How to Keep Your Sanity When Remodeling Your Home

Remodeling your home can transform it into a more comfortable and functional living space for your family, but the process can be filled with unforeseen issues and stress. Homeowners often experience family tensions, insomnia and other problems as their homes undergo renovations. Here are some tips to help you manage:

Choose a Contractor Carefully
The most important thing to do is to hire the right contractor. Thoroughly research several companies and ask about their experience, qualifications, licenses and insurance. Check references and find out if a company has received complaints or been sued.

Ask how many people would work on your project at any given time and for how many hours and days per week. Contractors often take on several projects at once and split their time or crews between worksites. This can stretch out the time needed to complete each project.

Control Costs
Contractors sometimes suggest additional upgrades on top of what the homeowner requested. Customers may be persuaded to make improvements they hadn’t initially considered since walls, floors and other parts of the house will be removed anyway and it would be easier for the contractor to make other changes. Don’t agree to additional work you don’t need or particularly want simply because the contractor suggests it.

While controlling the cost of your renovation is important, be prepared to go over budget. A contractor may give you a detailed and reasonable estimate, but after renovations start, workers could uncover mold, electrical or plumbing problems, or other issues they couldn’t have anticipated that need to be addressed. Build some room into your budget so that you’ll be prepared for unexpected costs.

Communicate With the Contractor and With Your Family
Ask the contractor questions so that you know what will be done each day, each week and each month, and how your family will be impacted. If there’s a problem, raise the issue immediately with the contractor in a calm and clear way.

Talk to your family, particularly young children, about what will be done to the house and how renovations will affect daily life. Kids can easily feel overwhelmed and act out if they don’t understand what is happening and why. At the same time, be sure to discuss any scheduling and budget issues, and your stress level, honestly with your spouse.

Consider Living Somewhere Else
If possible, you might want to temporarily move out of your house while it’s being remodeled. Staying in a hotel or with a family member or friend might help you avoid chaos at home and allow the contractors to complete the work faster since they won’t need to work around your family’s schedule.

Keep Calm
Having your house remodeled can be stressful, particularly if you’re having multiple projects done over a period of several weeks or months. Be clear about what you do and don’t want, be prepared for unforeseen problems, communicate clearly with the contractor and your family, and consider temporarily relocating to manage the stress.

Will Filing a Homeowners Insurance Claim Raise Your Rates?

Homeowners insurance is designed to protect you in the event of storm damage, a fire, theft, vandalism or an accident on your property that results in injuries. If something happens, you may think that you should file a claim to cover repairs or medical bills, but you might be better off paying out of pocket.

How Filing a Claim Could Affect Your Premiums

Filing a homeowners insurance claim would probably raise your rates. The increase could be significant and could last for several years. The amount of the claim might not matter at all. Your insurance company could raise your rates simply because you submitted a claim. Filing a second claim within a relatively short period of time could raise your premiums even further.

Your premiums could rise skyrocket for certain types of claims. For example, if you filed a liability claim because someone was hurt on your property, the company would consider your home a higher-than-average risk. Claims for theft and vandalism could cause the insurance company to conclude that your neighborhood is dangerous and therefore a higher insurance risk.

Rate hikes can vary widely based on location. Some of that has to do with the risks associated with specific areas, and some of it has to do with whether state laws limit the amount by which insurance companies can raise premiums.

If you filed a homeowners insurance claim and the company raised your rates, you probably wouldn’t be able to get lower premiums by switching companies. Homeowners insurance claims are tracked in a database that all insurance companies use to assess risk and set premiums. If you filed a claim, all companies that accessed your records would consider you a higher risk and would charge you higher premiums than someone who had not filed a claim.

Your Premiums Could Rise Even If You Didn’t File a Claim

Sometimes an event causes major damage over a wide area. A natural disaster, such as a hurricane, can lead to billions of dollars in claims at once. In order to avoid going out of business, an insurance company could raise rates for all policyholders in the area, or even in the entire state, whether they submitted individual claims or not. The costs associated with that disaster would be incorporated into historical data that insurance companies use to set their rates, so premiums could remain high for years.

Should You File a Claim?

Before you file a homeowners insurance claim, think about how it could affect your premiums in the future. If your state doesn’t limit the amount by which insurance companies may raise rates after a claim, your premiums could skyrocket. You could be stuck with higher rates for years and could pay much more over time than you would receive as a payment for your claim. Gather as much information as you can to help you decide whether it makes more sense to file a claim or to pay out of pocket.

Things You Shouldn't Say to a Seller's Agent as a Buyer

Going to open houses as a homebuyer can be fun. You get to look at homes you’d like to potentially buy, imagining how you’ll live there and where your things will go.

