A rental landlord’s obligations don’t end with providing a home for your tenants and picking up the rent each month. Their welfare, as well as the safety of their belongings, is partly your responsibility, not to mention your rental’s security.
You need to make sure you put into effect all necessary measurements against burglary and break-ins. Providing a space where your tenants feel safe will probably result in them settling there for a longer period. Here are a few tips on how to keep the burglars at bay and your tenants satisfied.
Fix what needs to be fixed
Take a turn around the house and analyze the potential risks – are there any places that can give burglars easy access? If you know that the window latch in your bedroom is faulty, don’t wait another minute to replace it. Are there any bushes which can provide good cover for an uninvited guest? There are things we know that ought to be dealt with but somehow, we get used to them and forget that the particular state is not common. However, ignoring the possible risks is careless, so it is vital to do all that we can to ensure the safety of your rental and your tenants as well.
Add more light
Common sense tells us that a well-lit house is not an eligible target for a thief. Without the cover of darkness to hide their criminal activity, they will not be able to sneak up on your tenants. So, investing in additional outdoor lighting is probably one of the most practical ideas to provide a clear view of what is going on around your house. Motion-sensor lights are bound to scare off any unwanted visitors, and if the tenants aren’t fast asleep, it will also be a type of an alarm for them that allows them to know that someone is prowling around the house.
Take out an insurance policy
If you want to be completely certain that everything will be taken care of in the case of some event, you can opt for an insurance policy. However, mind you, you need to read the small print to know for sure what the policy covers. To be safe, always choose more comprehensive policies, such as Youi home cover landlord insurance, which encompasses natural disasters as well as damage caused by people. It even covers the content of the property, so you can be at peace even if your keys get stolen or any furniture or furnishings are damaged due to the insured event.
Secure doors and windows
For better security, equip your door with a double-cylinder deadbolt, especially if your doors have glass panels or windows that are close by. This kind of deadbolt cannot be opened from the inside, so it won’t be easy for a burglar to break the glass and reach inside. As for the windows, you can go with locks, which will probably make the perpetrator re-think whether to attempt to get in by breaking the window. Naturally, if you had an unpleasant situation and you had to evict the tenants, don’t forget to change the locks, just in case.
Keep private
Curtains and blinds are not there just to protect you from the sunlight. They also serve as protection from unwanted attention, so advise your tenants to keep the curtains drawn, especially when they are not at home. When the property is not being rented, it is advisable you keep the blinds down. Shielding your privacy in this manner will prevent the burglars from spotting any valuable items that you or your tenants might keep in the house. Also, don’t disregard gossip: if you have any valuables in your rental property, don’t inform the neighbors since you never know who that information may reach.
Renting your real estate can be quite a profitable scheme but it is also a responsible one. Every landlord wishes to have a long-term relationship with their tenants – nobody wants to have shady people marching through the house every month or so.
In order to achieve this rapport, you need to communicate openly but also to ensure their safety. This includes securing doors and windows, installing external motion-sensor lights, and also taking out an insurance policy. By protecting your rental property, you are protecting your tenants and your relationship with them.
Moving into a new home can be a wonderful feeling. Few things can beat looking around and seeing that everything in the house is brand new. However, it’s inevitable that the like-new feeling will fade over time. Luckily, it’s possible to keep your home looking like new for a long time to come. These are a few tips that can help you do just that.
- Have Your Carpet Professionally Cleaned
No matter how careful you might be to try to keep your carpet clean, odors, dirt and more are going to happen. Of course, you can implement a no-shoes policy in your home, and vacuuming your flooring regularly can help. However, even with all of this, your carpet can begin to show signs of wear and tear over time.
If you have it professionally cleaned, however, you can keep it looking great for years. Having it cleaned is a good way to get rid of deep dirt that you can’t remove with your vacuum cleaner. Plus, it can help get rid of odors and can overall make your carpet look and smell like new again.
Different people have to have steam carpet cleaning done with different frequencies. For many, simply having your carpet cleaned once per year is sufficient. If you have kids or pets, however, you may find that having your carpet cleaned more often is a better choice.
- Wash Your Windows
It can be easy to forget about chores like washing your windows. However, they can get dirty on both the inside and outside and will start to look older than they are if you don’t take care of them. Even though it can be a big chore, it’s important to clean your windows both on the inside and outside at least once per year. In-between these cleanings, using a little bit of your favorite window cleaner and a paper towel or old piece of newspaper can allow you to get rid of any smudges that you see as they pop up.
