Winterizing and Storing Garden and Yard Tools

With proper care and maintenance, your yard and garden tools can last forever. By winterizing and properly storing your tools, you’ll ensure your gear remains rust-free and in perfect condition, ready to go next spring. Here are a few tips to preserve and store some common yard and garden tools for the winter.

 

LAWN MOWERS:

 

Lawn mowers are an expensive necessity for every home owner. It’s vital to winterize your mower to avoid any damage during cold weather. If you have a gas lawn mower, empty the gas tank by running the lawn mower until it is completely drained. Clean underneath the mower and remove all grass, sticks, twigs, and mud. Sharpen the blade, change the oil and replace the air filter.

 

WEED WHACKERS OR ELECTRICAL TRIMMERS:

 

Sharpen and lubricate the blades and make sure to keep the electric charger in a cool, dry place. You might need to keep the charger inside your home instead of in the garage during the winter months. Run the trimmer until the gas tank is empty.

 

LEAF BLOWERS:

 

Use warm water and soap to clean the machine free of dirt. Check the exhaust vents and wipe out any accumulated dust and debris.

 

RAKES:

 

Clean off any dead leaves from the prongs. Remove sap by using spraying WD-40 and wipe clean with a cloth.

 

GARDEN HOSES:

 

Drain any excess water out of the hose. Garden hoses will freeze and crack if they are not completely drained. To do this, unhook the hose from the faucet. Then start with the end of the hose and hold it vertically, section-by-section, and watch the water drip out of the nozzle. Coil the hose, making sure there are no kinks, and store in the garage for the winter.

 

GARDEN TOOLS:

 

Use a wire brush or steel wool to remove any dried dirt. Residue speeds up the rusting process, so be sure to completely clean the tool. If any of your tools already have accumulated rust, use a piece of steel wool to scrape it away.

 

If your tools have wooden handles, you can use wax or linseed oil to prevent the wood from splitting during subzero temps. If the tool has a metal blade, sharpen using a file. Store the tools in a dry spot in the garage, away from any moisture sources.

 

Taking simple, preventive steps before winter hits can extend the life of your garden tools. You’ll save money and prevent the headache of shopping for new garden tools when springtime arrives. As soon as spring fever hits, you’ll be ready to tackle the outdoor chores!

 

Read more at The Gardening Channel

6 Ways to Supersize Your Small Kitchen for the Holidays

With Thanksgiving around the corner, odds are you’ll soon be spending plenty of time in your kitchen. (Maybe even way more then you want!) Adding to the holiday stress levels: if your culinary workspace is tight, turning out meals for a crowd may be a real challenge, especially with more helpers (aka family members) around. Don’t panic! You still have time for some kitchen-organizing hacks that can bring some order to the chaos. Plus, you can get inspiration for how to maximize your small space for next year.

1. Plan where everything will go

Before you head to Williams-Sonoma and start swooning over gravy boats shaped like roasted turkeys, take stock of what you already own and plan out how you’ll organize everything, says Susie Kurkowski, owner of Items of Interest, a home decor boutique in Brooklyn, NY.

You may have to do a holiday-specific reorg—as usual, the items you’ll use most (such as dishes, cups, and mixing bowls) should be within arm’s reach, but you’ll also need to get out your heirloom casserole dishes and other items for serving. After the big meal, those special-occasion dishes can go back into storage where they’ll be safe but won’t get in the way of your daily routine.

You’ll also want to limit the number of small appliances (just stick them in a closet, if there’s nowhere else) on your countertops, to free up prep space. And again, when the festivities are over, you may want to rethink what you put back out. The Keurig you use daily? Yes, that can remain. The dusty waffle maker you got as a wedding present and haven’t used since 2009? Say adios!

2. Pimp out your cabinets with custom inserts

Whether you inherited an antique kitchen with equally outdated shelving or you’re starting from scratch, it’s smart to buy custom inserts to organize each nook and cranny, Kurkowski says. You’ll be able to put away more things—without putting them out of reach. She recommends Rev-A-Shelf’s products, which include pullout inserts, Lazy Susan spinners, tray dividers, and door storage.

