Air conditioning season is coming up—what do you need to do to prepare?
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How to Avoid Making Service Calls With Simple Fixes
If your HVAC system is on the fritz, here are a few things you should check on before you make that dreaded service call.
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Today I’m joined once again with Eric Kruger from Koch & White, who is here to discuss what homeowners can do to avoid having to make service calls for the HVAC system in their homes. It stinks to make that service call, only to find out that it was something very simple you could have remedied on your own.
The first thing to do is to check your power supply on your furnace and make sure your breakers are on. For the heating end of the system, obstructed vent piping could also cause a problem if snow or leaves got in there. Those are both easy fixes for which you don’t need to make a service call.
If you’re out in a rural area, an empty propane tank will shut the furnace down. Homeowners with natural gas won’t have that problem, though.
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Make sure to check your air filter every single month.
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Finally, check your air filter every month. A plugged-up air filter is another cause of HVAC issues that can be easily fixed.
If you have any questions for Eric or Koch & White about what’s going on with your furnace or A/C system, give them a call at (734) 663-0202 or visit their website.
If you have any other real estate-related questions, feel free to reach out to our team via phone or email. We look forward to serving you.
Improving Your Home for Resale Value and Personal Enjoyment
How can you improve your home for resale value and personal enjoyment?
We’re joined by an expert today to give you an idea.
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If you’re a homeowner and you’ve found a fixer, what should you improve? Or if you have a house you want to get ready for the market, what should you do? Today we’re joined by Leslie Cascino, founder and principal designer of Bonnie Wu Design, to help answer these questions for you. To give you a guideline, we’ll show you a complete before/after redesign of a sample home she just completed.
Follow along in the video above to see the full tour. For your convenience, we’ve provided timestamps so you can skip ahead to various sections:
1:39 – Swapping the living room and dining room to improve the space for resale value
2:45 – Rebuilding the fireplace for resale value and personal enjoyment
3:37 – Adding square footage to the new living room
4:11 – How the windows at the back of the house extend the living space
4:33 – Opening up the kitchen to the rest of the house and orienting it toward the backyard
5:36 – Dropping the plywood panels and installing overhead lighting
6:17 – Converting the den into a home office and guest bedroom
6:58 – Creating the master suite
7:54 – Wrapping things up
If you have any home design questions for Leslie, go ahead and visit her website here.
If you have any other real estate questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We’d love to help you.
4 Fast and Effective Home Improvement Tips
Would you like to update your home, but you’re worried about sinking a lot of time and money into it?
Here are some quick and inexpensive alternatives.
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As a homeowner, it’s important to maintain your property. However, you don’t always have the time or funds to make the improvements you may desire.
To make things easier for you, we’ve assembled a few quick and easy tips to spruce up your home:
1. Try updating your house numbers. This quick fix will really set you apart from your neighbors and makes your home easier to find. There are many options to choose from, so get creative.
2. Paint an old piece of furniture. This can turn an outdated nightstand or chair into a new stunning addition.
3. Paint your front door. Try something that compliments your house or be daring with a bold color.
4. Seal the sidewalk. Cracks and gaps in sidewalks and walkways can quickly expand throughout the year. Not only will a patch job make your pathway look nice, but it will also make it safer for visitors. Fix your sidewalk and driveway with a patching compound specifically made for cement.
We hope that these suggestions help to improve the curb appeal of your home. If you’d like more tips or any information regarding real estate, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.
What Do You Do After You’ve Inherited a Property?
We have the answers to all the important questions you may be asking yourself if you’ve just inherited a property.
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If you find yourself as a personal representative or an heir of a property as an estate, there are five very important questions you’re probably asking yourself right now. Today, we’ll be examining the answers to each of them:
1. What is the best option for you to proceed? More specifically, do you want to keep the property, rent it out, or sell it? If you want to sell, you should consider taking advantage of our Certified Pre-Owned program to bulletproof the transaction and perform your fiduciary responsibilities as a representative or trustee of the estate. For more details about our CPO program, you can watch this video. An appraisal lets the representative know the home’s value and also ensures that no errors can dispute the trustee’s actions. Not to mention, it gives you peace of mind in setting that value.
2. What should you do with all of the belongings in the home? We know packing experts and other trusted resources who can assist you with moving these things into a pod or a storage unit. They’ll also do a deep clean of the home for you.
3. What if you’re not local? Our trusted resources ensure that the folks who are assisting have been recommended by other locals and have a solid reputation.
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We’d be glad to be the solution to simplify your life
so you can deal with what’s really important during this time.
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4. What if you need repairs done? Any handyman tasks or other improvements can be done remotely with our help. We can also organize and stage the home for you.
5. Who can you trust to help? We’ve been trusted to help by thousands of clients in southeastern Michigan, so we’d be glad to be the solution to simplify your life so you can deal with what’s really important during this time.
If you have any other questions or would like more information, please feel free to call or email us anytime. We would love to help you.
How to Help Protect Your Home from Fire
While there may be two types of smoke detectors available for your home, replacing them every ten years is encouraged no matter the type. Today we are providing even more fire protection options.
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Did you know that the American Society of Home Inspectors recommends buying a new smoke detector every 10 years? It is news to us, so we thought that we would share more.
To start with you should know that there are two types of detectors. There are ionization and photoelectric which use different types of sensors. Ionization detectors are more responsive to flaming fires. Meanwhile, photoelectric are more responsive to smoldering fires which could mean the difference between getting your family out of a burning house.
Ionization smoke detectors are less susceptible to alarming when you burn your pizza in the oven. You can tell if you have an ionization smoke detector by looking at the model number on the back. If the letter “I” is in the model number or there is any mention of radioactive material, it is an ionization detector.
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Ionization detectors are more responsive to flaming fires while photoelectric detectors are more responsive to smoldering fires.
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If you and your tenants really want to be safe, there are some things which you should consider.
1. Install both kinds of smoke detectors.
2. Check the batteries on a regular basis.
3. Install interconnected wireless detectors with battery backup.
4. Alert your phone of any smoke in the house with the Nest functions.
5. Locate smoke detectors in every bedroom and on every floor.
6. It is recommended you change your unit every 10 years.
7. You can install sprinklers in your home.
A member of the Ann Arbor Fire Department recommends Kidde smoke and CO alarms.
For updates on fire safety, you can check the Consumer Product Safety Commission to get the most recent publication. And, if you have any questions about this you can contact your local fire department.
If you have any questions relating to your home or real estate in general, please give us a call, text, or send us an email. We would be happy to help in any way that we can. We look forward to speaking with you soon.
Today’s guest, Eric Kreuger from Koch & White, is an expert in all things air conditioning. Koch & White has serviced all of Washtenaw County since 1934. He joined me to give you some tips on how to make sure your AC unit works when you need it to—the summer will be here before you know it!
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Get the testing and charging of an outdoor condenser done before you truly need it to save yourself time and discomfort.
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For more tips and access to Koch & White’s experience and resources, call (734) 663-0204 or visit www.koch-white.com.
For your real estate needs, reach out to your real estate experts at the Toth Team Worldwide Network. We’re here to serve.