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How to Winterize Your Home on a Budget
How to Winterize Your Home on a Budget
Securing your home against winter is always a prime consideration for homeowners, no matter where you live. Regardless of what direction the cost of heating oil, propane and other fuels is heading, it makes good sense to ensure that you and your family stay comfortable the entire season while protecting your investment.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be expensive. There are a surprising number of easy things you can do at minimal cost that can maximize energy savings this winter. Below are suggestions for budgets of $100, $250 and $500 (at current prices), as well as some ideas that cost nothing.
Read on here.
Predictions: 10 Healthiest Housing Markets of 2013 Includes Seattle
Predictions: 10 Healthiest Housing Markets of 2013 Includes Seattle
Predictions: 10 Healthiest Housing Markets of 2013 Includes SeattleIn real estate, as you might have heard, location is everything. It’s relatively straightforward to figure out which neighborhood in a particular town is the right location, location, location for your needs – schools, character, proximity to amenities and things like crime rates and commutability render a given neighborhood more or less of a good fit for a given home owner.
But how can you tell which cities you should feel optimistic about in the coming year?
It’s all about the fundamentals, folks.
I sat down with Trulia’s Economist, Jed Kolko, and asked him for his short list of spots across the country that he projects will be the healthiest housing markets in 2013, and for his rationale behind picking the cities that made the list. Kolko explained: “The healthy markets that made the list have strong job growth (Bureau of Labor Statistics), which bodes well for housing demand; low vacancy rates (U.S. Postal Service)–low enough to encourage new construction, but not so low that inventory and sales are restrained; and low foreclosure inventory (RealtyTrac), since foreclosures tend to hold back recovery.”
Read on here.
Black Ice: Are You Responsible for Falls on Your Property?
Black Ice: Are You Responsible for Falls on Your Property?
Black Ice: Are You Responsible for Falls on Your Property?Black ice is a scary sounding term and for good reason: It leads to car accidents, injuries and a fear of walking outside in the winter. But are you responsible to clear this invisible menace if it’s on your property? If someone gets injured slipping in front of your house or on your property, the short answer is: You are responsible.
Corie Russell, who slipped on black ice while visiting her mother several years ago, described her experience to AOL Real Estate: “I was walking down the front porch steps, and little did I know, they were covered by an invisible layer of ultra-slippery ice,” Russell explained. “I flew through the air like some sort of movie scene and landed on the bottom step.” She ended up in the ER with pain so severe that she went into shock. She was immobile for a few days and had to spend Christmas on a couch and miss work. But nothing was permanently damaged, and Russell made a full recovery.
“I was young and recovered without a severe injury, but for a child or elderly person, an ice injury could cause serious complications,” she said.
Read on here.
