Western States pipebursting

Unfortunately, our homes don’t come with owners’ manuals. Many homeowners may not know how to maintain their homes, including their hardwood floors.

Did you know that wood floors should be professionally cleaned either every year or every three to five years depending on the type of cleaning you select? Having wood floors professionally cleaned repairs wear and tear from pets, spills, traffic, shoes and furniture and extends the life of your floors.

Professional cleaning is a less costly alternative to sanding and refinishing floors. ServiceMaster Clean® offers two levels of cleaning with our WoodGlo™ Cleaning System. WoodGlo Level 1 removes dirt, debris, grease, hair, soil, dust and built-up residue to brighten the appearance of your floors. Level 1 cleaning is recommended every six to 12 months. In addition to removing dirt and debris, WoodGlo Level 2 helps conceal cracks and scratches, helps protect floors from everyday wear and tear and…

1. Price your home aggressively. When mortgage rates are low and buyers are chasing too few houses for sale, sellers can ask high prices and get them. Even when houses are overpriced for the market, sellers are likely to receive some offers, as buyers are often desperate to find a home that meets their needs.

But, when things are slow, pricing is absolutely critical. But instead of pricing your home aggressively high, you should consider pricing your home no higher than the middle of the range for homes comparable to yours. And if you need to sell your home quickly, you should consider pricing your home among in the bottom 25 percent of comparable homes. Why? With few buyers chasing many homes, you need to quickly get the attention of those who are serious about buying. If your home is priced too high, you many never get buyers to even…

Moving house? Having a Spring Clean? Whatever your reason for clearing out the clutter, here are some excellent guidelines to make sure you stay on track.

1 If you haven’t worn it in 6 months, get rid

When rifling through your wardrobe you may come across that stunning glittery jacket with shoulder pads that looked absolutely fabulous back in the 80s. But really, if you haven’t worn it since then you can live without it…

2 Hold a car boot sale

Getting up at 5am and stocking your car with all of your old junk may not sound like the best way to spend a Sunday. However, doing a car boot sale can be less painful than throwing things away that you might feel still have some value.

3 Little and often

If it feels like a mega task that needs to be conquered, then why not take care of…

Over the years I’ve witnessed home buyers just breezily walking through a home, checking out the great whirlpool tub, gawking at the custom cabinetry in the kitchen, and inspecting the view from the back porch.  While all of these are great they are merely the “fluff” things on a house.  What you need to be looking for are the things that end up costing you an arm and a leg in the future.  And yes an inspector will more than likely be following up with an inspection it is always a good idea to be your own advocate in order to avoid paying later.  Here are a few of the often overlooked items and places in a house that you will want to focus on when you go home shopping.

* Heating and air conditioning systems:  With the repairs running into the $100’s and replacements into the $1,000’s it is…