Stress-free Living for a Peaceful Home

The environment of your home has a lot to do with the way you feel on a day-to-day basis. For example, if your home is cluttered, you will tend to feel lazy, tired, or frustrated. If your home’s interior paint is black, you will possibly feel slow or depressed. Much of our idea of a home is represented in who we are. The reverse is true as well. So, if you are looking to turn your life around, or simply feel more stress-free, then there are a few simple changes you can make to your home to help out.

Smells

Smells have one of the biggest influences on us. Don’t believe me? Walk into a house that smells like someone just removed chocolate chip cookies from the oven. I dare you not to feel happy. Other scents, such as, citrus (orange, lemon, and grapefruit), jasmine, lavender, vanilla, and if you need a more robust scent, fresh bread or coffee. Scent can help relieve depression, soothe our spirit, wake us up, or provide a variety of other sensations.

You can always purchase items like candles and plug-in air fresheners, but I prefer the al natural way with fresh ingredients. So, pull out that baking pan before guests arrive or fill a pot of boiling water with a sliced orange and a couple rich spices such as cinnamon and vanilla.

Feng Shui

Feng Shui is the belief that your home, or the area around you is a mirror-representation of who you are on the inside. By utilizing the energy of what you bring in (and everything has energy), you can better manage how that energy flows through your home.

For example, on furniture, your couch should be against a wall, leaving a few inches between the wall and couch to allow energy to flow. There should be open pathways through the room, and into other rooms. Round coffee tables are more inviting than rectangular ones. However, your living room should have a variety of shapes: Squares represent earth; rectangles, wood; triangles, fire; round and oval, metal.

Feng Shui also covers color, clutter, seating, and how arrangements mingle with each other, as well as represent the home.

Color

The color of your home can also influence how you feel. This doesn’t mean you need to paint your entire home, but adding a splash of color utilizing accent colors is a great way to brighten-up or soothe your home, or in some cases make your home appear larger such as with blues, greens, and purples. Whereas reds, oranges, and yellows will help your rooms feel vibrant.

Shades and tones can also liven, or tone down a room. Understanding a color-wheel and how it works is one way to balance out varying complimentary colors of your home and pick out accent wall colors. An accent wall is great because of the overall affect it has on a room, with a small amount of work to paint that wall, or section of wall.

Simplify

Simplifying a room is essentially de-cluttering a room of excess furniture, trinkets, and unnecessary items. For example, have you ever walked into a house where one or all of the tables had magazines strewn about? The home owner may have felt like they were representing who they are by what they read, but in fact they were distracting the mind to think the home was messy.

A few tricks to keep a home simple, is to use bins for items you would like in the room, and would otherwise leave them lingering about where you leave them. The idea of “everything has a place” is very effective when it comes to keeping a clean and simple home. Your remotes, car keys, and magazines should all have a location that is orderly, and near point of use.

Simplifying may also mean removing too much furniture. Do you have six chairs around a small dining table that has only ever held four people? Do you have one too many lounge chairs in your living room? Are your kitchen counter-tops filled with nifty small appliances? These are all signs that your home is too busy and distracting. The more items you have strewn about, the more cluttered, and small your home feels. 

Save Money as a “Green” Homeowner

Much like buying organically, many people feel that having a “green” home means they will need to throw away a lot of money to participate. However, as technology has grown, it is much easier, and often cheaper to own an environmentally-friendly home. Waste reduction for many green homes can reach 30% or higher savings on utility and water bills. In addition, many of the changes such as replacing a water heater with a tank-less water heater, will not only save you money in efficiency, but also has less maintenance over time, and can last up to 20 years, as opposed to 5-10 years of a standard water heater.

In addition to saving water during your showers, you can save money and water with smart irrigation systems that download current weather statistics for your area, such as humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, and precipitation, to determine when and how long your lawn and garden should be watered for optimum performance. These are systems that can save you up to 50% on your water bill.

