Ron King asked:

Mankind has been coping with ailments since the beginning of its existent. Home remedies have often proved useful and passed along for many generations. Some home remedies have been improving and changing with current fashion. Even though the medical field has developed a lot in the last century, we often see the home remedies to be the most effective solution. Some home remedies for dry skin, in particular, are known for their effectiveness. Home remedies for dry skin are widespread mainly because they are not risky or dangerous nor are they expansive. So don’t spend your hard earned money on doctors. Try to help yourself first with home remedies.

Dry skin typically happens in most people during the winter season. Dryness typically occurs because your skin lacks moisture. This means that there is a lack of water in your skin. In the past various magazines have suggested home remedies for dry skin like drinking at least eight glasses of water a day will cure this ailment. However, medical professionals have proven this home remedy false, this will basically keep your body hydrated, not your skin. Instead, medical professionals suggest that the best way to re-hydrate the skin is to soak it in water, rather than take water in by mouth. Soaking for a short period of something like fifteen minutes in lukewarm water could put water back into the skin and help to ease the dryness. Doctors also remind patients with dry skin that bathing everyday can be negative for their condition. In fact, patients with excessively dry skin must only bathe every other day in cooler water than normal.

Perhaps the most helpful thing a person may do at home for dry skin is to moisturize. Moisturizing skin with a moisturizing lotion will help immensely. The lubrication of the lotion will almost immediately be  into dry skin. Moisturizing lotion put on the skin after a bath or shower will also help contain the moisture from the bath or shower in the skin. The moisturizing lotion will also work to moisturize by itself which gives your skin twice the hydration.

There are a number of home remedies for dry skin available for all. For people who have tried conventional medical products and have found that they did not work, home remedies for dry skin may be worth trying out. There are a number of home remedy books available at most book stores that will likely hold even more home remedy ideas for dry skin.

Lydia

When I explain escrow or prepaid items to my customers, I always liken it as to setting up a kitty.  You know, like in poker.  A place where your money sits until it’s decided where it should be paid.  And if you’ve ever played poker, you keep adding to the kitty, till it gets passed out; then another kitty is created, and so on and so forth, until someone is broke or mad.  Escrow for a mortgage is a very similar situation except hopefully we avoid the mad or broke part (particularly the broke part – that kind of talk makes a lender nervous).

What exactly is escrow?  It’s  part of your monthly payment that’s held by your mortgage servicer in an account (also known as “impounds” or “reserves”) so that your mortgage servicer can pay your homeowner’s insurance, taxes and, if applicable, mortgage insurance and flood insurance when the time is due.  Some mortgage products or lenders require escrow.  Sometimes, it’s not required or even allowed.  It just depends on what type of loan you are getting.

Typically on a purchase, a lender will collect a 1-2 months portion of whatever your annual premium is for your homeowner’s insurance and put it into escrow.   For instance, if your homeowner’s premium is $1000, the lender will ask for $200 in reserves. In addition, the lender will also collect the full $1000 premium to pay for your homeowner’s insurance until the next payment is due, a year from now.   For taxes, lenders typically collect 4-5 months of reserves.    One reason you always have more taxes collected then homeowner’s insurance is because all city and county entities usually want the tax bill paid in advance from when it is due.   For instance, if taxes for 2008 are due in October, where do you get the money for November and December if you don’t collect it at closing?  Further, if you had closed your loan in August, and the first payment isn’t due until October, you already had missed out on collecting escrow for 2 months if the borrower doesn’t make his payment until the last minute.  You need that kitty to pay everyone when the time is due.

The other portion of escrow that is collected is per diem interest.  This escrow portion collected is why most folks try to close on or about the last day of the month.  The lender usually requires the borrower to pay the interest that accrues from the date of settlement to the first monthly payment.  So, if you close July 28th, your lender will collect three days of “per diem” interest from July 29th to July 31st.  Interest is collected in arrears, so your payment that is due September 1st will include the interest for the month of August.

The big thing to know about the prepaid section of a Good Faith Estimate is that you shouldn’t focus too much on this section when comparing lender’s costs.  Whatever the lender reflects needs to be collected for escrow may vary a bit from lender to lender, but when you show up at the closing table, it just is what it is.  The lender can’t control what the taxes are on the property, when the closing will be or how much you negotiate for homeowner’s insurance. Also, many times you can waive escrow, paying taxes and insurance out of your own pocket when the time is due.  This luxury usually costs you a bit more out of your wallet.  Think about where a lender would stand if you didn’t pay your tax bill or your mortgage.  The tax man gets his money first.  No big surprise, there, huh?