Top 7 Mistakes People Make When Trying to Protect Their Home
Is your home an unwitting beacon for thieves and burglars? It could be if you aren’t careful. Take a look at these next 7 tips to make sure you aren’t unknowingly saying “welcome” to every criminal that might pass by.
1. Hiding a Key On the Property
Sure, hiding a key under a rock may fool an amateur thief once in awhile, but hiding a key on your property in case you lock yourself out is not a good idea. A career burglar will know where to look every single time, making your home security efforts practically useless if the burglar simply walks through the front door. It is a much better idea to leave the key with a neighbor or in a secure lockbox.
2. Not Fixing Broken Locks
Broken locks on doors or windows are quite inviting to intruders and burglars. Sure, you mean to fix them, but you just never seem to get around to it. Having a broken lock on a door or window is about as safe as not locking your home at all, so fixing locks as soon as they break should be a top priority. When you do fix the lock, think about upgrading to a more secure piece of hardware.
3. Not Trimming Shrubbery
Overgrown landscaping does more than keep your house cool; it act as a great hiding spot for an intruder as he tries to find a way to break into your home. Cut back the landscaping and make sure all bushes and shrubs are trimmed on a regular basis. If your home becomes too hot in the summer, install window awnings to keep your house cool.
4. Keeping One Light On
Keeping one light on all the time is no better than keeping your home dark. One light signals to a smart thief that no one is home as there is no movement inside your home. It is better to get a few inexpensive lighting timers that will turn lights on and off when you are not home. This gives the appearance of people being inside and a professional burglar will just move on.
5. Stopping Your Mail and Newspaper When on Vacation
Contrary to popular belief, don’t stop your mail and newspaper when you leave town. Even though you may trust your mail carrier and newspaper delivery person, that does not mean they are trustworthy. Even if they are trustworthy, you don’t know who they might tell that you are away. It is not worth the risk. Have a trusted neighbor get your paper and pick up your mail instead.
6. Getting a Big Dog
Yes, big dogs are scary looking. But little dogs make noise, usually a lot of noise. Getting a small dog is better protection as the noise the dog makes will discourage a professional thief from trying to break into your home.
7. Letting Burglars Know What Type of Alarm System You Have
A professional burglar would love to know what kind of burglar alarm system you have. Don’t tell him. Rather than posting the lawn sign and window stickers your alarm company gives you stop by the hardware store and get generic signs. These will alert a burglar that there is an alarm to deal with but will not give him the information he wants in order to bypass it.
8. Not Turning on Your Alarm System
The burglar alarm only works if it is turned on. Whether you are going away for a few minutes, all day or on a trip, get in the habit of setting your burglar alarm every time you walk out of the house.
Home security is a matter of maintenance, common sense and good habits. These seven tips do not guarantee that your home will not be burglarized but do make it more difficult. So, make sure that your renters or homeowners insurance is up-to-date and make an inventory of your belongings – just in case.
Author Bio: Elli is a guest author who writes for www.yourlocalsecurity.com. When she’s not blogging about home security, she enjoys spending time in the outdoors, hiking, fishing, and backpacking!
Today at 9 am Steve Babbitt, President of the Greater Rochester Association of REALTORS@ released the second quarter statistics to the press. The stats released showed a decrease for the second quarter, but 3 hours later, we realized a mistake had been made in the transfer of the 2011 number for the second quarter and it was corrected to show an increase.
Here are the second quarter stats:
Home Sales for 2011 - 2,371 Home sales for 2012 - 2,640 - 11% increase
Median Price for 2011 - $120,000 - Median Price for 2012 - $122,500 - 2% increase
This makes four consecutive quarters with an increase!
3rd Quarter 2011 - +8% increase
4th Quarter 2011 - +5% increase
1st Quarter 2012 - +9% increase
2nd Quarter 2012 - +11% increase
Our Rochester real estate market is on the move towards recovery! The Greater Rochester Association of REALTORS@ continues to support the local residential real estate industry by promoting the benefints of home ownership and using the services of a REALTOR@ when buying and selling a home.
Tips For Sellers:
1. Do not stay in the house with the buyer and their agent is going through! Buyers and their agents like to talk through each house to point out the pros and cons and they won’t do that if you are within earshot!
