Home Technology From Explosive To Easy In 100 Years For the past several weeks most PBS stations nationwide have been running something called The 1900 House, a series of four programs which depict the life of a middle-class London household a century ago. The programs are fascinating, a look at both the technologies and social mores of time -- things which have happily passed. The show took a 100-year-old London row house and brought it back to its original state -- no electricity, gas lights, a single toilet in the backyard, a combination oven/hot water heater with explosive tendencies, no refrigeration, and a clothes washing system more complicated and labor intensive than steelmaking. To this vile mix were added cameras and the Bowlers, an absolutely charming couple and four of their five children who agreed to live in the house for three months, dressing and dealing with life as they would have a century before. (A fifth child stayed behind to maintain the family's real home.) The shows depict middle-class family life in 1900, and the depiction is appalling: The home -- to which most middle-class families of the time would have aspired -- is lethal. In it's original form it was filled with deadly chemicals and poisonous substances, covered with lead paint and arsenic-laced wallpaper, warmed by a coal-fired stove system that killed thousands of people each year, and driven in large measure by such mechanical force as a wife with a strong back could muster. And this household -- we are told -- was better than many, if not most. The owners had a maid! Surely a program of equal interest would show the maid's house and how she lived. The point, of course, is how far we've come. Our lives would be utterly different if now it took three days to do a single load of wash and the wallpaper was toxic. Homes today include an array of technologies and concepts that work so well we rarely give them notice. Electricity has changed our world, but so have refrigeration, indoor plumbing, building codes, fire alarms, smoke detectors, air conditioning, telephones, and home computers. We often take these things for granted, not understanding that much of the world lives differently. For instance, according to the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, "there are 1 billion telephones in the world and the 48 least developed countries have some 1.5 million of them. Some 15 per cent of the world’s population has access to over 70 per cent of the world’s telephone lines. "More than 50 percent of the world’s people," says the U.N., "have never made a phone call." If our world population includes 6 billion people, then 900 million are among those likely to use a phone each day while 3 billion have never placed a call. We are an astonishingly fortunate people. We live better than folks 100 years ago, and we live far better than most people worldwide. But such opportunity didn't come easily or without cost, and it won't in the future. Amid the hot dogs and fireworks, we each have much to be grateful for on July 4th -- and every day. Save Money Financing & Refinancing The latest edition of The Common-Sense Mortgage -- now among the top-ten best selling real estate books nationwide -- is available in bookstores online and off. In print for nearly 15 years and widely recognized as the standard consumer guide to real estate financing, it's described by syndicated columnist Robert Bruss as "an encyclopedic, detailed summary of just about everything real-estate investors, agents, lenders and borrowers want and need to know about mortgages." "On my scale of one to 10," says Bruss, "this superb book rates a 10." "This continues to be the most, lucid, comprehensive treatment of the subject on the market," says The Real Estate Professional. "If you want solid, reliable information about residential real estate financing, written in a thoughtful, convincing style, this is your source." For additional information, press here. Question Of The Week Q We pay property taxes once a year in our community. If we sell during the year, do we get any credit for the taxes paid in advance? A In most realty transactions there are a series of credits and deductions to the seller which are outlined in the sale agreement. The selling price is a credit to you, the current mortgage balance is a debit if the loan is not being assumed, etc. As a rule sale agreements also have a provision for "adjustments." For instance, if you have oil heat and the tank contains 200 gallons of oil, you would be entitled to a credit for the oil left behind. Property taxes paid in advance are typically pro-rated and seen as a credit to the seller. If the next tax bill is due in ten months and you have paid ahead, then you would get a credit equal to your prepayment. For details, speak with your broker or closing agent. Weekly Resource - OUR FOUNDING DOCUMENTS
- Declaration of Independence
Signers of the Declaration of Independence
Constitution of the United States - IMPORTANT NOTIONS
- Civil Disobedience, Henry Thoreau
Common Sense, Thomas Paine
The Federalist Papers
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, Patrick Henry
The Writings of John Locke
- HISTORIC PLACES
- Independence Hall
Mount Vernon
Monticello
Williamsburg
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