How To Clean Your Home Gutters

With the change of season, it's a good time to make sure your home's gutter system is clean and well-functioning.

Home gutters serve a specific purpose. By capturing and funneling rainwater away from a home "footprint" water damage to walls, windows and roofing can be minimized. A well-functioning gutter system can keep a home's basement from flooding, and a foundation safe from long-term structural damage.

Damaged or dirty gutters can lead to major home damage that may not be covered by insurance.

For homeowners in Fairwood , keeping clean gutters is essential. Luckily, with the right tools, gutter maintenance can be a do-it-yourself job.

First, gather the necessary tools. You'll need a ladder for climbing; a bucket for holding debris; a hose for flushing your gutters; and a small, scooping tool such as a trowel.

Next, carefully climb to your gutter. Using your hands, scoop large debris and place it in the bucket. Use the trowel to get to hard-to-reach places and for removing sticks and leaves. For safety, do not stretch to reach the next section of gutter. 

After clearing the first gutter portion, step down from the ladder, move it to the next section of gutter, and repeat. Do this until all gutter sections are free from debris.

Next, find a garden hose with a spray attachment. Carry the hose up the ladder with you to the highest point of your gutter system -- usually opposite the downspout. With the water supply on, spray water into the gutter to flush the remaining debris.

If the water fails to drain, there's likely a clog in the downspout. Using a screwdriver, separate the downspout, find the clog, and remove it. Or, if you find standing water, adjust the slope of your gutter by removing the gutter hangers, fixing the slope, and re-attaching the hangers.

A gutter system should slope roughly one-quarter inch for every 10 feet of gutter. 

Gutter maintenance is a twice a year task that you can do yourself. However, if you're uncomfortable on a ladder, or prefer to hire professionals, that's okay, too. As with everything in home maintenance, it's safety first.

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Kate Walsh Gives It Another Go

SELLER: Kate Walsh
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $3,995,000
SIZE: 5,940 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Sitcom star turned hospital drama denizen Kate Walsh (Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, The Drew Carey Show) must really want to sell her 1928 Spanish mansion in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, CA because she's just put it back on the open market with an asking price of $3,995,000, just over three-quarters of a million bucks less than she paid for the celebrity-style casa in June 2007.

Miz Walsh plunked down $4,750,000 for the 5,940 square foot house just a few short months before she officially hitched her romance wagon to entertainment industry executive Alex Young. By December the following year the 15 month marriage had done swirled down the unforgiving Tinseltown Terlit of Love.

The ginger haired actress–who recently roasted Charlie Sheen–first pushed the property on the open market in May 2010 with an asking price of $4,295,000. Five months later the property was de-listed. Since then Miz Walsh has done some redecorating–particularly in the formal dining room where she replaced a hulking square table with an oval one that matches the shape of the plaster ceiling detail–and this week she slid the sophisticated crib property back on the market with an asking price of $3,995,000.

The double-gated mansion maintains many of its original architectural details and features a double-height foyer ringed by a second floor gallery that's sure to impress guests and the hunky UPS delivery man. The main rooms include a step-down formal living room with fireplace, over-sized dining room, family room/den with beamed ceiling and rows of arched windows, and an eat-in center-island kitchen that's open to another sitting room with glass panels that disappear into the walls and open the room like a porch to the entertaining terrace with built-in barbecue center.

Listing information shows a total of 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms in the main house. The ballroom-sized master suite as gleaming wood floors, lots of windows, a fireplace, sitting area and high-glam sky-lit bathroom with freestanding soaking tub, double sinks and mirrored vanity table. Miz Walsh converted one of the four bedrooms, as per listing information, into a celebrity-style walk-in closet/dressing room lined with shoe racks and glass-doored accessory cabinets.

A single-story 3-room detached structure with arched colonnade and updated bathroom expands the living space and is currently configured as two offices plus a sky-lit fitness studio with vaulted ceiling, mirrored walls, and full complement of matching Pilates equipment, much of which bears a striking resemblance to the sort of contraptions one might find in a fetish club.