 

Insulating your home, or I should say a lack of efficient insulation costs many homeowners hundreds, or even thousands of dollars a year in energy bills. This is often a problem with older homes that haven’t had window updated, have poor insulation in walls, and don’t have all of the cracks in areas such as the attic filled in. While the initial cost of replacing all of your windows can be spendy, this is something that pays off in the first 1-2 years of installation. Using gas filled windows, will save you even more money. Gas filled windows are typically filled with an inert, odorless, gas such as argon. These windows prevent build-up of frost in winter, air-flow, and keep your home cool in summer and warm in winter by allowing your heating and AC to operate at higher efficiency levels since they are not fighting a constantly changing climate within your home.

Solar panels are another feature that is now much more affordable. There are actually many local and federal incentives that make solar usage cheaper to install, which in return pays back in less expensive energy costs. Manufacturing and technology can also produce solar panels faster, with less expensive materials, and easier installation that drives the cost down. New technologies are soon to introduce transparent solar panels in windows, as well as solar energy drawn from building and construction material.

Living green in the 21^st century is more than recycling and composting, although those are still great ways to leave your mark on protecting the environment. Living green in the 21^st century is about reusing renewable and sustainable energy, which not only protects the world around you, but also helps reduce your energy spending. 

Home Buyer's Checklist for Hidden House Problems

Buying a home is already one of the most stressful things you will do in your life. However, buying a home with hidden problems can cost you tens of thousands of dollars and more stress than imaginable. The good thing is that by spending a few extra minutes while looking at homes you can find many of the issues that will cause you trouble in the future.

Attic

The attic is one of the most commonly overlooked places by potential homeowners. There are several reasons for this from it being a difficult place to get to, as well as an out-of-the-way location house seekers don’t even think about. Yet, the attic can provide you with a wealth of knowledge about hidden house problems. So, if you are seriously considering making an offer on a home ask to see the attic and look for problems such as:

• Rodent or insect infestation or damage. This can be significant droppings, nests, or random food spread across the floor.
• Rotting, buckling, or damaged wood
• Mold
• Signs of water damage or roof leaks

 Basement

Most potential home buyers will go into the basement to, if anything, take a look around and see what they can do with it. However, as a huge part of the structure for a home many basements take on the full weight of the house, as well as manages the interior utilities linking the home to sewers. Basements are prone to sewer back-ups, foundation problems, and plumbing or water damage. Things to look for:

• Mold
• Water stains on carpet
• Bending, bubbling, or buckling wood
• Curling, or displaced flooring, especially adhesive backed flooring like linoleum.
• Cracks in walls
• Water damage around windows.
• Dry “streams” of water residue
• Look in corners and edges for signs of material left from sewer backup.

 Foundation

Cracks in the foundation of a home can be costly to fix, especially if you need to replace sections, or the entire foundation. All foundations deteriorate over time, so if you are looking for an older home you will have to have some understanding of what to expect. However, you should not settle for a house with major cracks and chipping on the inside, or outside of the home. That is unless you are getting a great deal and understand the problems that exist.

Use Your Senses

As you walk through the home use more than just your eyes. If something doesn’t smell right, you may want to explore further. This is especially true in areas such as storage, out of the way rooms, basements, and attics. If the area has an organic or moldy scent you will want to inquire as to the cause. This is a good indication a mold problem may exist, which can cause thousands in mold cleanup and management.

The Utility Room

Utility rooms are another, often passed by part of the home that can give you a good indication of potential hidden problems. Along with the common culprits, mold and cracks, the utility room can provide you with a more intimate look at features such as water heater, plumbing, and electrical work in the electrical cabinets. Look for:

• Unintelligible or half-hazard electrical cabinet
• Random dry water-residue streams
• Cracks near the water heater of furnace
• Damage around windows
• Signs of rodents

Under Sink Cabinets

The cabinets under kitchen and bathroom sinks are interesting. Most potential buyers will look inside the cabinets, but for reasons other than looking for damage. Often, people are simply looking to see how much space is available, or if there are storage alternatives. However, don’t be afraid to move over the current homeowners cleaning fluids to look for buckling or bending cabinet wood, water stains, or leaking plumbing. While these signs could be a quick fix, they could also be a sign of a much bigger plumbing problem. 

