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I have spent a lot of time during the past few months trying to track down Cook County marriage records on Familysearch. I should have spent that time coming up with better ideas for Christmas presents! I was surprised how many couples in my file were born in Chicago and had their children in Chicago, with no marriage records to show for it. It didn’t make sense. Since Familysearch released the 1921-1941 Cook County marriages, I figured I would find everyone in that time period and that would be that. However, I was missing quite a few couples and I …

Just a few short months ago, the 30-year fixed rate broke above 5 percent. Unemployment has been at a 50-year low, the U.S. consumer has been spending like there’s no tomorrow and wage inflation was at the top of the Fed range. All these were indications that mortgage rates were going to continue to march higher, possibly into the mid 5s. Then came the government shutdown, the threat of 200 billion in tariffs on China, and a 10 percent correction in the market in December, and rates in January came back down to the mid 4s. Mortgage rates play a …

Even though construction on the model Pullman community began in 1879, there’s always room for more. Pullman has plans for the future that have direct philosophical ties to George Pullman’s creative lines of thought. He meant “his” town to be a showplace to be toured and enjoyed while serving as a beacon for the future. Today, Pullman is indeed a showplace that many people are interested in seeing, while it continues to create a progressive, inspiring and inviting community that’s rooted in its past while reaching for the stars. The two projects that will have the most direct effect on …

The great South African leader Nelson Mandela once noted, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.” As Mandela suggests, through Italian language, we can deepen our connection to all things Italian. And as we all know, Italy has so much to offer. Its art, culture, music, food and architecture are justly famous throughout the world and have given much pride to those of Italian heritage. The importance of Italian as a language not just of art, food …

To tell someone we love them in Italian, we must first learn how to use the verb amare, which means “to love.”  But be careful!  Because this is the Italian verb of romantic love! In fact, Italians often address their romantic love simply as “amore,” which is the noun that means “love.”  Italians also address loved ones as “amore mio,” which means “my love.” Beautiful, isn’t it?  The full conjugation of this important verb is given below, with the stressed syllables underlined. Amare – to love io amo I love tu ami you (familiar) love Lei/lei/lui ama you (polite) she/he loves       noi amiamo we love …

Buying and selling a home is often the biggest financial transaction of your entire life, and there’s so much more to the overall cost than the asking price. It’s important to understand ALL of the costs associated with the transaction, whether you’re on the buying or selling end of it. Many people do not understand what they are actually paying for. You are sitting at the closing table sipping your coffee and reviewing the closing statement with your attorney before you sign it and you encounter so many different line items. Let’s talk the ones that will cost you the …

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have made buying single-family homes and small multi-unit residential properties easier with their new products: HomeReady from Fannie Mae and Home Possible from Freddie Mac. Buying a single-family home with each of these products can be done with as little as 3 percent down and the private mortgage insurance is priced as if you were putting down 10 percent, which makes the monthly payment lower. Also the minimum credit FICO score for these is down to 640, also allows borrowers who do not have perfect credit to use this product. The Freddie Mac …

We’ve entered into the tail end of the holiday season and what, to my reckoning, has always been the toughest part of the winter season. We’re never certain if the winter winds will be howling through like Lou Rawls’ “Hawk” or if the snow will be dwindling down to inches instead of feet. Regardless, we are left with personal space to look back and ahead as we await the warming of the seasons. Pullman is making its way through its 138th winter and, as usual things, there’s quite a bit to look back on and forward to, as might be …

Many, many Italian expressions use the verb pensare, which is most often translated as “to think.” You can imagine how this verb will come up often in conversation – with family and friends, of course, but also with acquaintances. In fact, the verb pensare has so many uses in Italian, many of which do not translate directly into English that we must really learn to think in Italian to master the use of this verb. But, once mastered, speaking with these phrases will truly help one to sound like a native! Because this verb is so important, we will give …

More than 20 years ago, a woman named Cyndi Howells decided that she needed a set of links to her favorite genealogy sites. As with most genealogists who start a simple project, it got out of hand and became much larger and more time-consuming than originally intended. (I can speak with experience on this as well!) She ended up creating her own site called “Cyndi’s List” www.cyndislist.com, which connects to over 300,000 links to genealogy web sites all over the world. What started as a small personal project has become 8-12 hours a day, seven days a week! For free! …