A fireplace can be a beautiful focal point in a room. They can also be a great selling point when putting a home up for sale. Lit on a chilly night, the fireplace can make your home seem warm and cozy. Fireplaces can also be a hazard, if they're not well-maintained. If you're a homeowner with a fireplace, here's what you need to know about keeping your fireplace functional and safe.
Why Fireplace Maintenance is Important
When not properly maintained, fireplaces and chimneys can pose a fire hazard. Loose bricks and stones can fall off of poorly maintained chimneys, potentially damaging the roof or injuring people below.
Seek Professional Inspection and Cleaning
Fireplaces that are used regularly can develop a buildup of creosote, a
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Contemporary and modern home styles can be confusing to the average person. Contemporary homes may have been built at the same period as that of a modern home and may draw upon the same elements seen in modern homes. Modern homes often include specific materials that only became available for home construction after WWII, while contemporary homes, including new construction homes, can mix and match elements from different architectural styles and are more likely to include natural materials, like stone or wood.
For home buyers seeking a luxury home, jumbo mortgages are the easiest way to borrow a lot of money for a property. Jumbo loans create greater risk for the lender. Because of this additional risk, qualifying for a jumbo loan can be more of a challenge. Knowing what a jumbo mortgage is, what it takes to qualify for a jumbo mortgage and what kind of risk is involved can help the home buyer decide if a jumbo mortgage is right for them.
Purchasing a home is no small task, and between closing costs, down payments, and monthly mortgage expenses, it might seem that buying a new home costs more than you thought. Anyone who has owned a home for a while knows that the list of expenses never really goes away, and there's one important item to remember even when your Spring Hill home is paid off and all repairs are complete: property taxes.
Selling a Nashville home is almost always a good thing - it means moving on to a property with better space, finally getting that dream house, and maybe even making a lot of money in the process. When it comes time to decide to sell, estimating how much profit you can make typically has a large influence over the asking price that's determined. Yet, the concepts of asking price and selling price can be more complex than just picking a number. Let's find out why.
People who put a down payment on a home of less than 20 percent are typically expected to pay private mortgage insurance. With an understanding of the reasons for private mortgage insurance and the average costs, buyers can better prepare for their PMI obligations.
Unless people are looking for a fixer upper and looking to snap up a low-cost home, the average homebuyer wants to visit a potential home and envision themselves living there with few, if any, repairs. Many desire move-in ready condition and their ideal space does not generally include cockroaches, termites, water bugs, rodents or other pests. When a potential homebuyer is looking for a home, signs of a pest problem can be a huge turnoff. It can take longer to sell a home and get full value for it when it is infested with pests.
Before you can buy a home, especially a first home, you'll first need to answer questions such as, how much can you afford to spend? What homes are in your price range? How much cash will you need to make the purchase? Knowing the answers to these questions can help you decide if you're ready to buy a house.
A somewhat surprising fact about selling real estate is that it can be far more difficult to find a buyer for a piece of vacant land than it is for most types of existing homes. The reasons for this are many, but often they are related to either the location of the land or the amount of work or expense that might be necessary to improve vacant land for a specific usage.