You can speak with the real estate agent monitoring the open house to find out more about the property and the price, but there are some things you don’t want to say. After all, the agent is paid to represent the interests of the seller and not yours.

Here are some things you don’t want to say to a seller’s agent:

You Love the House
This seems like a natural and polite thing to say at an open house, but your outward love could prevent the current owners from lowering their price. Their agent may try to get you to pay more than the asking price because you’ve already shown how much you love the house.

You Need to Move Soon
Desperation to find a home because you’re starting a new job in the area or your lease ends soon can give the seller’s agent a reason to raise the price.

Revealing Your Budget
Don’t let on that the home’s listing price is under your budget—either by a specific amount or just in general. This could hurt you in negotiations if the sellers know you can afford to spend more.

Financial Problems
Admitting to a seller’s agent that you have a low credit score, high debt or a past bankruptcy can lead the sellers to thinking you have enough financial problems to prevent you from qualifying for a mortgage. This can end serious negotiations quickly. Keep such problems to yourself and work with your agent and loan provider to overcome them.

Personal Issues
If you recently got a new job, are expecting a child, have a parent moving in with you or have another personal issue that hints at an immediate need to buy a home, leave the information to yourself or only tell your agent. Your personal life should remain just that—personal—and shouldn’t be used against you to get a higher asking price on a home.

What to Expect from a Home Inspection

A home inspection can make or break a transaction. Without it, you wouldn’t know if you’re buying a money pit or a home that will last a lifetime.

Homebuyers are responsible for hiring a professional home inspector, who should uncover possible problems before they buy the home. An offer on a home is often conditional upon a successful inspection.

The inspector should evaluate the physical structure and its critical internal systems. These include:

• Electrical
• Plumbing
• Heating and cooling systems
• Walls, ceiling and flooring
  Windows and doors
• Roof
• Basement
• Attic
• Foundation
• Insulation

There are some things a home inspector may not uncover. These can include hidden problems like pests, mold, asbestos and flaws in areas below ground or that are inaccessible, such as wells and septic tanks. Additional inspections, such as for termites, may be needed for those areas. Some states require a pest inspector before a home loan can close. Even if it’s optional, a pest inspection is a good thing to add as a buyer.

Try to be at the home during the inspection. Follow the inspector around the house and ask questions. You should be able to ask about potential issues and how to make repairs or take care of certain areas of the home.

Don’t chat the inspector up too much. It could distract them from their work and they could miss something. If you can’t be there, meet with them later to go over the report.

Remember that an inspection is only a snapshot of the time and day of the inspection. A home might perform differently in the winter than the summer.

Home inspections are very detailed, so expect to see dozens of issues—many of them small—in the list of deficiencies. The severity of each problem should be listed, and some may even include cost estimates to fix each issue.

If there are too many problems than you’re willing to handle that are found in a home inspection, you can back out of the sale or negotiate with the seller to make the repairs or lower the price.

But not all infractions are equal. If you’re going to negotiate some repairs, focus on the red flag items such as the roof, foundation, HVAC systems or other expensive problems. Don’t worry about small details like a cracked electrical cover or small things that can be easily fixed with a trip to the hardware store.

Why You Should Never Skip Getting Permits for Home Improvements

City, town and county governments across the U.S. require permits for home improvements. This is done to enforce building codes and prevent accidents that could lead to property damage, injuries or death. Depending on the scope of the project, one or more permits may be required. For major renovations, architectural and engineering plans must be submitted. Sometimes homeowners decide to skip the process of obtaining permits to save time and money, but that can be a huge mistake.

Potential Costs of Not Getting Permits
Work that has been completed without a permit and has not been inspected by a professional could be unsafe. Members of your family, friends and others who visit your home could be severely injured or even killed.

Electrical work that wasn’t permitted and approved could lead to a fire that could destroy your home and potentially cause others in the neighborhood to go up in flames. Plumbing problems, gas leaks, roof leaks and structural problems are other possible consequences of having renovations done without a permit.

Your homeowners insurance wouldn’t pay claims for problems caused by work that was done without a permit. That means you’d be financially responsible for those costs, and you might even face criminal charges.

Failing to obtain a permit for home improvements can lead to problems years from now if you try to sell your home. Buyers won’t want to purchase a house that was updated without permits because of the potential for accidents. Also, if they bought the house and someone got injured as a result of shoddy work, their homeowners insurance wouldn’t cover the losses. If the seller didn’t disclose that permits weren’t obtained, the buyer could later sue the former owner.

