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4 Steps to Prep Your House for Your Winter Vacation

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Going on vacation to escape the cold weather? We don’t blame you! Winter prepping before you leave can be a chore. But it is essential for every homeowner to take these precautions before going out of town in the winter months. Here are 4 simple steps to prep your house before you leave for your winter vacation.

Turning off Your Water

A very simple tip from us to you is if you are going on vacation in the winter make sure that you turn off your water! Turning off the water main can lessen any worries about frozen pipes while you are away on your trip.

Draining the Sprinkler System

If you have an inbound sprinkler system, be sure that you completely drain the lines of any water. This will ensure that you don’t come back home to the headache of cracked lines and/or a broken system.

Setting your Furnace

Keep your furnace at about 65 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, you won’t run up your electric bill, and you will keep your house warm enough to prevent any damage from the cold air getting into your house.

Stopping your Mail

Make sure that you stop your mail or have a close friend/neighbor pick it up for you. You don’t want your mail to overload in the mailbox. The foul weather could cause the mail to get wet and to potential intruders, that’s a sure sign that no one is home. An easy way to stop your mail is to go to www.usps.com and you are able to stop your mail right online.

We hope you liked these house prepping tips and we hope you have a great vacation!

Check out Chuck’s Maintenance Tips for more helpful tips!

5 Tips to Help Get Your Snowblower Ready for the Winter

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It’s getting to be that time of year again; soon enough SNOW will be on its way! Here are some helpful tips on how to make sure your snow blower is tuned up and ready for the winter.

5 Tips to help get Your Snowblower Ready for the Winter

1. Drain the Old Fuel and Replace with Fresh Fuel

Drain the fuel from your snowblower’s tank or have your local small engine maintenance shop take care of this. If you decide to do it yourself, use extreme care! Work in a well-ventilated area with no open flames or sparks in the surrounding area. Fresh, clean fuel is necessary because old gas absorbs moisture when it sits for long periods of time. A tip for next year: one way to prevent gas that sits from going bad is using a fuel stabilizer. Otherwise, gas typically goes bad in 6 months.

2. Check the Fuel Filter, Fuel Line, and Spark Plugs

These all are recommended to be checked and changed accordingly before each winter season. The fuel filter could be clogged and need to be replaced. Be sure to inspect the fuel line to make sure there are no cracks and that it is still flexible and soft. If you have changed your spark plugs last year or you missed a year of replacements, you’ll probably want to replace them this year.

3. Check the Oil

Be sure to check your snowblowers oil, the oil is essential to the lubrication of the engine. If you’re changing your oil at home, take your old oil to your local oil recycling station.

4. Check Your Tires

Check out the tires to make sure there are no cracks or holes, replace if necessary. After that be sure to inflate the tires to the proper PSI for the upcoming season.

5. TEST IT BEFORE IT SNOWS.

Nothing would be worse than seeing that fresh coat of snow, going outside to start your snowblower and realizing that it doesn’t work. After giving it a fresh tank of gas, take it outside on the driveway start it up and test out all of the controls.

We hope with these 5 tips you’ll have a snowblower that is ready to work hard this winter season. For more helpful home tips, check out our Maintenance Tips page!

 

6 Reasons Why You Should Clean Your Gutter

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Cleaning your gutters isn’t the prettiest or most enjoyable household chore, but it is necessary when owning your own house. Gutters control the flow of rainwater and they are the main defense for your roof, walls, foundation and landscape. Material that can get into the gutters include leaves, branches, dirt and other foreign objects. When these begin to accumulate it can cause a stoppage and your gutters can overflow. Here are 6 reasons why you should always be sure to add “clean the gutters” to your list of to-dos.

What if You Don’t Clean Your Gutters

1. Cracks in your Foundation

If your gutters don’t get cleaned out, they can overflow and begin to pool along your home’s foundation. If that water doesn’t get a chance to drain and freezes it can expand and cause cracks in the foundation. According to HomeAdvisor.com the National Average to repair a foundation is $4,026 with a low end of $450 and a high end of $11,434.

2. Damage to Fascia

Your fascia is the board that runs right behind and underneath your gutter. This board is typically made out of wood and if the water overflows into the fascia board it can deteriorate and rot away. Replacing your Fascia board can cost anywhere from $15 to $25 a linear food if you get it installed professionally.

3. Roof Damage

Similar to the fascia board, if your gutters overflow with water, your roof can begin to rot. Replacing a roof can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $8,400. This is an expensive, labor-intensive job that can come along with not cleaning your gutters.

4. Damage to Gutter Brackets

The weight of the debris that falls into the gutter is something people don’t typically think about. If enough debris falls into the gutter, it can be too much weight for the gutters brackets to handle. This can cause them to break and potentially knock down a large portion of your gutter.

