With autumn comes cooler weather and the need to do home maintenance if you want to be safe and warm this winter. Here are a few items to put on your list. Have your furnace inspected. Ideally, you should have your furnace serviced and cleaned before you need to fire it...
As April showers make way for May flowers, it’s time to start tackling annual upkeep to keep your home in prime condition. You can start by grabbing a pad and pencil, and walking around your house to note all the miscellaneous maintenance needed in the coming months: the board in your...
Summer is the perfect time to take on a few home maintenance projects, so before the sunshine gives way to fall showers, here are some recommendations. If you see peeling, cracked, or chipped paint, consider painting the exterior of your home to protect the siding underneath. Now’s also a great time...
Once winter weather hits in California, the housing market slows: homeowners don’t want to spend time outside sprucing up their property in cold, wet conditions and this weather usually means the holidays are approaching—when most people would rather spend time with family than focus on selling their home. It’s much...
Many people, including some REALTORs, think winter is a terrible time to buy or sell a house (or any other property). Between the cold, wet weather and the holiday distractions, REALTORs sometimes recommend that their clients wait until spring to dive into the market. This is not necessarily good advice. I...
Many renters are under the mistaken impression that they cannot afford to buy a house. Some believe they need a substantial down payment; others believe they cannot afford the monthly expenses of home ownership. While these assumptions may be true, it’s best to review the facts before crossing home ownership...
Last week, I shared some of the smart-home innovations made possible by modern technology, things like thermostats you can adjust with your cell phone regardless of your location, and smart doors and doorbells that allow you to unlock your door automatically or respond to a visitor at your door without...
In 1898, the commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office, Charles Holland Duell, reportedly said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” Wouldn’t he be surprised if he attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas each January to see all the latest tech creations? For decades, technology has developed at...
As flowers bloom and the weather warms, it’s time to think about spring cleaning and annual home maintenance. Whether you gather family members for a long work weekend or chip away a little at a time, maintaining your property protects your investment. One of the smartest things you can do each spring...
There’s a wonderful children’s book series by Laura Numeroff, the first of which is If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. It goes through the problems of giving a mouse a cookie: if you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll probably want a glass of milk. If you give him milk,...
