Preferred Properties of Texas

The Preferred way to buy & sell property for over 25 years

Expensive Mistakes Your Making on Your Home

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Homes cost a lot of money to maintain. But are you spending extra money unnecessarily on upkeep?

Traditional Light Bulbs. If you still have incandescent light bulbs in your home, you could be throwing a lot of money away every month on inflated electric bills. Over its life span, an incandescent bulb can use $180 worth of electricity. A CFL will only use $41 worth of electricity over the same time period. Even better is the LED bulb, which only uses $30 per bulb.

Leaky Faucet. A leaky faucet can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year, which is enough water to take more than 180 showers. Some of us live in areas where water is plentiful, but for those of us in areas plagued with drought, this could be costing you a fortune. Fix or replace your leaky faucet and save a ton on your water bill.

Air Filters. We all sometimes forget to change out the air filters for our HVAC systems or accidentally buy the wrong size. But using the wrong filter or a dirty filter can increase your power bill and cause expensive problems for your furnace down the road. Use the correct filters for your system, and set a reminder to change them after the recommended amount of time. You won’t regret it.

Customizing Temperature. Invest in a customizable thermostat. If you’re away at the office all day, you can program your heater to shift down a few degrees while you’re gone and then shift back up shortly before you return home. Heating or cooling an empty home wastes a lot of money in energy costs.

Air Vents. Is one room in your home hot, while the others are cold? Oftentimes homeowners will crank up the air conditioning in the whole house to combat hot temperatures in one area. Instead, adjust air vents to direct the flow of air more evenly throughout your entire home. Professionals will come regulate this to ensure that your entire home is receiving the same amount of air conditioning or heating.

Over Watering Lawn. Many homeowners have their sprinkler systems programmed to come on in the early morning hours for optimum lawn health. This can become a problem, however, if you’re never around to see what you’re actually watering. A broken sprinkler head could be causing a fountain, or the trajectory of your sprinkler may be directed at a fence instead of your lawn. Periodically run your sprinklers during the day so you can see how they are performing when you’re not around.

Water Heater Temperature. Unless you have a tankless water heater, your water heater is keeping the water in its tank hot 24/7. If you don’t keep an eye on the temperature as each season changes, you may be paying too much to heat your water. Decrease the temperature in the summer, and bump it back up when winter comes.

Leaky Windows and Doors. Leaky windows and doors are great places for cold, winter winds to enter your home. Many homeowners simply ignore them and crank up their heaters. Caulk leaky windows and put rubber seal around doors to keep winter winds out and warmth in.

Handyman. Don’t pay a handyman for a job that is simple enough to do yourself. If you’re unsure of how to do something, look up video tutorials online. Doing simple tasks yourself can save you a lot of money.

Curled Shingles. If you see any possible issues with your roof, repair them as soon as possible, as this will save you significant costs later. Don’t ignore problems on your roof!

Why Leaves are Valueable to the Gardener

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When incorporated into soil, fall leaves:

  • Add nutrients, including phosphorous and potassium
  • Increase the soil’s microbial life
  • Boost its water-holding capacity
  • Improve its structure, known as tilth

Together, shredded leaves and grass clippings add carbon (leaves) and nitrogen (grass) to the soil, reducing your need to add store-bought fertilizers later.

Use a mulching mower. If there’s a bag, take it off and mow with the discharge chute facing toward the lawn, so the clippings blow on the grass instead of on the street or driveway. Set the mower height at about 3 inches. Make another pass if the leaves are still in big pieces. The shredded leaves should sit no more than ¾ inch deep on the grass. Over the winter they will break down into the soil and be gone by spring.

You can incorporate whole or chopped leaves into any cleared-out vegetable beds. They will mostly decompose over the winter, then in spring you can mix in whatever is left. If you don’t want to see leftover leaves in your beds, shred them first.

Don’t have a shredder? A garbage can and a string trimmer will work. Use a 55-gallon garbage can. Fill it three-quarters of the way with leaves. Put the string trimmer in, turn it on and move it through the layers of leaves. Be sure to wear eye and ear protection.

Leaf mold is simply wet leaves that have decomposed into a rich, black, soil-like substance that makes a perfect mulch for plants. Pile the leaves in a spot where they’re out of the way and won’t blow away. Or make large (3- or 4-foot) circles of chicken wire, 3 feet high, and pile the leaves in them. Wet the leaves as you go so they’ll rot. Turning the pile a few times during the winter will accelerate the process.

