4 Home Hazards You Can Prevent With Preparation

In any home, there's always a risk of damage or accidents. The chances of these crises occurring, however, can be reduced with planning and preparation. Here are four home hazards you can prevent with a bit of preparation and some forward-thinking.

Roof Leaks

A leaky roof practically guarantees that you'll have water damage to deal with. To prevent this problem, it's a good idea to engage in some basic roof maintenance. Have your roof inspected regularly, and repair any weather-related damage as soon as it comes up. You should also trim back any tree limbs close to your roof so that they won't blow up against it in a storm and loosen the shingles.

Electrical Accidents

Older homes often have wiring that isn't compatible with modern appliances. This can result in short circuits, electrical damage, or even electrical fires. To prevent this, have a qualified electrician come in and inspect your home's wiring. Update or replace the parts that aren't up to par, and you'll have less to worry about as your home ages.

Fires

The biggest fear for any homeowner is a fire. Whether started by wiring, a gas leak, or a lightning strike, fires can instantly destroy your home, belonging, and financial stability. While fires will always do some damage, you can mitigate the effects by having your home coated with flame-resistant sprays or installing non-flammable insulation. Materials from companies like Sun Fire Defense can help your home suffer less damage in the event of a fire, making the recovery process faster and simpler.

Basement Flooding

During large storms, it's far from uncommon for basements to flood. The solution, of course, is to install a sump pump to drain the water from your basement before it becomes an issue. To fully prevent basement flooding, you should also have a home generator running as an automatic power backup in case of a power outage. This way, the sump pump will continue to operate, even if the power goes out. A generator will also prevent you from having to go hours without power if a line goes down or a transformer blows, both of which can happen at any time due to high winds or falling trees.

As you can see, even the worst kinds of home damage can be prevented with some sensible preparation. Take these preventative measures in your home today to keep it safe from damage for years to come.

How Can Retirees Make The Most Of Home Equity

Retirement is an exciting and rewarding time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor after decades of hard work. If you’re retired or you’re about to retire, you may be wondering what’s next. If you’re thinking about how you can make the most of your assets, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s take a look at how retirees can make the most of home equity. 

What is Home Equity?

Home equity is the difference between the current appraised value of your home and the outstanding balance of your mortgage. To put it simply, home equity is the amount of ownership you actually have in your home. For example, if you owe $200,000 to your lending institution for your mortgage loan and your home is worth $250,000, you have $50,000 equity in your home. 

Can equity increase or decrease? Yes, your home equity can both increase and decrease, depending on different circumstances. With each mortgage payment, you make your equity rise. Mortgage payments increase equity by decreasing the amount owed on your mortgage and increasing the true amount of homeownership. 

Equity can decrease if your home value drops at a faster rate than you’re making your mortgage principal payments. Home value can decrease for the following reasons:

• Natural disasters

• Consistent foreclosures in your neighborhood

• Lack of community maintenance and upkeep

• Lack of amenities, etc.

Now that we’ve taken a look at what home equity is and how it works, let’s take a look at how you can make the most of home equity. 

Cash-Out Refinancing

Cash-out refinancing is replacing your existing mortgage with a new one that reflects the current appraised value of your home. With this method, you’re able to cash-out with your equity difference. The exact amount you’re able to get depends on your specific agreement with your lending institution. With the cash you receive you can pay off credit card debts, improve your home, or meet other financial needs that you may have.

Sell Your Home

Retirement is a perfect time to sell your home. More often than not, your need for a daily commute will be eliminated, as well as, your need for living close to business establishments. Get away from the hustle and bustle and consider selling your home. 

When you sell your home, you can downsize with cash on hand from the sale. With the additional cash from your sale, you can invest in rental properties or other businesses that will guarantee a sure monthly income with minimal effort. You may also want to consider moving to a cheaper retirement-friendly neighborhood. Neighborhoods like these are perfect for hosting intimate birthday parties and gifting sentimental gifts to your loved ones.

Selling the home you’ve lived in for many years may seem scary. But remember, making a house a home is simple. All you need is love and a few personal touches. Make your new retirement home extra cozy with furniture for your grandkids or framed birthday cards. Items like these will ensure that your new home feels just right.

Home Equity Borrowing

A home equity loan is a second mortgage that gives you access to a lump sum payment. With your lump sum payment you can:

• Remodel your home to make it retirement-friendly. This is a perfect option if selling your current home is non-negotiable for you

• Finally have the kitchen, bathroom, or living space of your dreams

• Make your backyard an ideal hang out spot for yourself, your grandkids, or friends to enjoy time outdoors

• Make your home a loving oasis of beautiful memories of the people closest to your heart

Reverse Mortgage

Typically, homeowners age 62 and above and are eligible to take out a reverse mortgage. When you take out a reverse mortgage, you’re borrowing against the value of your home. Depending on your agreement with your lending institution, you will receive one lump sum payment or monthly payments over an extended period of time. Reverse mortgages tend to be more complex and are not the right fit for everyone. However, they are still an option nonetheless. 

Conclusion

After spending a long time contributing to the workforce, your retirement period should be as stress-free as possible. Before deciding which method of home equity cashing out you’d like to pursue, you should always:

• Research extensively - Make sure you fully understand all of the pros and cons of a potential agreement before signing off on it. Alongside doing your own research, you should also speak to a loan specialist from at least one or two lending institutions. Each institution will have different rates and agreements.

• Be responsible - It’s easy to get carried away when you are granted access to large amounts of money. However, it’s important to remember that with most of these agreements you are putting your home up for collateral. Before making a final decision, ensure that you can effortlessly keep up with your loan payments.

Congrats on your retirement! Enjoy it, you deserve it. 

