Home Solutions San Diego Blog

Are your electricity bills climbing monthly? Are you looking for ways to save money in your home budget? Here are a few simple tips to decrease your electrical usage at home. This will allow you to put extra money in your pocket while conserving energy.

Change your light bulbs. Standard 75-watt light bulbs are manufactured to last 1000 to 2000 hours. Furthermore, during this time they consume 75,000 to 150,000 watts of electrical energy. In contrast, compact fluorescent twist bulbs last up to 8,000 hours and use only 23 watts of energy. If you do the math, and factor in the cost of the bulbs, this translates into a savings of $74 per bulb over the lifetime of the bulb. Multiply this savings by the number of bulbs in use on an average evening in your home. You can save this much money every four years!

Consider replacing older electric freezers with newer, energy-efficient ones. For example, older chest freezers use, on average, 50 kilowatts of electricity more each month than newer freezers do. A newer freezer may cost $150 to $200. If you calculate the cost of the additional energy, however, (12 cents per kilowatt-hour times 50 hours), you spend up to $12 more per month to cool an older freezer. In one year, you have almost completely recovered the cost of the freezer.

If you use your computer frequently throughout the day, don’t turn it off. Computers actually use more energy by powering on and booting than by remaining on throughout the day. A better alternative is to adjust the settings for screensaver and sleep mode. Allowing your computer to go into sleep mode or standby after five minutes of non-use is much more cost effective than turning off your entire system. Additionally, if you use the printer, fax, or scanner only rarely, put them in standby when they are not in use.

During the winter, consider setting your thermostat at 65 degrees and purchase a ceramic heater. These energy saving devices require minimal wattage to operate. In fact, you probably won’t notice even a slight increase in your electrical bill. Your heating bill, however, will decrease by several dollars each month.

The most effective way to save electricity, however, is to determine what appliances or devices in your home are using the most electricity. The easiest way to do this is to purchase a small meter or to borrow one from a friend. These meters are very simple to use. Just place the meter against the cord of the appliance being tested. The meter will display a readout of the watts being consumed by that device. If a piece of equipment is using excessive energy or creating a surge, the meter will indicate this. You can then have the equipment repaired or replaced to decrease your energy usage.

Don’t waste dollars by using outdated equipment. Repair or replace damaged power cords. Following these simple steps allows you to save money and energy. Enjoy the savings while you protect the environment!

This article provided courtesy of http://coasters.pebbleZ.com home of the absorbent stone drink coaster.

Photo Credit: Just-Us-3

In San Diego there are many, many real estate agents and it can be a challenge to find someone you can really trust. As a former real estate agent I’ve met my share of agents who were not-so-honest. However, there are still quite a few agents out there who have their clients best interest at heart.

One San Diego real estate agent I know who is indeed a professional and highly experienced in the field is Andrew Arroyo. He was kind enough to take some time to answer a few questions…

What did you do before you became a real estate broker?

I was a high school student. I worked a minimum wage job delivering pizzas for $3.75 an hour in 1994 to save up money to buy my first car. I pumped gas for a while as well when I was 14. After high school I went straight into real estate and decided to skip college.

Who or what inspired you to get into real estate?

A very good friend of mine who I worked with at the pizza place also worked at a real estate appraisal agency his mother owned. I started to assist him with a few appraisals and had the chance to meet some of the real estate agents. The agents were mostly jokers, extremely obnoxious like all the clichés. I decided on the spot there was room in the industry for down to earth, hardworking agents. After meeting with a few more I realized that is what I was going to do the minute I finished high school. I remember being in class during the last recession in 1992 reading classified ads, speculating which homes would foreclose.

What’s your view of the current real estate market?

The current market is challenging, especially for those who purchased multiple homes or over leveraged themselves. When you analyze the market between 2000 and 2005, it was like a great party where everyone was having a good time and making lots of money. Today is like the hangover. There was a combination of critical factors that created this bubble. The public started speculating heavily and the Federal Reserve over did the low interest rates. This is why we now have inflation and gas prices over $5. The lenders didn’t help either by setting unrealistic guidelines for unqualified borrowers to get big loans. All financial markets, including real estate, are made up of fear, greed, supply and demand. At the present, we are over supplied and the psychology is full of fear; a classic down trending market. Buyers are scared to buy and sellers just want to break even. All that said, we will be just fine here in San Diego once the shake out is finished, California has always been a boom-bust state. Besides, we have the best weather pattern in the country and 76 million baby boomers looking for sunshine.