 Mix Leaves — Shredded or Not — Into a Compost Pile Now, Where They’ll Break Down Over Winter

Even better: Stockpile dried leaves, in garbage bags or piled in that out-of-the-way place, for summer. In warm weather there’s an abundance of succulent green material (nitrogen) for your compost pile. But to keep the composting process aerobically working, and not rotting, it needs lots of “browns” (carbon), in the form of dried material.

When the weather turns cold and potted plants (the hardy ones, not houseplants or tropicals, which must be brought indoors) go dormant, pick a sheltered place on the north, west or east side of your house. Cluster the pots together against the house, ideally beneath an overhang. Pile dried leaves over, under and between the entire grouping of pots.

If the area is windy, corral the pots with chicken wire so the leaves won’t blow away. Pile the leaves inches deep, covering the pot and as much of the plant as possible. Under this insulating blanket, both plants and pots should come through the winter just fine. With this method, even terra-cotta pots can stay outdoors, as long as water can’t get into them and freeze.

The worst thing you can do with fall leaves? Burn them. Most municipalities have banned leaf burning, and for good reason. Burning leaves pollutes the air, causes problems for people with respiratory illnesses and creates a fire hazard. Besides, as you can see, there are so many more worthwhile things to do with leaves.

Is Carpet In or Out?

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The choice between hard surfaces and carpeting in the home has always shifted back and forth. In the 1940s, hardwood reigned supreme. In the 1970s, carpets took over with trendy options like sculptured or shag carpets. When considering what’s in style now, particularly if you are buying or remodeling a home, you can weigh several options. Let’s take a closer look at popular choices.

 

Refinishing Hardwood Floors

If your home has hardwood floors, especially the original floor, it would be a worthwhile investment to refinish them. When buying a new house, look at what’s under the carpet to see whether the hardwood is worth keeping. Then create a strategy to refinish them. If the floors require a lot of work, it’s best to hire a professional. Otherwise, you may be able to give them a light sand and seal.

Installing Engineered Floors

Carpet isn’t an option for a lot of people, in some cases, because of pets or allergies. Some people simply don’t like the look or feel of carpeting. In any case, several alternatives to hardwood floors can work well. Engineered floors come in a variety of styles, including a wood-look. The price of engineered floors can vary depending on what you want.

Selecting Natural or Eco-Friendly Carpet

A big carpet trend right now is natural or eco-friendly carpeting. The manufacturing process as well as the materials used can create a sustainable and durable product for the home. If this is the direction you want to go, look for natural fibers or recycled materials.

Opting for Bold Color and Patterns

You may recall a time when carpeting made a statement. The shag and sculpture carpets of the 1960s and 1970s eventually gave way to the bland, neutral carpeting that dominated the market in the 1990s and 2000s. Today, people are returning to more colors and patterns in their carpeting choices.

Call us today to talk more about current home flooring trends.

 

 

Organize Your Home This Holiday Season

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This holiday season may be different this year. Huge gatherings of family, friends and colleagues may not occur. A lot people may not fly to see loved ones because of stress surrounding congested airports. Individuals who generally enjoy holiday shopping in crowded retail shops may rather make gift purchases online. Some may prefer to not donate or get baked products. Given this year’s holiday festivities may be restricted, you may discover you have additional time available for getting organized. If this is the case, I suggest decluttering and organizing the equipment you use for hosting and entertaining guests so you’ll be ready for holiday enjoyable in future decades.

  1. Clean out your Cookbooks

A lot people search for recipe inspiration on the internet nowadays. If that is true for you, then you might be consulting with your cookbooks less often. Maybe it’s possible to let a while by devoting them to your preferred charity.

2. Declutter Your Own Baking Supplies

A lot of individuals seldom take inventory of the baking supplies. Maybe you bought a particular pan to earn a specific dessert and have not used it because. Perhaps you have multiple cupcake tins which you used just when your college-age kids were in elementary school. Or you might have acquired things as presents or hand-me-downs which have sat unused at the back of a cupboard for several years. Think about donating these fresh things taking up valuable cupboard space. Also have a look at frequently used things such as cookie sheets or loaf pans which might have reached the end of the operational life. Maybe it is possible to take advantage of this opportunity to store online sales and substitute them.

3. Sift Through Your Baking Ingredients

If you realize that you aren’t baking just as much this holiday season, think about using the excess time to critique the expiration dates of baking goods on your pantry. I recommend that if you start a baking thing, you write the date on the package so that you can keep tabs on how much time it was available.

Aged spices lose their taste, so think about pitching any that have passed their expiry date.