“Sometimes store-bought cabinets come with weak shelving and inserts that don’t last, so it’s best to buy those items separately,” Kurkowski recommends. “Position like items such as dishes, bowls, and cups close together to make them easy to access, and use the inserts to store all of your small appliances, spices, and other necessities to keep them out of sight and off your counters.”

3. Invest in new appliances

Switching out appliances is one of the easiest ways to bring style, increased efficiency, and a higher resale value to your petite kitchen, Kurkowski says. Although stainless steel has been the preferred choice for the past decade, white appliances are coming into vogue. Certain sizes are considered the standard, but you can opt for smaller appliances to gain more storage inches in your cabinets. Just pay attention to the height, width, and depth. Most modern appliances are deeper than what you probably have now, and you don’t want new appliances to stick out past your countertops.

4. Go easy on color

If you want to add a touch of style, just know that small kitchens are not the place to let loose with dramatic hues. Choose a more subtle color, says Allison Petty, an interior designer with Homepolish. Just like with other small spaces, keep darker colors at the bottom of your kitchen and use lighter shades higher up. More and more homeowners are opting to paint lower cabinets a darker shade, like gray, and the uppers with a creamy white for contrast, Kurkowski says. The effect is dramatic: It brings the eye up and makes your kitchen appear more spacious.

That said, be careful with the backsplash, which is already in shadow. A white subway or hexagon tile goes flawlessly with most kitchen designs instead of dark granite or mosaic tile, Kurkowski says. Adding a backsplash is an inexpensive and dramatic way to add some visual pop, as long as you keep colors neutral.

5. Open up your space with light

Your kitchen is no place to skimp on lighting. Use bright lights over workspaces, Kurkowski says. If you’re blessed enough to have an island, invest in a showstopper light fixture. Hudson Valley Lighting has plenty of beautiful options. Recessed lighting for the rest of the kitchen works fine, but Kurkowski thinks track lighting is even better.

“If you put a track in a suspended rectangle junction box in your kitchen, you can have up to 12 lights on one track and point them at different areas in the kitchen,” Kurkowski notes. “It is less expensive than installing several fixtures that each require their own junction box.”

6. Give old cabinets and countertops new life

Don’t have the funds for a complete gut and reno? No worries: You can transform your outdated cabinets with paint, Petty says. A popular option with avid DIYers is Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Another low-cost, eye-popping transformation is to change out or add new knobs and pulls, which can update the look of your kitchen without breaking the bank.

There’s no beating around the bush: Countertops are expensive to replace—even in small spaces. You’ll spend at least $4,000 for engineered quartz (a hot option right now). If you don’t have the money for a complete upgrade, consider painting laminate surfaces with Giani Countertop Paint (available at your local home improvement store for under $100).

Read more: http://www.realtor.com/advice/home-improvement/super-size-small-kitchen-for-holidays/?identityID=5518632b4148c7238f0003ed&MID=2015_1120_WeeklyNL&RID=2915073782&cid=eml-2015-1120-WeeklyNL-blog_1_holidaykitchen-blogs_trends

Why You Should Never Buy the Best House in the Neighborhood

When you’re house hunting, finding an amazing house in your location of choice that doesn’t require much additional investment seems like a huge score.

But is it really? Before making an offer on that picture-perfect home, take a look at the surrounding houses. If they’re all in disrepair—or just obviously less nice than the one you’re considering—you might be buying the most expensive house in the neighborhood.

Maybe that seems awesome because you’ll get bragging rights and price of place! But more than likely, it’s going to hurt you. Here’s why.

Someday you’ll need to sell it

When you’re in the throes of buying a home, it’s easy to forget that the place you’re busy buying will someday be the place you’re selling. And when it comes time to sell, unloading the priciest home on the block will be a challenge.

“A lot of buyers forget a home is an investment,” says Brendon DeSimone, a real estate expert and author of “Next Generation Real Estate.” “The world changes. Things happen fast. People transfer, people lose their jobs. Now imagine yourself as the seller of that home.”

