building standards, layout and design. Make sure that all of these are where you want them to be and match your desires and ideas. If you want a new home, then you will have to decide if future construction is okay with you, since they will probably not be done with your community when people start moving in or if you would rather settle for an established community with no noisy construction zones.


  3. A Convenient Location
    You could be looking around the best community that you have ever seen but if it not located where you need it to be, then it’s pointless. Make sure that you are in the school district that you want, that the drive isn’t too far out of your way and that it is conveniently located to grocery stores and other places that you frequent. This will help you to narrow down your choices.


  4. A Trusted Developer
    When considering what to look for in a planned community, this is important. If you know the name that built your community then you will know that you can trust the structural integrity of the homes and can be the deciding factor in whether or not you choose to move in. If you are unfamiliar with the developer’s name then it is highly recommended to look into other developments that have been built by that name and find out if they have good reputations or not.


  5. A Happy Resident
    The best way to find out if a community is a good place to live is to speak with the residents who already live there. If you know people who live in the communities that you are interested in then this is a great place to start. If you do not, then the sales managers of each community should have references available for you. The people that live in these communities will probably be okay with you walking up to them as they are enjoying the outdoors and asking them about the community. The neighbors typically are very friendly and open to chat with you, especially if you are considering moving in there. Of course, you don’t want to harass anyone but a nice conversation could help you decide where to live as well as be an ice breaker to a great friendship should you decide to move into that particular community.

The important thing is that you want to enjoy where you live. A master planned community should have every single thing that you want. This is the point of a planned community. When you are trying to find where to live, it should fit you perfectly. If it doesn’t, then it should be made to. There are countless hours that go into conceptualizing and planning as well designing and developing these communities so there should be no shortage of things that will be pleasing to you. Don’t settle for the first community that you look at. Shop around and see what each different community has to offer and see which one will best fit your needs and wants as well as those of your family. Living in a planned community can be a great experience for everyone.