When a buyer walks through your home, they are going to try to see themselves in the house! With you there it will be impossible! Also, they will feel very uncomfortable looking in to closets and kitchen cabinets!
Best advice - LEAVE!!!!
2. Make sure you have done everything possible to have your home in showcase level! And don’t you decide if it is in tip top condition, as the Realtor, or better yet, hire a Staging Coordinator!
Showing a messy house is a kiss of death! Remember, it is work to keep your house lookiing like a model home, but you must if you want to compete with the other homes for sale in your price range!
HGTV has infused buyers with visions of what their next home should look like, so make yours match their impressions!
3. Rent a Storage Locker! If you really are planning to move, then pack up your “stuff” and move it into a short-term rental storage. Make your closets look half empty! Make your counters cleaned off of appliances and personal items! Look under your beds and remove everything! Clean out your basement and garage! Believe me it will make moving a breeze!
4. Don’t Price your Home! Let your agent work up the market price and be ready to lower it every two weeks! Most buyers won’t even bother looking at your home if the asking price is clearly higher than the market stats that they are looking at online.
Top experienced agents like Steve Babbitt understand the history of the market and the conditions that affect the market price.
REPLACEMENT WINDOWS The story as it was told to me:
Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with those expensive, double-pane, energy-efficient kind.
Today, I got a call from the contractor who installed them. He complained that the work had been completed a year ago and I still hadn’t paid for them.
Hellloooo,…………just because I’m blonde doesn’t mean that I am automatically stupid.
So, I told him just what his fast-talking sales guy told me last year… that these windows would pay for themselves in a year.
Helllooooo? It’s been a year, so they’re paid for, I told him. There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally hung up. He never called back. I bet he felt like an idiot.
Professionals are predictable, it’s the amateurs that are dangerous.
Will April Showers Bring May Flowers?
Well the tally is in, and yes, April, 2011 will go down in the books as one of the wettest Aprils in history.
Along with the rain, we had below normal temperatures which prevented the blossoms and flowers from blooming! Even the lawns are behind with the cold temperatures.
And for many businesses, this weather has also put a damper on the normal spring activity! In real estate, as soon as the weather starts to break with warmer temps and sunshine, the buyers come out of the woodwork and the spring market take off. But not this year because of the rain and cold temperatures!
However, the sellers have been busy working on their homes to get them ready for the spring market and are putting them on the market. So what we are seeing is the inventory increasing, but no buyers to buy them!
And now May is continuing with the cool rainy weather so it’s anybody’s guess when the spring market will happen here in Rochester!
What about your market? Is it similar to ours?
or is April Showers Bringing May Showers, not Buyers?
International homebuyers with permanent residences outside the U.S., recent immigrants and temporary visa holders, last year purchased $66 billion of U.S. residential property, or 7% of the market, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
The decline in real estate prices, an oversupply of housing, high foreclosure rates and the weak dollar, in comparison with other currencies, have made the U.S. housing market very attractive to international buyers.
When considering currencies, Europeans have a large advantage. The Euro is 25% stronger than the U.S. dollar. The Canadians have a currency advantage, as well. The value of the Canadian dollar is now equal to the value of the U.S. dollar, making this the best time in decades for Canadians to purchase a home in the U.S.
Canadian buyers currently account for 23% of international purchases in the U.S. That’s the largest portion of all international buyers, up from 11% three years ago. According to a study by Information Market, this year in Phoenix — for the first time on record — buyers from Canada outpaced buyers from California.
Want to jumpstart your international real estate business? Consider obtaining a membership in the Certified International Property Specialist Network (CIPS), a special group within NAR. Through multiple education and networking opportunities, the CIPS Network helps real estate agents capitalize on the lucrative international market. Two years ago, I pursued the prestigious NAR designation and was just the 58 agent in New York State oout of 65,000 agents to have earned it. Up until the end of 2010, there were only about 2,000 CIPS agents in the workd. For more information about the CIPS Network, call me or visit www.realtor.org/international.
Another reason I pursued the CIPS designation was because of the training and instruction on how to work with different ethnic groups by understanding their customs and traditions. This has been extremely helpful since Rochester has many international groups already living here.
Another important factor is the network of CIPS agents around the world. Because of the difficulty in earning this designation, there is a “fraternity-type” connection to other CIPS agents. This has already been helpful in referring a customer that wants to buy in Costa Rica or another in Mexico. Just recently, I received a call from Miami from an agent looking to refer me to an organization that is placing families from South America in Rochester.
