Classicism in Crystal Chandeliers

Have you ever felt being regal by just staring at a crystal chandelier? I would say that crystal chandeliers exude elegance to whatever place it's mounted on. The underlying beauty in it is the feeling of being part of a royal family and seeing the exquisite beauty it radiates. Wouldn't it be nice to hang a chandelier in your own home?

Several modern crystal chandeliers are often very ornate with dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass shapes to illuminate the room in many intricate patterns. More often, you can observe such from a five star hotel or from homes of wealthy families. Buying a crystal chandelier could be of a luxury to any average family but to some filthy rich people it is their pride to expose the grandeur of their house. The fixture's popularity has been a status symbol from the 15th century up to this point of time. No average family could ever afford to buy this lighting fixture for the purpose of illuminating their house. Not to mention that crystal chandeliers are use to efficiently lighten up large halls during medieval period. They were used in medieval churches and abbeys.

Way back in 15th century, chandeliers based on ring and crown designs began to become popular decorative features. This paved the way to the status symbol in every society. By early 18th century, chandeliers made of ornate cast brass flourished among the house of merchant classes, also development of glass making during this time lead to the production of cheaper lead crystal. The light scattering properties of this highly refractive glass became more prominent which piloted the production of crystal chandeliers. Through out the years more complex and elaborate ceiling fixtures continued to develop until the widespread introduction of gas and eventually electrical lighting which devalued the traditional form of its lighting appeal.

Towards the end of 20th century, crystal chandeliers were used as a decorative focal point to any room, which defeated the purpose of illuminating large rooms. Now, the world's biggest crystal chandelier is located in Dolmabahce Palace, Turkey. It was a gift from Britain to His Imperial Majesty, The Emperor of the Ottomans.

This majestic charm of crystal chandelier is attracting people to decorate their houses with grandiosity. Currently, you can have a variety of different designs of these ceiling fixtures being sold in the market. Your taste would actually depend on how you would like to exude classicism on your own house. You may want to have it made from crystal, wrought iron, brass and others. To find the right style chandelier for your home, simply begin with a color or a material that is predominant in the decoration scheme of the room. What catches your eye in the room? What type of statement do you want to make? If the room is more traditional, choose crystal chandeliers with more ornamentation and decorative details. If your home is modern, opt for less ornamentation and simpler details.

But be reminded that in choosing your chandeliers make sure that it blends with the design and paintings of your house.

About the Author

Article Author Eliza Maledevic from http://www.Jump2top.com, a SEO Company. Know more about Crystal Chandeliers & Lighting Fixtures at http://www.goldenageusa.com

Dr. "S" Reveals His New Home Buying Secret That Works In Any Housing Market

Dr. "S" Reveals His New Home Buying Secret That Works In Any Housing Market

Dr. Marc S., who recently completed his residency and relocated to Orlando, Florida, cannot believe that more professionals are not buying their homes the way he did.

Instead of renting, Dr. "S" discovered a "secret" for buying a house with no bank qualifying and no big down payment.

"Leasing to own made sense, once I learned more about it," Dr. "S" shared. "I have to admit, when I stumbled upon the idea, I thought it was for people with bad credit and little money. I kind of associated it with renting to own a TV or sofa."

For Dr. "S," once he realized the benefits of leasing to own a home and associating leasing to own a home with leasing, he seized the opportunity.

"Clearly, leasing to own benefits me, and I wonder how many other professionals in a situation similar to mine are aware of this buying secret or realize just how much they can benefit from leasing to own," added Dr. "S."

"First, I picked out my new home based on what I can afford. Since I didn't have much of a credit file, I now have time to add and season trade lines. Trying to buy a home in my situation...more [school] debt than income, I didn't have much chance of buying unless my parents co-signed for me. That was an option, but I didn't want to do that. This way, I didn't have to come up with much of a down payment, I have a mortgage specialist there to work with me & I can afford this home," he stated.

As Dr. "S" iterated, overcoming the stigma of "leasing to own" (and all comparable terms including rent-to-own, lease-option, lease-purchase, lease with an option to purchase) is a challenge for some professionals once they discover this buying strategy.

