HomeKeepr Blog

When buying a new home, there’s a lot more that goes into the process than just signing some forms and picking up the keys. One of the big steps that you’ll typically take is getting a home inspection to identify any potential issues with the property. While this is common, most of the time it’s not actually required; while lenders will generally insist on an appraisal of the home, this isn’t a full inspection. So does that mean you can skip getting an actual home inspection as a part of the home-buying process?

Chances are, you use the internet for a number of different things during the course of your day. The internet plays a key role in everything from gaming and entertainment to social interaction and even work these days, so it’s important that you have a reliable internet connection. Depending on the layout and even the materials used in your house, though, it isn’t always easy to stay connected everywhere within the home.

Additions can be a good way to get more functionality out of your home. Your addition might be an extra bedroom for your expanding family, a home office to provide you with a space to work from home, or even a sunroom or hobby area. Your add-on might even be a way to add more space to existing rooms, removing or extending walls to let your current kitchen, bedroom, or other area flow seamlessly into your new addition. There are just so many possibilities.

Whether you’re adding a shed to your property, expanding with a new room, or building an entire house, the cost of lumber is likely going to affect your plans. Though not quite as high as it peaked early in the pandemic, buying lumber in any quantity still isn’t exactly what one would call a cheap endeavor. There may be a bright side to all of this, however; the high cost of lumber is highlighting the fact that there are actually a few alternatives to wood out there that you might not have thought of.

Cottage-style kitchens are an increasingly popular option when it comes to creating an attractive yet functional kitchen layout. These cottage kitchens usually rely on an open layout so that everything is easily accessible regardless of what you need. In lieu of bulky cabinets and endless drawers, these kitchens make heavy use of open shelving and pegboards to hold everything. It can be a very attractive look for your kitchen and a pretty functional layout as well, but if you’re not careful, it’s also an invitation for chaos.

Though it’s not as common as traditional furnace setups, some homes feature a furnace that’s installed in either the attic of the house or in a crawl space. It might seem at first that this would be inconvenient compared to standard furnace locations, and in some ways it can be. There are some advantages to having an attic-mounted furnace or a furnace in the crawl space, however. If you’re thinking of buying a home (or recently bought one) that makes use of one of these alternate furnace locations, it was probably done to take advantage of one or more of these factors.

Having pets can enrich your life in a number of ways and can even improve your overall mental health and wellbeing. Unfortunately, not every home is really set up for pets. By making some improvements to your home and its layout, you can make it much more pet friendly, and help keep your furry (or scaly or feathery) friends safe and happy as you spend your time together.

With the time getting ready to change and the days getting longer, there are a lot of reminders that spring is right around the corner. Unfortunately for your outdoor plants, it might not be quite close enough to save them from a few more chilly nights. Depending on where you live, you may still have to deal with the occasional frost or overnight freeze for at least another month or possibly longer. This can cause significant problems for a lot of plants, and can really set back your landscaping and gardening plans if you wait until the danger of freezing is completely gone before putting things out.

Nobody wants to have to file a homeowner’s insurance claim. After all, filing a claim means that something has gone horribly wrong at home. Maybe it’s damage from a storm, or a frozen pipe that burst, or some other unexpected problem. Whatever the cause, the damage was severe enough that you need to make a claim on the policy that up until now you’d hoped would never actually have to be used.