Several terraces and covered patios encourage outdoor living and the backyard comes complete with grass patch for the pooches, in-ground swimming pool, spa, and a large terrace with pergola-shaded dining area and outdoor fireplace.

We really have no idea where Miz Walsh wants to move but wherever it may be she's willing to take a giant hit to her designer pocketbook to get there. Best of luck, darlin'.

listing photos: Teles Properties

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Your Mama Hears...

...from Lenny Longisland that beleaguered media billionaire Rupert Murdoch has finally, at long last sold Rosehearty, his historic estate in the über-swank Long Island (NY) community of Oyster Bay.

The News. Corp. fat cat and his whip smart and super-feisty misssus Wendi Deng first purchased the prime piece of waterfront property in 2003 and first heaved it back on the open market way back in June 2007 with an asking price of $14,800,000. Over the last four and some years the price tag of the bucolic 4.6 estate has been taken off and put back on the market several times while the price tag tumbled to $9,995,000.

Our informant Lenny Longisland snitched to Your Mama that word on the Oyster Bay real estate street is that the fully fenced and electronically gated estate sold for $9,100,000.

The stately and blue-shuttered 1900s Colonial main mansion–with day-core done by Oval Office decorator Michael Smith–measures around 10,000 square feet and includes 11 bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms plus a 950-square foot guest house.

Rosehearty's grounds spread out over 4.6 acres of rolling lawns dotted with mature shade trees, a 50-foot swimming pool with pool house, waterside lit tennis court, several outbuildings, garaging for 8 automobiles, and an achingly charming beach cabana for stashing kayaks, water weenies and chaise lounges.

Property records do not yet reflect a transfer, kiddos, so for now this is just rumor and gossip.

Mister and Missus Murdoch still own and maintain a behemoth Fifth Avenue triplex bought in 2005 for a mind-numbing $44,000,000 as well as a secluded estate in the mountains above Beverly Hills (CA) that includes a stunning 8,651 square foot Wallace Neff-designed mansion with 11 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms.

listing photos: Daniel Gale / Sotheby's International Realty

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Jennifer Lopez Buys Big Beach House in the Hamptons

BUYER: Jennifer Lopez
LOCATION: Water Mill, NY
PRICE: $17,995,000 (list)
SIZE: 15,037 square feet, 7 bedrooms, 9.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: The East Coast summer season officially ended a few weeks ago and the stock market remains a hot mess of volatility but that hasn't stopped at least a few high-profile peeps with still-deep pockets from snatching up high-priced houses in the Hamptons.

According to all the New York real estate gossips, soon-to-be-single-again entertainment industry super nova Jennifer Lopez is one of those fancy folks prepared to drop a hefty wad of dough on a humongous house in the Hamptons. But, of course, now that this bootylicious beehawtcha from some block in the Bronx has more money than most pin-thin Park Avenue princesses she don't do her real estate in a half-assed manner. Oh no, hunnies. There will be no funky beach shack in Miz Lopez's future; She's reportedly (and allegedly) thisclose to closing the deal on a gigantic, recently constructed Gambrel-roofed "cottage" in the swish Water Mill area new Bridgehampton last listed with an asking price of $17,995,000.

Miz Lopez's super stardom and global branding seems to know no limits or boundaries. She sings, she dances, she acts–or, rather, "acts," she designs clothes, judges a top-rated reality program singing competition, endorses lady razors, shills for Fiat, and slapped her name and/or image on 49,000 kinds of perfumes, just to list a few of her many money-minting professional endeavors.

Your Mama spent few moments perusing the intereweb and we quickly turned up evidence that the house in question, designed by Hamptons' architect John Laffey, was once listed at $19,500,000 and, as of today, has been on the market for 743 days. It doesn't take a math savant or bejeweled abacus to figure out that 743 days is more than two years. That's right, more than two years. If the all the scuttlebutt about Miz Lopez's impending purchase is accurate then all the children east of the Mississippi should soon hear a hurricane strength sigh of relief from the developer who has to be ecstatic to finally unload his big ol' white elephant.

