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Welcome to DeFluri's Fine Chocolates, the sweetest place in town where truffles just melt in your mouth. Brenda and Charlie Casabona are veteran chocolatiers and wizards of the finest confections you've never even dreamed of. There is a basket filled with over the top chocolate "Twinkies" that are a big hit and yet they offer the old favorite standby English lemon drops.

If you crave it, they have it!

The Casabona's chocolate factory is located in the heart of Martinsburg's historic district in the 50's era building that once housed the McCroy's Five & Dime Store. They have lovingly restored the premises preserving the quant conveyed features within including the soda-fountain lunch counter, tin ceiling tiles, and are currently expanding the store front facade. Every piece of chocolate is produced onsite using pure natural ingredients in their 12,000 square-foot factory preserving freshness for your taste buds.

DeFluri's Fine Chocolates began their business in Vienna Virginia and moved their factory and showroom to Martinsburg in 1998 and has since become an icon in the downtown area. Stop by their establishment and treat yourself to the finest confections imaginable.

Congresswoman, Shelly Moore Capito quickly returned for an open discussion forum with local real estate agents and lenders this week after the recent Congressional Field Hearing in Martinsburg on July 31. The meeting was held at the Eastern Panhandle Board of REALTORS® office and was well attended by members concerned about the local housing market.

The discussion began causally as Representative Moore asked the room to bring up their concerns. The hot topic quickly moved toward class III taxes and the unfair assessments of properties that have been vacant for over a year effectively doubling the total taxes due. I addressed my concern about the number of vacant foreclosures entering the market place adding more fuel to the fire in the unfair practice of double taxation making it more difficult for home purchasers to qualify for a loan.  Peter Corum, Wells Fargo, stated that several businesses in Shepherdstown are struggling with their increased accessed taxes in this declining market and may find it necessary to close their doors.

Margie Bartles, managing broker of Long & Foster Foxcroft, expressed the continued need of down payment assistance for FHA loans used in conjunction with the Nehemiah® and AmeriDream® programs and indicated that 2 out of 10 home buyers currently use these programs. There is concern that DPA will be eliminated when it is needed more than ever to assist first time home buyers.

Additional issues addressed:

• There is concern about who will be accountable for collection of the tax credit included in the recent Housing Relief Bill.
  
• The complexity utilizing the short sale option is resulting in consumers giving up and walking away creating more foreclosures entering the marketplace.
  
• The unregulated practice of some builders continuing to offer questionable incentives to buyers who use their preferred lender that they own without requiring an appraisal for the protection of the buyer.

Interesting statistics brought to the forefront:

• The overall pattern behavior of FHA borrowers with higher credit scores is averaging in at higher delinquency.
  
• Last month, in Berkeley County alone, 19% of the homes sold and the 5% remaining active are foreclosures.

Overall, those in attendance appreciated Representative Capito returning to the Eastern Panhandle and the opportunity to voice concerns about the local housing market. That said, we are looking to our elected representative for a voice that will have a direct effect on our business and a positive impact on the local economy.

Disclaimer: The information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice. WVHomesBlog does not guarantee or is any way responsible for its accuracy, and provides said information without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied. Entries on WVHomesBlog represent the opinions and ideas of the author(s).

Copyright© 2008 Debbie Small 

I don't know about you, but I like to write many of my compositions in MS Word when editing my website. There are no worries about timing out on the server and it's just easy on my eyes, but the transition is not always friendly and can leave a messy html trail.

If you've ever done a copy & paste from MS Word, you may have noticed that the font, bullets and character spacing weren't what you expected after saving and previewing. Try a test and then go back into the edit mode and click on the html tab at the bottom and you'll most likely see a bunch of <mso> stuff all over the place.

This is when the trusty old Notepad is your best friend. This little program that has been around forever and is often overlooked, but very useful and something that MS should never do away with because it's so handy to have and a simple html editor. Yes, you can totally write html in Notepad.

You're going to love the simplicity of this! Just copy & paste your composition from MS Word into Notepad and then copy & paste again over to your website edit panel and all the unnecessary html will be stripped away and you'll be able to edit from there. I discovered this after much frustration and hope that you find it useful.

Cheers,
Debbie

I've been playing in The Rain for over a year now, have jumped in and out of the storm, and came back at full gale because I appreciate the knowledge and camaraderie of the membership.

So many posts catch my eye, but one in particular grabbed by attention tonight because of the poster's location so I checked it out. After reading Luke Rummell's post and commenting on Astoria Oregon, where I had the privilege to visit last year with my daughter, the phone rang. An excited voice came through saying "Hello, this is Luke and you've made my day".  Do you want to know my first thought was? This is embarrassing. I thought it was a sales call, but after we chatted for a few seconds, there was a likeminded connection. There's nothing like hearing a voice and we had a good time getting acquainted.

This hasn't been my first direct contact with an ActiveRain member as I have already received a referral and attribute three other listings from the network. So if you're new, just keep blogging and the business will come along with the knowledge and good friends.

Here are a few tips for your success:

•       Blog responsibly with informed and kind content that you would want to read
•       Read the poster's blog in full before commenting
•       When commenting, be kind and on topic
•       Don't game the system for points, it only makes you look dumb

This beautifully remodeled home has curb appeal situated on a mature landscaped lot. They just don’t build them like this anymore with all 4-sided brick construction and located in an established neighborhood.

Newly remodeled features include: new roof, paved driveway, professional landscaping, fenced back yard, new heat pump air handler and a fresh coat of paint in most of the rooms. The lower level offers a newly carpeted family room with a wood burning stove, bonus room and laundry room with half bath.

VIRTURAL TOUR

Contact Debbie Small
304-582-5788