Entire spices: a Few years
Ground sweeteners : 2 to four years
Ground and entire leafy vegetables : 2 to 3 years

4. Organize Guest Bedding & Bath Supplies

An area animal shelter could be a fantastic place to donate exhausted or excess equipment; call the shelter to learn. Also have a peek at the toiletries you might have stored for guests. A number of my customers keep hotel-size shampoo and toilet goods in amounts so big, it might take years to utilize them.

Eliminate all party supplies in their storage places in your house and examine your stash as a whole. (be certain to protect the table using a blanket or towels) Then separate your celebration items by class. By way of instance, put candles in 1 paper and group goods in a different. Toss anything that’s stained or beyond repair. Also consider removing out of the celebration supplies for any stray items like some leftover napkins out of the kid’s ladybug-theme party many years back, or two or one paper plates out of the sister’s baby shower. Store these things with your regular cups and plates so that they are sometimes used. Think about donating any costume decoration, candle holders or alternative celebration decorations which you don’t intend to use again.

6. Winnow Your Own Drinkware

As you might not be fun as often that this holiday season, today might be a fantastic time to form your own collection. A fantastic objective is to earn space in your house for the contents of your boxes and have greater access to your own supply. I advise that you reflect in your amusement fashion and frequency and think about that cocktails and wines you are inclined to function.
Although variety-specific wineglasses can be found, if you are not a wine connoisseur, you could keep a small choice of universal eyeglasses. If you’re not sure which kind of eyeglasses you have, do a little bit of internet research before you choose which to keep. In the same way, if you aren’t a cocktail aficionado however have a collection of cocktail glasses, consider exploring to find out more about your collection and what you really need. Additionally you may want to forego any chipped eyeglasses or single bits which aren’t a part of a set.

7. Edit Your Favorite Platters and Bowls

Serving pieces could be big and bulky. You could have the ability to donate those that you do not use.
Consider letting go of whatever that’s broken, takes up a lot of space or serves just 1 purpose. As an example, a huge base cake rack is awkward to put away and doesn’t have multiple applications. If you don’t use it regularly, you may want to give it.

8. Pare Down Your Own Holiday Decorations

A lot people receive decorations as gifts and depart old, less popular decoration packed with storage containers year in, year out. Whenever you’re ready to decorate this year, open all of your boxes and rate your stockpile as a whole. In case you haven’t used a decoration or a tabletop decoration for many decades, consider donating it. Let go of items which you don’t actually like, and throw whatever’s damaged or broken.
Replace burned-out bulbs and get rid of strands which don’t function correctly.
Decluttering these things can really help others who might be in need. Should you give your unwanted decoration to a local charity prior to Thanksgiving, maybe somebody else can use this year.

 

4 REASONS TO BUY A HOME AFTER SCHOOL STARTS

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Ah, fall. The return of all things pumpkin-spiced, cooler weather and the new school year (which this mom is thrilled about). It’s also an opportune time to buy a home and possibly snag a great deal in the process.

Buyer demand begins to wane this time of the year, which means motivated home sellers are more likely to play ball with you in negotiations. If you didn’t find the right home during the busy summer season, or if you’re just starting the process as a first-time homebuyer, here are four reasons why buying a home after school is back in session might be the best move you’ll make this year.

1. Less competition

Once school starts, there are fewer buyers to compete with on your offer. Most families prefer to move before their darlings head back to school. Also, cooler weather drives down demand. In fact, from now until February, buyers have more leverage than during the rest of the year because there’s still a large amount of inventory relative to the time of year, says Jonathan Smoke, Realtor.com’s chief economist.

In 2015, sales of existing single-family homes nationwide declined 3.7% from 4.86 million in July to 4.68 million in October, according to the National Association of Realtors. Granted, if you live in a market with a tight inventory and brisk sales (such as San Francisco and Seattle), you still might face stiff competition. But in markets like Indianapolis or St. Louis, you’ll see a lot less gladiator-style jostling and more chances to negotiate with sellers when you buy a home.

2. Prices match market value

If homes listed during the busy summer months didn’t sell, chances are that they were overpriced. That means homebuyers will see prices fall more in line with market value, says Mark Goldman, a real estate instructor at San Diego State University and a loan officer with C2 Financial Corp.

For example, in 2015, the U.S. median sale price dropped 5.5% from $233,400 in July to $220,600 in October, according to NAR.

Working with a real estate agent who can assess asking prices can help you avoid overpaying, Goldman says. If you want to buy a home that’s priced higher than what your agent estimates to be appropriate, submit an offer that’s in line with market value and with comparable sales data attached to back it up.

