Green Real Estate Appraiser

Winter – Home Chore Check List

Posted on December 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

Ready to hunker down for winter? Not so fast. Now’s the time to tackle a few chores that will help your house and yard ride out the cold season ahead. Here are a few to check off your to-do list.

Clean the gutters

Gutters and downspouts direct rainwater away from your house. That keeps water from pooling around the foundation and leaking into the basement, or freezing in the gutters at the roof line and causing damaging ice dams.

But those gutters and downspouts can’t do their job if they’re clogged with leaves and other debris.

After the trees have finished shedding their leaves, get up on a ladder and clean that stuff out. Plug the top of the downspout with a rag first to keep debris from going down the spout, and wear heavy gloves to protect your hands.

Reader’s Digest Association’s “1001 Do-It-Yourself Hints & Tips” recommends removing the debris with a plastic sand shovel or garden trowel, or you can fashion a scoop from a plastic milk jug. Dump the debris into a bucket instead of pushing it over the lip of the gutter to avoid dirtying the siding, the book suggests.

When the gutter is clean, run some water into it from a garden hose. Clear a clogged downspout with a plumber’s snake or a blast from the hose, working from the bottom up so you don’t compact the clog.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Is your Home Covered – Enough? Homeowners Insurance

Posted on December 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Your home’s value may have dropped in recent years. But that doesn’t mean the cost to replace it has followed suit.

When you initially buy homeowners insurance, the insurer typically calculates the rebuilding cost of your home by taking into account factors such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, construction type and square footage of the home, says Wayne Salley, a Pittstown, N.J.-based risk-management consultant who helps individuals figure out how much insurance they need.

Some companies then automatically adjust your coverage as needed to keep it in line with a number of factors, including current rebuilding costs—which have been rising in recent years and include materials and labor—says Jeanne M. Salvatore, spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit industry group.

But in other instances, you may need to contact the insurer about boosting your coverage. It’s a good idea to evaluate your coverage when your annual renewal notice arrives, says Ms. Salvatore.

Even if your insurer automatically adjusts your coverage, it isn’t taking into account any renovations or upgrades you have made that will be more expensive to replace, she says. So let the insurer know about changes.

If you’re especially worried about being underinsured in a disaster, you may want to consider an extended replacement cost policy, says Mr. Salley, which will cover replacement costs that exceed the policy maximum, up to a set percentage above the policy amount.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Winter – Home Chore Check List

Is your Home Covered – Enough? Homeowners Insurance

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