Since Miz Lopez has not yet called us with the purchase price and property records do not yet reflect a transfer, we can't spill those beans but we'll try to update our discussion when news and information about the sale price slips down the pipeline.

Let's have a look-see at Miz Lopez's new multi-winged mansion in the Hamptons by the numbers, shall we? Listing information shows the 19-room mansion (floor plan below) measures 15,037 square feet and includes a total of 7 bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms in the main house plus additional living quarters in two detached structures. There are a seven fireplaces–5 inside and 2 outside–garage parking for at least 3 cars, 2 laundry rooms–one up, one down–front and back staircases and 1 elevator that services all three living levels.

A gated gravel drive curve towards a massive gravel motor court embraced on two sides by the singled mansion. There's little Your Mama loves and misses more than the crunching sound under the tires of our big BMW as we rolled across the gravel driveways of our beloved but long ago sold house on the East End of Long Island. Let's move one before we're gripped by a paralyzing nostalgia....

The driveway curls around to the side of the house where there's an attached three car garage. For eighteen million clams that garage ought to be heated and cooled even though a cheapskate like Your Mama think its wasteful to heat and cool a garage. A detached structure offers more parking and additional living space for long-term guests or–more like for Miz Lopez–housing the squadron of personal assistants, domestic staff and security personnel that follow high-maintenance Miz Lopez around wherever she goes.

A towering rotunda entry with imported limestone floors and swooping spiral staircase directs foot traffic into one of the two Venetian plastered hallways/galleries that run like spines through the center of the house and connects the various wings. The nearly 35-foot long living room has a fireplace and wide banks of windows and French doors on three sides that open to the deep covered porch that girdles the ground floor. There's another fireplace in the octagonal, window-lined formal dining room and yet another in the library that's lined with bleached and waxed white oak paneled walls and built-in bookshelves.

The 600 square foot center-island eat-in kitchen has wide-plank caramel-colored wood floors, custom bleached wood cabinetry topped with giant slabs of white marble, walls paneled in a wide-wale bead board and still another fireplace, this one flanked by French doors that open to the brick terrace that surrounds the swimming pool and spa. An adjacent family room with garden and swimming pool access, guest bedroom and over-sized laundry facility complete the service wing of the sprawling house.

Upstairs the master suite comprises a private foyer, 600-square foot window-wrapped bedroom/sitting room with–you got it–a fireplace. There are also two mahogany balconies with multi-million dollar views across Mecox Bay towards the Atlantic and a pair of connected walk-in closets with custom built-ins. The particularly perfect master bathroom has a heated marble floor, two sinks, marble-lined steam shower, private cubby for the dirty business and, set into a bay window with water view, a show stopping soaking tub carved from a single block of marble.

There are two more generously-sized family bedrooms, each with private facility, and two additional but smaller bedrooms also each with private facility. An octagonal room on the second floor–a deluxe playroom for JLo's twins?–has a wood floors, another damn fireplace, raised ceiling, and wrap around views over the reedy marshlands across the bay from the windows that line six of the rooms eight walls.

Like in many high-end homes in the Hamptons, the basement level is finished for extra living space. In the case of this house, there's a bedroom with private bathroom for unfavored over-night guests or live-in staff, a home gym to keep the body bathing suit ready, walk-in wine closet, home theater space, and a large spare room where Miz Lopez can store all the bikinis, bejeweled sandals, sarongs, headscarves and sunglasses that a gal about town like her will need to do up the casually dressed but hard charging charity and summertime social circuits for which the Hamptons are (in)famous.