3. Time on market

Another issue that works against sellers (but favors buyers) is the length of time a home has been on the market. The longer a home sits unsold, the more bargaining power a buyer has, Smoke says. Also, inventory tends to increase from summer to fall because homes aren’t selling as quickly. Active listings on Realtor.com remained for a median of 65 days in May and June. But in August, that number was projected to increase to 72 days. That shouldn’t dissuade potential buyers from considering a home, Smoke says.

“If the home and location seem to fit, don’t cross it off your list just because of the time of the year or the time on market,” Smoke says. “There will always be sellers who need to put their home on the market.” Also, the services related to buying — moving, buying furniture, signing up for cable — tend to be discounted toward the end of the year and during winter, Smoke notes.

4. More flexibility on terms

In a typical seller’s market where bidding wars and multiple offers abound, buyers have little room to ask for concessions. But in a slower selling season, the tables are turned and buyers have the upper hand, Goldman says. In a slower market, you’ll find more flexibility on terms such as:

  • Closing costs.
  • Repairs/cash credits toward repairs.
  • Buyer concession to sell home first.
  • Closing timeline.

Likewise, if you are willing to give a seller more time to close, he or she might sweeten the deal by leaving behind a hot tub or offering a repair credit. If you want to ask for reasonable concessions when you buy a home, this is the time to do it.

 

What to Leave for the Buyers at Closing

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What to Leave for the Buyers at Closing

So you listed your home for sale, accepted an offer and are now under contract. Congratulations! Believe it or not, your closing date is going to be here shortly. As the vendor, you likely agreed to correct a few inspection problems prior to closing. You might also have hired a professional cleaner to make the property spick-and-span for the new buyers. Now that that’s finished, it’s time to start thinking about the actual closing itself. Not sure what to leave for the buyers at closing? We can assist. Below, we have included a list of items that you should consider leaving (or doing to the house ) on closing day.

KEYS

First and foremost, make sure the keys are ready to go on closing day. While the buyers will likely have the home re-keyed eventually, they will still need all copies of the original keys to the home. Give your Realtor the keys on closing day and let him or her handle the hand-off.

A FOLDER OF ANY APPLIANCE WARRANTIES & MANUALS

Keep in mind that when buyers purchased the home, they also purchased all of the appliances inside. You should also leave a folder with any and all warranty information, so that the new residents can fix or replace broken items as soon as possible.

LIST OF VENDORS & SERVICE PROFESSIONALS

New residents may want to use the same people to service the home in order to keep the household running smoothly – at least, in the beginning.  If you feel like going the extra mile, you could also leave a list of any plumbers, electricians or other service professionals you’ve used to service the home on a regular basis.

WINDOW TREATMENTS, MIRRORS, LIGHT FIXTURES & OTHER FEATURES

This means window treatments (think: hardware, curtains, shutters and blinds), bathroom mirrors, shelving, door hardware, kitchen hardware and light fixtures.

REMOTE CONTROLS

Make sure to leave any and all necessary remote controls for the new owners. Label each controller with its corresponding item. Examples of remote controls that should be left for the buyers include any sort of control for ceiling fans, automatic shades, lights, TVs and other electronics that you plan to leave behind. 

A BOX OF EXTRA HARDWARE

Buyers can use the extra hardware to replace any damaged parts down the line. Examples of extra hardware you might have lying around, include kitchen knobs and pulls, screws and anchoring hardware, closet racks and rods, light bulbs that fit certain fixtures and doorknobs. 

INFORMATION FOR HOME AUTOMATION SYSTEM

If you plan to leave your Smart Home products for the new owners, make sure to leave directions and information on resetting the system. It may also be helpful to leave the contact information for the vendor or company that installed the system. 

TURN OFF THE LIGHTS (BUT LEAVE AC ON)

Come closing day, you’ll want to make sure all lights have been turned off inside and outside the property. We recommend leaving the AC on a low setting to keep the property from overheating inside.

POOL SUPPLIES & ACCESSORIES 

If your home has a pool, we recommend leaving  your pool supplies and accessories for the new owners. It might also be a good idea to leave directions and information about how the pool and spa work. At the very least, you should give the new owners contact information for your pool maintenance service professionals.

EXTRA PAINT

If the paint color matches any of the home’s interior or exterior walls, we recommend leaving the cans outside in the backyard or in the garage for the new owners. This can help them know the color of walls or use the paint for any touch-ups needed.

 

Preferred Properties of Texas

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