So you’re hanging by a thread: As it is, someone might buy it—after all, you did—but there’s no way to increase your equity in the home. With your house already significantly nicer than its neighbors, any upgrades (however minor) will send it into the stratosphere. That quality mismatch between your home and the surrounding homes will lead most buyers to pass on it. If they’re going to spend that much money, why wouldn’t they buy a home in a more desirable neighborhood?

The best you can hope for is your home holding its value. The worst-case scenario: You can’t sell it.

“You can change your house, but you can’t change your location,” DeSimone says.

You need to leave room for improvement

As we said before, a home is an investment—and the best investments have the most room for improvement. Ideally, you’ll be adding to the home during your ownership, building equity in hopes of a payoff when you (eventually) sell.

That’s why DeSimone actually recommends buying the worst house in the best neighborhood. Yes, you read that correctly.

“You can add value on your own,” he says. “If you’re choosing between an awesome house in a crappy location or an awful house in a great location, I would choose the latter.”

Note that “improvement” doesn’t necessarily entail a complete renovation. Even the small changes that happen when you—a responsible person—move in will increase its value. We’re talking about things such as regular maintenance, refreshing the paint, and fixing the odds and ends that might go ignored by another occupant. But if your home is already priced well above the rest of the neighborhood, those tiny changes won’t make a lick of difference.

You can’t bet on the neighborhood to improve

If you’re buying the nicest house on the block hoping the neighborhood will improve, you’re putting a lot of stake in a volatile market—and you’re more likely to be disappointed (and possibly even go broke).

Ideally, the chain of events goes like this: You buy your nice home in an up-and-coming neighborhood. Over time—thanks, gentrification—the homes around you improve until all of your neighbors are pretty much on the same footing. Because the area has improved so drastically, your home’s value will still increase.

It’s a wonderful idea, and it is certainly realized occasionally. Too bad Magic 8 Balls don’t really work. For each time this strategy works, there are a dozen others in which homeowners end up with an overpriced, unsellable home in a middling neighborhood.

If you’re eager to live in a neighborhood with potential, “buy a bad house,” DeSimone says. “At least you can improve the interiors and make it more valuable. If that neighborhood doesn’t actually ‘up-and-come,’ your expensive home is already as viable as it can be.”

Sometimes, betting on your home can pay off—but risking your home? That strategy might sacrifice everything.

Read more at:  Realtor.com – by Jamie Wiebe

 

Don’t Wait—Beat the Crowds and Buy This Winter

Now that the U.S. has regained its job-creation mojo, as the October employment report showed, the demand for housing is only going to grow.

 

After all, when people have jobs they can break off and form new households—ditching the roommates behind or finally moving out of Mom and Dad’s basement—and that’s what fundamentally drives home purchases.

 

Most of the households created over the past two years have been renting households, but based on U.S. Census data for the third quarter of this year, it appears that homeownership has started to recover.

 

This especially makes sense now that it is cheaper to own than rent in more than three-quarters of the counties in the U.S. And it’s not getting better— rents are rising year over year at twice the pace of listing prices. Meanwhile, mortgage rates remain at near record lows but appear poised to increase over the next year. And home prices are rising, too.

 

So if you qualify for a mortgage and have the funds for a down payment and closing costs—and if you intend to live in a home long enough to cover the transaction costs of buying and selling—you will be better off financially if you buy as soon as you can. After all, if you are tired of your current home now, you won’t feel better about it in six months.

 

The top factors driving home shoppers this summer were pent-up demand and recognition of favorable mortgage rates and home prices. These drivers will likely remain well into next year.

 

Yet demand for housing is extremely seasonal. In most markets in the country, we are conditioned to believe that we should buy homes in the spring and summer. So come each October, plans to purchase shift to the spring. While the school calendar and weather do influence the ideal time to move, many buyers would benefit from buying this fall and winter rather than waiting until next spring.

 

In October, the percentage of would-be buyers on realtor.com® saying that they intend to buy in seven to 12 months was the highest it has been all year and represented the largest time frame for purchase. Likewise, October produced the lowest percentage of would-be buyers saying they intend to buy in the next three months.

 

In other words, people’s stated plans point to a very strong spring for home sales. Great, right? But here’s the problem: Inventory isn’t likely to be higher in March and April than it is now. And while inventory should grow in late spring and into summer, it won’t grow as fast as the seasonal demand.

