Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (72 page)

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Authors: Ilona Bray,Alayna Schroeder,Marcia Stewart

Tags: #Law, #Business & Economics, #House buying, #Property, #Real Estate

BOOK: Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home
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Remodeling on the Cheap
 
If you bought a fixer-upper, you may be spending time and money just making the place habitable. Our book can’t cover all the bases—plenty of others do—but here are some cost-cutting tips to use from the get-go. And don’t forget to check out the resources in Chapter 8 on doing home repairs.
Your Future Remodel?
 
It might sound like science fiction, but
Popular Science
magazine has constructed the “house of the future.” At a $5.5 million price tag, it includes features such as a fridge that can cook for you, robotic household help, and bioscanners. Take a virtual tour at
www.popsci
com (search for “future house”).
 
Remodeling on Your Own
 
If you’re planning to remodel on your own, you’ll need tools to do it. Some are easy to afford—you can just go to the hardware store for a hammer—but others are a larger investment. Consider renting tools; http://rentalsite. com has searchable directories. You can also borrow from your neighbors (responsibly) or buy used (check for local listings at
www.craigslist.org
). Finally, find out if your community has a tool-lending library—they’re available in several states.
No matter what, you’ll probably have questions once you get started. Reap the benefit of others’ knowledge by checking out sites like:
 
Be sure that a project is doable before you begin. The websites listed above all have sections dedicated to user comments to help you gauge how much elbow grease and expertise you’ll need for your project. Many offer detailed blogs that take you through a real remodel.
Watching Paint Dry Just Got Quicker
 
Decorators are abuzz over Benjamin Moore’s latest product, Aura. It’s an acrylic, low-odor, water- and rub-off-resistant interior paint that needs only one coat, and that coat should last for several years. See more at
www.myaurapaint.com
.
 
Finding and Hiring Professionals
 
Professionals exist for a reason, and you shouldn’t be embarrassed to use one, no matter how handy you are. Bringing in a general contractor (who oversees a team of subcontracting professionals) is a smart move if you’re attempting a complex or extremely large project. For more limited projects, you can hire your own carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and so forth.
Aside from getting recommendations from friends, a good place to begin looking for a general contractor is at the Associated General Contractors of America’s website,
www.agc.org
. As with any professional, conduct a thorough interview before hiring, making sure this one has experience with the type of work you need; then sign a contract laying out what work is included and the price.
 
RESOURCE
 
Planning on doing some major work?
Whether you want to do the work on your own or hire a top-notch contractor, check out
The Essential Guide for First-Time Homeowners: Maximize Your Investment & Enjoy Your New Home
, by Ilona Bray and Alayna Schroeder (Nolo). It covers planning a do-it-yourself remodeling project, as well as selecting, hiring, and working with contractors—and much more.
 
To make sure you’re getting fair market value for your remodel, check out reputable do-it-yourself websites like the ones above. They’ll inevitably have blogs and message boards addressing your issues, especially if you’re having a common project done. And you can always post your own queries or comments.
Though it might be tempting to get the whole project done in one fell swoop, this isn’t always a good strategy for the cash-strapped first-time buyer. One project will be a big enough learning experience—simultaneous ones can make you crazy. And if you have a young child (whose immune system will be sensitive to the raw materials in the air), or don’t have time to work around the chaos, you’ll want to keep the house livable during construction.
Get Greener Now, Get More Green Later
 
As long as you’re remodeling, consider the short
and
long-term benefits of making your home more energy efficient. Sustainable construction and architecture will lower both your energy consumption and the amount you spend on utilities. And when you sell, you’ll be able to play up the house’s upgraded insulation, sealed crawlspace, energy-efficient window glazes, or tankless water heater. Ask your contractor which features might be feasibly incorporated in the remodel, or see
www.bobvila.com
for more information (search for “energy efficiency”).
 
