At Home With Valerie

When shopping for a home, many buyers look for a bargain. Some will look at foreclosures believing that they can buy a foreclosed home at a discount.  While purchasing one of these homes may seem like a sound investment and a great way to get more house for your dollar, there are some issues to consider before purchasing a foreclosed property.   Depending on your financial situation, your experience as a homeowner, and your access to information about the foreclosure market in your area, there are some risks involved. Finances Of Foreclosure The financial considerations of purchasing a foreclosed home can sometimes be overlooked.  Often foreclosed homes can be in need of considerable maintenance and repair to make them habitable.  You need to know this cost when making the purchase, or you may end up with a considerable amount of debt in bringing your home back to its original shape.  Also, even though the price of the property is right, ...

If you have ever found yourself wondering why in the world you’d ever want to use Twitter, let me introduce you to one very useful feature: Breaking hyper-local news. With all of the social media websites and mobile apps out there today, you might find yourself looking to cut back or even use certain social sites for specific functions.  While Facebook might be great for keeping in touch with family and friends scattered across the country, and Pinterest might be ideal for “scrap-booking” ideas for your next home, what in the world should you use Twitter for? If the idea of “tweeting” messages out in 140 characters seems like a waste of time, perhaps you should consider Twitter in a new light. What Twitter excels at is breaking news, especially hyper-local breaking news. Hyper-local is a term which simple means “very close” to you or your neighborhood. While a wildfire two states away might not be of concern to you, a four-alarm disaster in your neighborhood can ...

Getting ready to sell your house? If you want to make it shine, don’t forget to pay attention to the garage! Staging all your rooms can make a big difference. Making a house on the market shine is all about attention to detail. If you’re going the extra mile to ensure your home is a stand-out, you’ll probably go beyond the typical touch-ups that refresh curb appeal. You might even decide to stage your home, especially if you’re not living in it while it’s for sale. One “room” you don’t want to forget when you stage? Your garage! Staging a garage may sound excessive, but it’s an important and frequently-used entryway to a home. While many prospective buyers may expect a dark, cluttered, unfinished concrete box, you can surprise and delight them by following these simple garage staging tips: 1. Clear out the clutter. Yes, it might mean renting storage space, but that can be a good idea anyway when you’re staging a home to impress. Weed through the junk, have your gara...

Do you want to maintain a shared photo collection of design inspiration, dream homes, or family photos? Carousel is a free add-on for Dropbox that can help you with that! Dropbox is one of the most powerful and useful cloud data storage services available. It's a great way to use files across computers, backup important files, and share media with friends. As Dropbox has become a convenient home for files, the company has recently expanded the number of features it offers as well. Now Dropbox has launched Carousel, a mobile app which is focused on backing up and sharing your photos. Available for both iPhone and Android devices, the app syncs to your Dropbox Camera Uploads folder. According to this extensive hands-on review of Carousel : "...if you're already a Dropbox user, redundantly backing up images is never a bad idea, and you have nothing to lose with the Dropbox utility. Carousel, in this case, just makes everything easier to see, find, and shar...

More and more interactive home search maps will feature the “walkability score” of a particular neighborhood or home. Have you ever wondered what that really means?  Check out my blog post on understanding the walkability score. When you’re looking at home listings and comparing neighborhoods, you may notice a number attached to the listing or neighborhood called “walkability score.” Have you ever wondered exactly what that means? Walk Score is a company which “analyzes hundreds of walking routes to nearby amenities. Points are awarded based on the distance to amenities in each category. Amenities within a 5 minute walk (.25 miles) are given maximum points. A decay function is used to give points to more distant amenities, with no points given after a 30 minute walk.” Additionally, Walk Score looks at pedestrian friendliness, a component which takes into account population density, block length, and intersection density. (Source: http://www.walkscore.com/methodolo...

A home warranty plan, also known as a home protection plan, is a service contract that offers homeowners a way to safeguard themselves against possible breakage or a malfunction within the home.   It's impossible to predict the future, which is why so many buyers look for that little extra peace of mind to comfort them when life unexpectedly throws them an unforeseen problem. Who Needs A Home Warranty Plan Basically, anyone who purchases a home and is concerned with the cost of repairs should consider a home warranty plan.  This is especially true of first-time home buyers who may not be familiar with home maintenance. Factoring In The Cost When factoring in the potential cost of repairing a major appliance or other home component, a home warranty plan may not be a bad investment.  The actual cost of warranty coverage will depend on the plan chosen and the items protected.  As is the case with everything in life, it's best to shop around a...

You shopped for a home, decided to make an offer, entered negotiations, had your offer accepted, and now you are ready to start the closing process. So, what happens next? Once your loan is approved, you will be ready to take the final step that will lead to the door of your new home.  Many home buyers are intimidated by the closing process, but it's not as complicated as you may think.   In fact, finding the right home is much more difficult than closing the deal. Making It Official The closing process begins with the borrower and lender meeting in the presence of a notary public.  This is a person who is authorized to oversee, create or certify contracts, deeds and other legal documents.  At the conclusion of the signing, the notary public will provide their stamp and signature, which certifies the identification of everyone present and the signatures on the loan application. Handing Over The Cash When you meet with the lender to close th...

Water is precious. Without it, life stops.  Fortunately, cutting back is easy and painless and not only preserves our fresh water, but also reduces your bill! Here are 7 creative ways to save. Water is our most precious resource. As our planet becomes more crowded and the demand for clean drinking water grows, it’s increasingly important that we look for creative ways to reduce needless waste. You might underestimate how small changes can really add up.  Did you know simply by turning off the water while you brush your teeth, you may save up to as much as 25 gallons per month? (A great way to make this point with kids is to show them at the grocery store what 25 gallons of milk looks like... that’s a lot of water!) Even shortening your shower by two minutes can add up to 150 gallons per month. Below are some creative tips you can use to cut down on your water consumption, lower your water bills, and preserve a resource we truly can’t live without: 1. Kee...