Dr. "S" listed the benefits he received by leasing to own:

**He picked the home he wanted & could afford. **His method of purchase remains anonymous - his neighbors do not know how he "purchased" his home. For all intents & purposes, he is the "owner" of his home. **He did not need to bank qualify. **He did not need to come up with a big down payment & closing costs. **He gets time to season his newly added tradelines (accounts). **He didn't have to rent. **He has a veteran mortgage specialist working on his behalf.

Dr. "S" represents one type of professional, who takes advantage of leasing to own as he "seasons" his credit and income.

Financially secure "boomers" with great credit, as well as many others wanting a second home, also are choosing to lease to own instead of buying the conventional way. Why?

As Dr. "S" has pointed out, leasing to own allows him and other buyers unique benefits including the ability to "try out" their new homes and neighborhoods.

"What did I have to lose?" Dr. "S" points out. "I have a beautiful home in a professional community. I have very little of my money invested. We negotiated a great price. I have solid paperwork. And when my home appreciates in value, I'll have equity instead of rent receipts. No doubt, this is a great opportunity for me."

Dr. "S" correctly points out the need to choose carefully the real estate professionals with whom you choose to work and to have your real estate attorney review the all paperwork.

Before you buy your new home the "traditional" way, take a moment to consider whether this "secret" buying strategy saves your credit, your sanity & your money.

About the Author

Join others who are avoiding the risk of buying their home the "traditional" way. This may be a better buying strategy for you. Learn more about leasing to own your new home with Orlando Real Estate-Rent Own Florida.

The Difference Between Finding a Cheap Domestic versus a Cheap International Airfare

While US domestic airfare is a lot more volatile (i.e. prices change a lot more frequently) the price difference between major travel sites such as Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, and the airlines sites is often no more than 10-20%. There are exceptions where going with a lesser known carrier such as Allegiant Air or US3000 Airlines can save you substantially more but by and large for most of US domestic travel this remains the case. Sellers of domestic airfare pretty much fall into 2 categories: (1) the airlines and (2) online travel agencies. There are a few niche players but they service a very small market. Therefore, when shopping for domestic airfare deals the "when to buy" is commonly more important than the "where to buy."

The opposite is true when securing an international airfare bargain. The "when to buy" is still important (as in don't wait until the last minute) but the "where to buy" is a lot more important. This is because airfare to Europe, Asia, Africa, and South & Central America are somewhat less volatile (may not change as frequently) but the price difference between different vendors can sometimes be as much as 50% or more. There are several reasons why that is but the two major reasons are (1) the type of fares that are offered and (2) the number of players in the field.

The Type of Fares
Without getting very technical there are basically 2 types of international airfare; published and unpublished. In the domestic market 97% of leisure fares are published (give or take). A published fare you can refer to as a retail fare. The airline creates the fare and the rules associated with that fare and then publishes the information through a clearing house called ATPCo (Airline Tariff Publishing Company). ATPCo then distributes the fare to the global distribution systems. Online and offline travel agencies in turn retrieve these published fares via one or more of these systems. Everybody has access to the fare. An unpublished fare (also referred to as a negotiated fare) is still being released via ATPCo but part of the "fare rules" is an indicator of what seller is allowed to access and sell the fare. It is essentially a private fare. One other difference is that published fares have to be sold at the price determined by the airline (no mark-ups or mark downs) while a private fare can be marked up. That is why you see online and offline agencies add a service charge of anywhere between $5 and $50 to a published fare ticket. With a negotiated fare the airline will receive a set amount and the seller is allowed to mark up (add his/her margin) to that fare. So, a seller may negotiate a $300 fare from New York to London with airline X and then mark it up and sell it for $345. Another visible difference between a negotiated and a published fare is the fact that on many (almost all) negotiated airline tickets you will not see the actual price you paid for the ticket. Instead you will either see a much higher fare or only tax information. A published fare tickets will show exactly what you paid for the ticket (excluding any service charges). As a general rule, negotiated fare tickets are frequently cheaper than published fare tickets (There are instances when an airline may have a "fire sale" that undercuts the fare levels of negotiated fares) and that is why "the where" is more important than "the when" when it comes to buying international airfare.

