Quantitative Easing Explained

Fall Maintenance from Top to Bottom

 

 

Fall Maintenance from Top to Bottom

Now that we’ve passed the Autumnal Equinox, it’s time to start thinking about preparing you home for the winter. We’re going to post a four part series focusing on:

1. Cleaning your gutters and checking the foundation
2. Storing your outdoor furniture and bbq
3. Preparing your plants and sprinklers
4. Keeping your heating happy and running strong all winter long

Clean your gutters

You might think you should wait to clean your gutters until after all of the leaves have fallen. However, you’re better off cleaning them a few times during the autumn season to prevent major blockages in the downspouts, as well as ensuring that there is no damage to the gutters caused by falling branches.

You should be able to use a good ladder for single story, but you’ll need a really tall ladder and a good friend to spot you if you’re going up higher than that. When you’re up on the roof, look for loose shingles, and look for cracks in the masonry around your fireplace.

As you’re cleaning, look for cracks and rust in the gutters that should be repaired or even replaced.
Finally use a hose to clear debris from the downspouts. To make maintenance faster and easier, consider investing in leaf guards for your gutters to reduce the leaves that get stuck.

Lowe’s has a wonderful article here with graphics to show you where to look for rust points. Their advice for cleaning gutters is:
You may encounter stubborn, caked buildups. If so, they may be more easily removed a little while after a rain when they are damp instead of dry and hard. Of course, you can always create your own rain with a water hose, but resist the urge to clean your gutters with water pressure. It seems like it would be so easy, but you might pack debris tightly into the downspouts, and dirty water might splash all over your house.
Inspect your gutters as you clean. Look for corrosion, holes, leaking joints or loose, missing or bent hangers. Mark problem areas with masking tape so you can find the problem spots quickly when you are ready to do the repairs.

Wear gloves to protect yourself from scratches, and have handy a garden trowel or gutter scoop, a whisk broom and a rag. Put your tools in a bucket with a handle. The bucket should be fastened to your ladder with a wire hook. This will prevent you from having to juggle a lot of tools while climbing or descending the ladder. It will also remove the temptation of stuffing tools into your pockets – a hazard if you should happen to fall.

It is a good idea to flush your gutters with a garden hose after you have cleaned them. This will show how well the gutters are draining and will indicate any areas that are holding standing water, which contributes to many gutter problems.

The article further discusses what to use to repair your gutters and prevent damage from leaves and branches.

Check Foundations

Take some time on a clear, sunny day to walk around your home looking carefully around the edges.

. Rake away all debris and edible vegetation from the foundation.
. Seal up entry points to keep small animals from crawling under the house.
. Tuckpoint or seal foundation cracks. Mice can slip through space as thin as a dime.
. Inspect sill plates for dry rot or pest infestation.
. Secure crawlspace entrances.

Steel wool is highly recommended for plugging up holes against rats
and mice

You’ve paid a lot of money for your home, and doing the right things at the right time will protect that investment for years to come.

Getting rid of dust mites

Dust mites have a major ick factor, and unfortunately can make our allergy or asthma symptoms worse.  In addition, they can cause skin problems called scabies.

Let’s look at what dust mites are and how you can best conquer the little invaders.

If your allergist says dust mites are aggravating your asthma or causing a skin problem, here are some steps you can take, according to the University of California, Berkeley:

1. Buy a good vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. Replace the HEPA filter regularly. Also, if you suffer from the allergies, get someone else to vacuum and dust.
2. If your allergies are severe, remove carpet, upholstered furniture and drapes from your bedroom. Install flooring such as hardwood, laminate, or tile that is easy to clean and dust. Also, switch over to wooden blinds.
3. Wash bed linens and blankets in hot water each week and use a hot dryer setting.
4. Use impermeable covers to encase pillows, mattresses and blankets that can’t be washed.
5. Replace all pillows periodically, no matter what they are made of.
6. In damp climates, use a dehumidifier. Dust mites thrive in humid conditions.

The Allergy Cleanup Handout also has tips for the kitchen, bathroom, attic, and basement.
eHow’s article on preventing dust mite allergies is quite similar.

1. Wash bedding on a weekly basis in hot water
2. Use a plastic dust mite covers on your mattress, box springs, and pillows. New ones are plastic on the inside and soft cloth on the outside.
3. Remove wall-to-wall carpeting.
4. Use blinds instead of drapes and curtains
5. Get rid of stuffed toys that cannot be washed in hot water.