Inject Personality into Your Room with these Creative Decor Ideas

Redoing your room or home is, objectively, a lot of fun. Even if you’re moving homes and it’s a hassle and you don’t really have the time, it’s still fun. It’s fun because your place, where you live, is essentially you. Right? It’s kind of an extension of you. A way for you to project your individuality beyond yourself. How cool is it to have someone walk into a space that you’ve created and start engaging with it, picking up subconscious cues? Everyone who walked into Dragonstone knew exactly what the Khaleesi was all about. You know, the whole grim, barebones, give-you-an-inferiority-complex type of decor. Now you don’t have to go so far as to install giant dragon figurines by your door (or do, if that’s your thing), but there is a whole lot you can do to remake your room in your image. And it doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul either. Small touches here and there can lend a sense of style to your surroundings and elevate an otherwise ordinary space. 

Walls

It’s often the first thing people register when they walk into a room: the color of your walls. Ever since paint became a thing, colors like white and beige have been the go-to, mainly because they reflect light better and make your room appear more luminous. By playing with the color of your walls, you can make a smaller room feel more spacious or add focus and character to a larger room. Don’t want too much color overwhelming you? Try a statement wall. Pick one side of your room and paint it differently — a rich blue, red, or green — to offset the otherwise neutral color palette. It could serve as a backdrop for your bed or an art display. You could even do a mural to add some life and movement to the room. 

Accessories

Accessories are everything. Install some that you like and not ones that the magazines say you ought to like. Everyone’s got feng shui or a laughing Buddha these days. Experiment with some eccentric home decor ideas that’ll catch your guests’ attention — maybe keep them occupied while you’re mixing the drinks or create some interesting conversation. 

Soft Decor

You’d be surprised how much real estate your curtains, couch covers, and pillowcases consume. After your walls, they probably contribute the most in terms of setting the color tone of the room. You could go the whole mismatched route for that boho-chic effect. If you prefer something more understated, let your furnishings blend in and place some decorative cushions to add a pop of color to the surroundings.    

The Floor

This is an interesting one. Picking your floor is both an aesthetic and a functional decision. It needs to look good, yes. But it also needs to feel good. Tiles, wood, vinyl — they all feel different to walk on and affect the acoustics of the room. People love solid wood since it makes for a timeless choice. It can also make for annoying clickety-clacks as you’re walking on it. Our recommendation? Try adding in an area rug. It’s a great way to soundproof the sitting area and serve as a beautiful floor piece for your furniture. 

‘Content’ Case

Yes, a content case. We used to call them bookshelves or record collections back in the day. And if you don’t like intellectual and creative pursuits being reduced to a generic consumer commodity like “content”…..well, then you don’t like it — it’s a problem, what do you want from us? But add one in any way. It doesn’t have to be books. Have it be whatever best reflects your interests. Video games, classic vinyls, BluRays, abstract art...something that presents a window into your mind and gets your guests talking. And if you run out of ideas, you can always stick up a poster of Che Guevara. Right next to the priceless china or opulent fireplace. People won’t know what to think. 

Natural Elements

Incorporating some greenery or raw wooden items into your home decor can really lift the vibe of the place, give it an earthy feel. If you don’t have enough time to look after potted plants, try placing some artificial ones around. They look just as good, minus the hassle of having to keep them alive.  

When redecorating your room, remember that you’re going to be the one spending the most amount of time there. Playing to the gallery is all well and good, but you don’t want to be weirded out in your own space. Take time with your decisions, ensuring you’re comfortable with the outcome. There’s nothing like hitting that perfect decor combination that feels like you and feels like home, and where it’s always a pleasure to entertain guests as well as spend time alone.

Relocating Your Family: 4 Tips for Finding the Right Home

So much goes into buying a new home, particularly if you have to relocate. You must think about what types of schools your kids have access to, what kinds of amenities you’ll have nearby, and more. If you're in the process of relocating, then you'll want to read this short guide. It gives you four tips to help you decide what you need to look for as you’re relocating your family.

Look Into Pre-Approved Financing

You’ll save yourself a lot of hassle and heartache if you get pre-approved for a mortgage. It tells you straight away how much home you can afford, which prevents you from falling in love with homes that aren’t in your price range. This will be especially important if you have to move a significant distance to your new home. Not having to worry about whether you can afford your new house or not will save you a lot of stress down the road.

Get a Pro to Sell Your Home

Some homeowners think they’ll save a ton of money by trying to sell their homes themselves. Maybe you’re among them. While this may be true, inexperienced sellers may actually benefit from hiring a sellers’ agent. This dedicated real estate professional’s whole focus is to sell the property at terms that are good for you, the seller. This frees you up to take care of other more personally pressing issues in the sales process like packing up your home and looking into new schools for your kids.

Nearby Activities

If you’re active as a family, you’ll want to find a home that’s around lots of activities. Aside from looking for the best schools, you may want to look for local parks, including dog parks, a YMCA or activity center, or hiking trails. Having these amenities close by allows you to go out and play together as a family and to really start living where you live. Additionally, you can start testing out the different activities in that area before moving to help get the family excited about the new location.

With Room for More

It may be appealing to buy the best, most finished house within your budget, but it’s good to keep in mind that you can grow with your home. That is, you can buy a home that’s mostly finished and add new features like better countertops or a new toilet in the bathroom later on. Buying a cheaper home that you can fix-up, may allow you to get more space for less money. As long as the house has good bones, that fixer-upper may be just the place your family needs as it grows.

Your new home has to fit your family now and five, 10, or even 15 years from now. That’s why it’s wise to put a little thought into what you want in a new home before you start looking. If you employ the four tips in this post, you’ll be setting you and your family up for success in your new home, no matter where you relocated to.