5. Driveaway Damage

Water not draining properly can cause mold to grow on your driveway, or in the winter it could freeze and become ice. This can be a safety concern for anyone leaving the house before the ice has had time to melt or the mold has been cleaned off.

6. Landscape Damage

Plants need water to grow but unfortunately getting an overflow of water is just as detrimental as not getting enough water. Plants that are in the way of a waterfall that comes from an overflowed gutter can be killed because of the water pooling up around or even underneath them.

How to Clean Your Gutters

Doing it yourself

Cleaning your gutters seems simple, but it can be a dangerous job. Climbing a latter up to the first or second story is a lot higher than you may think. Be sure your latter is sturdy and have someone hold it steady from the bottom. When you’re up there don’t reach too far to one side and be sure to use gloves and safety glasses.

Professional Cleaning

Professional cleanings can cost anywhere from $75 to $225 for an average sized home. The professionals will remove debris from the gutters and downspouts and repair any loose gutter brackets.

Think you’re ready to buy a house? Here’s 4 signs.

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Think you're ready to buy a house?

“Am I ready to buy a house, or should I just keep renting?”

It’s one of the questions that we hear most often and something to which first-time homebuyers often spend months, if not years, trying to figure out the answer.

Below are a list of four tell-tale signs that you’re ready to bite the bullet and take the leap into home ownership:

Sign #1: You’re ready to settle down

The first sign that you’re in the right mindset to become a homeowner is that you’re ready to stay put — at least for a little while.

You're ready to settle down

Conventional wisdom states that in order for your purchase to make financial sense, you’ll want to plan on staying put for at least the next five years. When you sit down to think about house hunting, you’ll want to use that timeframe as your reference point.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Can you see yourself staying at your job for that long, or will you be looking for new opportunities?
  • If the right position came along, would you be willing to move for it?
  • Do you like the area you’re living in, or would you like to explore other options?
  • Do you see your living situation changing soon?
  • Are you planning on moving in with a significant other or expanding your family?

If these questions make you squirmy, the idea of looking five years into the future still feels a little too far ahead for you to grasp, or you still want to see where life life takes you, you may want to consider renting for a bit longer or thinking about a for-a-few-years home vs. a forever home.

2. You’re done living paycheck-to-paycheck

Let’s face it, becoming a homeowner is expensive.

You’re done living paycheck-to-paycheck

Not only is there a monthly mortgage mortgage payment to consider, which will likely be more than your current rent check, but prospective homebuyers need to be prepared to come up with a sizable down payment, shoulder a portion of the closing costs, and have the dough to take care of any necessary repairs.

Luckily, there is a way that you can prepare for the added financial pressure before the big day comes and understand how much house you can afford. Use a mortgage calculator to estimate what a monthly payment could based on the type of home you’re looking to buy. Then, subtract the amount you pay in rent each month, and aim to put the the remainder into savings.

Start by working towards a down payment that could be worth 3%-10% of a home’s sale price, and then move onto a seperate emergency fund.

3. You’re ready for more responsibility

You’re ready for more responsibility

Once you find a home and actually buy it, that’s really where all the fun begins.

Yes, owning a home means that you have a lot more freedom to improve the property as you see fit — whether that means putting in an entirely new kitchen or redoing the hardwood floors.

However, in addition to that creative freedom comes an added layer of responsibility. As the homeowner, you’re the one who is responsible for any necessary maintenance and upkeep on the property.

Think about what you’re like as a tenant now.

Are you willing to roll up your sleeves and help with small tasks or are you relieved to know that you have someone to call? If you’re less handy, you may want to take some time to familiarize yourself with common home maintenance tasks before committing to buying anything. It always helps to have a fair idea of what you’re getting into.

4. You know what you’re looking for

You know what you’re looking for

Last but not least, though it may sound self-explanatory, when you’re trying to determine whether or not you’re ready to buy a home, it’s useful to have an idea of what you’re looking for.

You don’t have to have every single detail set in stone. (In fact, it’s preferable if you leave some room to flexibility in your home search.) That said, though, having a basic set of parameters in mind will make the homebuying process go much easier.

Here, you’ll want to think about the most important factors that you absolutely must have in a home. These will be the things that you would not feel comfortable buying a home without. This may include details like your preferred location, an ideal number of bedrooms and bathrooms, a target sale price, or any specific must-have features like that perfect picture window view.

If you have a strong idea of your must-haves and can’t see that changing in the near future, and the above signs sound like you, you may just be ready to take the plunge into home ownership. If not, there’s no shame in the game waiting.

 

This article originally appeared on OpenListings.