- Clean Your Walls and Baseboards
It might seem like a really big job to clean your walls and baseboards. However, even if you keep a nice, clean home, walls and baseboards can become dirty. Dust and cobwebs can accumulate, and you might leave fingerprints and smudges on the walls. Once per year, using your favorite all-purpose cleaner, you should clean your walls and baseboards with a clean cloth. If you have trouble reaching the higher areas of your walls, you can use a step ladder or a clean, brand new mop to get the job done.
- Clean Your Light Fixtures
Many people never think much about cleaning their light fixtures. However, your brand new light fixtures can begin to look old and dirty if you don’t take care of them. Climbing up on a step ladder and dusting them regularly is a good way to get rid of dust and debris. Periodically, you may need to clean your light fixtures a little more thoroughly in order to make them look good, however. Using glass cleaner or your favorite all-purpose cleaner can be a good solution for getting your light fixtures nice and clean.
- Get in the Habit of Picking Up as You Go
One of the things that many people love about a brand new house is the fact that it’s not cluttered with a ton of “stuff” yet and that it’s kept neat and clean. As time goes on, however, it can be easy to get into the habit of putting things in the wrong places or otherwise not cleaning up after yourself. Unfortunately, this can lead to your home becoming a lot messier than you probably would like for it to be.
If you and your family members get in the habit of picking up and cleaning as you go, however, you can save yourself a whole lot of work, can prevent your home from getting out of control and can help ensure that your home is always “company ready.”
As you can see, there are a few steps that you can take that can help you keep your home looking new for many years. If you follow these tips, you can help ensure that your home looks great for a long time to come.
In Gil Kenan’s 2006 animated film, “Monster House,” three puberty-stricken teenagers discover that a local bungalow, owned by crotchety old man Nebbercracker, is possessed by the vengeful spirit of Nebbercracker’s one-time bride. The youth realize that Nebbercracker’s trademark warning, “Get off my lawn!” is a veiled caution to keep away from the clutches of his vindictive house.
How many homeowners can empathize with old man Nebbercracker? Not for his jealous housewife, of course, but for the trap of home ownership. Research compiled by Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar indicate that the average American household spends a whopping $17,000 per year on home ownership. Census figures reported by Terry Mulligan in his article, The Average Cost of Running a Home, estimate that monthly home utility, fuels and public services cost about $300.
No one magical solution can shrink the costs of home ownership. Instead, rescue $5 here, $10 there. You can improve your home’s energy efficiency, and here’s how.
Shop In a Different Aisle
Want to work smart, not hard? Go shopping. Seriously. Saving money can be as easy as spending it – provided you abide by these rules:
- Purchase fluorescent or LED lights rather than traditional halogen or incandescent bulbs. According to research conducted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), lighting accounts for 11 percent of the energy consumed by the average American home.
- Substitute low-flow 1.5 GPM shower heads for conventional waterfall shower heads.
- Choose ENERGY STAR-certified clothes washers, dryers, refrigerators, space heaters and window air conditioners. When using a window air conditioner, ensure that the unit is set to Recirculation mode.
- Install window drapes or blinds to prevent solar heat gain during warm months and radiant heat loss during the cool season.
Hire a Contractor
Technically, if you want the most efficient home possible, you ought to build it. Use low-e argon-filled triple-pane windows, blown cellulose wall insulation, on-demand hot water heaters, rooftop solar panels, natural gas-powered clothes dryers, 3-foot roof overhangs, mini-split reversible A/C systems and so forth. Good luck!
Here in the real world, efficiency must balance cost. Sealing a drafty back door with a can of DOW Great Stuff expanding foam takes just $5 and five minutes. Recommended retrofits, as showcased in the case studies of Allyson Went’s Building Green article, “The Challenge of Existing Homes: Retrofitting for Dramatic Energy Savings,” include double-pane low-e windows, heat-recovery ventilation systems, passive solar thermal collectors and 16-SEER central A/C units.
Automate Electronics and Energy Systems
Purchasing energy-efficient appliances is sage advice. But here’s a dirty secret: Americans are using less energy for appliances and more for personal electronics. The television and entertainment system consumes about 6 percent of a home’s energy, says the EIA. Business laptops, personal smartphones, gaming PC’s, video game consoles and children’s tablets devour even more.
The obvious solution is to downsize. But what red-blooded American could scream and throw popcorn at an NFL game displayed one a pathetic 16-inch screen? There’s a better way: home automation.
Once the realm of science fiction writers, “smart” technology is now mainstream. The new wave of smart devices, like the iDevices Switch, allows homeowners to automate the use and charging of their appliances. Idevices Switch is one of many smart plugs on the market, most of which can be controlled with a smartphone app or platform hub such as Apple HomeKit, Nest Weave or Samsung SmartThings. Plug a device into Switch, and you can control it with a phone. So schedule your coffee in the morning. Activate the kid’s night light. Turn off the TV after midnight. Nice to be God, isn’t it?
