Jul 9, 2013 | Around The Home
Winter may have taken a toll on your home’s exterior this year. You’ve been noticing the cracking paint for months, but you don’t want to shell out the big bucks to hire a professional painter.
Don’t fret! With the weather warming and the nice summer weekends, it’s the perfect time to tackle that project of painting your home.
While this might seem like an insurmountable task, especially if you have a multi-story home, it’s not. It just takes the right tools and a bit of hard work. Below are step-by-step instructions to having the outside of your house looking shiny and new.
Test For Lead
Homes built before 1978 could have used lead paint, so be careful if you have an older home. They make kits that test for lead paint. If your home tests positive, then ensure you take the necessary precautions to keep yourself and your neighbors safe.
Scrub It Up
You need to wash the exterior of your home before painting. Mildew thrives under new paint, so kill it with a solution of water and phosphate-free cleaner.
Scrape And Sand
Take a scraper to your home’s exterior to remove any peeling paint. Spraying water under the paint as you scrape helps speed up the process. Then sand down any rough spots, so that you have a smooth canvas.
Apply The Primer
Paint on the primer immediately after you’ve prepped the wood. This will provide and even base for your topcoat of paint.
Buy Some Caulk
You’ll need to caulk all the joints to prevent water penetration and air leakage. Plus, caulk does a great job of filling in blemishes in your siding.
Pick Out Your Paint
Choose a water-based latex paint. It’s easier than applying oil-based paints. However, if your home already has an oil-based paint, you’ll have to stay with it. Once you’ve selected your favorite paint color, just grab a brush or rent a sprayer to start painting your home.
Maintain your exterior.
Be sure to check your home annually for any potential problems. Replace cracked caulk, remove mildew and patch any peeling paint before it spreads.
Utilize the beautiful summer weekends to get started on painting your home. Understand that this process normally takes two weekends, so be patient. Plus, by not hiring a professional, you’ll save a significant sum of money and have bragging rights when you receive compliments on the condition of your home.
Jul 5, 2013 | Around The Home
The summer heat is starting to take its toll on you and your thirsty lawn. Homeowners spend hundreds of dollars every summer striving to grow healthy grass and keep it green.
If you’re sick of trying to maintain a manicured lawn, then you can go green another way. Install artificial turf.
The Grass is Always Greener
Today’s artificial grass is made out of polypropylene, nylon, or polyethylene threads that are sewn into a mesh backing that allows for water drainage. This is then usually laid on top of compacted gravel and tied down at the perimeter. Modern artificial lawns can mimic many varietals of grass and some even have a thatch layer to give it a more realistic look.
Sick Of Maintenance
Homeowners have many reasons for wanting to be free of their demanding lawns, such as high summer water bills and the constant use of pesticides. With a fake lawn, you won’t have to water, which is especially good for high-heat areas, you won’t have to mow and you can quit worrying about how the weather will affect it.
Considering The Costs
While installing artificial grass can cost a bit up front, it’ll be maintenance free for the next 15 to 20 years. You won’t have to worry about water bills, purchasing grass seed, buying fertilizer or getting gas for the lawnmower, which can add up to a couple hundred dollars every year.
Potential Drawbacks
While a maintenance-free yard does have some appeal, there are a few drawbacks to take into consideration. Fake lawns don’t absorb pet waste, so you have to hose them off regularly.
They can also heat up in direct sunlight. Planting shade trees will help with this issue. And, artificial lawns cannot be recycled, which is an issue that the industry is looking to remedy.
Saving water and reducing the use of pesticides is great for the environment. However, you have to like the look of artificial grass and make sure you’re ready for the investment.
If you’ve been considering going green by switching to year-round green grass, talk with a local installer for grass options and cost comparisons.
Jun 21, 2013 | Around The Home
Spring has sprung and today is the first official day of summer. If you are finally finding time to tend your garden, don’t feel guilty — just get dirty!
In one June weekend, you can have your yard looking colorful and smelling sweet. All it takes is a shovel, a design idea and a knowledgeable trip to a greenhouse.
Whether a rose is your favorite or you know nothing about flowers, you can make you yard beautiful without being a professional landscaper. Below are several types of flowers that will have your garden looking gorgeous this summer and you blushing from all your neighbors’ compliments.
Snowdrift Rose – The perfumed petals of this vigorous plant will provide a pleasant scent to your outdoors. Also, the stems are nice and long for cutting and creating indoor arrangements.
Black-Eyed Susan – After these vivid yellow flowers have bloomed, cut them back in order to ensure a second round of blossoms.
Dwarf Sunflower – If you love the large varietal, but don’t have the room, consider this smaller cousin.
English Lavender – This dark blue and purple flower is a tough plant that does well in even the hottest of climates.
Hydrangea – To take up more space, these little shrubs produce beautiful white clusters of flowers that fade to shades of pink and green.
Marigold – These traditional crimson blooms grow low and spread quickly, which makes them the perfect plant for a flowerbed border.
Petunia – The newer varieties of these full-sun flowers are low maintenance because they self-clean. The old blooms drop off without you needing to prune.
Summersweet – If you have a shady spot, this pink or white plant with its gold colored leaves will have the space feeling vibrant.
Zinnia – These long-lasting yellow, red and orange flowers will bloom well into fall.