5 Ways to De-Clutter Your Home

It is very easy for your home to quickly fill with clutter, and while it is easy to not see clutter, you can always feel it. In many ways, clutter works like drag off of boat or airplane, slowly keeping us back, providing a constant, “I’ll get it tomorrow” attitude that only enables the procrastinator within us.

When purchasing a home, and even more so after you have moved into your new home, people often find clutter to be at its worst. You have spent weeks, perhaps even months preparing for this big move. The day comes, you work hard to move all of your worldly possessions, and invariably once everything has been transplanted you are done with the whole moving thing. You might set a plan to slowly, and methodically, unpack and put all your items in their proper place. But, once you turn on the TV, or a friend asks you out for a drink you toss your list away, leaving boxes, and a mess, that never does get cleaned up.

So, this list isn’t a list of unique places to put your stuff, such as hidden drawers, special shelving, or coffee tables that second as blanket storage. I want to address the root of the problem—Your inner pack-rat. Yes, we all have this urge to keep everything. Are you still holding onto the Birthday cards from ten years ago on the off-chance Aunt Zelda comes by and asks what you did with it? Is your letterman’s jacket still in the same box it’s been in since you packed it away for college? The truth is that you don’t need these items, and if you have things packed away for years and don’t remember having them, that is a big sign to suggest eliminating them from your life.

The 15 Minute Clean-up

Let’s start easy. Clutter doesn’t just come and go when you are done moving, but rather lingers around for, well…forever. One way to work through this is set a room schedule. One room per day, to tackle a 15-minute clean-up every day of the week. If the room takes you 5 minutes, then awesome, you’re done.

You want to look for any items that can be thought of as clutter, meaning anything that doesn’t belong. Look through mail to toss out the unimportant, dishes laying around, toys that should be put away, garbage, etc.

Additionally, I suggest setting up a box or small closet where you put all those items you say, “I think I’ll need this in the future, but I just don’t know where I want it.” But, you know you likely won’t ever see it again. Storing all of these items in the same place will one keep them out of the areas they don’t belong, and two, at some point in your future make it obvious you don’t need the item. Often, a single space with a bunch of junk reminds you that the stuff you have in that closet, box, or drawer, is in fact junk you don’t need.

The 6 Month Rule

I know you’ve heard the rule. If you haven’t needed the item for six-months that is a good sign you should just throw it away. Now, of course, this won’t work for everything. So, before following the rule you should make an exception list. Items such as important paperwork: passports, home abstract, living wills, birth certificates, etc. Truly sentimental items, not a piece of paper and chewing gum you’ve had since high-school. Tools you will use in the future. The other caveat is that you need a legitimate place for all of these items. This can be a safe for valuable paperwork and items, a large tool box for your tools, or a display case for your sentimental items. If you do not have a location designated for these items then either get rid of them, or find a place.

A Place for Everything

Talking about finding a place for items. You should always have a place for everything. Another word of advice is that drawers, cabinets, and storage units do not make the best places to store your items. The reason is that it is too easy to toss your stuff in these places to simply hide them and not deal with the items you no longer need. This is how clutter gathers.

Ideally, you would arrange your home to be drawer, cabinet, and clutter free. I know this sounds a bit crazy, but many homeowners have done this. For example, mason jars to hold utensils, a knife magnet to hang your knives, pots and pans hanging above your kitchen island, open and visible baskets for your socks, and hang your clothes. It may take time, but is very doable.  

Go on a Selling Spree

Thanks to websites and Apps such as Craigslist and Nextdoor, you have full ability to sell your unwanted, or unneeded items. I suggest a monthly browse of your home to find things you don’t think you need and post them for sale on one of these sites. You may be amazed at how many people are interested in your junk. This is also a great way to make a little extra cash for the things you do need.

