Change is Coming!

It's hard to believe that the weather has changed so much in the past couple of days. From warm and balmy to rainy and gray. As much as I love Oregon green here in the Willamette Valley, there is always a small pang of regret when the rains begin because we know it will be months before we see consistent sunshine again. But I do love the Fall weather because it means change is happening. Soon we will have a big, blustery wind storm and the leaves will blow all over and into each other's yards. Lots of work ahead! If you have never raked water-logged leaves, you don't know what you have been missing.

Holidays and Your Home.

This is also the time of year when we start planning for the coming holidays. I will have my grown children home for Christmas this year and I love making it a special time for them.  It also means taking a look at my home and deciding what I need to do to make it as warm and inviting as possible.

The Price of Home Ownership.

Being a homeowner is an amazing experience but one with a great deal of responsibility,also. There is always something that needs to be maintained. For instance, we have lived in our home over seven years now and it is time to think about refinishing our wood floors. We did not get very good advice in the beginning about maintenance so we have some areas that are very worn. Right now we are considering whether we want to completely refinish ($3000) or do a major rebuffing ($700).  Maintenance can be very costly. Since we have lived here, we have painted the outside of our home (Oregon weather is hard on exteriors), painted six interior rooms, replaced several appliances (already!), had additional electrical work done , replaced several light fixtures and spent a ton of money on landscaping. Fortunately, my husband has a great eye for landscape design and has done the majority of that work himself.

 Future Improvements and Home Inspections

Our future renovations include new carpet in the dining room and den, a redo of the office, and painting the main area of the house with it's vaulted ceilings and stairwell.We also have a leaky window that we will need to address ASAP!

One thing that I am really in favor of these days is to have a home inspection done just to find out if you have any major problems developing that are not visible to the naked eye.  If you have a newer home, you may consider a home inspection at 10 years and then every 5 years after that. It's a cost that will more than pay for itself in the long run. A recent client of mine lives in an older home and was thinking about putting his home on the market. He decided to have a home inspection done before hand so there wouldn't be any surprises later on. He found out that he had some foundation issues and termites. Those kind of things could easily have caused a possible sale to fall through. So go ahead and get that home inspection and then plan to have them done every 5 years that you are in the home. You will not be sorry that you did! Being informed is better than being surprised!   2008-10-03