Sellers of Travel
Sellers of international airfare fall into the following major categories:

(1) Major Airlines
(2) Charter Airlines
(3) Online Travel Agencies
(4) Offline Travel Agencies
(5) Global Consolidators that sell to the Public
(6) Global Consolidators that do not sell to Public
(7) Ethnic Consolidators or Destination Specialists
(8) Student Travel Consolidators
(9) Tour Operators

Major Airlines
These are the carriers we are all familiar with such as American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways, KLM and many more. They offer airfare via their own website and many of the other sellers listed above. They may offer web specials on their own site. They do not charge a service fee.

Charter Airlines
In Europe this type of airline is a lot more common than in the US. A charter is basically when a tour operator "rents" or "charters" an airplane to fly vacationers from their departure gateway airport to the destination airport. There are a few airline companies that offer service from/to the US that have their roots in the charter business. They regularly offer year round or seasonal service to/from a few select US airports to a single country. They are FAA approved and must meet all airline safety rules & regulations. What sets them apart is their business model that allows them to commonly sell seats cheaper than the majors. Some of these alternative airlines are LTU, Condor, FlyGlobespan, or Martinair to name a few. They usually also do not charge a service fee.

Online Travel Agencies
Players in this category are Travelocity, Orbitz, Cheaptickets, Expedia, Priceline, Hotwire and so on. They sell published and unpublished airfare. They charge a service fee. They also habitually try to sell you other travel components such as hotel accommodation, car rentals, attraction tickets and/or travel insurance. If you are going overseas for a vacation buying a package (where the seller will bundle an air component with one or more land components) can be an option and may save you money. In a future article I will cover the advantages and disadvantages of packages.

Offline Travel Agencies
Also referred to as brick and mortar travel agencies, these are the traditional agencies that you would walk into, sit down and book your travel. Depending on size and target market they may also double as an ethnic consolidator or destination specialist. They also have access to consolidator fares not offered directly to the general public. Brick and mortar agencies almost always charge a service fee.

Global Consolidators that Sell Directly to the Public
Many times these are travel agencies that have decided to "cut out the middleman" and go directly to the airlines to negotiate their own private fares. This allows them to then re-sell them at a lower price without loosing their margin. In order to get decent private fares a global consolidator would have to offer $100 Million+ in annual agency sales. Most of the negotiated tickets are sold without a service fee. If a consolidator sells a published fare they regularly add a service fee.

Global Consolidators that do not Sell Directly to the Public
In the days prior to online internet travel very few agencies would act as their own consolidator. Instead they worked through middlemen (consolidators) that negotiated deals with the airlines. A consolidator would negotiate that same $300 deal mentioned above, add his margin and then sell it to a retail agency. The retail agent would then add her margin and sell it to the public. As the Internet took shape, agencies could reach a much larger audience and therefore gained the clout to negotiate directly with the airlines. Nevertheless, there are still many agencies, offline and online that offer middlemen consolidator airfares. Due to the sheer volume consolidators can offer to an airline these fares could still be a bargain even after several mark-ups.

Ethnic Consolidators or Destination Specialists
These are probably one of the least known (by the general public that is) sources for inexpensive airline tickets. They are also some of the hardest to find. The US is a nation of immigrants and ethnic consolidators have traditionally serviced their ex-patriot or immigrant community. They were and still are the cheap sources for airfare back to the home country. Unlike global consolidators that can turn over $250 Million+ in sales a year these ethnic outlets may only turn over $2-5 Million a year but most of that can go to 1 or 2 carriers. They are highly specialized and have long-standing relationships to their preferred carriers. These long-term, reliable relationships are the reason why some ethnic mom and pop operations are able to secure airfare rates that are 20-30% lower than any of the online mega agencies. Destination specialists are similar to ethnic consolidators in terms of size and style. They have become true experts in a country or region and have built relationships. The difference is that often they are targeting the foreign independent traveler (FIT). Like I mentioned, the airfare bargains some of these outlets can offer are often hard to beat but the challenge is finding them. Google and Yahoo and any of the other search engines often do not find them.

Student Travel Consolidators
As the name suggests these are agencies that target students (and in some cases faculty). Just like a global consolidator, they approach the airlines and negotiate special discounts or private fares. The difference is that according to the agreement with the airlines they are only allowed to sell to bona fide students (and faculty) only. Frequently, the students have to be enrolled in an accredited college or university and high school students are not eligible. The same is true for faculty. Some agencies are better than others in ensuring that the person buying the ticket actually is a student.