Throw a Clutter Party

Clutter parties are gaining in popularity as they combine several tools to de-clutter your life. They can:

• Offer staging advice
•  Bring buyers to your home
•  Get friends together

A clutter party is when you invite friends and family to your home for the sole purpose of getting rid of your stuff. You may want to entice with pizza and beer, or wine. Then set up several games around your clutter. Some suggested games:

• Junk, or silent, auction your stuff
•  Room make-over where you let your friends make over your room
•  Have friends make a list of the top five useless things in your room. Then get rid of those top five items.

·         When your guests arrive ask them to guess how many items will be tossed by the end of the party. Whoever guesses closest wins a prize.

5 Tips for Home Buyers When Negotiating

Don’t wait to counter-offer

Responding to counter-offers is important. This is an opportunity for you to either make or break the purchase of a home. And, I’m assuming if you have made an offer on a home you really want it. By not jumping on the counter-offer you are allowing other buyers the opportunity to sneak in with a better offer, or any offer at all that the current home owner is willing to take.

You should also consider your counter-offer carefully before making it. Willing you be willing to go higher if certain criteria is met, such as repairs, or inspections. Having a contingency plan based on expected offers from the seller is good to have in your back pocket so you can respond quickly with an offer you are comfortable with.

Talk to your agent

You should always remember your real estate agent when you are making an offer. Whether you have bought one home, or multiple, it is likely your agent has been through this process many times more than you and can make good recommendations on what they think the house will sell for as well as reasonable contingencies.

In addition, your agent can approach the seller with any questions you have before making an offer, or in regards to a counter offer.

Try to get the scoop on the seller

While not always possible, you may be able to find out information on the seller that is useful in making your offer. The situation of a seller can work to your favor. For example, if a seller is motivated to sell because he or she has been transferred to another city for work. Or, perhaps the house has been on the market for several months and the seller has already purchased a new home. Both of these situations may suggest that the offer can lean in your favor. That is if you are the only offer on the table.

The same goes the other way. If the seller is contemplating renting out their home if they don’t get the offer they want. Perhaps, the home is a hot commodity, or only been on the market a short period of time. Maybe the seller simply isn’t in a hurry to move until they receive the offer they are looking for. Any of these circumstances may put the negotiation on the seller’s terms. However, you may be able to find better footing by leveraging a little compromise.

Review what you can afford

For many buyers who have been looking at homes at several hundred thousand dollars, it can be easy to think that upping your offer by $10,000 or $20,000 isn’t that big of a deal. Yet, be careful. It is always a good idea to run the numbers through your mortgage professional. Sometimes a higher offer may not affect your monthly payments, but you may also be surprised at how much the interest, taxes, and insurance can tack on.

When you talk to your mortgage professional, it is a good idea to have them run your monthly payments through several price offers, so you know what to expect, if you have to make a decision between a higher counter-offer and a lower one. 

Consider writing a personal letter to the seller

Don’t ever underestimate the power of the pen. You need to remember that to most people their home is an extension of who they are. People want to know their home will be left with another good family, and people who will care for what is essentially part of their self.

By writing a letter to the seller on why you want the home, noting specific features, and how much it will mean to you and your family to have the home you may just give yourself an edge. When you provide a personal letter, possibly even photos of your family (and don’t forget the dog) you are putting a face to a name, and taking yourself outside the bounds of simply being another number.

What Exactly is a Starter Home

Everyone needs to start somewhere, and for most people looking to purchase a home for the first time, that likely means you will be looking at a starter home.

But, what exactly is a starter home? To be fair, the term “starter home” can be representative of both a vague and broad explanation of a home typical for a first time home buyer. Traditionally in real estate a starter home is 1-2 bedrooms, although 3 bedrooms are also common. The home will also likely have 1-2 bathrooms. The home is generally smaller, with fewer than 1,300 square feet. However, these are the general characteristics. What really makes a starter home a starter home is affordability for the majority of home buyers.

