Real Estate Blog - Home Maintenance

Holiday Decorating While Selling

One of the most important things you can do when selling your home is to stage it properly. Staging is the art of presenting your home in its best possible light. When staging your home, the goal is to make buyers come away from their visit able to envision themselves living there. It needs to be clean, bright, and clutter-free.

And what about during the holidays? What if you want to decorate for Halloween, or put up the Christmas lights?

When it comes to staging your home for sale during the holidays, we have one word for you: minimalism. Minimalism is all about ensuring every object has a function or a purpose. This does not mean your home has to be empty; it simply means it must be intentional. You can still enjoy the décor of the holidays…

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Preparing Your Backyard For The Fall

This beautiful summer is slowly turning into a crisp fall, complete with frosty mornings and golden leaves. Stores are rolling out Halloween decor and pumpkin inspired treats, and back to school is in full swing. While you pack away your summer dresses to make room for sweaters, also start thinking of how you can prepare your backyard for autumn.

There are a number of things you should be doing before the snow hits in order to prepare your backyard for autumn and winter. What’s the light at the end of the tunnel as far as cleaning and preparing is concerned? After doing the following things your backyard will be ready for one final hurrah while the weather holds up!

First off, take care of outside structures such as children’s play places, tree…

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Home Care to Tackle Before Fall

Fall is right around the corner! The trees are beginning to turn golden, the air cooling at night. Stores have already begun to put out fall decor, and back to school is right around the corner. As we transition seasons, its important to make sure our homes are just as prepared as we are.

Here are some fall home care items to tackle before summer slips away:

• Check Your Detectors: "With furnaces turned on, the windows closed and portable heaters humming along, fall is a great time to make sure your smoke and CO detectors are working. Check batteries and expiration dates – smoke detectors are typically good for 10 years, and CO detectors last for about six years" (Family Handyman).
• Clean Your Gutters: "Your roof's drainage system annually…

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Summer Maintenance Tips for Homeowners

As summer rolls in with its warm and sunny days, it’s the perfect time to ensure your home is in top shape. Regular maintenance not only keeps your home looking its best but also helps prevent costly repairs down the road. Here are some summer maintenance items for homeowners to attend to in order to keep your property in excellent condition:

• Give your lawn some TLC! "Mow the lawn regularly to keep it healthy and looking its best. Trim bushes and trees away from the house to prevent damage. Add a layer of mulch to garden beds keeps weeds down and helps the soil retain its moisture.  Water plants and flowers regularly, especially during hot weather" (Rumi).
• Get your temperature in check! "If you haven’t yet made the switch to a smart…

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Winterizing Your House

Temperatures are dropping...

With the arrival of winter comes the need to prepare for the dark, snowy days ahead. It's time to get that dusty box out of the basement and unload your sweaters, long-johns, toques, mittens and fuzzy socks. Lawn chairs need to be replaced with shovels as flower pots get swapped out for snowmen. Hot soup is about to become your best friend, an electric car starter your most prized possession.

As you prepare yourself for winter, make sure that you also prepare your home for winter. Winterizing your property is incredibly important in making sure that it successfully survives the cold. If you neglect to properly winterize your home, it can get seriously damaged and won't help you stay warm, either. Here are some tips on…

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Loving on Your Home

They say there is nothing quite like home-sweet-home, and they're right. Our homes are where our families grow, our treasured possessions are kept, our pictures are on the wall and our memories are made. When we're not at home, we crave our bed and miss knowing just how much to turn the tap to get the perfect temperature of water. Our homes are deeply personal, a major part of our lives. 

Perhaps we're getting sentimental. After all, Valentine's Day is just one week away. However, we are firm believers in the importance of a home, not only because so many people are not fortunate enough to have one, but because homes do play a major role in our lives. 

We love our home! But do we always treat it with love? No. Sometimes we let it fall into…

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Monthly Household Tip 1

Bathrooms are constantly in need of maintenance because they collect dirt and are exposed to high humidity on a regular basis. Use simple techniques for keeping your bathroom sparkling.

Showers used on a regular basis will promote the accumulation of bacteria and mold. Be sure to clean your shower, tub and shower curtain often. After showering, take a minute to wipe down the tub, faucets and curtain to help remove soap scum and prevent mineral deposits.

To discourage mildew growth in the bathroom, increase the amount of air circulation to decrease moisture. Open the windows, or if your bathroom doesn’t have windows, ensure you have a bathroom exhaust fan that it is in working order.

This will help to remove humid air quickly from the room.

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Washing Your Home

As part of your annual spring cleaning maintenance routine, take some time to freshen up the exterior of your home.

Since your house is exposed to the elements, the uneven texture and grooves of siding, painted surfaces and brick make ideal places for dust, dirt and debris to collect. To revitalize your home’s exterior try using a pressure washer.

Pressure washing is the most effective and efficient method of cleaning house exteriors. The high-pressure water stream can penetrate textured surfaces. A pressure washer will make quick work of cleaning houses of any size as they make it easy to reach even second stories without the use of ladders.

Most exterior surfaces can benefit from a good power washing, and not only give your home a quick…

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Winterizing Your Home This Year

Indoor Preparations

The most obvious items to address as the winter months approach center largely around ensuring that your home remains warm. Regardless of your heat source there are preventative measures that should be taken to ensure that you remain warm and safe inside your home. Some of the most important areas to assess include:

Furnaces: Regular annual furnace inspections will help keep your furnace in good repair. Cleaning or replacing furnace filters monthly during the operating months will also keep your furnace operating efficiently.

Oil Heaters: Like furnaces, oil heaters require annual inspections and maintenance. Annual inspections should include: inspecting the chimney, cleaning the pipes to remove soot build up, replacing the air…

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