House hunting is an exciting but stressful process, especially for young people trying to afford their first home. To save money and make a home their own, many first-time buyers look for fixer-upper properties that have a little wear-and-tear. Properties that need renovations are often posted at discounted prices, which brings in buyers with limited budgets.

Sometimes, a little DIY know-how and creativity can mend problems quickly and save buyers thousands. However, other problems are much more serious and costly.

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It can be hard to know the difference between a quick fix and a big, expensive problem. Use this guide to sort the ugly from the seriously bad problems when house shopping to avoid headaches and big expenses during future renovations.

1. Poor Maintenance

When you first take a glance at a home, don’t be distracted by colorful decorations or charming landscaping. Instead, pay attention to how the structure of the property was maintained. Are the windows clean and in good condition? Doe the roof look faded and patchy? Don’t hesitate to inquire about the previous owner’s maintenance habits. Come armed with knowledge of proper home care, and ask direct questions like whether the roof has been inspected once or twice a year, or if the windows have been replaced in the last decade. If you get the sense that the home has been neglected, you might find even worse problems during your own repairs, so proceed with caution.

2. Foundation Problems

Take note of the foundation’s appearance from the outside of the home. If possible, ask to see the property’s basement. Look for signs of foundation damage, like big cracks in the floors or bowed walls. Foundation problems are rarely easy to fix, and will add significant costs to your renovation budget.

3. Patches of Fresh Paint

A fresh coat of paint can be a good or a bad sign. Ideally, the homeowner wanted to freshen up the property for sale, and is looking to impress buyers with on-trend colors and styles. However, beware of a single wall that has been freshly painted– the paint could be an attempt to hide mold or stains from moisture. It’s better to add fresh paint yourself than to have to fix a property with leaking walls or a mildew problem.

4. The Neighborhood is Empty

HGTV warns that if a home is one of many for sale on a street, there may be something wrong with the area. Be sure to do a little research about why so many people are abandoning a location, since no matter how much you spend on fixing a house, you can’t pick it up and move it to a new town!

Many buyers (34%) want to avoid renovations and problems with plumbing or electricity when purchasing a new property. However, it is important to know the difference between major issues and quick fixes. Use this guide to determine when to work with an issue, and when to walk away.

Finding the right school to send your child to can be incredibly stressful. As a parent, you’re worried about every last detail: how your child gets to school, their behavior once they’re there, what are they learning, are they making friends, are they going to be successful, and so on. One of the most important decisions you can make as a parent is whether you’re going to send your child to a public school or a private school. Here are just a few benefits of private schools to help you make your decision with confidence.

• Individualized Education: 36% of private schools averaged student-teacher ratios of ten to one or lower, compared with 10% for public schools. With fewer students in a private school classroom than in a public school counterpart, children are able to get more customized education that can cater to their individual learning styles.
• Parental Involvement: Private schools tend to have a much higher degree of parental involvement than public schools, partially due to parents’ status as “paying customers” that schools must appeal to. Private schools tend to have more parent-teacher meetings, social events, and fundraising activities to foster a strong sense of community.
• Specialization: Unlike public school, private schools offer ways for your child to specialize in one particular interest. While they will likely still go through general education courses to develop knowledge in several fields, private schools are able to have specialists for subjects that your child might not otherwise get to explore.
• Test Scores: Because of the smaller class sizes, personalized attention, and thorough education provided at private schools, private school students generally score higher on standardized tests than public school students. This can open up doors for your child later on in life when applying to colleges and even jobs.

With the many benefits of private school, it is definitely worth considering enrolling your child in a private school if possible. Making sure your children get the best education possible is essential to their futures.

The value of the 2017 video game market in the United States was approximately $18.4 billion. As 2018 winds down, there have been plenty of popular games that will surely help with the growing market. Many of those games are still on their way with October release dates.

Though some of these games are already out and garnering plenty of gameplay, there are plenty of excellent titles that will be released over the next few weeks.

Here are some of the most anticipated video games of October:

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

The Call of Duty franchise has been one of the most successful gaming titles of all time and this new installment will likely not disappoint. Only a few days into its release, millions of players are enjoying this multiplayer action-packed gameplay.

Released date: October 12, 2018 — Available on: PS$, Xbox ONE, and PC.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Another popular franchise, Assassins Creed, released its 11th major installment (and 20th overall) of the game. As of September 2016, the company has sold over 100 million copies, becoming Ubisoft’s best-selling franchise and one of the highest selling video game franchises of all time.