Tour Operators
Tour Operators are entities that sell vacation packages such as all-inclusive, etc. They negotiate deals with airlines, hotels, ground operators and so forth, package them together, mark them up and then sell them as one product to the public. On occasion they will sell just the airfare (at rock bottom prices) in order to fill empty seats on the plane. Since they have a fixed price that they have to pay the aircraft operator, any empty seat is a missed opportunity. The best chance to get one of these cheap seats is usually to the Caribbean or Mexico.

Sources for international airfare bargains are plentiful. Finding the right one at the right time may make all the difference in whether you get a good fare or a great deal. While getting a domestic airfare deal is often the result of (lucky) timing getting a great international deal is frequently the result of knowing where to look.

About the Author

Kai Vorpahl has over 15 years travel industry experience of which 10 years have been in the online Internet space. He has traveled extensively. For a much more in-depth review go to Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Best Airfare on the Internet He owns www.bluemarblescout.com

Career/Job Comparison

I decided to hypothetically put two people seeking professional careers, one a prospective college student, the other a truck driving school candidate, up against each other in a comparison of job training, annual salary, debt accumulation, and investment capability, while comparing time frames to similar objectives. Assuming we start this time frame with the student entering college and the truck driver entering truck driving school. The college student is seeking one of the top paid careers with a degree in any of the following: Marketing, Business Administration, Mechanical Engineering, Management Information Systems, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Accounting, Finance or Economics. The truck driver is just looking for a good driving job that will put him home every day with good pay. To be fair, we will base the cost of the college student's tuition on an average of $16,000 at an in-state public university, and about $33,000 for a private school each year for 4 years. These costs include tuition, fees, books, room and board and other expenses.

The cost of the truck driver's training school is $1,500 to $3,500. Most schools pay for room and board and some company schools pay the student wages while they are training. Company schools will pay for training if the student agrees to work for them for one year. Now let's fast forward to the 3 month level from our starting point: The college student is learning and acquiring debt. The truck driver has completed his schooling and has been making money driving for a break-in company at the rate of $35,000 a year. The driver has just got enough experience to get hired with a career company and he does. One year and 3 months from the starting point: The college student is still learning and acquiring debt, somewhere between $20,000 and $41,250. The truck driver has had several pay raises, and grossed over $65,000 his first year with his new company. He put $15,500 in his 401k with a handsome company match. He also put money in an IRA of $4,000 and is buying stocks. He goes home every day to the brand new house he just purchased, and is enjoying all the freedom that driving has to offer. Two years and 3 months in: The total debt of the college student is around $36,000 to $74,250 dollars, but he is learning. The truck driver's gross earnings were $70,000 dollars, again topping out his 401k and an IRA for a new balance of $43,000 dollars with interest. He is making extra payments on his home and it has been appraised at a value $4,000 above original purchase price. Three years and 3 months from the starting gate: Our college student is beginning to realize how long it is going to take to pay back those student loans. It's a good thing he chose one of the top starting salary majors or he might be in trouble. His total debt acquired so far: $52,000 to $107,250 dollars. And our truck driver's house value has gone up to a total of $8,000 dollars above purchase price. His investment account's total balance is $66,250. 4years and 3months later: Congratulations to our college student! Happy graduation! Your debt is $68,000 to $140,250, plus interest. Your starting salary as an Electrical Engineer is $54,599. Our truck driver has earned $78,000 dollars this year and his home value is up $12,500 above the purchase price. His investment portfolio balance is around $91,000 dollars. A year later: In the following year our college student is working and likes his new job. He is in the market for a new home, but is very limited due to the debt he has acquired. A job starting at $55,000 seemed like a lot of money when he first started school, but with the student loans to pay back it has limited him to a home below previous expectations. As much as the student would like to save for retirement, he just can't seem to find the extra money to invest. To furnish his new home he does what most Americans do, he runs up those credit cards. Sound familiar?

