Green Real Estate Appraiser

It’s spring at last — the perfect time to get outside and tune up the yard. For starters: How’s the fence? If yours looks grungy, you might just need to scrub and hose it off, then apply a fresh coat of stain or paint. If it’s wobbly or leaning, a rotted-out fence post is the likely culprit. You can replace the post, but that’s a lot of work, especially if the post has a concrete anchor.

If you have an asphalt driveway where bare stones show, now’s the time to reseal it. You can hire the job out for about 25 to 30 cents a square foot, or do it yourself with sealer that costs $20 to $30 for a bucket that covers 350 square feet. Though that might seem a bargain based on the square-foot cost, your final bill might come out about the same once you rent a pressure washer to clean the pavement first, get application tools and enough sealer to apply two coats, and buy crack fillers and primer for oily areas.

Dining outdoors is one of the great pleasures of spring and summer. Now’s the time to prepare by getting outdoor furniture in tip-top shape.

See entire check list at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/the-april-home-improvement-checklist/2013/04/02/91183cd2-957d-11e2-b6f0-a5150a247b6a_story.html

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Two federal programs intended to help struggling homeowners have been extended. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), both launched in 2009 to boost the housing recovery by limiting foreclosures, were set to end in December.

At a speech in Los Angeles on Friday, Mel Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, announced that the deadline has been pushed forward to the end of 2016.

HAMP uses funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to pay lenders to modify loans of troubled homeowners, creating more affordable payments. HARP allows borrowers with little or no equity in their home to refinance to a lower-interest rate mortgage.

Despite low interest rates and rising home values, many homeowners who could be taking advantage of these programs are not.

read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/where-we-live/wp/2015/05/08/homeowners-get-more-time-to-take-advantage-of-hamp-harp/

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Now with higher temperatures and favorable weather, it’s time to get started on some spring projects. I surveyed my giant weekly newsletter list and discovered the top projects my readers want help with.

Concrete is simply artificial rock. If it’s mixed, placed, finished and cured correctly, it can last 100 or more years. If your concrete steps, walkways, patios, etc., are crumbling, you may be able to repair them with traditional products and methods or you can choose from some modern materials.

Often concrete deterioration is just a surface blemish. The concrete just below the surface is still sound. If this is what’s wrong at your home, then you can patch the concrete and the patch will stay in place for many years if you just do a few simple things.

To add a thin patch of concrete that wouldn’t exceed ³/₈ -inch in thickness, all you do is mix coarse clean sand with Portland cement. The mixture should resemble bricklayer’s mortar. Mix two parts sand to one part cement to get a super-strong mixture.

The secret trick to get this material to permanently bond to your existing concrete is to apply a coat of cement paint to the rough concrete just a moment before you apply the patching mixture.

read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/the-warm-weather-home-repairs-you-should-be-doing-now/2015/05/06/7443498e-da14-11e4-ba28-f2a685dc7f89_story.html

disclaimer; for information and entertainment purposes only