Household Tips

Spring Cleaning

Today, you'll get an easy process for prepping your home for keeping your baths free of mildew with a bathroom switch that controls light and exchaust. Most people don't let the bathroom exhaust run long enough to remove all the moisture after a steamy hot shower or long relaxing bath. The result? Grout lines turn dark with mildew, wall paper starts peeling and those dark spots start showing up on the back of the door, behind the curtains or blinds just to name a few places. What's needed is a complete exchange of air, which takes about 20 minutes of bathroom fan time. To make this easy, you can pick up an automatic timer switch with four presets (5,10,15,30 minutes) as well as a conventional on/off switch. It installs in just a few minutes and only costs about $20.00 Pick one up and install it, then check off ? one good deed done.

COST VS. VALUE WHAT'S YOUR HOME ADDITION WORTH?

Add a Family Room 16 x 25 in a style and location appropriate to the house,on a solid foundation with wood siding and fiberglass shingle roof. Include drywall interior with batt insulation, prefinished hardwood floor, and 180 square feet of glazing, including windows, atrium-style exterior doors and two operable skylights. Tie into heating and cooling. The average cost in 2003 for San Francisco area was $68,582.00 Value at sale $80,137.00 or a recouped cost of 116%.

Add a 24x16 foot master bedroom suite with a bath over a solid foundation. Include walk-in closet/dressing area, jetted tub in ceramic tile platform, seperate 3x4 foot ceramic tile shower, and double-bowl vamity with solid surface countertop. Carpet bedroom floor, and install ceramic tile on bathroom floor. Paint the walls, ceiling, and trim. Add gereral and spotlighting and exhaust fan. Job Cost 87,775. in San Francisco in 2003. Value at time of sale $105,975.00 or a recouped cost of 120%

Kitchen Remodels of 200 square feet, desiging and installing a functional layout of new cabinets, laminate countertops, and standard double-tub stainless steel sink with standard single-lever faucet. Include enerty-effecient wall oven, cooktop, ventilation system, built-in microwave, dishwasher, garbage disposer, and custom lighting. Add new resilient floor. finish with painted walls, trim, and ceiling. Include 30 linear feet of semi-custom grade wood cabinets, including a 3x5 foot island. Cost of the job in 2003 in the San Francisco area was $49,942.00 and the Value at sale $66,447.00 for a cost re-coup of 133%

There is a lot that can be done to maximise the amount of equity in your existing home. Shop carefully for a contractor and designer. Be just as carefull when selecting your Real Estate Broker. I have construction and marketing background ready to go to work for you. If you like I will assist you in selecting a contractor, help with your drawings as well as finding the right buyer for your home. Please call me.

Judith

Spring is in the air.

Now is the time to give your sprinkler system a check up. Following one of the coldest winters we've had in years, manually run the entire system to check for breaks and leaks. Check the coverage as emitters often become clogged with dirt and crawley critters looking for respite from the weather. This is also a good time to disconnect or readjust the amount of water being delivered to more mature trees and bushes. Larger trees and bushes need less water and longer periods of water forcing the water down to encourage root growth at a lower than lawn level. Remember roses do not like water on their leaves, flood the root system. Spray fruit trees with copper to prevent leaf curl now, it will be too late in a few more weeks.The rest of the summer you will enjoy the fruits of your labor.

What's Your Score? Credit Scoring How to make it work for you.

How It Works; Credit bureaus score an individualís credit worthiness based on five main categories;

1. Incidence of late payments, collections and bankruptcies.

2. Your outstanding debt.

3. Types of credit you use.

4. Your credit history.

5. Frequency of credit applications.

While the categories of review are known, the credit bureaus are very secretive about how they apply this information to their statistical models to come up with your credit score. The computer modeling taer valuable assets you own. Treating your credit worthiness with care can pay off in the long run. If you would like help with your credit, call me, Iíll sit down with you and set up a program to help you get out of debt more quickly and work towards buying your own home. Itís an American right...but you have to earn it.