Real Estate Wire Fraud Warning Buying a home soon? You should be aware that real estate & mortgage wire fraud is a growing problem. Mortgage wire fraud is a scam in which a hacker poses as a real estate closing representative and convinces you to wire your closing costs to a fraudulent account. Hackers begin by spoofing the emails of a legitimate closing company in the chain of communications. For instance, a title or loan company. This is easy to do, since most of us don’t know all the assistants involved. The hackers will create a conversation with you to build recognition, so you won’t question their emails. Then they’ll provide you with wiring instructions, which is a legitimate part of the closing process. But hackers can send you their own instructions before the legitimate instructions arrive. The result? You wire tens of thousands of dollars (maybe hundreds of thousands) to the hackers. There are simple ways to prevent wire fraud, which I can review with you during our next consultation.
The holidays are filled with traditions we practice without thinking about them. Here’s how we got 5 of the most common… Hanging Stockings. Before we had dryers, people hung their stockings by the fire to dry. Someone decided that would be a good place to put a surprise for the kids on St. Nicholas day eve. The tradition might have begun with putting treats in shoes that were placed outside the door. Caroling. Victorian-era England put two traditions together... singing Christmas hymns and visiting the neighbors. They called it caroling, after the word caroles, which were circle dances to celebrate the winter solstice. The word transformed to carol, meaning any Christmas song. Ugly Christmas Sweaters. This very recent “tradition” might have stemmed from donning a hideous sweater knitted by a great aunt because it’s the only thing you have to wear to the Christmas party. According to the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Book, the ugly sweater party trend can be traced to a 2001 gathering in Vancouver, BC.
Can You Handle It? If you’re planning to buy a more expensive home than your current home (or buy your first home), consider test driving your housing costs to see how comfortable you are with the new expenses. Current expenses: Add how much you pay now for: • Rent (or your full mortgage payment), HOA fees, utilities, and routine maintenance (landscaping, snow removal, minor repairs, etc.).
EggNog. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would be inspired to chug a raw egg-based drink, but historians agree that ‘nog was probably inspired by a medieval drink called posset, made with raw eggs, milk, and sherry. Mistletoe. This plant has been associated with fertility since Druid times because it blossoms even during frigid winters. Kissing under the mistletoe was a Nordic tradition, popularized in Victorian England among servants. The word mistletoe is Germanic, referring to the parasitic nature of the plant, which chokes off the life of the tree it clings to. How ironic.
Future expenses: Add the same figures for your future property. You can use an online mortgage calculator to help with estimates. You may need to research property tax and utility rates in your target location. For maintenance, it’s typical to spend .5% to 2% of the home’s price annually, depending on condition and price. Divide by 12 months. Subtract your Current from your Future expenses. Make sure these are all monthly costs, not annual. Open a savings account and put the difference into savings each month, so you can’t easily spend it. Do this for as many months as you can to get a true reading on how comfortable you are with the higher monthly costs. While doing this experiment, you’ll also be saving more towards your down payment!
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December. 2020 • Issue No. 20
Things To Do At Home
Featured Recipe
Coming Soon To Netflix
Holiday Tree Light Show NationalHarbor.Com December 1, 2020 - January 3, 2021.
Ignite your holiday spirit with the nightly lighting of the 56-foot tree and two million twinkling lights in the National Harbor Waterfront District. The tree light show takes place nightly with snowfall over the tree.
Holiday Biscotti Prep Time: 25 min • Cook Time: 55 min • Total time: 1 hour 10 min
Reston Town Center Ice Skating
Ingredients • • • • • • • • •
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened 1 cup powdered sugar 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 large egg 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tsp kosher salt Red and green peppermint candies 4 oz almond bark or white baking chocolate
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Available for Streaming December 18th, 2020.
A look at the scandalous love triangle between Victorian art critic John Ruskin, his teenage bride Euphemia “Effie” Gray, and Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais.
Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey, her horn player and the white management determined to control the uncontrollable “Mother of the Blues”.
The Great British Baking Show: Holidays (Season 3)
Available for Streaming December 25th, 2020.
Available for Streaming December 4th, 2020.
RestonTownCenter.Com December 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020.
Deck the halls with sugar, butter and chocolate as competitors from past seasons bake sweet Yuletide treats for judges Paul and Prue.