Unpermitted work has become such a problem that many local governments have cracked down. Inspectors who are dispatched to homes under renovation can issue stop-work orders and fines if the appropriate permits haven’t been obtained. If a past project was completed without a permit, you could be prevented from making other improvements or need to pay for additional work to correct mistakes made by the first contractor and to bring the house up to code.

Beware of Dishonest Contractors
Sometimes homeowners hire contractors for renovations and the contractors agree to obtain permits but fail to do so. The owners may not find out until years later, when someone is hurt or they try to sell the house and discover that the contractor deceived them. In those circumstances, the owners might be able to obtain post-construction permits and take legal action against the contractor.

Always Obtain Necessary Permits
Getting permits for home improvements may cost time and money, but permits are required for a valid reason. They protect homeowners, guests and future buyers from unsafe work that could lead to injuries and financial losses. Don’t skip the process of obtaining a permit, and don’t hire a contractor who suggests doing work without one.

Gimme vs. Giving: Teaching Kids the Meaning of Goodwill

Teaching kids about giving back is a valuable life lesson that can't start too soon. How can parents show their young children how good it feels to do something for someone else? Behavioral experts suggest beginning with the following steps with children under the age of five, and making ‘giving back’ a routine experience as kids get older:

Help kids make gifts. Whether it’s a plate of cookies the child helped bake or a finger-painted picture, what grandparent wouldn’t be thrilled with a handmade offering? For a child, seeing the joy in that grandparent’s face is a good first lesson in how good it feels to give to others.

Encourage gift planning. As children naturally focus on what they want to receive, encourage them to think about what they can give or make for other family members on birthdays, holidays and 'just because'—and, as they get older, they can give to those in need outside the family.

Have them use their own money. Sacrifice is a part of giving. If your child is old enough to get an allowance, he or she is old enough to learn the value—and the gratification—that comes with sharing.

Find and support local projects. Look around your community for ‘sharing’ opportunities: choosing and donating backpacks, coats or toys for local children in need; visiting a local senior facility; or choosing and delivering a carton of foodstuffs to a nearby food pantry. Projects such as these teach the meaning of goodwill, and may bring families closer together. 

How to Make Your Home's Entryway Pop

The entrance of your home says a lot about your character, from interior design to overall aesthetics. Below are some helpful tips for making sure your space wows you and your guests every time.

Kill the clutter. Clutter is a huge no-no in your entryway, as it impacts the entire vibe of your space from the moment you set foot in the door. However, this can be hard, as the entryway is the space you dump your keys, mail, boots and coat. To remedy this, make sure you have designated, tucked away spaces for everything you store at the entrance of your home. Hooks for coats, baskets for mail and a covered bin for shoes can all work wonders.

Add a statement. Placing a beloved piece of art or furniture in the mouth of your home is a great way to appreciate it every time you enter, and can offer a fantastic conversation starter between you and guests.

Have a seat. Whether it’s a plush chair or a simple bench, a seat in your entryway is great for roosting as you tie your shoelaces, and makes a perfect place for attractive accent pillows.

Light it right. Good lighting in your entryway is a must. Add an attractive lighting fixture, set up a dimmer for mood and a floor or table lamp for added options.

Personal touches. Placing photos of your family and pets in your entryway can add a nice personal element and warm your heart every time you pass by.

How to Find Your Home Decor Style

If you're redecorating your home, or moving into your very first space of your own, you're likely considering various home décor styles. But what if you're unsure of your personal space style?

Aside from perusing Pinterest, there are many ways you can "try on" different looks for your home. Consider the following:

Think about your clothing style. Many of us end up incorporating our personal wardrobe style into our home, so this is a good place to start. Is your wardrobe simple and streamlined? Do you love accessories or jewelry? All of these can be great starting spots.

Peruse the stores. Take an afternoon and walk through home furnishing stores, paying mind to their sample displays. What do you like? What do you dislike? Take notes on styles and pieces you admire.

Snag a design catalog. Pick up an interior design magazine and flip through it, circling favorite ideas and set-ups.

There's an app for that. There are several home design apps that allow you to upload a photo of your space and fill it with make-believe furniture. This is a great way to try on styles. Who knows, you may even surprise yourself.

Take the Stress out of the Buying and Selling Process With These Simple Tips

Regardless of what side of the real estate transaction you’re on, buying or selling a home can be a stressful experience, and if you’re not careful, the anxieties associated with the process can become overwhelming. While getting out of the house for a massage or yoga class can be helpful, here are some additional ways to take the stress out of the process.  
 
First, understand your goals in buying or selling a home. Make a list of what you hope to accomplish—the price, neighborhood, timetable, etc. Once you know exactly what you want, you’ll have an easier time explaining your wants and needs to your agent, alleviating some of the stress that goes hand-in-hand with the buying or selling process.
 