A rose can be red, violets are blue — but you don’t have to feel that way about your garden.
Take one weekend this month to tame your flowerbeds, introduce a few budding plants and enjoy their fragrant scents for the rest of the summer.
Jun 14, 2013 | Around The Home
Whenever a scene in a film or television show takes place in a private home, have you ever thought about who owns that property? Well, it could be you!
The fact is that film and television production companies are always on the lookout for new locations where they can shoot their footage. If you advertise your property in the right way, your home could have its 15 minutes of fame as the set for a film or a television show episode.
Many production companies have been gradually switching over the last few years into filming at ‘authentic’ private properties rather than in film sets and studios.
You don’t have to own a stunning mansion or a historic property to rent out your home as a film location. Film and TV location scouts are looking for a wide range of different homes, from small condos to townhouses to log cabins and any other style of dwelling.
Turning Your Home Into Hollywood
Of course, the obvious advantage of renting out your property as a film location is that you can get paid hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars per day just for letting a film crew take over your kitchen or dining room. Also, you will have the prestige and excitement of being able to meet celebrities and see your home featured on the big screen.
However, the process may disrupt your routine for a day or two or possibly longer. The film crew might want to move furniture around and you might even find yourself having to move out for a while. If you need to stay in a hotel during filming, make sure that the amount you are getting paid is enough to compensate for the costs of accommodation.
If you think that renting out your home as a film set sounds like a good idea for you, there are a number of different websites where you can list the property and post photos. Sometimes your real estate professional can help refer you to a specialist in the local area who consistently works with location scouts and producers.
When you are making the arrangements, make sure that you draft up a contract that states your fee, how long the filming will take, the type of production and an agreement to return your house to the original state that it was found in.
If you are interested in purchasing a Massachusetts home that could be film-worthy, please give us a call!
Jun 12, 2013 | Around The Home
Filing your taxes can be a complicated and confusing process. If you are a home owner you may have many different home tax deductions and credits to consider.
Since we recently passed the filing date for 2012 taxes, it may be a good time to plan for next year and get your tax tracking systems in place. Check carefully to make sure that you are not making any of these common homeowner tax mistakes – which could cost you money or get you in trouble with the IRS.
Miscalculating Your Home Office Tax Deduction
If you work from home, you will be able to deduct a percentage of your housing costs for your home office. However, most people don’t know how to calculate this and don’t realize that it also has to be recaptured when you eventually sell your home. You will only want to claim it if it is worth it, so make sure you know exactly what you can write off.
Failing To Keep Track Of Home Expenses
Don’t forget to keep a record of home maintenance, repair expenses and any other relevant documents as you go along. The money you spend on improving your property can help offset future capital gains tax. Keeping good records will save you a lot of headaches when tax time comes around.
Forgetting To Pay Tax On Capital Gains
If you have sell your primary residence this year, you will need to pay capital gains tax on any profit that you have received. Capital gains are the amount that you gained on the property’s value – so if you bought it for $150,000 and sold it for $300,000, your capital gains are $150,000. You may be able to exclude $250,000 of any profits for taxes, or $500,000 if you are a married couple if this exclusion stays the same as in 2012.
Deducting The Wrong Year For Property Taxes
Remember that you must take the tax deduction for your property taxes in the year that you have actually paid them. No matter what the date is on your property taxes bill, you should enter the amount that you paid in the calendar year. If you confuse this part, you might end up claiming the incorrect amount for the year.
These are just a few of the common mistakes that home owners can make when filing their taxes. Avoiding these mistakes will ensure that you pay the right amount and avoid any hassle from the IRS. Also, please double-check all of these suggestions with a qualified, licensed tax preparer in the Worcester County area area.
Jun 7, 2013 | Around The Home
Imagine walking into your home and turning off the alarm, locking your doors, opening the windows and starting your coffee maker, all with a few taps of your finger on your smart phone?
What if you had a home security camera that you could monitor from anywhere and a motion sensor that would send you an email when your kids come home from school? What if you could open your blinds or unlock your home for a visitor, even from halfway around the world?
The technology that powers our home security systems is getting more and more sophisticated and in the future, our homes will be more responsive than we could ever imagine.
Rather than a simple line of defense that keeps out burglars, it will be a completely integrated and custom designed automated system that responds intelligently to your needs.
Here are a few of the upcoming technology innovations:
Smart Home Technology
At the moment, prototypes are being developed for integrated home security systems that have individual Internet protocols that can address everything from a fridge to a window to a door. Even your home appliances, like your refrigerator, air conditioning systems and lighting systems may be able to be managed remotely through a smart phone.
This connectivity essentially gives everything in your house an Internet address, so that you can control them and monitor them digitally. Once the system is linked up it can be controlled remotely by Blackberry, Apple or Android.
The 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year showcased a number of smart phone apps and devices designed to control everything within your home so that you can master the household with the click of a button.
The Future Is Still On Its Way
Although the technology is being rapidly developed, there is still a long way to go until we all live in automated houses like on The Jetsons. One underlying and yet unsolved issue is the security systems inability to function in a power outage or with bandwidth and connectivity challenges.
There are also many different conflicting operating systems, setups, standards and approaches that will need to be worked out before the dream of a fully automated Massachusetts home can become a reality.
Even so, the technological advances being made in home security and management systems are impressive and exciting to learn more about.
