Giving Thanks and Giving Back This Holiday Season

Giving Thanks & Giving Back This Holiday Season

With the holidays just around the corner we become more aware of all we have to be thankful for. Many people find the best way to celebrate the holiday season is to give to those who are less fortunate. This month I have put together a list of some ways we can do just that. You’ll find fun ways to give; from giving expired coupons to donating used vehicles, working with local charities to those across the globe. I hope that you’ll find something inspiring as you celebrate the holiday season. Click on the links below to visit each of the following charities.

Help Our Military Overseas: Send Your Expired Coupons
Military members & their families can use expired coupons for up to 6 months past their expiration! This program provides a way for us to put our expired coupons to use & help out our military families. http://thekrazycouponlady.com/?s=military+coupons

Craft Hope: Spread Seeds of Hope One Stitch at a Time
Craft Hope is designed to share handmade crafts with those who need them. If you are crafty they have projects for you that help make a difference around the world. http://crafthope.com/

Union Gospel Mission: Help Spokane’s Homeless
Providing Spokane’s homeless with, shelters, outreach programs, automotive job training, & recovery programs. We can help by donating food & other items, volunteering our time, or even donating a used vehicle for the automotive job training program. http://www.ugmspokane.org/

Amazima: Feed, Educate, Provide School Supplies, & Medical Care
A 21 year-old American women living in Uganda, Africa operates a sponsorship program for 400 orphaned children. These children are provided an education, school supplies, three meals per day, & medical care. http://amazima.org/

Big Brothers Big Sisters of The Inland Northwest: Help Local At-risk Children
Become a big brother or sister, become a committee member or a day-of-event volunteer for a fundraising event, or help spread the word in the community. http://www.northwestbigs.org/

If you need help getting involved let me know, I'm happy to help!

Historic Low Interest Rates, Why you Should Care

Lately there has been a lot of news buzz about the incredibly low interest rates we are seeing in today’s market and the increased buying power that gives consumers. But did you know that not only are current mortgage rates low for today but that we have not seen rates this low in a long time? Like a really long time? Maybe since your grandparent’s parents purchased their first home? The last time rates where this low was back in the 1950’s! To give you an idea what rates have looked like historically I’ve included some graphs (from mortgage-X.com) to help put things in perspective.

(Click to enlarge)


But what does this all mean to the average consumer? Well one thing it means is that you have greatly increased buying potential! To give you a rough idea, if you where purchasing a $200,000 home right now on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage even a 1% increase in your interest rate would change your payment by about $125 per month. And maybe even more surprising it would increase your total payments over 30 years by about $44,300!

(Check out my blog post for more information)

So, if you or someone you know someone that has been purchasing a home you may want to consider purchasing soon. Who knows how long these incredible rates will last!