In addition to the front and rear gravel motor courts and the classic covered porch that surrounds the lower level of the house, the hedged, gated and manicured 2 acre estate include a football field sized lawn, an fenced swimming pool area with brick terraces and pool house. The property reportedly shares a dock on Mecox Bay with the house next door, owned by the recently deceased actor Cliff Robertson who won an Oscar for his 1968 film Charly.

A few weeks ago Your Mama gave a rather lengthy and verbose rundown of the real estate portfolio of Miz Lopez and her soon-to-ex-husband Marc Anthony. Rather than regurgitate all that material you can just go have a look-see and read when and if you're so inclined.

The only additions to that discussion besides the news of Miz Lopez's latest (and still alleged) acquisition in the Hamptons is that Your Mama heard through the celebrity real estate gossip grapevine that Mister Anthony has moved out of the couple's colossal crib in the guard-gated, star-stocked and horsey community of Hidden Hills in the far western suburbs of Los Angeles.
A little birdie named Wanda Tellyousomething, who claims first hand knowledge of the matter, recently whispered in Your Mama's ear that soon-to-be-ex-Mister Lopez leased an historic, vine-covered Italian Renaissance villa in West Hollywood (shown above) located in the shadow of the celebrity-packed Sierra Towers apartment building. Listing information provided by our little birdie shows the compound includes a large main house plus three private structures suitable for offices, guest houses or recording studios. It was listed for residential lease at $23,800 per month. Be sensible, kids. Your Mama can not confirm Mister Anthony leased the property and we can't say with any certainly that Mister Anthony has relocated from Hidden Hills to West Hollywood. We're just passing along some rumor and gossip provided to us by someone with obvious intimate knowledge of the property. Okay?

listing photos and floor plan (Water Mill): Corcoran
listing photos (West Hollywood): Nick Springett for Coldwell Banker Previews International

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Building Permits Rising Nationwide; Housing Starts To Follow

Single-Family Housing Starts fell for the second consecutive month, dropping to a seasonally-adjusted, annualized 417,000 units in August 2011.

A "Housing Start" is defined as a home on which ground has broken.

We shouldn't put too much faith in the findings, however. Although housing starts were lower last month, as noted by the Census Bureau, the margin of error in the August Housing Starts report exceeded the actual result.

From the official report:

• August's Published Results : -1.4% from July 
• August's Margin of Error : ±10.3% from July

Therefore, August's Housing Starts may have actually increased by up to +8.9% from July, or it may have dropped as much as -11.7%. We won't know for sure until several months from now, after the Census Bureau has gathered more housing data.

One thing is certain, though -- the long-term trend in Housing Starts is "flat". There has been little change in new home construction since last summer.

The same can't be said for Building Permits.

Considered a pre-cursor to Housing Starts, Single Family Building Permits climbed 2.5 percent with a minuscule Margin of Error of ±0.9 percent.

As is common in real estate, results varied by region:

• Northeast : +3.3 percent from July
• Midwest : +6.3 percent from July
• South : -1.3 percent from July
• West : +11.3 percent from July

When permits are issued, 86 percent of them begin break ground within 60 days. Therefore, expect Housing Starts and new home inventory to rebound in the months ahead.

For now, housing remains steady. And, with mortgage rates at all-time lows, homebuyer purchasing power in an around Seattle is higher than it's been in history. If you're in the process of shopping for a home, talk with your lender to plan your mortgage budget.

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UPDATE: Lisa Vanderpump

BUYERS: Kenneth Todd and Lisa Vanderpump
LOCATION: Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $10,200,000
SIZE: 8,801 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Last week it was revealed that Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' resident queen of pink Lisa Vanderpump and her restaurateur man-mate Kenneth Todd sold their opulent mansion in the guard-gated Beverly Park community for $19,000,000.

With their adult children living elsewhere–as they should–the Vanderpump-Todds wanted to downsize out of their 17,000 square foot high-maintenance mansion in Beverly Park and had already moved forward on the purchase of a smaller–but still huge–home.

