Real Estate Archives - Page 8 of 8 - Making Sense Of Cents

How I plan on upping our curb appeal

February 16, 2012 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 24 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I’m sick today. Everything hurts, help! I bought medicine last night but lets see how well that will work. I also had to leave class around 1.5 hours early last night because my body ached so bad. Why am I always sick lately!? My sister told me the other day that she had strep throat, and she then coughed all over me and took a sip of my drink, so I’m afraid that I might have that.

I really cannot get sick right now. I have no time for that.

Anyways, right now we have no curb appeal. If I showed you a picture of the front of my house, you would probably laugh. When the weather is nice, our grass still doesn’t grow. We have branches and twigs all over our yard as well. We don’t leave the branches and the twigs there, they seriously form over night. Hopefully our neighbors don’t hate us.

Our house is also pushed a little further back than the rest of the houses on our block, so all the leaves also get pushed into our yard. Which makes us a little angry because we (ok the BF) rakes all the time. [Read more…]

Why I bought instead of rented

December 30, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 22 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

As most of you know, I bought a house with the BF in 2009. We have never regretted our decision. Moving into an apartment was never in the picture for us. There are so many reasons for this.

Where I live, it’s either the same price to rent a place as it is to own, or it’s even more. We have dogs also, so we need a house with a yard. Yes we could just rent a house, but we would rather own our place. Renting a house is also the same amount or more as owning where I live. I’ve actually looked at houses to rent, and they were usually a couple hundred more than my mortgage.

We don’t plan on living in our current house forever (maybe 5-7 years altogether), but our next house we plan on living in for awhile. So the costs of not living in our first house for a long time are a little higher, but it still won’t be that bad.

There also aren’t very many good apartments where I live. A lot of my friends live in apartments, and they’re either not safe or they’re just disgusting. Of course there are nicer apartments, but they cost way more than what a house would cost. The only thing nice that would be about living in an apartment is all of the amenities that they offer. Spa, gyms, pools, and so on sound very nice. [Read more…]

How long should your items last?

October 17, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I’m not sure if all of this is correct (because I haven’t had my house for as long as some of the items on this list), but here’s an article from Kiplingers. If you have any insight on any of this, share please!

Washing machine. 12 years.”You can extend the life by cleaning it once a month, emptying your dryer’s lint screen after each use, and avoiding covering the dryer’s outside exhaust.” We clean our lint screen after each use, but I don’t think we’ve ever actually cleaned the washer or dryer.
Standard incandescent light bulb. 1,000 hours.
Furnace. 20 years. Our furnace is at 16 years and I’m starting to get really nervous. Our friend had to replace her furnace and her air conditioning system this summer and it cost her $6,000!
Mattress. Around 5 to 7 years. I have definitely kept a mattress longer than this though. “Rotating and flipping your mattress every six months is another great way to get the most out of it.”
Dishwasher. 13 years.
Water heater. 10 years. Ours is at 12 years, so I’m hoping it doesn’t fail either. However, my mom bought a brand new house around 3 years ago, and the water heater already had to be replaced last year.

Do your items last this long? How long do you think they should last?

Do you have Earthquake Insurance?

August 24, 2011 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

There have been many earthquakes this past year. Do you have home insurance to cover it?

About 5 months ago I bought earthquake insurance. It was extra and I practically had to BEG for it from my insurance company (Statefarm). It’s an extra $60 for a year, which I don’t think is too bad. I think it’s worth it for the peace of mind, just in case anything does happen.

While we’re on the subject of insurance, do you rent? If you do, do you have renter’s insurance? I don’t rent, but I have many friends who are about to move into their own apartments.

How much do you pay? Do you think it’s worth it?

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