E-Newsletter Archive

November 2004

Winterizing Your Home Now that an early winter is upon us, there are things we should do outside to prepare for the upcoming colder months. Take in hoses and drain exterior water lines. Bring inside any flower pots that cannot take freezing temperatures and deck furniture that shouldn’t be left outside all winter. Put your snow poles up in your driveway and pick up any debris that may cause damage to snow removal equipment. Lube your snow blower and make sure it has proper fluids. Start it up now to make sure it will run when you need it. Keep an extra can of cooking spray with your snow blower for these wet, early snowfalls that really can stick and clog your blower. Check the level in your propane tank and order fuel if it’s below 30%. By now, your chimneys should be cleaned for the season. If you burn wood, see that you have at least 2 cords on hand, seasoned, split, stacked and protected from the elements. Now you can relax by the fire and watch the flakes fall.

How to choose the right contractor For anyone who owns a home, do-it-yourself projects are a fact of life. Being able to undertake a project with your own two hands has a number of advantages. more Plan ahead for closing day Finding a home to buy and negotiating the purchase contract are the toughest parts of the home buying process for most people. But, if you don't plan ahead, and carefully monitor your home purchases transaction, you could find could find trouble ahead. more How dangerous is that mold? - Issue is both real and exaggerated There has been a lot of coverage in the media recently on the subject of mold in buildings.You may have seen some of the more dramatic stories of horrendous mold growth, severe health problems, and even homes being intentionally burned to the ground, contents and all, as a last-resort solution to mold infestations. more

How to choose the right contractor

Paul Bianchina

For anyone who owns a home, do-it-yourself projects are a fact of life. Being able to undertake a project with your own two hands has a number of advantages.

You have the feeling of pride that’s associated with your own accomplishments. You know the work is being done exactly the way you’d envisioned it, with the exact materials you want. You can schedule the work – and any resulting inconvenience – around your family’s schedule. And, of course, you can save some money.

But there are some projects that, due to time constraints, your own skill level, or simply the overall size of the project, you don’t want to undertake on your own, so you make the decision to hire a professional contractor. And the first question that arises is almost always "how do I find the right one?"

Know what you want – know what you need

Before you even start looking for the right contractor, you need to know as much about what you want to have done as possible. That sounds simple enough, but a surprising number of people have only a vague idea of what they want to do, and that can result in lots of disappointments and misunderstandings. The more details you have ready to give the contractor – from room sizes and intended uses to colors and types of appliances and trim – the better your chances will be of getting the finished product you’re hoping for.

You also need to know what types of companies perform the types of services you’re looking for. As the saying goes, you don’t hire a proctologist to do brain surgery - even though they’re both doctors, they have different specialties. If you want a contractor to repair your fire-damaged home, look for someone who specializes in fire damage, not a firm that only builds new homes.

There are also times when you need a general contractor, and times when you don’t. If you want to have a new toilet installed, you need a plumber, not a general contractor. But if you want to have a room addition built, you want to employ the services of a general contractor with specific remodeling and room addition experience, as opposed to hiring five or ten individual subcontractors.

Referrals

The single best way to find a contractor is to get a referral from someone you trust. If you have a friend or a relative who had some work done on their home that they were pleased with, that’s a great starting point. You can get some honest feedback about the contractor’s skill level, price, scheduling, level of cooperation, and much more. There are a lot of contractors out there to choose from, and like most businesses, they succeed or fail mostly by their reputation, so a good referral is very helpful.

There are other sources of referrals as well. If you see a room addition being built down the street and it seems like it’s going well, stop and talk to the homeowner. Most people are more than willing to share their experiences – good and bad – about the contractor they’ve hired, and here again you can get some great first-hand information.

Material suppliers are also great sources. Ask the people where you buy your lumber or your plumbing supplies if they know of anyone who’s particularly good at the type of project you have in mind. Retailers have a reputation to protect as well – they want to keep you happy and coming back as a customer – so they will typically only refer contractors whom they know are honest and will do a quality job.

Ask questions, then follow up

When you have a referral or two, call the contractors to set up an appointment. Ask the following four questions:

Do they do the specific type of work you’re looking for? It could be they no longer do kitchens or room additions, or they now do remodeling and have stopped building new homes. Clarify that up front.

What is their schedule like? If you have a project that has to be done within the next month and the contractor can’t even start until then, there’s no point in wasting your time or theirs.

Can they provide you with referrals? Most companies are more than willing to provide you with names and phone numbers for past clients - if they can’t or won’t provide you with referrals, don’t hire them! Between the time you call the contractor and the time they come out to your home, be sure and follow up on a couple of the referrals and get some feedback from the homeowners. For larger projects, you may even ask if you can come out and view the contractor’s work.

What is their name and license number? Get the contractor’s full business name, address and business phone number, as well as their contractor’s license number. Immediately follow up on this information, and call the proper state or local licensing agency to verify the status of the license and that any required bonds and insurance policies are in place.

Plan ahead for closing day

Dian Hymer

Finding a home to buy and negotiating the purchase contract are the toughest parts of the home buying process for most people. But, if you don't plan ahead, and carefully monitor your home purchases transaction, you could find could find trouble ahead.

The first thing you should do after your offer is accepted is review the contract and make a list of important dates. These will include such things as the contract contingency deadlines and the actual closing date. If you and the seller countered back and forth before arriving at a mutually acceptable contract, these dates may have changed from the original draft of the contract.