The world is becoming smaller all the time. I changed my website name to reflect this movement of international marketplace to Rochester & International Real Estate. I also plan to organize an International Committee in Rochester to help facilitate agents to work with international buyers.
Ventilation and Ice Build-up
Why do some houses have huge iceles hanging down from the gutters and other houses don’t have any?
It all has to do with ventilation of the roof system or in the space called the attic or crawl space. This is important in all buildings, regardless of weather conditions.
In our geographic area it is important in both the summer and the winter. In general, the air in the attic should be as close to the outside air temperature as possible.
The Rochester area has its share of hot days during the summer. It is not uncommon for temperatures to reach above 120°. At this high temperature, it will be more difficult to keep the living space cool or comfortable.
An excessively hot attic also means that the temperature of the roofing material increases, as a result, the life expectancy of the roof will be shortened.
It is equally important to provide proper ventilation in an attic space during cold weather conditions, otherwise, the attic can experience moisture problems. If the air in the attic is noticeably warmer than the exterior air, the attic air will condense on the underside of the roof. Over time, this will lead to a deterioration of the plywood or roof sheathing or mold.
In addition, proper ventilation in the roof system can help to minimize or prevent occurrences of ice damming. Ice damming has always been a problem in Rochester in the winter. It has been more prevalent so far this winter due to the high amount of snow and the constantly cold temperatures.
How do you insure your home to have good ventilation in the attic or crawl space?
Using a combination of passive vents will provide adequate ventilation. This can be a combination of a ridge vent along with soffit vents or many roof vents with the soffit vents.
The principle is to provide generous air flow through the roof system (once again trying to achieve an attic temperature that is close to the outdoor air temperature).
In the case of vaulted or cathedral roof systems it is still important to insulate properly, but it is equally important to provide proper ventilation. The insulation can and should be installed in the roof system, but air spaces should be maintained between the insulation and the underside of the roof. This air space combined with an adequate number of vents provides for adequate air flow through the roof system.
Most home inspectors are trained to advise the home owner as to the correct set-up and system.
You have spent hours pouring over the computer looking at homes for sale, then you have driven by house after house picking out the ones that had possibilities for you, then you had your Realtor scheduled showings for the ones you had selected to see the inside, then you made an offer on the best one and negotiated long and hard to get it at the best possible price, now you have had the home inspection and there are some issues! Or at least, you and your home inspector think so!
What do you do?
This is where the experience of your Realtor from his or her many years of experience comes into pla! They will know how to tactfully present it to the sellers so they are not offended or insulted! You need them to not feel like you are trying to take advantage of them!
Believe me, they will do the repairs if they are presented to them in the right way. Many times buyers will not be able to understand the value of working with an experienced Realtor until they reach a point in the homebuying process where the experience shows up in an advantage for them.
So when deciding on a Realtor, it might be beneficial to ask how long they have been in the business and how many transactions they have done. It may pay off for you bigtime!
Today I have a scheduled Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) inspection with the City of Rochester on my two-family home in the City.
As I was thinking about this appointment, a thought came to me: “Why not require all homes to have regular C of O inspections?”
The main focus of the C of O inspections is for the City Inspector to look for areas that are unsafe for the tenants in rental properties. They will be looking for handrails on stairs, broken stairs, adequate lighting, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, broken windows, storm windows, debris, and the list goes on.
Why wouldn’t this be a good thing for all homes, both single-family and rental properties? I can’t tell you how many homes I have been in while showing homes that are for sale that have unsafe conditions existing there. And there is no C of O required since it was built and inspected.
So, what’s your opinion on this? Inspection or no?
Most of the items on my laundry list are cosmetic in nature and would be classified under Staging Your Home. However, it would be a good idea for sellers to spend a little money upfront and have a Home Inspector perform an inspection for them to address the issues that the home inspector finds.
This would now provide a document for the sellers to show the buyers that their house passed inspection and the necessary issues have been corrected. I believe this would strengthen their position in the marketplace because not many sellers currently do this.
I received this email from a local inspector, Larry Warren Engineers, that I have worked with and thought I would share with you. There are also many other inspection services that could also do this inspection for the seller.
