As a homeowner, or soon to be homeowner, you can get some pretty sweet tax deductions from things related to your home. Some tend to change from year to year, like those for energy-efficient upgrades, others are pretty stable, like being able to deduct mortgage interest.
You’ve finally done it! You have a house under contract and you’re doing the paperwork to get your mortgage lined up. When your Realtor calls to ask you who you want to use for your home inspection, you freeze. Your brain has to go back and repeat that part. You get to pick your own home inspector? How do you even go about doing that?
When you bought the house with the pool, it looked like it was going to be all fun in the sun and splishin’ and-a splashin’, but now that the first signs of fall are appearing (the emergence of Pumpkin Spice signals just six more weeks of summer), it’s time to figure out how to protect that pool through the winter.
So there you are, minding your own business while having a shave over the bathroom sink, when you see it. The water. It’s not draining. And your sink is threatening to overflow. You turn off the faucet and consider your options. Option 1: You freak out and start screaming. Option 2: You find a useful blog much like this one and learn how to handle a drain clog on your own.
As summer slowly gives way to fall, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to clean up all the mess that’s accumulated around your house. You know the kind: algae growing on your siding, dirt and dust that’s discoloring your sidewalk and whatever that black stuff is on your deck.
Way back in 2012, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was being phased in. One of the most useful -- and controversial -- results was that old fashioned light bulbs had to be reinvented. All light bulbs manufactured after the phase out dates, which varied from state to state, had to use 25 percent less energy than their ancestors.
Home values are determined through a complicated series of calculations roughly based on the cost of actual construction plus value-adds like proximity to shopping and other conveniences. The prices that other nearby homes have sold for in the past are also taken into consideration. Formulas are applied, mysterious algorithms are run.
You found the perfect home. It’s gorgeous, energy efficient, in a great neighborhood and well within your budget. You wonder to yourself, “why is this perfect home still on the market?” Then you read the disclosures. Your perfect pad has a serious radon problem.
Your new home has an amazingly huge closet, but a startling lack of places to hang stuff. Sure, you could pile all your extra clothing, shoes and accessories in the corner, or move your antique dressers into the empty space, but there’s probably a better solution. Why not try a closet storage system?