They settled, according to gossip juggernaut TMZ, on a "Bitchin'" contemporary outside the gates of Beverly Park but still less than a mile away. The Giggy-loving couple paid $10,200,000 for a very contemporary Abramson Teiger Architects-designed mansion that listing information shows includes 5 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms in 8,801 square feet of interior space.

The gated, privately situated, and quite modern mansion offers generous formal living and dining rooms plus a high-impact two-story library paneled in high-gloss Ebony wood, lined with built-in bookshelves, and ringed by a second floor gallery. Towering steel-framed windows and dramatically tall glass doors in the library harness and frame an unobstructed view over the rugged, mansion-sprinkled canyons and glittery Tinseltown cityscape.

Cozier quarters include a family room with fireplace and steel-framed French doors that open to the back patio and a crisp, clean-lined kitchen with snack bar and dining area so sleek and minimal Your Mama thinks it would make Giorgio Armani might pee his khakis with architectural glee.

The second floor master suite encompasses a large bedroom with sitting area, fireplace and panoramic view, a bathroom for him, a bathroom for her and at least one gourmet kitchen-sized dressing room lined with mirrored wardrobes and equipped with make-up vanity and built-in dresser-cabinet in the center of the room.

Finish materials, according to listing information, are of the frightfully expensive variety and include reverse painted glass, walnut floors, hand-troweled plaster inside and imported Yorkstone on the exterior. The property also includes, as per listing information, a detached two car garage with guest/staff quarters, serious security system with closed circuit cameras.

Covered porches at the back of the house connect the luxe interiors to the landscaped grounds and grass staircase that leads down to a bullet-tip shaped swimming pool set into a green lawn surrounded by mature oak trees.

The Vanderpump-Todd's big Beverly Park pile was listed for $29,000,000 by Housewives' cast mate Kyle Richards' real estate dynamo husband Mauricio Umansky. At this time Your Mama has no idea who purchased the palatial property but perhaps someone in the know will surreptitiously ring our bedazzled princess phone and let us know. The Vanderpump-Todds did not make use of the real estate services of Mister Umansky in the purchase of their new home but rather those of Martin Genis, a real estate agent and pal who reportedly once sold a house to Brad Pitt and who they set up on a blind date with Kim Richards on the first season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

listing photos: Hilton & Hyland

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A Simple Explanation Of The Federal Reserve Statement (September 21, 2011 Edition)

Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within its current target range of 0.000-0.250 percent.

The vote was 7-3 -- the second straight meeting at which the FOMC adjourned with as many 3 dissenters. Prior to that last meeting, there hadn't been 3 FOMC dissenters since 1992.

In its press release, the Federal Reserve presented a dour outlook for the U.S. economy, noting that since its last meeting in August:

1. Economic growth "remains slow"
2. Unemployment rates "remain elevated"
3. The housing sector "remains depressed"

The Fed also said that there are "significant downside risks" to the economic outlook, tied to strains in the global financial markets.  

The news wasn't all bad, however.

The Fed noted that business investment in equipment and software continues to expand, and that inflationary pressures on the economy appear to have stabilized. The Fed then re-iterated its plan to leave the Fed Funds Rate in its current range near 0.000 percent "at least until mid-2013". This means that Prime Rate -- the rate to which credit card rates and lines of credits are often tied -- should remain unchanged at 3.250 for at least another 2 years.

Furthermore, as expected, the Federal Reserve launched a market stimulus plan aimed at lowering long-term interest rates. The Fed will sell $400 billion in Treasury securities with a maturity of 3 years or less, and use the proceeds to buy the same with maturity between 6 and 30 years.

Mortgage market reaction to the FOMC statement has been positive this afternoon. Mortgage rates in WA are improving, but note that Wall Street sentiment can shift quickly -- especially in a market that's as uncertain as this one.

If today's mortgage rates and payments fit your household budget, consider locking in a rate. Rates can change swiftly.

The FOMC's next meeting is a 2-day affair, scheduled for November 1-2, 2011.

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