Currently, on Long Island, a starter home would be considered around the price-point of $250,000 or less. Of, course this is highly variable according to the economy, season, and many other factors not-withstanding the home itself. However, as of the writing of this article, $250,000 is a good starting point.

Starter homes can come in as many styles as you can imagine. Older parts of Long Island may offer Victorian homes, and new developments may offer townhouses or condominiums.

With an economy which is becoming more stable, growth into major metropolitan areas has increased as people are trying to relocate closer to where they work, or find a home that is in what I like to call a “personal hub”. This means that the home is within a couple blocks of schools, work, and a shopping center.

For a homebuyer looking at starter homes this can be both positive and negative. If you are looking at finding a starter home within the center of an urban area such as New York City, you may have difficulties, as affordable starter homes are scarce. However, a new trend within cities in the U.S. has begun to re-zone previously commercial areas into residential, specifically focused on new starter home developments.

However, as a new home buyer, many opportunities exist in suburban, and older areas that offer both unique and affordable single-family starter homes.

Some things you may want to think about when looking for a starter home are:

·         Affordability: Many people can’t wait to buy a home. However, as seen with the housing bubble, many people stepped into the role of home ownership well before they should have. Anytime you make a large purchase such as a home, make sure you are financially able to purchase a home. Getting your personal finances in order and going through the pre-approval process are two important steps.

·         Maintenance Costs: In addition to affordability you should look at potential maintenance costs of the home. As the home will be in the lower price-range of many homes you may find a lot of “fixer-uppers”. To many people this is appealing. You have the ability to put your personal touch on the home, as well as add some sweat equity. However, it is important to weigh how much these costs will be, and assume those costs with the overall purchase price. You don’t want to buy a home and find you don’t have the money to fix it.

·         Location: Location is always important. From proximity to work, resell abilities, and if the neighborhood fits your future plans.

·         How long you will live there: The number of years you are planning to live at the home is important. This is mostly in regards to your future. For example, if you are planning on having children in the next year, but your home has only one-bedroom, the home may not be suitable to your needs. However, if you are not planning to have children for the next five years, then that same one-bedroom home may be ideal.

·         Room for growth: Is the home equipped for an expanding family, or is there room to physically add onto the house to adjust for a growing family or needs.

·         Does it have universal appeal: As a starter home, you may not be looking at living in your home for more than five years. Having a home with universal appeal helps your home become more saleable when you are ready to sell. So the question you want to answer is: Does my home have universal appeal, or is there enough to add universal appeal while I am living here?

·         Investment potential: The good thing about a starter home is affordability. With that, you may want to consider turning your starter home into an investment rental property once you move to a bigger home. If this is important to you, you may want to find out current rental trends and restrictions to see if this is a possibility in the area where the home is.

The Fair Housing Act – What Your Real Estate Agent Can and Cannot tell you

Have you ever asked your real estate agent specific questions about a neighborhood, or perhaps asked which neighborhood is better, only to be met with an awkward glance before you were directed to go to the community’s website?

There is a very good reason your real estate agent didn’t answer your questions, and it isn’t because they were being rude, or didn’t know. The reason your real estate agent didn’t answer your questions and won’t answer them is because of the Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act was put in place to prevent “steering” of home buyers to certain areas and neighborhoods.

All real estate agents will be well-versed in what steering is, ad all real estate agents should take the Fair Housing Act very seriously.

What your agent cannot tell you

While many people think steering is solely directed at race, there are many more protected classes involved, and agents should be forthright in saying what they cannot advise you on. Whether the information would be based on opinion of factual data, it is up to the home-buyer to seek out the information on their own. An agent cannot inform, advise, or suggest to you on any of the following:

• Race
• Color
• National Origin
• Religious Preference
• Sex
• Familial Status
• Handicaps

In addition, and subject material which can allude to or possibly broach on the subject should be avoided. This would include almost any demographics available. The agent will also not provide information on preference of areas or neighborhoods. 