 

So, if you are ready, consider getting in the market now instead of early spring. You will have more choices and less competition, and you can lock in today’s rates rather than risk rates being 25 to 50 basis points higher. (A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.)

 

A 50 basis-point increase in rates (for example, from 4.05% to 4.55%) would cause monthly payments to be 6% higher. And that increase would not only affect your monthly cash flow but could also affect your ability to qualify.

 

So if you are considering buying a home this spring, it’s worth exploring the inventory now and reaching out to a local Realtor®. A new home could be the best gift you give yourself and your family this holiday season.

 

http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/reasons-to-buy-a-home-this-winter/?identityID=5518632b4148c7238f0003ed&MID=2015_1113_WeeklyNL&RID=2915073782&cid=eml-2015-1113-WeeklyNL-blog_1_buyinwinter-blogs_trends

6 Ways to Uncover the Truth About Your New Home—Before It’s Too Late

6 Ways to Uncover the Truth About Your New Home—Before It’s Too Late

 

Congratulations, you’ve found your dream home! Or have you?

 

You set up appointments to visit your potential new home more times than you can count (you’re secretly wondering if your agent is going to change her number). You did so many drive-bys, your would-be neighbors are getting nervous. You took endless video of every room inside, and you measured all the spaces so you can start doing some late-night obsessive-compulsive furniture shopping. You’ve done all your due diligence, right?

 

We hate to break it to you, but maybe not.

 

There are a few more things to look out for—a few nagging annoyances that you might not notice right away but, unchecked, could eat at your soul day and night. Certainly, not all of the issues are deal breakers. But given the choice between dealing with them now or eventually becoming a bit too familiar with that bar on your (soon-to-be) new corner as you mull over what might have been, you might want to choose the former. Deal with the extra-fine details now!

 

Here’s how to make extra sure your new home won’t drive you crazy.

 

Drive by at night

 

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before (spoiler alert: You have!). Because it’s really, really good advice. A lot of basic but important questions (Is there a streetlight shining directly in my window? Do the neighbors throw late-night 80s hair metal parties?) can be answered with a quick after-hours drive-by (or two). Yeah, we know you’re already doing them during the day. Do them at night too—on the weekend as well as a weeknight.

 

“Find out what kind of noise levels there are before making your final decision,” says Amy Cook, a San Diego Realtor®.

 

Do not skip this step: Discovering these problems after closing could give you an endless headaches.Like, real ones—migraines that won’t go away.

 

Take a walk and ask lots of questions

 

To be truly thorough, you need to get out of the car and hit the pavement. Repeatedly.

 

“If you really want to learn about the neighborhood and find out all the gossip, good and bad, walk around the neighborhood meeting people and asking them questions,” says Fort Collins, CO, Realtor® Angie Spangler.

 

Of course, this strategy works best if your neighborhood is sociable; in a suburban neighborhood without sidewalks or much daytime activity, you might not learn much (and you might freak people out a bit). Some moderation is key. And if things are too quiet, maybe this hood isn’t for you. Or maybe it’s perfect. Some shoe leather reporting will give you a better indication of how you’ll fit in.

 

Understand the zoning

 

If there’s one thing that can prevent surprise heartaches, it’s understanding the neighborhood’s zoning laws.

 

Even if there are no restaurants or bars nearby today, commercial zoning allows their presence, meaning you might be right behind a noisy club five years down the line. Is your potential new home in a designated historic district? That can affect future renovation plans. In a mixed-use district? Some people don’t mind having shops and restaurants just around the corner, but you know best if that “some people” is you.

 

Spangler recalls selling a home to a couple a few blocks from what’s now Fort Collins’ Old Town—a raucous strip of retail shops and bars.

 

“They were upset that there’s commercial going in all around them,” she says. “I took for granted they had a good understanding of what to expect.”

 

Consult with the city’s departments

 

Speaking with your city’s planning, water management, and police departments can uncover vital information about your potential home—such as its flood hazard, which you may not notice in the dry season but can put your home at risk when it rains.

 

How close are you to emergency services and what’s the average response time? Is there a big commercial project underway nearby that could increase traffic? Do the crime statistics concern you?

