Homeowners who fail to perform certain maintenance tasks in a timely manner may face hefty repair bills in the future. Professional home inspectors shared with Apartment Therapy some of the most important home maintenance chores that owners should be doing.Clean your gutters. Be sure to check and clean gutters throughout the year to remove any debris. “Once debris is carefully removed, any dirt or grime should be thoroughly clean
Commute time is an important factor for buyers when they're deciding on a home to purchase. Eighty-five percent of buyers say they would sacrifice other home features, such as lot size, square footage, and home-style, in order to shorten their commute to work, according to a survey of more than 600 realtor.com® users. Forty percent say they are looking to reduce their commute time by up to 45 minutes.In response, realtor.com® announced a new to
Just how secure is that “smart” security camera or door lock? That is being called into question after reports of a massive data breach hitting the smart-home industry that could extend to smart locks, home security cameras, and full smart-home kits.An database for devices manufactured by Orvibo, which runs an “internet of things” management platform, was left exposed to the internet without any password protection, security researchers w
You want that listing to look great and the carpets in the home to have that ultimate fluff. But did you know there are best practices to vacuuming a room?Start in the far corner of the room. This will help you avoid having to step on the carpet that you already cleaned. “Nobody wants footprints on their fresh vacuum lines,” Jamie Wilcox, brand director at vacuum cleaner company Bissell, told Apartment Therapy in a recent article offerin
The build-to-rent market is exploding in growth, CNBC reports. While homebuilding, in general, has underperformed in recent years, one segment of residential construction has seen large growth: Building a home with the intentions of renting it out.In 2017, 37,000 homes were built as rentals; that number rose to 43,000 last year, or just under 5% of total single-family housing starts, the National Association of Home Builders reports. That number
Summer is peak season for climate-related disasters, and an alarming percentage of homeowners may be underinsured to weather a natural disaster. Sixty-four percent of homes are underinsured by an average of 27%, according to the Residential Cost Handbook, published by Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, a consulting firm.Reconstruction costs have risen by 5.6% to 7.6% in some areas over the last year, according to a separate study earlier this year
“Gayborhoods” are getting more expensive, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community increasingly say they’re getting priced out of the neighborhoods they helped to build.For example, USA Today reports that areas like San Francisco’s Castro district, which has long been known to house many members of the LGBT community, has seen values reach nearly $1.8 million while comparable homes in other neighborhoods av
If you have an interest in working with international clients, you don’t have to go overseas to find them. One of the best places to meet foreign prospects may be your local university.College orientations and community events sponsored by higher education institutions provide ample opportunities to connect with foreign students who may be looking for long-term housing, real estate professionals told attendees at last week’s Midwest Real Esta
Mortgage rates are dropping, giving millions of homeowners an opportunity to lower their monthly payments. An estimated 8.2 million borrowers could refinance and potentially lower their monthly payments by at least 75 basis points, estimates Black Knight, a mortgage software and analytics firm. This marks the largest percentage of homeowners who stand to benefit from lower mortgage rates since the end of 2016.Last week, the average
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