Gardening and Landscaping
 
If you’ve just moved into a home that’s beautifully landscaped, you may not realize how much time, effort, and money was put into making it just so. If you don’t have a green thumb, think about hiring a professional to take over.
Ask the seller or neighbors whom they use (it’s not uncommon for a whole neighborhood to have the same gardener). Local nurseries provide good recommendations, too. Realize that gardeners come with all levels of expertise and prices, from the expensive landscape architect to the college kid who likes wielding a hedge clipper. You’re probably looking for someone in the middle: a gardener who specializes in maintenance rather than design but has enough experience to know a weed from a seedling and can help recognize plant diseases and suggest solutions.
If I wanted to have a happy garden, I must ally myself with my soil; study and help it to the utmost, untiringly
…
. Always, the soil must come first.
—Marion Cran, gardening expert and author
 
Large trees, however, definitely need a professional, preferably a certified arborist. Bad pruning can kill the tree or make it look bad or grow faster. And tree pruning is dangerous work—don’t risk a lawsuit by an inexperienced worker. Look for membership in either the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA, at
www.isa-arbor.com
), the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA, at
www.treecareindustry.org
), or the American Society of Consulting Arborists (ASCA, at
www.asca-consultants.org
).
If you didn’t inherit a landscaped garden, you’re probably going to want to use your own green thumb. Check your local nurseries for the types of plants that suit your space and ask questions about whether they’re native, the type of care they’ll need, whether they’re susceptible to munching by deer or other natives, and their cycle (annual, perennial). And don’t forget that not all plants need to be purchased—trading plant cuttings with friends is satisfying and free; see the articles at
www.yougrowgirl.com
.
In fact, there are plants that thrive on neglect, perfect if you’ve got a huge pile of dirt for a backyard and don’t want to take care of a needy garden. For more ideas than you can shake a hoe at, check out the community at
www.gardenweb.com
.
Making It Green
 
Want to assuage your enviro-guilt for all the gas the moving van used? Here are some ways you can save energy and protect the environment from within your own home—and many of them cost little or nothing:
•
Hang laundry.
A $5 clothesline will cut down your gas or electricity bill, since you won’t be running the dryer. And it will leave your clothes smelling fresh.
•
Wash your clothes in cold water.
Modern detergents don’t need hot water to work, and heating the water uses lots of energy. Biodegradable and earth-friendly detergents are available. If you can’t skip fabric softener, choose one that’s soy based, or throw vinegar into the rinse cycle to soften your clothes.
•
Lower the thermostat.
Two degrees lower in the winter and two degrees higher in the summer could save up to 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
•
Clean or replace furnace and air conditioning filters.
Keeping your furnace and air conditioning filters clean will help them function efficiently. An electrostatic filter will cost more up front than a paper or fiberglass one, but can be cleaned and reused.
•
Turn down the water heater.
Most people find 120 degrees to be warm enough, and the addition of an insulating water heater blanket (around $10-$20) can reduce heat loss by 25%-40%.
Ready to Discover Your Inner Martha Stewart?
 
Martha Stewart’s Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home
, by Martha Stewart (Clarkson Potter), covers just what it says (in over 750 pages).
 
•
Switch to CFL light bulbs.
Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) cost a little more than regular bulbs, but last much longer and are cheaper in the long run.
•
Use the dishwasher.
Modern dishwashers tend to be more efficient than handwashing, since they use less than ten gallons of water per load. And they’re effective enough that you can feel justified in not prerinsing your dishes, which wastes water. Wait to run the dishwasher until it’s completely full, and let dishes air dry if you can.
•
Reduce water use.
A low-flow showerhead will still have good water pressure, but will release (and waste) a lot less water. And if you can’t yet afford a low-flow toilet, put a gallon milk jug with rocks into the tank to displace the water.
•
Get rid of the junk mail.
While you’re switching over your address, cancel catalogs you don’t need at
www.catalogchoice.org
. Pay your bills—and get your statements—online.
•
Make your own cleaning products.
You can use some common household supplies—like vinegar, baking soda, and lemons—to make environmentally friendly products. For formulas, go to
www.care2.com
and search for “cleaning products.”
•
Replace lawn with native plants.
This will decrease water use, as will watering early in the morning (to prevent evaporation) and keeping the grass three to four inches long. Getting rid of the gas mower will also have a positive environmental impact.
•
Plant trees.
A $10 annual membership to the Arbor Day Foundation (
www.arborday.org
) gets you ten free trees. Trees shade your home, reducing the temperature in warm spring and summer months; and deciduous trees will drop their leaves in the fall, too—letting sunlight in and potentially lowering the heating bill.
 
 
RESOURCE
 
Want more tips for making your home, and your life, green?
Check out
The Essential Guide for First-Time Homeowners: Maximize Your Investment & Enjoy Your New Home
, by Ilona Bray and Alayna Schroeder (Nolo). It has an entire chapter on other simple steps you can take to make your home environmentally friendly.

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