Released date: October 5 — Available on: PS4, Xbox ONE, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Forza Horizon 4

Forza Horizon 4 is an open world racing game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios. The game is set in a fictionalized representation of the United Kingdom and offers single-player and multiplayer racing gameplay.

Released date: October 2, 2018 — Available on: Xbox ONE and PC.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar Games has developed some of the most popular games of all time over the last few decades and Red Dead Redemption 2 will likely be one of their most successful titles. This game is a Western-themed action-adventure game and is the third entry in the popular Red Dead series.

Released date: October 26, 2018 — Available on: PS4 and Xbox ONE.

Soulcalibur VI

Developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, this is an upcoming fighting game that utilizes weapon-wielding parry and innovative thrust mechanics. Additionally, the game introduces a new mechanic known as Reversal Edge, enabling players to defend against oncoming attacks and quickly strike back in slow-motion.

Released date: October 19, 2018 — Available on: PS4, Xbox ONE, and PX.

For more check out this gaming blog.

In the past few years, the U.S. has seen devastating results from hurricanes. Just last year, Florida, the state that has a population that grows by almost 1,000 people every day, was hit by Hurricane Harvey and saw extreme flooding and damages that are still being dealt with today. And now, Hurricane Florence has wreaked havoc on the Carolinas and is moving throughout Virginia. Fortunately, drone technology will make disaster relief a bit easier for these states.

As the forecasts for the hurricane change, there is a small army of drone pilots staged in areas where they can be most useful in helping with disaster response. Drones are going to play a key role in identifying and even helping to fix damages caused by the hurricane. And with machinery shipments increasing over the years, totaling $407.4 billion in 2012 alone, recovery teams have access to more drones and drone equipment than ever before.

Florence has already caused immense flooding, coastal erosion, wind, and torrential downpours. And to keep up with the damage the storm is causing, there are at least 53 drone teams with 100 operators, with recovery efforts being managed by the Edison Electric Institute, based in Washington.

There are also numerous other companies and organizations offering their drones for disaster recovery aid — Duke Energy Corp., Southern Co., and the New York Power Authority. Insurance companies like Travelers Cos. and United States Automobile Association already reported that they plan on using drone technology in order to collect evidence for damage claims once the storm has passed.

Drone technology can prove to be extremely useful in situations where it’s crucial to quickly find issues in dangerous areas, like particularly heavily flooded areas. The drones used in recovery efforts have special equipment like infrared and high-zoom sensors. These additional pieces of equipment can help locate and inspect things like downed power lines that may be too dangerous for humans to get to.

“When we’re predeployed, we have our rations—it’s an ongoing joke of beef jerky and pretzels,” said Hadley Doyle-González, who runs SMG Drones, in Palm Beach, Florida. “We have a ridiculous amount of batteries. We need to be able to fly for 24 hours with no power.”

And this isn’t the first time drones have been used in recovery efforts. Over the past few years, drones have been used more and more for commercial purposes, with Gartner reporting 110,000 drones being sold in 2016 for commercial use. Last year when Hurricane Harvey hit, drones were used to build a backup substation and also aided in checking generators at hospitals as well as other tasks.

Of course, there are other safety protocols in place, like NFPA 101, Life Safety Code, which requires workplaces and occupied buildings provide updated evacuation plan information, there are some recovery tasks that humans can’t do quickly or safely after disasters like hurricanes.

The CEO of PrecisionHawk, a North Carolina-based drone company, Michael Chasen explained, “As people, companies, cities and states come together to support safety as best possible as Hurricane Florence bears down, drones and pilots are poised to play a critical role in the triage of affected eastern states, post-Florence.”

While drones won’t necessarily be used in emergency rescue efforts after the hurricane dwindles down, but they will be utilized greatly during recovery efforts. The equipment drones are hooked up to can capture necessary data and images that can help analyze property damage and other areas damaged by the storm. And once the storm has calmed, drone companies will then work with local authorities to use the gathered information to make plans for repairs and other necessary actions.

Recovery efforts after storms like Florence generally take time, sometimes years to fully repair the damages. But with technology like drones, people have hope that they’ll be able to assess and repair damage quicker than ever before.

Feeling down about Chicagoland’s housing costs? Well, there’s a community with more snow, wind, AND higher prices.

Finding a place to call home on our planet is quite the decision, fraught with lists and lists of considerations to make before settling in.

Mortgages are a pain. Should you go for 15-year fixed or 30-year? Not a fun question to answer, but people manage. What if, to move somewhere, you were required to have your appendix removed? Maybe not quite as painful as a mortgage? Maybe more? Well, boy do we have the place for you.