Your child may be unhappy with the loss of the stuffed toy, but perhaps you can limit the number of stuffies in your home.

Squidoo had a great lens to better understand what dust mites are and how we can’t completely escape them:

We All Live With Dust Mites

Dust mites are the most common cause of allergic reactions. In Allergic asthmatics about 90% of them react to dust mites while 10% of non asthmatics react to them. The reactions would include sneezing, itchy eyes, stuffy nose and coughing. Dust mites are an allergy trigger and can cause an asthma attack. New research says they trick the immune system into believing it is being infected by a bacteria therefore it tries to fight it off, this can cause an attack.

Dust mites like dark, humid environments so sunlight and humidity under 50% is not good for them and their populations decrease. They are not as prevalent in cold, dry or very hot places. Also they are seen in reduced numbers in high altitude areas.

They live on all kinds of fabrics, wool, cotton, polyester and are even found on clothing. It was shown that people wearing wool sweaters had higher levels of dust mites than other materials. The fact that people don’t wash wool in hot water might be one factor. Dry cleaning is said to kill the mites but not all the allergens.

The type of furniture and decorations in the home can make a difference in the amount of dust in the home. Carpets can be great hiding places for them, especially hard to vacuum shag type. Upholstered furniture, multitude of pillows, stuffed animals, dried flowers and knick knacks harbor them. Also the amount of furniture in the home can make a difference. If your home is cluttered it will collect more dust than if it is sparsely decorated. But even a empty home will have dust.

So, do what you can to keep the dust at bay, and if you suffer from severe allergies or asthma, consider modifying your home to reduce the allergens.

Sellers are Getting a Few Breaks

Sellers are getting a few breaks

If you’re looking at selling your home, you’re in luck. Right now, more people are looking to buy homes then sell them for the seventh straight month, per the Wall Street Journal.  Average days on the market have gone from 96 days one year ago to 69 days in July, 2012.

Housing prices are rising due to the limited supply, and interest rates are staying low.

From the WSJ:

With buyers acting more quickly, sellers have been able to boost their listing prices. Asking prices were up by 2.3% in August compared with the same month last year, according to real-estate website Trulia. It was the seventh straight month in which sellers hiked their asking prices, and 68 out of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas reported asking price increases.
With housing demand recovering and home construction lagging, buyers are getting impatient for fear that they have missed the bottom of the housing market, said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist. However, sellers may be still holding off putting their homes up for sale in hopes that they can get a better price in the future as the housing market gradually climbs back.

While some homeowners are struggling, Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®, has stated that “Homes that are correctly priced tend to sell quickly, while those that aren’t often languish on the market.”

So to get the best price, remember four important things:

1.  Find a REALTOR® with the experience in your neighborhood, and the drive to advertise, negotiate, and be your advocate for all facets of the sale.

2. Price your property competitively. Your real estate agent can make a competitive market analysis (CMA), considering prices and features of recently sold homes in your area. He or she will help you zero in on the best asking price.

3. As the seller, you need to do your part by presenting a home that is attractive, clean and uncluttered. Make any necessary repairs so the home is in “move-in” condition.

4. Consider your home’s curb appeal. Cut the grass, place pots of flowers by the door and make sure the windows shine.

And when you receive multiple bids, work with your REALTOR® to find the best all-around offer.

Now is the time to lock in a rate

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S.-owned mortgage finance companies will raise the fees they charge lenders to guarantee loans (“g-fees”), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said in a statement.

This guarantee-fee increase will take effect between November 1 and December 1 depending on the investor.  Most mortgage bankers expect to see this increase passed along to borrowers in the form of higher interest rates offered by investors.

The good news is that it shouldn’t stall mortgage lending, as many lenders have been anticipating this since FHFA were seized by regulators in 2008.

Per BusinessWeek’s article recently, David Stevens, president of the Mortgage Bankers Association, stated that the lack of private capital in the housing market isn’t driven only by competition from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but also by uncertainty about prices and other concerns.

Bloomberg’s article on the subject states that FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco sought the fee increase to boost fiscal stability at the government-sponsored enterprises and shrink their footprint in the mortgage market, where they own or guarantee about 60 percent of U.S. home loans.  Additionally, the last g-fee increase took effect in April after Congress boosted them to fund a payroll tax cut.  The net result was a slight increase in interest rates.

So the reality is that it will have some impact on pricing, so now would be the time to contact your mortgage consultant to look into whether refinancing or buying now is the right move for your current fianancial situation and goals.