Friday means the weekend is almost here.  There are a wide range of area events for the next few days.  What is your plan for the weekend in Green County?

~  Come to the spaghetti dinner for scholarships at the Juda High School for dinner tonight.  The event is  sponsored by Smith Masonic Lodge of Monroe.  Dinner is from 5 to 7 p.m., just prior to the Juda-Monticello girls basketball game.  $5 for adults and $3 for children. Carry-outs are available.

~  So there won’t be snow showing, but you can still hike at the Snow Shoe Walk and Wine and Cheese Tasting on Saturday.  The fundraising event starts at noon at Cadiz Springs State Recreation Area near Browntown.  Registration is $20 per person, or $30 for two, plus a Wisconsin State Parks vehicle admission sticker is required.  Go ahead, buy the annual sticker because you know you’ll have 10 months to get your money’s worth.  Proceeds will be used to help purchase new playground equipment for the park. Need more info? www.cadizsprings.com, or call Bryan at (608) 214-1716.

~  The Darlington FFA and FFA Alumni host their annual pancake breakfast and farm toy show, hosted by Darlington FFA and FFA Alumni this Sunday.   The breakfast runs from 7:30 am to 12:30 pm.  After you eat, visit the toy show, open from 8 am to 2 pm.  This breakfast is at the Darlington High School Tickets: $6 for adults, $4 for children twelve and under, and children under four eat free.  The breakfast price include admission to the toy show.

~  Highland Community College in Freeport will be the site of a gardening workshops this Saturday.  “Joys of Gardening” will cover a variety of horticultural topics including a keynote address “Gardening for Hummingbirds.”  $25 for the 8 am to 4 pm conference.  Pre-registration is required, so call 815-235-4125 today.

~  The Ludlow Mansion will host the annual Home Show this Saturday and Sunday.  Come learn all about the latest in building and remodeling.  The event is from 9 am to 6 pm on Saturday and from 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday.

~  Get your farmer’s market fix this Saturday.  It is a Winter Market on the Square weekend, so stop by the Masonic Temple in Monroe from 9 am to 2 pm to pick up baked goods, jams, honey or whatever other food items that will be available.   Are you looking forward to spring and the outdoor farmer’s market starting up again as much as I am?

~  Students at the Monroe High School are performing “Peter Pan” this weekend.  Showtimes are Saturday at 7 pm and Sunday at 2 pm.  The play will be at the Performing Arts Center at the High School.  Cost is $8 for adults and $5 for students.

~  St Victor School in Monre has their annual Mardi Gras fundraising evening this Saturday.  Come join the fun!  There will be dinner, games, and dancing, in addition to silent and live auctions.  No tickets?  No problem.  Call 325-3395 to reserve yours.  $60 per person for a great evening out.  Will we see you there?

~  Fans of harmony will enjoy Saturday’s concert at the Freeport Masonic Temple.  River City Sound and the Rockford Barbshop Chorus will be doing a concert starting at 7 pm.  Reserved seating.  Adults are $20 or $15, students are $10 (balcony only).  Call 815-232-9000 to reserve your seats at will-call.

~  Looking ahead to next weekend, “Behind the Cheddar Curtain” will be performed as dinner theatre and as dessert theatre at the Might Richland Players theatre.  For advance tickets, call 815-819-1310.

~  Monroe Arts Center is sponsoring “Shake, Rattle, and Roll:  A Tribue to Elvis” next Saturday evening.  The concert, which starts at 7:30 pm, will be at the Monroe High School Performing Arts Center.  Tickets range from $35 to $10, and you can purchase advance tickets on their website.

As always, if we missed an area event that you are aware of, let us know.  We are happy to help your organization promote your events.

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Are you at least 13 years old and have 15-30 minutes free during the even or weekend?

Then you have what it takes to be a volunteer at the Humane Society, walking dogs.

The Green County Humane Society is always looking for people to help with walking dogs. This volunteer opportunity is a good for all involved – volunteers get exercise and the good feeling of helping out, the dogs become more adoptable with increased human interaction, and GCHS staff is freed up to work on other projects.

To help out, you can go to the GCHS website and print out the volunteer application. Some community organizations (such as Monroe Theatre Guild) organize dog walkers in exchange for grant money. If you want your volunteering to go even farther, contact a non-profit you are part of to see if they participate in these programs.

If dog walking isn’t your thing, you can help out with the cats as well. Cat Cuddlers are also needed, and the minimum age for that is only 12. As with dogs, cats benefit from the interaction and become more adoptable as they become increasingly comfortable with humans.

Pick your favorite and spend some time making a difference.  Even 15 minutes walking one dog helps out.

