Home Tune Ups

Most of us will tune up our vehicales and maintain them on a regular basis While its a small expence,it does prolong the vehicales life and helps them run more efficiently. However most of us do not consider doing the same with our hot water tanks or heating systems.Most hot water heaters will have sediment occur at the bottom of the tank.This is a normal occurance and may reduce its life span if a small amount of water is not released on a monthly basis.This can be accomplished by venting out some of the water. many heating systems have filters that can be clogged if not cleaned on na regular basis.These heating systems usually benefit from being tuned up once every year or two.These tips can help save you money and extend the life of the systems.Care should be taken when venting water from the hot water tanks and tuning the heating system or cleaning the filters. It might be a good idea to contact or hire a proffessional before completing the maintance tasks

Home Insulation

Winter is rapidly approaching and the heating on its coat tails. While there is little we can do to stop rising heating costs, we can help reduce the amount of fuel that we use to heat our homes.Insulation is used to fill voinds in the homes walls and cracks between walls and windows leading outside the house.This process can slow or stop warm air leaking from the inside of the house to the outside.One of the key methods of accomplishing this task is to insulate the foundation,walls and attic space of our homes.Thanks to new technology,there is a wide range of insulation types available to the home owner.Many homes can use dense pack celluse in the walls and the floor part of the attic.Foam insulation can be use in many hard to reach places and joints.Rigid insulation can be used inside the walls,on doors and a wide range of other places.Many new homes,additions and rehab projects even have insulation under the basement floors.They types of insulation and its proper use is constantly being refined and updated. Its best to contact a specialist for specifics of how much and which type of insulation is best for your home.
Paying for insulation can be expensive but this cost can be recovered by not having to pay for fuel costs.In Massachussetts, programs such as Mass Save(see www.massave.com) can help show where are the best places to insulate and can help provide a rebate to the home owner using this program.Further savings can be garnered by seeing if there are tax credits are available for home energy efficient programs.Its best to contact your tax person or IRS for further details.

Timing aHome Purchase

One of the most frequent questions that people ask me about is the direction of the housing market and if its a good time to buy a home.Most people have heard about the soft real estate market and have seen home prices fall in most communities.People have also heard about the number of building permits being lower than previous years and the large numbers of homes being foreclosed upon and a weak economy.To further complicate matters,there is not a clear picture of when property values will stabalizeMany lending institutions have become more conservative in their lending standards.Considering these factors,its understandable why many people might be reluctant to purchase a home.
Purchasing a home is a major decision and complicated by our current economic envirement.There are always risks for the home buyer such as possible decrease in property value and ability to afford the upkeep of a home if he/she no longer has the income to pay for basic living expences.While there are reasons not to buy a home,there are compeling reasons to purchase a home.While there is always a possibilty of losing employment and further declines in home values,its important to look at the long term picture.
Real estate has always been cyclical in nature.Most areas have shown price declines and an increase in affordabilty relative to wages.Interest rates are currently at historic low levels.Despite the difficult real estate market,this can be a perfect time to buy.Its clearly a buyers market if you can afford the mortgage payments and upkeep of the home.However,there are a number of key considerations. They include your willingness to take a long term view to home ownership.The costs of home ownership should also be weighed against options such as renting or sharing space with friends or family.Also the benefits of creating equity in your new home and potental tax benefits garnered from mortgage interest.
Its clearly a challenging time to purchase a home.There are some risks but potental advantages for the prospective home owner.Each persons situation is different and each geographic area has its own positive and negative points.Its always helpful to meet with a local Realtor regarding the timing of home ownership

Winterazing Your Home

Now that the summer is almost over and its getting cooler,its time to start preparing your home for the winter.Many of the preparations are pretty straight foward and can be done by yourself.During the summer,our gardens have provided a pleasant place to entertain our friends and relatives and its plants provided a great deal of visual beauty.Now is a good time to divide many of the plants and mulch the flower beds.This will help protect the plants and give them a good heads start for next year.While raking up the leaves,consider using the leaves as part of a compost heap.This material can be used as a natural plant food.It can help the plants be healther and more attractive.Proper use of mulch and compost can make the garden more attractive and help conserve water.
Fall is a good time to put on storm doors and windows.While this is work,it can reduce drafts and reduce heating costs. Talking about heating costs, its a good time to have your heating system tuned up and have the filters cleaned.While some filters can be easily yourself,its best to have a service person tune up the heating system.Both actions can help the heating system run more efficiently and same money.
These tasks may be the least enjoyable part of home ownership but its important to help maintain your property in order to help maintain its value

Landscaping at Home

As a Realtor,I have found that landscaping at residental properties is overlooked and under appreciated by home owners. It is my feeling that a home with an attractive garden adds value on many levels.A well established garden compliments a home and creates a much improved visual apearance for the home and rest of the neighborhood.Recent studies have shown that home values will increase if the home is well landscaped
Well placed shrubs and trees can add shade for the home and guests.Not only does the shade make guests more comfortable when visiting,but serves various enviremental functions.They can help purify the air and prevent sun from overheating the house during the summer and serve as a wind break during the winter,thus helping homes stay warmer during the winter.Flowering plants including native shrubs and flowers can enhanse the visual impact and help invite birds and butterflys into the back and front yard.Each house and neighborhood is different so care must be taken when selecting the plants.Without careful selection of the plants,the visual effect will not be effective or plants many not survive due to lack of sufficient sun or other climatic issues.Before seleting plants for the yard its best to contact a local plant nursery or landscape firm.

Directon of The Real Estate Market

As a Realtor one of the most common questions that I am asked is,What is happening with the real estate market? Like so many other individuals,I am painfully aware that we are in the middle of a major downturn in the market.The reasons for this downturn is complicated and is due to a much needed correction and the fact that we are seeing a higher number of distressed properties,changing lending requirements and uncertanty in the job market.National real estate reporting services such as The Case Schiller Index NAHB?Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index and National Association Of Realtors are showing an interesting mix of housing numbers.In many communities we are seeing the number of sales going up with prices going down while the creation of new homes in many communities being lower than prior years.
The sales data varies in each geographic area and in individual communities.Rather than trying to look at national trends,its more important to look at specific reagons if you are looking to sell or purchase a home.If interested in specific details,please feel free to ask a Realtor such as  myself

Why Go Green?

Green or energy efficient homes have been gaining traction over the last few years.There are any number of reasons why somebody would want a green home.However,the most popular reasons are to have a healthier home,reduce energy load.desire to recycle and have a more comfortable living space.While some of this rational is subjective,being able to reduce water,energy, and electric useage can be easily quantified.Reducing the energy load or amount of material recycled, can be compared to the house prior to the retrofit was completed.In the case of new homes,using the HERS Rating System can be used to compare homes to similar homes of the same size.
The degree to which a home is green depends on the individual owner and the budget available to the home owner.On a very elemental level,a person can reduce their energy load by using low flow toilets,or shower heads,CFLs,power strips and other devises.Monotoring use of electricity,water and fuel use sounds unimportant,but does play a significiant role in this process.Proper insulation,use of shades. and sealing cracks and other openings can help reduce heat loss in the winter and the cooling effects of an A/C in the warmer months.Use of programable thermostates are an inexpensive way to help control heating/cooling costs.More expensive methods of controlling/reducing enery costs are buying newer energy efficient hot water tanks,furnices and other appliances.While these devises are costly,there may be rebates and tax incentives after they are purchased.Reduced energy/water use can also help defray the cost of these devises.
The most important goal is to determine a game plan of what your goals are to go green and determine the best way to approach this process