What your agent can tell you

The laws are in place to ensure that all home buyers have the ability to make a reasonable and conscious decision, without the bias of a third-party swaying them in any direction. Most subjective questions will not be answered by your agent. However, a good agent is not only fully aware of their limitations, but will have done their own homework and can provide you with links, information, and suggestions on where you can find out the statistics yourself.

Remember that buying a home is a collaborative relationship between you and your real estate agent. The agent is responsible to help find a home that fits your basic house criteria, and arrange to view the home as well as purchase the home. However, they cannot offer advice or suggestions that could lead to steering you to, or away from a home or neighborhood. 

5 Things to Consider when Deciding on the Right Neighborhood

Every home owner has their own take on what neighborhood is right for them. Some homeowners may want historic charm, while others want a family-oriented, and some may want both. Depending on your interests, you likely want to find a neighborhood that appeals to you and holds your personal values and tastes. For many people, the neighborhood is as important, if not more important than the home itself.

However, choosing the right neighborhood can be more difficult than actually choosing the home. While many of the neighborhoods highlights can be found out with a simple drive-around, other aspects will require a bit of digging.

Here are some tips to help you make the most of choosing a neighborhood:

You and your interests

Every neighborhood is different and there are literally hundreds of options in the Long Island area to choose from. So, when you are searching it only benefits you to choose a neighborhood that offers amenities based on your family’s needs and interests.

• Children: Children play a big role in where you live. So, making decisions based on schools in the area. How close do you want to be to an elementary school or high school? Do the schools offer courses or extra-curricular activities for your children? 
• Types of homes: For many people the type of home makes a difference. Do you prefer a home that is 100+ years old, or do you prefer to live in a newer development?
• Like-minded neighbors; Do you want a quiet retirement neighborhood, one that is family-oriented, or a younger neighborhood, more vibrant neighborhood?
• Parks and trails: If being outdoors means a lot to you, then a neighborhood with several parks, and hiking or biking trails may be something you want to look for. In addition, are waterways, lakes, and rivers.
• Special Interest Amenities: Another factor to consider is, does the area have interests more specific to your taste. For example, if you play tennis, is there a tennis club nearby? Do you enjoy going to the theater, or museum? Are you looking for a neighborhood with art galleries?

Neighborhood data

All cities publish information on each neighborhood and community. It is illegal for your real estate agent to offer advice, information, or suggestions on each neighborhood, or offer advice on what neighborhood would be better for you. However, this information is public and accessible to all home-buyers. Some data and statistics you may want to review are:   

• School information
• Crime statistics
• Park and recreational areas
• Neighborhood associations
• Tourist attractions, local attractions, and restaurants

The drive-thru

What was your first impression when you drove through the neighborhood and can you see yourself in the neighborhood. You may need to use your imagination a bit to visualize what living there would be like.

Does the neighborhood offer unique restaurants and services you would use? Do rush-hours affect the neighborhood? Do people smile and wave? Is it more congested than you expected, or is it too quiet for you?

Few things can help you determine a potentially new neighborhood better than driving through it at different times of the day.  

Proximity

You will likely have to travel outside your neighborhood for a variety of reasons. Work, visiting family and friends, or recreational activities. How does the location fit with all these activities and are the neighborhood’s amenities good enough that you are willing to forego close proximity, if need be?

Affordability

Lastly is affordability. Simply, can you afford to live in the neighborhood you want to live in, or are looking at houses in. You should look at not only home prices, but also travel time, local taxes, utilities, and everyday prices. For example, depending on what grocery store you shop at, you may be paying a premium of 30% or more for the same item you might buy at a less expensive grocery store. You are more likely to shop at the closest store to you, than drive twenty minutes down the road. These smaller purchases may not seem like something to look at now, but in a few months when you realize you are more willing to spend money than sit in traffic to get your food, you might second guess your initial thought on where you purchased your home.