The ice rink is back! New this season, online reservation and touch-free payment options. RTC offers public skating daily with extended hours for the Holidays. The skate shop is stocked with over 500 pairs of skates.
The Prom Available for Streaming December 11th, 2020.
A troupe of hilariously self-obsessed theater stars swarm into a small conservative Indiana town in support of a high school girl who wants to take her girlfriend to the prom.
Directions
1. Beat butter and powdered sugar until the mixture is smooth. Mix in the vanilla and egg. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Press a piece of plastic wrap onto the surface of the dough and refrigerate. 2. Unwrap the candies and crush them to pieces with a rolling pin. Throw the crushed mints into separate bowls and set aside. 3. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. 4. Roll the dough into balls and place onto baking sheets. Flatten them slightly. Bake for, 7 to 9 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely. 5. Melt the almond bark. One at a time, dip the cookies halfway into the bark. Sprinkle the top with crushed mints. 6. Lay the cookies on parchment paper and allow them to set. Serve with a few whole mints on the side.
Effie Gray Available for Streaming December 1st, 2020.
Midnight Madness MidnightMadnessAnnapolis.Com December 3, 10, & 17, 2020.
Stroll along the downtown Annapolis area in support of local businesses. Our Downtown Winter Wonderland will include beautiful storefront windows, holiday lights, snowflake alley, a Christmas tree, and a menorah!
Coming Soon To On Demand
Bridgerton (Season 1) Wealth, lust, and betrayal set in the backdrop of Regency era England, seen through the eyes of the powerful Bridgerton family.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Season 4) Available for Streaming December 31st, 2020
Eldritch Terrors are descending upon Greendale. As the witches wage war, The Fright Club, Nick begins to earn his way back into Sabrina’s heart.
Quiz Question
Coming Soon To Amazon Prime Doctor Strange
Humans (Season 2)
Available for Streaming December 1st, 2020.
Available for Streaming December 21st, 2020.
While on a journey of physical and spiritual healing, a brilliant neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts.
In a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a highly-developed robotic servant that’s so similar to a real human it’s transforming the way we live.
The Grand Tour (Season 2) Available for Streaming December 8th, 2020.
Follow Jeremy, Richard, and James, as they embark on an adventure across the globe, driving new and exciting automobiles from manufacturers all over the world.
Jean-Claude Van Johnson (Season 1) Available for Streaming December 15th, 2020.
Jean-Claude Van Damme has two lives: an actor and a secret agent. The retired action star is lured back into the spy game by a chance encounter.
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Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound Of Thunder Available for Streaming December 1st, 2020.
The Grammy-nominated 1988 concert has been restored, re-edited and remixed with then-new material and classic songs.
Greenland Available for Streaming December 18th, 2020.
John Garrity, his estranged wife and their young son embark on a perilous journey to find sanctuary as a planet-killing comet hurtles toward Earth.
Anjelah Johnson: Mahalo & Goodnight
DECEMBER QUIZ QUESTION: How many presents are there in the “The Twelve Days of Christmas”?
Available for Streaming December 28th, 2020.
Anjelah’s fourth stand-up comedy special, filmed in Hawaii, dishes on awkward massages, home invasions, spiders and being a full-grown child.
Titanic Available for Streaming December 31st, 2020.
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
Shortcut
Soul
Available for Streaming December 22nd, 2020.
Available for Streaming December 25th, 2020.
A mysterious creature terrorizes five teenage friends after their bus takes a shortcut on a desolate road in the wild.
Joe is a band teacher whose true passion is jazz. He travels to another realm helping someone find their passion and discovers what it means to have soul.
December. 2020 • Issue No. 20
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Want to Win a $10.00 Coffee Gift Card?
It’s easy to play! Answer the quiz question on page 3. Each month, all correct entries have a chance of winning the gift card.
Want to Enter?
Email ClientCare@BREMove.com with the word “QUIZ” in the subject line. Good luck!
Last Month’s Question: What is the name of the famous ship that brought the pilgrims to Plymouth Rock? Last Month’s Answer: The Mayflower
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Congratulations to Last Month’s Winner! Genevieve McFarlane
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December. 2020 • Issue No. 20
