Real Estate- Home Maintenance Tips

Dishwashers Tips

·         Check the manual that came with your dishwasher for the manufacture’s recommendations on water temperature; many have internal heating elements that allow you to set the water heater in your home to a lower temperature (120 F)

·         Scrape, don’t rinse, large food pieces and bones from dishes.  Soaking or prewashing is generally only recommended in cases of burned-on or dried-on food.

·         Be sure your dishwasher is full, but not overloaded, when you run it.

·         Avoid using the “rinse & hold” on your machine for just a few soiled dishes.  It uses 3 to 7 gallons of hot water for each load.

·         Let your dishes air dry; if you don’t have any automatic air-dry switch, turn the control knob to off after the final rinse and prop open the door slightly so the dishes will dry faster.

Long Term Savings Tip

·         When shopping for a new dishwasher, look for the Energy Star label to find a dishwasher that uses less water and 41% less energy than required by the federal standards.

What’s on Your “Bucket List”?

For some time now, one of the items on my “bucket list” has been to learn how to kayak. Not down the river rapids, mind you, but paddling around on a serene lake appealed to me.

 As luck would have it, our daughter is dating a young man who teaches kayaking in his spare time so I thought he would be a good resource in getting this goal crossed off my list.

 However, one of our sons decided to take the training recently and found that the first order of business was to learn what to do in case you and the kayak  tip over………….evidently, kayaks are not as stable as I assumed! This strapping young man of ours said it was very difficult to get right-side-up once you tip over.

 With that bit of information in mind, I decided this item on my bucket list is more than I bargained for. Call me “chicken”, but my plan is to scratch it off the list and go on to other pursuits.

 Care to share what’s on your bucket list?

Isn't it amazing how adding just a single word to a sentence can completely change it meaning? I was reminding of fact recently through an encounter with our 3 year old granddaughter.

Our 3 year old granddaughter was visiting when we were just a hour away from dinner. She asked if she could have some ice cream so I sent her into the living room to ask her father knowing full well what the answer would be.

Sure enough- from the living room I could hear him respond firmly "Tell Grandma I said, NO"- She cheerfully skipped back into the kitchen, smiled broadly and said "Daddy says 'No....problem'!"

See, I told you one word can make all the difference!

Food Traditions

With all 12 of our children home for the Christmas holiday, plus 8 spouses, 15 grandchildren and several boyfriends and one fiancé, the cooking and feeding of this crew becomes a monumental task.  For years I insisted on doing it all myself- I suppose in an effort to maintain control of the menu and the “traditions”.

Finally, out of necessity, I relinquished to my daughters and daughters-in-law their repeated offers to contribute to the family meals.  This year we were treated to Laura’s tasty roasted vegetables, Sarah’s savory sausage stuffing, Tricia’s tangy homemade cranberry sauce, Kristen’s yummy beer bread and dip, and Amber’s delectable crab dip.  I should have given them the all carte blanche rein over the menu years ago.  Recipes anyone?

Real Estate- Top 10 Predictions for 2012

     1.     Low interest rates will continue.

2.     Stable house price movement – Slightly lower early, and then up.

3.     Increased overall sales of homes.

4.     Rising inventory of homes for sale – mostly due to foreclosures.

5.     50% of sales will be distressed property.

6.     We will see a better short sale process from lenders.

7.     Home ownership will be lower, rentals up.

8.     25% of buyers will be investors.

9.     More reliance on REALTORS.

10.    Use of mobile technology and social media to increase.  DAVE LINIGER, RE/MAX

The momentum of buyer numbers is growing.  Great time to buy, Great time to sell if you need to.

Real Estate – Impact of low interest rates

With all this domestic stuff, business is good considering the holidays and standard time back.  Your referrals keep coming in and we deeply appreciate them. 

Interest rates continue to hover around the 4% level for 30 year fixed loans – less for 15 yr. loans.  For every $100,000 loan amount @ 4%, 30 year amortization, that translates to $477.42 per month payments.  Taxes and Insurance can add $200+/month to the total.

What this means is that your home is now more affordable to more buyers and it’s a great time to make a move.

 That exactly what’s happening! The market is quite active.

“It’s going to be the last warm day!”

With that forecast, I set aside yard work and other urgent events; sold my spouse on the idea, and ventured onto the golf course – it has worked about 6 times this fall!

Barb was hosted by our daughters to a trip to Florida in early November – worth 2 more “last warm days”. 

Without excuse over the Thanksgiving holiday, we cleared the garage – simple job you know; moved boxes for 6 hours, oh, that bedroom stuff we found for upstairs needs painting: dresser, end tables, headboards; took a load to the Riverside trash dumpster(thanks Chris), gave away shirts, sweats, hoodies to 3 kids (two big bags for the thrift store), found some real treasures for Barb and me – carried those back into the house - spent 1 hour looking at interesting stuff in Sarah’s cedar chest – with Sarah – swept the floor – admired our work – moved the car in – admired our work.   Looks like some “last warm days” weather next week!