Another simple way to alleviate stress is to prepare your finances ahead of time. If buying a home, know what you can afford and get a pre-approval letter from your bank so you don’t have to worry about whether you can truly afford the home you want. If selling a home, know what it will cost to make repairs or renovations and get estimates for the move itself. When both parties know how much money they really need, it makes things easier for everyone involved.
 
Next, take the time to read some books, blogs or online real estate advice that can provide a glimpse into what to expect when buying or selling a home. Understanding the process and being aware of issues that can come up will keep surprises from causing undo stress. If you understand the problems that can come with obtaining a mortgage or realize that not every offer will be a good one, you can keep your emotions at bay.
 
While you most likely already have an agent working with you, other professionals can help alleviate stress as well. Having a good real estate lawyer will let you sign any contracts without fear that you’re making a mistake. Hiring a good inspector will allow you to rest easy knowing that any problems with the house will be found. And working with a home stager will go a long way toward positioning your home in the best light possible.
 
In the end, remember that not everything can be controlled, and the real estate game can get confusing at times. If something unexpected comes up, take a deep breath, relax and try to do something to take your mind off of the deal for a while. 
 
Contact me today for more tips to help take the stress out of the buying or selling process. 

Credit Freezes Are Now Free: What Does It Mean For You?

The bill that rolled back banking regulations imposed by the Dodd-Frank bill in the wake of the Great Recession included an interesting tidbit for consumers: free credit freezes. According to CNNMoney, Congress was pressured to make freezes free after 2017’s Equifax breach exposed the personal information of more than 146 million Americans.

While a credit monitoring company alerts you of suspicious activity, a credit freeze actually prevents a credit bureau from releasing any of your personal information—to a legitimate source or otherwise—making the credit freeze the only true way to protect your personal information. However, until now, consumers have had to pay a fee to place and lift a credit freeze—a fee that needs to be paid at all three credit bureaus.

According to WalletHub, credit freezes were already free for fraud victims, and several states had also made them free. However, under the new legislation—which was expected to go into effect about four months after the bill was signed—placing, lifting and permanently removing credit freezes will be free for all consumers no matter where they live. The bill will also require consumer rating companies to fulfill your request within one business day when made online or over the phone, and within three business days if requested by mail.

What will the larger implications of free credit freezes be? The experts at WalletHub expect a decline in credit-card applications. While the new law probably won’t impact major borrowing events, such as buying a car or a home, the extra step of having to lift a credit report freeze before applying for a loan or line of credit may be enough of a roadblock to prevent some consumers from applying for a new credit card, they say.

Need to freeze your credit? Visit each credit agency’s website (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) and access their freeze page. You’ll be given a PIN that will allow you to remove the freeze in the future.

7 Safety Tips Every Homeowner Should Know

Like most homeowners, you probably have your water heater strapped down and you flush out the gutters every spring. But there are many other tips that make a big difference in terms of both safety and thriftiness.

The home safety watchdogs at FamilyHandyman.com offer seven tips to start with:

Monitor furnace filters. Clogged furnace filters cost you in both efficiency and higher bills. For peak performance, replace them every 30 – 60 days. Keep track of when you replaced them last by buying several and labeling them by month.

Shut off the water when on vacation. Every insurance adjuster hears it: “We left town on Friday and returned Sunday evening to find thousands of dollars in water damage.” Before going on vacation, turn off the main water valve. In less than a minute, you can eliminate the most common cause of home damage. 

Don’t leave the remote in your car. Anyone who breaks into your car can grab the remote for easy access to your garage, and the registration card in your glove box gives the thief your address. Ditch the remote on your visor and buy a keychain model you can take with you every time you leave the car.

Think about replacing pipes. If you have galvanized steel pipes in your home and low water flow at faucets, chances are the pipes are to blame. Galvanized pipe is prone to mineral buildup, which eventually chokes off the water flow. Replacing the pipes is the best cure, especially if you live in an older home.

Check the breaker first. When a light goes out or a switch doesn’t work, check the main electrical panel for a tripped circuit breaker. Look for a switch that’s not in line with the others. Flip it to the ‘off’ position and then back on.

Get low flow showerheads. Showerheads are heavy water users and major energy eaters, since 70 percent of the water used is heated. By reducing hot-water consumption, a low-flow unit can pay for itself in just one month. Many of today’s water-efficient showerheads now provide a high-flow feel.

Install ceiling fans. Moving air increases evaporation from your skin and helps keep you comfortable at higher thermostat settings.