Innovative companies have even created smart HVAC systems. Nest and Honeywell offer smart programmable thermostats that, when paired with motion sensors, determine acceptable temperature ranges depending on the weather and home occupancy. The Ecovent retrofits existing ducted A/C systems with programmable opening and closing air vents for a zoned heating and cooling system.
So start shopping. Pick up a hammer. Get geeky. You can escape the fiscal burden of home ownership – and you’ll save some trees while you’re at it.
Photo via Wikicommons
New bathroom designs focus on pairing the function you expect with classy features and materials that add spa-like luxury. Don’t limit your design dreams to the standard porcelain and grout of yesteryear. If your current bathroom design leaves you bored or you are designing a brand new bathroom, keep the following tips in mind.
Use Glass for the Shower
Shower design is one of the most important elements affecting both style and function of a bathroom. Using glass for this feature has a number of benefits, and you should consider glass panels instead of just a glass shower door. A shower glass panel that covers at least one full side allows more light in and looks classy.
Photo via Wikicommons
Using a shower glass panel on both open sides of a corner shower not only adds a sense of luxury but, if it is clear glass, also makes the room feel bigger. Heavy, opaque shower surrounds create a visual stop in the line of sight, which makes the shower appear to take up more space and makes the room feel smaller.
Glass is also easier to keep clean than you might think. You can buy water repellant sprays that help keep water deposits and soap scum to a minimum. Some people swear by using a squeegee on the glass after showering to keep it spotless and sparkling.
Consider Glass Wall Tile
While we are on the subject of glass, consider using it for other bathroom elements, including tile. Glass features make the space feel crisper, cleaner and can make you feel you are visiting your own personal spa.
Photo Via Wikicommons
Glass tile has gained popularity in the past few years, and there are good reasons for its expanded use for backsplashes, shower surrounds and even the main bathroom walls. It is easy to clean, resists staining and mildew — which can plague some types of ceramic tile — and reflects light, which gives it a beautiful glistening appearance that many find attractive. In addition, glass tile’s natural translucence gives the tile color extra depth and mystery.
Even if you don’t want to use glass tile over a large surface, consider adding a mosaic using the beautiful tile, which will add a stunning custom touch to your new bathroom.
There are a lot of people that add an additional shine to their glass by using some form of organic coconut oil after cleaning.
Don’t Limit Your Lighting
A common mistake made in bathroom remodeling is leaving lighting as an afterthought. The best bathroom designs don’t limit lighting to a single fixture overhead or a few sconces. Whether your bathroom is large or small, the right lighting will enhance its features in addition to making the room more functional for your morning beauty and hygiene prep.
Photo via Wikicommons
Whenever possible, make use of natural lighting through skylights or big windows. Natural light enhances mood and just looks better than artificial light.
Whether your bathroom gets natural light or not, you will need to add overhead lighting as well as task lighting and accent lighting. Task lighting illuminates functional areas such as the vanity, and accent lighting draws attention to art or other decorative features you want noticed.
Wall sconces flanking the vanity mirror usually make the best task lighting for this area. If your bathroom contains a bathtub, an elegant overhead fixture above the tub can function as both task and accent lighting.
Remember that what you want to avoid is leaving areas of the room in shadow. Consider what the room’s lighting needs will be at various times of the day or evening, and plan accordingly. It is helpful, and sometimes necessary, to assign separate switches to each light source so that you have more flexibility to match the room’s lighting needs at any given time.
These three design tips complement any color palette you have chosen in addition to most design styles. Light fixtures come in many styles and colors, and it is easy to find glass tile in about any color you can imagine. Glass showers are unobtrusive enough to allow other decor features to take center stage if you wish, and so if you are looking for luxury, function and versatility, give these some devoted attention.
73% of homeowners are paying too much for their home insurance! Let me tell you about three easy things you can do today to cut down your cost:
#1 – Give them more business and reap the rewards! – By combining your auto and home (or boat, motorcycle, RV, business, life, etc) policies with the same insurance company they will reward you with a multi-policy discount. If your insurance company doesn’t offer you this discount then chances are I can beat your current policies.
#2 – Cut the middleman out – Brokers make their money by charging a brokerage fee and they add that fee to your costs. By switching to a private insurance agent, you can cut out the brokerage fee and save yourself some additional money.
#3 – Discounts, Discounts, Discounts!!! – By installing a burglar fire alarm in your home you can save up to 20% off your policy. You can also get discounts for dead-bolt locks, indoor fire sprinklers, and even smoke detectors (which you should have anyways). If you currently aren’t offered these discounts, check with me to see what I can do for you.