Most home purchase contracts include an inspection contingency. It's wise to complete a home inspection as soon as you can. This way you'll have time to order further inspections if necessary. When the real estate market is active, you may have difficulty lining up an inspector quickly. It helps if you're working with a real estate agent who has established relationships with local inspectors.

Homeowner's insurance can be difficult to obtain in some areas, so you should start working on this right away. This used to be one of the last items on a buyer's closing checklist. But, these days, it should be at the top of the list. In some, like California and Texas, some big insurance companies are not currently writing new homeowner's policies. But, a mortgage lender will require that you have a homeowner's policy before they will commit the money to close the sale.

Insurance companies scrutinize both the buyer and the property. The buyer must have good credit. The insurer would also like the buyer to be someone who does not have a history of submitting a lot of insurance claims. Ideally, the property should have had no insurance claims made against it in the last five years. Insurers are particularly sensitive to claims that have been made for water damage.

It's recommended that you investigate the insurability of the property during your inspection contingency time frame. This way, if you find out that it's going to cost more than you expected to insure the property because of the seller's past insurance claims, you will have the opportunity to try to negotiate some form of compensation from the seller. Even if the seller won't give a dime, at least you have full knowledge of what the purchase will cost before you proceed.

When a closing is delayed, it usually has something to do with the buyer's mortgage. In order to ensure that this doesn't happen to you, be diligent about providing your lender with all the documentation needed to give you final loan approval. A lender won't prepare the loan documents for you to sign until all the lender's conditions for approval have been satisfied.

As the closing date approaches, you'll need to arrange for the transfer of any remaining funds that are necessary to close the sale. Many buyers wire closing funds to the closing agent. This may be an escrow office or an attorney depending on where you're buying.

It's a good idea to schedule a final walk-through of the property to make sure that it is in substantially the same condition as it was when the seller accepted your offer. If possible, ask the seller to do an informal walk-through with you to show you all the idiosyncrasies of the house. It might take your to discover these on your own.

THE CLOSING: Ask the closing agent to provide you with a copy of all the documents that you will need to sign in advance of your signing appointment. This may not be possible due to time constraints. But, if you can review the documents in advance, the signing will go more smoothly.

How dangerous is that mold? - Issue is both real and exaggerated

There has been a lot of coverage in the media recently on the subject of mold in buildings. You may have seen some of the more dramatic stories of horrendous mold growth, severe health problems, and even homes being intentionally burned to the ground, contents and all, as a last-resort solution to mold infestations.

Mold is a vital link in our biological chain of decomposition. It's everywhere around us - in the soil, in the water, in the air we breathe - so why has it now come to the forefront in such a dramatic way, and just how dangerous a problem is it?

As is so often the case, the mold issue is both real and exaggerated. Dramatic mold infestations make great media stories, and in today's society the lawyers and lawsuits are sure to follow in droves. On the other hand, mold in our indoor environment has been genuinely linked to a number of health problems, and the so-called "Sick Building Syndrome" - bad indoor air quality, particularly in commercial buildings - has been linked to mold and bacteria in a number of instances.

What affects mold growth: The single most important factor in microbial growth is water - the wetter your personal environment is, the more likely it is that you'll have a mold problem. Moisture can into the home from roof leaks; plumbing leaks; outside ground water sources such as floods, melting snow or landscaping sprinklers; faulty equipment such as air conditioners or other air handling equipment; defects in the construction of the house, such as leaky windows, bad flashings, or improperly installed exhaust fans; a lack of proper attic or crawl space ventilation; or even just lifestyle.

That does not mean that if you've had water in your home for some reason, there is automatically going to be a mold problem. For a mold contamination to occur, in addition to the presence of excess moisture there needs to be mold spores present; there needs to be a food source, such as building materials, paper or furnishings; environmental conditions such as temperature and sufficient time for growth need to be right; and there needs to be some method of moving the spores into the environment - a ventilation system, demolition of moldy materials or other forms of air movement.

What to do about it: There are several indicators that you may have a mold problem, and if you encounter them you should take them seriously and look into whether additional steps are needed. These include obvious visible mold growth on interior surfaces; stains on walls, carpets, or other areas that you suspect have been subjected to excess moisture; and damp, musty odors, especially those that appear to be getting worse.

If you suspect you may have a mold problem, your first step should be to contact a restoration contractor that is experienced with mold remediation. The contractor can make a site visit to examine the affected areas, and take readings for both surface moisture and humidity levels that may be excessive when compared to the levels outside. If the contractor suspects a mold problem, he or she will typically confine the affected area with plastic to prevent spreading the spores to other parts of the building, and will then contact an independent industrial hygienist for a consultation. The hygienist is equipped to take small, rigidly controlled air samples from inside the building, as well as swab samples from surfaces and other tests that they may deem necessary. These tests will confirm if mold is present, and, by comparing the readings to samples of the outside air taken at the same time, will indicate if the mold levels are considered excessive.

It's important to understand that at this time, there are no specific government standards for how much mold is too much, so there is no actual guideline that states that if testing indicates "x" amount of mold in the air, then these specific things need to happen to take care of it. Instead, the hygienist will apply a combination of experience and common sense to interpret the levels of mold present and will recommend to the contractor a specific protocol for how it's to be dealt with. Mold remediation requires specialized equipment, and can be an expensive undertaking. In some cases the remediation is covered by your homeowner's insurance, but this is something worth discussing with your agent the next time you review your policy coverage.

Copyright 2003 Inman News Features