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Our definition of flipping, as used in real estate:

Purchasing a home as investment, often a foreclosure or distressed property, and reselling it quickly.  Sometimes these properties are repaired or renovated before reselling.  Other times, the investor simply takes advantage of a good deal and resells without repairs or with minimal cosmetic updates.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has long had rules in place  regulating flipping.  Basically, no buyer using FHA financing could purchase a home that was owned by the seller for less than 90 days.  This rule was put into place during 2003 to prevent unscrupulous sellers from buying property and quickly reselling at inflated prices to naive buyers.

Even good things have unintended consequences, however.

When the housing crisis hit, this flipping rule started causing problems.  In many markets, only investors had the cash necessary to purchase distressed or foreclosed properties.  The catch was that many people who are in the market to purchase these less expensive properties do not have savings needed to put 10% or 20% down in order to qualify for conventional financing.  FHA was often the only game on town for these buyers (one of the few other programs are the USDA Rural Development loans).  The flipping rule meant that the best potential buyers for the investors rehabbed properties could not purchase the properties.

FHA recognized this issue in today’s real estate market.  They first relaxed the rule in February of 2011.  Recently, they announced that the no flipping waiver will be extended to be in effect for all of 2012.

There are still some regulation in place.  If the purchase price of the flipped home is greater than 120% of what the investor purchased the property at, there will be greater scrutiny to justify the purchase price.  This could mean multiple appraisals or an itemized listing of all repairs done to the property.  This is in place to protect against inflating prices. Also, the arms-length rule is still in place.  There can be “no identity of interest between parties in the transaction.”  Essentially, this means that the owner cannot sell the property to a family member, friend, or business contact.

Overall, this is a good move in the interests of stabilizing the housing market.

If you are investor interested in finding potential investment property or a buyer using FHA financing, contact us.  We’ll be happy to help you with your search.

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Looking to renovate your house in lieu of moving this year?  There are so many ways to start.  Here are a couple of videos we found on YouTube on the topic of selecting paint to modernize and enliven your home:

Picking a paint color: This one outlines a classic error in decorating, picking out the paint before you have all of the other elements of the room in place.

In this video, a rep from Behr goes over 2012 color trends in their palette:

This design trend 2012 video by AkzoNobel Decorative Paints is a work of art itself. I love the way the illustrate the 2012 trends with something more than just a person talking.

The short story on color is grey is huge this year, along with yellow and splashes of red.

Looking for help picking a new palette of colors? Check out the Design Seeds Palette Search website. Manipulate the color sliders to get a specific color your like and the website will supply an entire paint palette with that color. Alternatively, search their themes to find one that fits you. I selected a soft olive color and found this delicate palette which I would love to use in our home:

Paint is one of the easiest ways to freshen up a space and make it new again. If things are feeling dated, perhaps a trip to the paint store will help you fall in love with your home again.

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Shakespeare on the Edge is hosting an Open House this Friday evening, February 3.  The group is a one of a kind local organization for youth ages 9-18.  To quote their mission statement “We work for a common vision of respect & self-awareness through the works of William Shakespeare. Through the healing power of art and the transformative qualities of performance, we explore & act out the human experience.”

You can learn more about what Shakespeare on the Edge has to offer, including the Shakespeare Project (for youth 9-18), Sideways Shakespeare (for Adults), the Eclectic Rogues, (a core company performing full-length plays), the Cardboard Regatta, and The Annual Gathering of Rogues & Ruffians – A Renaissance Faire by coming to the Open House.  The director of Shakespeare on the Edge, Jennifer Bethel, and member of the group will be on hand to discuss what they do.

Come to the Monroe Arts Center on Friday evening from 6 to 8pm.  Boomerang Bakery is catering the event, so refreshments are sure to be wonderful.  The group is also giving away a pair of movie tickets and all youth who attend can register to win.

Shakespeare Project 2012 begins on March 6.  The group will meet weekly on Tuesdays from 4 to 6pm through June 5.  The cost for the project this year is still only $100 and scholarships are available. The $100 includes Shakespeare Project, all day APT workshop & a trip to APT in June.  What a bargain!

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The American Red Cross is hosting three blood drives in our area in the next two weeks.  Donating blood is something that anyone can do to make a huge difference in another person’s life.  It is said that by donating blood once, you touch the lives of three others.

Here are the donation details for our area:

• Today, January 30, the Red Cross will be at United Methodist Church  at 2227 4th St in Monroe from 11:15 am to 5:30 pm.
• Come to Brodhead High School on Thursday, February 2 between 9 am and 2 pm.
• Next week, stop in at Zwingli United Church of Christ at 416 E Lake Ave in Monticello between 1 am 5 pm.

You can call ahead to schedule a donation time.  Call 1-800-REDCROSS to schedule your appointment for the Monroe and Monticello blood drives.  For the Brodhead drive, call Nathan at 608-897-2155.

Go ahead.  Give blood.  Save lives.  It matters, and you’ll be glad you did it.

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