6 Summer Maintenance Tips to Follow Before You List

Which six home maintenance items should all homeowners take on this summer? Today we’ll go over this crucial list.

Staying on top of home maintenance is very important, especially if you plan on selling.

Today I’d like to go over six key maintenance tips that are specific to the summer months. Following these tips will make sure your home stays safe and in great shape.  

1. Check your smoke detectors and change their batteries. Keeping your smoke detectors in working order is crucial, so be sure to test and replace their batteries regularly. If you don’t want to be woken up in the middle of the night by a dying alarm, or find yourself faced with a far more serious situation, you must stay on top of this critical maintenance task. 
   
2. Have your air conditioning inspected. Our A/C units are most active during the summer, so this time of year is an especially important time for these systems to be functioning at maximum efficiency. 
   
3. Get your grill serviced. Our climate tends to cause grills to rust, so having your grill serviced can be a worthwhile investment. 
   
4. Maintain your windows. Checking for wood rot, cleaning your screens, and wiping down the glass are all important maintenance tasks. 
   
5. Make any necessary repairs to your deck. Things like changing out loose boards, replacing screws, and adding a new finish will keep your deck safe and looking great.  
   
6. Check your faucets. With as much water as people use in the summer months, it’s essential for homeowners to keep their propertys’ faucets and plumbing in working order.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

How Will the Fed's Recent Decision Influence the Market?

The Fed’s recent decision is going to have a big impact on our economy and real estate market. Here is everything you need to know.

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The Fed just announced a move that will have a big impact on sellers and buyers.

At the recent meeting on September 20th, the Fed decided to cut back their balance sheet. While this might sound boring compared to the usual news of Fed rate hikes, it’s actually a big deal.

The financial crisis we saw a decade ago caused the Fed to take emergency measures. So, they injected a huge amount of money into the economy by buying up various financial assets in an enormous sum.

These financial assets amounted to a sum of about 25% of the United States economy at that time. But now, the economy has recovered to the point where the Fed feels comfortable taking some of this money back.

As you can imagine, this is going to have a huge impact on our economy and real estate market. This change is going to put upward pressure on consumer borrowing costs such as mortgage rates.

This change is going to put upward pressure on consumer borrowing costs such as mortgage rates.

In other words, if you are thinking of buying a home you should know that the Fed’s most recent move will eventually make it more expensive to do so.

Also, sellers must be aware that this change could result in fewer interested buyers. This might lead to a decrease in prices, making it harder to sell.

However, this is not an immediate change. The rollback will be gradual, with the Fed taking back just $10 billion per month. Compared to the $4.5 trillion total that was borrowed originally, this is not a significant amount.

While the Fed’s move will not take effect immediately, you should act quickly if you have been thinking of buying or selling. Now is the time to make your move before the process of this change starts to escalate.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

A Few Things to Remember Before the Next Hurricane

As we continue to recover from Hurricane Irma, we’re making sure that next time a storm like this comes along we are prepared.

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We had a close call with Hurricane Irma. Although many of us lost power, we faired pretty well considering the scope of things. However, we realized that after this storm we need to be better prepared. There will be another storm like this someday. Maybe it will be in one year, maybe it will be in 10. Either way, we’ve got to be prepared. Here’s what we’ve got on our list:

1. Storm shutters. If you don’t already have impact windows, you need to get them.

2. Generators. Pick those up now while the lines are short. There are over 50,000 people without power right now, including some of us. A generator can help keep your food and your family cool at the very least.

3. Flood insurance. There are a lot of places where it’s optional, but for just a few hundred bucks it’s a worthwhile investment for anyone near flood zones.

4. A crank radio or solar-powered radio.

It’s time to get rid of any tree that could reach your home.

5. Trees. If you’ve got any kind of tree that can reach your house, it’s time to get rid of it if the storm didn’t do it for you already. These knocked over trees are the reason a lot of people lost power.

We were lucky to avoid the brunt of the damage, but we won’t be taking any chances next time. If you have any questions for us in the meantime or any real estate needs we can help fulfill, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.