Our truck driver couldn't be happier. He has plenty of time at work to study and learn all of the things he finds interesting. His home keeps appreciating and stocks are doing well. He has close to a $130,000 balance in his portfolio and is enjoying all his free time driving down the road listening to audio books on investing. He is getting ready to build a new custom home, and with only about five years in this industry, he can see an early retirement on the horizon.

Now if you look at the college student's $68,000 to $140,250 debt compared to the drivers balance of $130,000 plus home equity, we have as much as a $300,000 difference at about 5 years. The student has the power of interest working against him, while the driver has the power of compounding interest working in his favor!

Being happy or successful in life is not about a title or a piece of paper. It's about making wise decisions that can make your life smooth and stress free. Regardless of the reasoning, taking on debt is not a good plan if you want to achieve financial independence or experience true freedom in a timely fashion. It's a person's debt-to-income ratio, and what they do with their money that counts. In this and most scenarios, the college student will not ever catch up to the truck driver financially. If a person can go to college for free, great! I have yet to see anything that is 100% free. Even if the college student did go to school for free, he graduates with a balance of $0. The truck driver has a handsome home and investment portfolio, with the ability to work and live anywhere in the country enjoying all the freedoms that trucking has to offer.

There is a truck driving shortage in this country that is growing larger each year. There is no shortage of people taking on and acquiring debt by going to college. Too many people just go to college, no matter the cost, because they were brought up believing it is the thing to do. The percentage of students that actually graduate and get a degree that would enable them a have starting wage of $55,000 is extremely small. Many students don't graduate, but have the student loans to pay back anyway. Over 30% of college students leave after the first year and almost 50% never graduate, according to the Department of Education 2006.

About the Author

Troy is the author of "How to Make $65-95,000 Dollars Driving a Truck..and be Home Everyday! http://www.richtruckdriver.com

How to Quickly Get Your Online Website Noticed

Getting a online website noticed is an art , so patience is necessary on the way. A lot of people think they can build a website and at that very moment have a good amount of traffic for it. What they ignore however is the simple fact that they are not the only ones in their field who run a website, there are also millions of competitors who owns a website and the number of them are growing constantly. At this light, what is the faster way to expose a new online website?

If you have the money, paid advertising is one of the most efficient ways to get your online website noticed quickly. All you are doing is paying for a spot towards the top of a search engine or a spot on someone's website. It may cost you a lot of money to get a higher spot, however the reward will most probably surpass the intitial cost.

Finding high traffic websites to advertise on can help you get your online business noticed as well. The thing with advertising on a high traffic website is that there are thousands of people that will see your advertisement a day. Certainly not everybody will click on your ad, or even half of them because it is there. but even if a very few percent of people click on your ad, let's say 5%, that is a significant amount of traffic that you will receive for your website.

Email, direct emails and bulk emails can be effective in getting your online website noticed as well. The key factor to this method is doing something to make your email stand out. Every day people are flooded with spam and email that is a waste of their time. If you can come up with a way to grab the reader's attention right from the subject line, you will have already surpassed a number of your competitors.

Similar to paid advertising is Google adwords. Google adwords are seen by thousands of people every day and if you can come up with a creative ad campaign, your online business will catch the reader's eye and gain exposure. With Google adwords, every click you get is costing you money, so make sure that your ad is worth the investment.

If you can't afford buying Google adwords, you can reach the top of search engines with no money as well, however you will need to much more patient. By using keyword optimization throughout your online website and in all of the articles you write and submit, you can climb up on the search engines for those specific keywords.

The idea is to get your website displayed on first page for a targeted keyword on the the major search engines, which can be really tough. In order to increase your chance, target for smaller and less popular keywords as contrast to very popular keywords. For instance, instead of targeting work at home. maybe go for legit work at home, work at home online or best work at home business.

While it is extremely difficult to get your online website noticed quickly, you can better your chances by combining all of the methods listed above. The more methods you are using and promoting your website, the more places your website will be seen by a large number of people. As long as you are patient about the process, your online business will eventually become noticed through the crowd of millions of websites.

About the Author

Thierry Goho is one of the leading Internet Marketer and has helped many new entrepreneurs succeed online. Member of IAHBE(International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs), he is one of the best guide to teach what is working or not when it is time to choose the right home business that produces results. For more informations about this author and for Best Home Business Opportunities And Tips,visit: http://www.gohomoney.com