Author Archive
Low Maintenance Interiors
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What if your low maintenance home was easy to care for on the inside too? Boone Homes designs and builds low maintenance homes in Richmond and Roanoke, Va. Homes where exterior maintenance, lawn care and event snow removal are taken care of for homeowners. Having a well-organized home on the inside is just as important. From easy-to-clean mudrooms to elaborate laundry rooms and the newest kitchen designs and technologies, Boone Homes designs homes to fit the way we live.
Organizational elements don’t have to be expensive, but they do need to be well thought out. Some options you may want to incorporate into your new Boone Home include:
- An EXTRA Large Laundry Room with enough space to add a large sink, countertops, desk space and organizational cubbies.
- Mudroom Cubbies with hooks and shoe storage help keep coats, umbrellas and miscellaneous items in their proper places.
- Advanced Kitchen Technology includes oven towers — not only are the towers easier on the back than floor level ovens, but Boone Homes will often install ovens with speed cooking technology that cuts the time it takes to get dinner on the table. Advanced technology in dishwashers can eliminate the need to prewash dishes and make loading easier, saving the hassle of an often dreaded chore.
If You Leave Your Home Temporarily Vacant, Tell Your Insurance Agent
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If you have the luxury of spending the summer in cooler climates (though not many places were cool this year) or wintering in sunny Florida, don’t take chances with the property you leave behind for half the year. If something goes wrong while you’re away and you don’t notice it for several months, your insurance could decline coverage.
In her article, “Insuring a Vacant Home,” which appeared on the Equifax Personal Finance Blog, insurance expert Linda Rey shares the story of a man who left his home vacant for an extended period then returned to find a pipe had burst many months before. By the time he discovered it and called his insurance company, he was outside the time limit for making a claim.
There are many reasons properties sit vacant – divorce, taking a temporary job in another city, or even taking plenty of time to move aging parents into assisted living or other types of care. No matter the cause, Rey suggests you always call your insurance agent to let them know what’s happening and to determine whether a different type of coverage is needed.
Vacant homes are sometimes hard to insure. They are more susceptible to burglars and vandals, and no one is around to pay careful attention to things like leaking pipes Read More→
If a Tornado Is Coming, Be Sure to Grab Your Matching Rain Gear and Insurance Documents
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Where tornados are prone to strike, most people know the safest places to go in their homes should the sirens sound. But there are those who, if they go to bed knowing that tornado weather may come during the night, will go ahead and coordinate clothes with the raincoat they’ll wear and umbrella they’ll use if the event occurs. It may take an extra moment to make it to the safe place, but they’ll look nice if the tv cameras come.
This is a true description – I personally know more than one of these people.
After reading “Natural Disaster Insurance Claims: What To Do When a Natural Disaster Strikes” by Linda Rey, I plan to ask them if they’ve prepared for the REALLY important things they need in case of disaster. In her Equifax Personal Finance Blog post, Rey reports that more than two-thirds of households have not taken photos or videos of their home and its contents in case of disaster. She goes on to describe ways to document your Read More→
Downsizing: Should it Stay or Should it Go?
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Most people in the market for a home to enjoy during their retirement years are hoping to downsize. That means there probably won’t be room to keep those bankers boxes stacked in the attic – those you’ve moved five times already because they’re crammed with bank statements and you think you should keep them “just in case.”
The Equifax Personal Finance blog offers advice on what to file and what to throw away (after shredding, of course). Written by tax expert Eva Rosenberg, “Tax Paperwork: What Can You Toss and What Can You Keep?” does what the Equifax Personal Finance blog authors do best: provides commonsense guidance.
Found a tax return from 1965? Keep it and all other returns. Papers from your first car loan – the 1967 Mustang Read More→
Financing Your Retirement Home by Firing Your Broker?
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For 50-Plussers, the last few years have been a roller coaster in terms of retirement savings – too often on the downward slope of things, unfortunately. And while the downward slopes are the most fun on a real roller coaster, they’re the scariest when you’re counting on your investments to fund your retirement.
There’s been a lot of talk, and a good deal of controversy, about reverse mortgages. While the government-backed loans, which pay seniors cash based on the equity in their homes, have proven sound in certain situations, they are not available for houses above certain values ($625,500 in 2009). For these homeowners, proprietary – or privately held – reverse mortgages can provide higher loan amounts but come with higher costs.
What’s someone in his or her 50s – too young for a reverse mortgage and hoping never to need one – to do? A thousand financial advisors probably have a thousand answers to that question. But one answer emerged recently on the Equifax Personal Finance blog and it merits a second look. It’s called “A Rescue Plan for Your Retirement Portfolio.”
The advice was posted by Dan Solin, author of The Smartest Retirement Book You’ll Ever Read” and two more “The Smartest…” titles on 401ks and investments. And while the startling advice seems a little daunting, it comes with plain and simple instructions. Solin shares facts that demonstrate this approach will earn you more money in the long run. He doesn’t say so explicitly, but it stands to reason that making more money on your investments will make buying that retirement home much easier when the time comes.