 

Scope out social media resources

 

Apps such as Nextdoor help you keep an eye on the neighborhood and can be a valuable resource before moving in. Scour other apps and online resources, join local Facebook groups, and sign up for neighborhood email lists to find out the most common complaints and concerns of your new neighbors.

 

Pay attention to nearby homes

 

If you don’t have a trained real estate eye, it might be easy to overlook your neighbor’s unmowed lawn—but ignoring it might mean missing a vital clue to the area’s health and upkeep.

 

“As a real estate agent, it’s easy for me to identify the properties that are rentals or show lack of upkeep,” Spangler says.

 

If houses in the neighborhood aren’t well-cared for, it could affect property values down the line. Caveat Emptor. And that means you.

 

http://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/ways-to-uncover-the-truth-about-your-new-home-before-its-too-late/

Home Staging for Fall #6

In Home Staging conversations, there is a reason these two little words are so overly used – they are simply too important to ignore – CURB APPEAL!!  While autumn can make curb appeal more challenging, those who take the extra steps are already at an advantage over the competition that often ignore this after the flowers have died and the grass no longer needs mown.  Take the time to clean out flower beds and other dead plants from pots and landscaping.  Pressure-wash the house, clean out the gutters and do those tasks we often reserve for spring.  Outdoor fall decorations will add color back into the landscaping where the flowers once thrived.
Like the inside of your house, keep the exterior tidy and uncluttered.  If you
have trees on your property – Rake! Rake! Rake!

– Steve Baker, REALTOR®

HOME STAGING TIPS #6

Home Staging for Fall Part #5

Gift your potential buyers with seasonal scents!  Autumn is ripe with smells that trigger sharp memories of warmth and home.  Trigger those same olfactory memories in your guests with candles or oils of apple and cinnamon, pumpkin spice or baked apple pie.  Brew some apple cider and leave it out for your buyers to enjoy – the scents and tastes will be associated with your home.
Leave them with a memory to take with them that will help
them pleasantly remember your house over the competition.  – Steve Baker, REALTOR®

HOME STAGING TIPS #5

 

HOME STAGING FOR THE FALL PART #4

As the weather cools it is important to keep the home warm and welcoming for potential buyers. If you aren’t currently living in the house you are trying to sell or are away for a time, be sure to leave the heat on! Walking into a cold house lacks appeal. Additionally, a cold house that doesn’t provide comfort doesn’t encourage buyers to take their time to examine the house nor does it leave them with a “warm” feeling about the property. If customers and realtors are thinking about how fast they can get back to their warm car, they aren’t focused on your house. – Steve Baker, REALTOR®

“There is nothing inviting about a cold house.”  – Steve Baker, REALTOR®

HOME STAGING TIPS #4

HOME STAGING FOR FALL #3

We’ve stressed the importance of lighting over and over. Let’s face it, we see nothing without it and how we see everything is affected by it. So the importance of lighting can never be over emphasized.So why am I featuring it here in a discussion about Home Staging for Fall? As fall approaches the hours of daylight we receive decreases. It is important to put your house in the best light (pun intended). Open curtains and blinds to allow as much natural lighting into the home as possible. In darker areas, or areas you wish to feature, add lamps or spot-lighting. This adds to the

HOME STAGING TIPS #3

warmth of your home and gives it a sense of space. – Steve Baker, REALTOR®

“We see nothing without it and how we
see everything is affected by it.” – Steve Baker, REALTOR®

HOME STAGING FOR FALL PART #2

As the cooler temperatures encroach upon us and our outside activities tend to move indoors, it becomes a great time to paint the interior of your home with warm and inviting colors. Master stagers always stress the importance of neutralizing the colors when selling your home. Warm, neutral colors such as creams and tans easily achieve these results. Now consider adding accent pieces to the room with rich fall colors of orange, browns, yellows and reds. This will spice up the neutral background and pull the comfort of fall into your home. Remember, your home is competing with other houses on the market. Everything you can do to add to your home’s appeal will help it sell faster and increase the chances of getting top dollar from your investment. – Steve Baker, REALTOR®

HOME STAGING TIPS #2