Thanks to a strong economy and consumer confidence, construction spending last year hit an all-time high of $1.2 trillion, so if you’re among the millions looking to break ground on some prime real estate, look no further. The only teensy catch is that you’ll have to go under the knife. But other than that, welcome to Villa Las Estrellas.

Technically a Chilean settlement, it’s nestled in the accommodating locale of Antarctica. There are 100 permanent residents who are divided amongst 24 houses, inhabiting one of the most uninhabitable places on the planet. For perspective, on a school globe, Punta Arenas is at the very southern tip of South America. Go 994 miles further south and you’ll find Villa Las Estrellas.

To live here, residents are required to go through a battery of physical and psychological examinations to prove their abilities to withstand the environment. Anxiety disorders are common in 50% of adults and, among a variety of psychological evaluations, the place can be extremely anxiety-inducing from sheer isolation. Oh, and apart from children under six years old, one of the physical requirements is an appendectomy. If that seems extreme, just wait.

The average daily temperature is a balmy -2 degrees Celsius, but can get down -47 degrees during the winter. It’s so far south that daylight isn’t really a thing, replaced by a sort of daytime dusk, if only for a few minutes. During the winter months, they’re enveloped in complete darkness and the temperature doesn’t surpass -20 degrees. One in three adults is considered obese, which is another physical consideration made for potential residents. Because of the lack of light, vegetables are very limited and the diets are high in fats, carbs, and proteins. In fact, residents comically dismissed a suggestion for the settlement to have a nutritionist on staff. Eat, drink, and be merry.

“It gets a little intense here in winter,” says Jose Luis Carillan, a Villa Las Estrellas resident of three years with his wife and two children. 

Because the summers are so much less intense? There are stretches of time that it’s impossible to go outside and it’s popularly compared to being a place that comes closest to living on another planet. The cherry on top? There’s one way in and one way out: C-130 military aircraft. They’re huge and built for lengthy journeys that can surpass 2,300 miles.

“We must be prepared to keep a person alive two or three days, the time it takes an airplane to get out of here,” says commander Sergio Cubillos.

Yes, just getting out can be a two to three-day process. Redefines a long flight/layover, doesn’t it? The mandatory appendectomy makes a little more sense when the closest hospital is 625 miles away. A distance and timeframe at which acute appendicitis would be fatal in the majority of cases.

Still, people are chomping at the bit to get there because of the economic kickbacks from the government and the opportunity to live somewhere few others can say they have. Plus, the neighbors are great.

“People in the rest of Chile are so afraid of thieves that they build walls around their homes. Not here in Antartica. This is one of the safest places in the world,” says resident Paul Robledo.

And, along with a lively penguin population, it’s a full community. Complete with a school, post office, Orthodox church (monks and all), bank, and — hilariously — an air-conditioned gym, this place has everything it needs for the doughty contingency of residents who, predictably, become quite close.

“Family life in Antarctica is very calm and pleasant because we spend much more time together than before,” says Macarena Villarreal, a mother of two.

So, we can officially put the expressions costs an arm and a leg to bed. This’ll cost an appendix, requires formidable physiological and psychological constitutions, and you should probably not be sensitive to the cold.

And any place where penguins outnumber people is pretty special.

Death is natural. We all must face it and experience it (in some form or another) during our lives, yet many Americans are terrified of the process; they choose ignorance and denial instead because the finality of death and all the unknowns attached to it are simply too overwhelming to think about. The emerging popularity of death doulas in U.S. society is changing that perception.

The word “doula” had previous associations with birth: the word itself loosely translates to a woman who helps another woman. Doulas were employed most commonly as midwives, helping mothers with the emotional, physical, and informational aspects of childbirth — before, during, and after it occurred. They were there to assist in any way the mother needed throughout the entire process. Death doulas do the same thing, only for those at the end of their lives rather than the beginning.

Death doulas tend to be employed by those who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and have accepted the situation. They can provide a range of support, from running errands and cooking meals to talking about the things loved ones aren’t ready to hear — like the reality that this life will end, and soon. As one article described it, “Death doulas are more like traveling companions, there to walk with clients and families toward something wholly unknown.”

The National Funeral Directors Association found that 62.5% of consumers felt communicating their funeral plans and wishes to their families before their deaths was very important; death doulas provide an opportunity to do so. They can help arrange funerals and all the complicated necessities that go into them, as well as emotionally stand by all members involved.

“Death… is not a medical event,” says Tarron Estes, founder of the Conscious Dying Institute in Colorado.

She’s right; death doulas bridge the gap between doctors, families, and attitudes about dying. By offering continuous support to the dying and their families, doulas can make the journey to death much more peaceful.