Melissa Drillwell – Energy Research for Business

What is a cooperative apartment?

Melissa Drillwell — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 09:51:52 +0000

Thinking, Men, Business.

A housing cooperative is a multi-unit apartment building run by a cooperative association which usually consists of all the unit owners. The association owns the entire building, including the individual unit; unlike a condominium, where the owner owns the entire apartment. Aside from this, condominiums and cooperatives vastly differ in the legal and financing aspects.

So, when you’ve chosen the building you want to purchase and already agreed with the seller on its price, secure a written contract for your purchase. The contract must state the various terms and conditions of the agreement between you and the seller. Included in the contract are the transfer date, the price and financing arrangements. Review the contract carefully before accepting it.

Unlike a condominium, purchasing a cooperative requires the approval of the membership committee. Possible rejection is grounded on two factors: lack of financial ability to live in the complex and unwillingness to comply with operating rules. Aside from this age, sex, race, religion or sexual reference are not valid reasons for rejection of ownership. Although some instances in the past occurred when buyers were rejected because the association feared their status would draw unnecessary attention to the building.

Unlike the mid-1980s where financing for cooperative apartment is scarce resulting to sellers slashing some of the purchase prices, buyers nowadays can avail of share loan financing.

Cooperative apartments are most popular in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles. Despite claims that cooperative apartments are not good investments compared to condominiums, it has remained a competing force to condominium living as it fosters cooperation and participation among co-op members.

Whether you choose a condominium or a cooperative apartment, make sure to do your research before you get into a deal. After all, for anything to be a good investment how it is managed will greatly affect its value, so ask around before making that purchase.

The best time to list your home

Melissa Drillwell — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 11:33:01 +0000

Investing, investment, real.

The buying season this year will offer 9 percent fewer homes than last year. Having your home listed in early May can guarantee that your home will be sold out 18 days faster and will probably sell higher than having your listing on a later month.

Buyer-desperation is strongest in May, which will result to buyers willing to pay more for their purchase. In the past years, particularly 2011 and 2012, the month of March is the best time to sell because there was lesser buyer competition back then. But the succeeding years saw a build-up of buyer competition which made May a better time to sell in 18 out of the 25 largest metropolitan housing markets.

Although the housing market is more competitive today than it was several years ago, this shouldn’t lead sellers to be complacent. The competition will urge buyers to be more knowledgeable when it comes to buying their homes. They are more aware of the possibility of a bidding war for them to purchase a good home although they would still be unwilling to overpay, in spite of this.

With this, as a home seller you must not be overconfident with details given that the market is in your favor. You still need to hone and execute your listing strategy well. This is critical for you to maximize your home’s price and time on the market.

Now, your question remains, when exactly should you least your home that would be most favorable to you? According to Redfin, the best day to list your home is on a Thursday. Based from observations, homes that were listed on Thursday were sold faster, above list price and for more money on average than similar homes listed on another day. Potential buyers are already setting their mind to go shopping over the weekend, that’s why listing on Thursday is the best time. A listing dome on Saturday, Sunday and Monday is the worst move that you’ll ever make when it comes to selling your home.

How to decorate a child’s room

Melissa Drillwell — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 09:47:51 +0000

A theme will guide you as you begin to decorate the room. You must choose a theme where you will center the furnishings and decorations.

You can decide to go for a character theme or something as simple as two coordinating colors.The most popular motif parents choose is a cloud motif.

It can be achieved by painting the room sky blue then sponge-painting some clouds near the ceiling afterward. A jungle theme is also a good choice, where you can just paint trees and grasses on the walls. For an additional effect, you can outlay the room with stuff baby jungle animals.

To create a good decorating scheme bear in mind to limit patterned fabrics to three or four. Choose neutral colors to even out the bright tones. To personalize the room further, let your child choose a fabric, painting or print that he/she likes. Use that as the basis for your decoration to coordinate the overall effect of the room. Make sure the motif is evident all throughout the room to make it consistent.

For the furniture, choose a classic one which will be useful in the future and soothes the room’s theme. To make the room burst will color, paint the bedposts or install new hardware on the room’s dressers and side tables.

You can also fill the room with items that reflect your child’s interests or hobbies. For a child who loves to dance and dreams to become a ballerina someday, you can hang ballet slippers or tap shoes on decorative hooks along the wall. You can also use photographs to decorate the place. If your child likes traveling and loves maps, you can also decorate the room with maps and globes. A black and white photo is good in depicting a pleasant memory and works well with any theme.

You can also fit a mini playground inside the room. You can buy something at a garage sale. This will allow your child hours of fun. To make the play area more fun you can sew small beanbags in fun colors. They can also use this if they want to play hopscotch (stencil the hopscotch pattern ahead in the play area).

Fluttering Flag Utilizes Wind Energy

Melissa Drillwell — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 08:39:00 +0000

Winds at high altitudes are better energy sources that those near the ground because they are faster and more consistent. Many groups are experimenting on floating turbines, kites, sails, and winged craft to tap this energy which ground-based turbines are unable to reach. These floating technologies can convert mechanical energy into electricity through the effect of static electricity.

Professor Shong Lin Wang of Georgia Tech in Atlanta proposed the use of a piece of fabric to harness wind power. He further explains that the flag is low cost and its easy scalability makes it a competitive option against other airborne wind power technologies.

The science behind the effectiveness of the flag is the triboelectric effect. The triboelectric effect states that when the surfaces of two different materials touch and separate, their electrons transfer from one to the other, which builds up opposite charges on the two surfaces. This reaction leads to the creation of a voltage that can drive electric current.

Professor Wang’s group already made several generators produce electricity the flag is their recent invention. The flag is made by weaving two kinds of fabric strips with the width of 1.5 centimeters and a length of 30 centimeters. They weft is a polyester textile belt with nickel coating and the warp is a copper film coated with polyimide plastic. The nickel belts are then connected together by a copper tape to form one electrode; the copper belts, on the other hand, are connected to the electrodes. The flag weighs about 15 grams, can be folded, bent and twisted.

The flag generates power when the two fabrics will repeatedly touch and separate from each other. Given the wind speed of 22 meters per second, the flag can produce a maximum of around 40 volts and 30 microamperes. Three flags connected in parallel can produce enough power to light up 16 commercial LEDs.