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Stephanie Collins

Take care of your home in the winter months!

The dead of winter is the time for the greatest vigilance in your home-maintenance routine. The most important job this month is to head off damage to your home from water and dampness from a number of sources:
• Groundwater and rain seeping into your home.
• Leaky pipes inside the walls.
• Pipes bursting from freezing and thawing.
Take a tour
After a winter storm, get outside as soon as you can. Walk around the house, checking for damage from wind and broken tree limbs. User binoculars if you can't see your entire roof. Scan for loose or missing shingles. (Bing: Get roof-repair tips)


Give special attention to vulnerable pipes — indoors and out — that are exposed to the cold, including hose bibs, pipes in outside walls, garden sprinkler lines, swimming pool pipes and pipes in unheated attics, basements and garages. A frozen pipe needs only a one-eighth-inch crack to leak as much as 250 gallons a day, according to this State Farm Insurance video, which demonstrates how to shut off your water and insulate pipes.

Take these steps to safeguard against damage from frozen and bursting pipes:

1. If practical, insulate any pipes exposed to the cold. Ask hardware-store personnel for the best materials for the job.
2. Seal any leaks that are letting cold air in, especially around dryer vents and pipes and where electrical wiring enters the house.
3. Search for uninsulated water supply lines in the attic, garage, basement and crawl spaces and in bathroom and kitchen cabinets adjacent to outside walls. During a cold spell, open cupboard doors in the kitchen and bathroom so the home's heat can reach them. (Reminder: Put harmful household cleaners out of the reach of children.) Keep doors shut tight in the garage and outside closets and cupboards during freezing weather.
4. When temperatures drop below zero, open both hot and cold faucets a trickle to relieve pressure in the pipes.
5. Locate your home's water shut-off valve; learn how to turn off the water quickly in case a pipe bursts.
6. If you'll be gone in freezing weather, even overnight, ask a friend or neighbor to check on your house for broken or leaking pipes. Show him or her how to shut off the water.
7. Keep temperatures inside the house at 55 degrees Fahrenheit or above, night and day, even when you're gone.
8. Promise yourself that when the weather improves you will add to the installation in the basement or crawl space and attic.

Leak prevention

• Install small, battery-powered individual leak alarms, also called flood alarms, under the refrigerator, kitchen and bathroom drain pipes, dishwasher and laundry appliances and behind toilets. Cost: around $10-$15 each.
• Check to make sure your sump pump is operating properly. If it has a battery backup, unplug the pump from the wall and test it.

Look for pests seeking shelter
Cold weather drives mice and insects into the walls of your home. Even unheated parts of the house invite these pests. Insects need only a crack to enter, and mice can get in through a dime-sized hole. Houseflies, particularly, pose a health risk because they can transmit disease.

• Seal any cracks where pests enter.
• Empty compost and garbage frequently.
• Keep food covered and put away; keep counters clean.
• Fix leaky pipes quickly.
• Pour boiling water down bathroom and kitchen drains monthly, preventing the buildup of bacteria-laden sludge; scrub removable drain covers weekly.
• Check basement, attic, crawl spaces and the back of cupboards and cabinets for mice droppings or holes. If you find evidence, install traps immediately or call a pest-control service.
• Pick up and dispose of outdoor pet waste promptly; turn compost piles frequently.

Make an inventory
While you are putting away holiday gifts, seize the opportunity to make a quick home inventory.
An inventory is a record of your home's features, conditions, furnishings and valuable possessions. If your home is damaged or destroyed by fire, flood, mudslide or other disaster, you can use the inventory to substantiate your insurance claim to get the maximum replacement value for what was lost.

Your inventory doesn't have to be fancy. You can get started and add to it later. Supplement your record with photos or video. The Insurance Information Institute has free software for making a room-by-room home inventory. Download it here and watch an instructional video here.
Tips:

• Save receipts for valuable home purchases and for work you have done to upgrade the interior or exterior of your home.
• Keep a copy of your inventory in a bank safe-deposit box or on a hosted server online, so you can get it even if your computer is destroyed.

Also …
Here are a few more winter tasks:

1. Check the labels on the switches in your electrical circuit-breaker panel and make new labels if necessary.
2. Check your furnace filter monthly in the winter to see if it needs replacing.
3. Use a vacuum-cleaner tool or a long-handled brush to clean under and behind the refrigerator, including the coils.
4. Clean lint from under laundry appliances, especially the dryer, carefully work the cleaning tool down into the lint filter; outdoors, clean the dryer vent outlet, reaching as far as possible into the pipe.
5. Gather product documents and warranties into a folder. Go through the contents and discard outdated materials.
6. Walk around inside the house with a screwdriver, pencil and paper. Tighten any loose knobs and attachments and list repairs to tackle later.
7. Examine the ducts of your forced-air furnace and seal any leaks with duct tape.

 By Marilyn Lewis of MSN Real Estate

Keller Williams!!

I want to announce to everyone that I have moved!! I am now with Keller Williams Realty. For me the move to Keller Williams is a very positive one....it will enable me to grow while giving my clients an even better advantage in this challenging market. Being a part of a large office is really going to enable my sellers to have even more exposure and it will give my buyers a heads up on property before it hits the market.

The best part is that I have teamed up with Dede Winter. She is a long time Visalian and knows the area and the community very well.  She is absolutely fantastic and we are ready to help the people of Tulare County buy or sell a home.

When you hire me, you now have TWO agents working hard to sell your home, TWO agents working to find you property, and TWO agents negotiating for you and help you thru the challenging, and exciting time of buying or selling a home!

Call us today to see what we can do for you!

New Mobile Website!

Check this out!! Fantastic new technology (for me anyway)......if you are out and about and see a for sale sign....now you can go to my MOBILE website! From there you will be able to search listings, get directions, search for open homes, contact me and save your favorite homes.
www.stephaniecollinshomes.com/mobile

What In the World Is HAFA?

Tax Credit is Extended!!

Great news for first time homebuyers! The governement has extended the first time homebuyer tax credit. If you are classified as a first time homeowner, that is, have not owned a home in the last 3 years, you are eligible for an $8,000 tax credit when you close escrow. As long as you are in contract by April 2010 you will get the credit.
This is great news for the industry and of course for first time homeowners!

Tulare County Real Estate is Looking Up

“For most folks, no news is good news; for the press, good news is not news.” – Gloria Borger

I thought I would address a common misconception right now in the real estate world. Or at least in our little local world of Tulare County…….The real estate market is good right now!! Bad news sells newspapers, gets high television ratings; it gets your attention on the radio and internet. What you don’t hear is the good news about the real estate market.

This is where I come in. Did you know that approximately 30 percent of homeowners own their home free and clear? That is a huge number when you compare it to the 3.2 percent of homes are in foreclosure in Tulare County. Also, the last 4 homes I put offers in had between 7 and 18 offers in already. That is a great indicator that the market is headed up.

The current market also affords some great opportunities for those looking to purchase a home. First-time homeowners, move-up buyers and investors can all benefit from low home prices, large selection and historically low interest rates.

All of that in addition to the $8,000 First Time Buyer Tax Credit makes it a great time to buy.

Give me a call today to hear more good news about today’s housing market. I can’t wait to share it with you.

PS… if you know of someone who would appreciate the level of service I provide, please call me with their name and number, and I’ll be happy to follow up and take great care of them.