I read somewhere that the luxury market hasn’t declined very much. Have you experienced any slow-down in business?

Our business grew 40% in 2007 and we should hit 50% growth this year. I credit all of our growth to my hardworking team, they are priceless. Thankfully, we built systems modeled from the last cycle 1990-1995 when prices declined 50% which have got us through the tough times. We actually have been donating money to charities this year.

The luxury real estate market has not declined much….yet. Many people believe that the luxury market is immune from the real estate debacle. However, all price ranges will eventually succumb when the markets reach equilibrium. The way real estate markets recess is that foreclosures slowly climb the ladder. They start with the lower end homes like the sub-prime market and slowly work their way up the ladder. The luxury markets will have there fair share of troubled times before this cycle is over.

You’ve sold over $100M in real estate which is a phenomenal achievement. What is the secret to your success?

When I was 23 when I sold my first home over $5M when people told me I could never sell real estate being so young. The bottom line is that people want an agent they can trust and will deliver them a good deal. One example is a home I found for a buyer for $10.6M that was sold for $17.7M two years later netting the owner $7M. Not a bad day at the races.

Our secret for success with sellers is the custom marketing plan we implement for each home; which translates to higher prices for their homes. Our secret for buyers is providing them the knowledge to make an educated decision when finding their dream home. In general, our team is routinely quizzed to know the market like the back of their hand; taking the temperature daily. Our exclusive database helps also.

If you could only give one tip to home sellers, what would it be?

Don’t hesitate. If you truly need to sell your home in this market you need act swiftly and aggressively. Waiting it out is a mistake if you are leveraged and have little cash saved. You will need experience and exceptional marketing on your side. Many sellers confuse marketing with advertising and hire agents who do the most advertising which is a mistake. Make sure you are working with a firm or an agent who is well capitalized to spend the money necessary to get your home sold.

How about advice for home buyers?

Find an expert who really knows the area. You can spend dozens of hours looking at homes online until you are blue in face and learn nothing about the underlying value certain neighborhoods offer. We live in a do-it-myself generation which is great for purchasing many items, just not your home. When you go to the doctor’s office you don’t tell the doctor what you will prescribe for yourself. You tell the doctor your symptoms and they use their knowledge and experience to provide you a solution. A good real estate agent should listen well and do the same. The metric that needs to be studied carefully today by home buyers is price per square foot. Once again you need an expert to share the history of that metric, if not you have no benchmark.

If you’d like to buy or sell a home in the La Jolla, Del Mar, or Rancho Santa Fe area, contact Andrew Arroyo at 858-342-9292 or email: vip [at] andrewarroyo.com. Visit his website: www.andrewarroyorealestate.com/imain.html

Summer is here and that means we’ll be spending more time outdoors. I know that I’ve been barbequing out on the deck quite often these past couple weeks and I realized just how important it is to have some kind of outdoor area for people to hang out and relax - especially in a city like San Diego!

If you don’t have a deck yet but are planning on having one built, you may be interested in checking out this article over at HousingZone.com that talks about the latest trends in decks.

Here in San Diego there are a few companies that specialize in building decks:

Just this past week local North Park based contractor, Berkley Construction, received the annual California Small Business award based on community involvement and commitment to green building initiatives. The award was given based on Berkley Construction’s excellent customer service record, quality of workmanship, community involvement, and commitment to green building initiatives. The company also has an unblemished record with the San Diego Better Business Bureau.

Keith Berkley founded Berkley Construction in 2004 after graduating from SDSU with a MBA in International Business and a Master’s in Latin American Studies. Keith was joined by John Stroble in 2006 to help expand the company while improving customer service and quality of workmanship.

Currently with 11 employees, the company utilizes flex time for single mothers and students, encourages green building practices, offers alternative energy solutions and sets a premium on customer service and community involvement.

In 2007 Berkley Construction was recognized by the San Diego Union Tribune Reader’s Poll as one of the top 3 Home Remodeling Contractors. Berkley Construction looks forward to engaging green and sustainable building practices both locally and internationally.

Find out more about the company by visiting: www.berkhome.com/

Spending money to remodel kitchens and bathrooms is an excellent way to recoup an investment on home improvements. This can be as expensive – or as inexpensive as you desire. Following these guidelines, however, will assist you to save money where it counts the most; in your utility bills. The more of these valuable measures you implement, the more you will save!

• Upgrade the commode. Water-saving toilets were introduced about 1994. Homes built before this time were constructed with commodes that used as much as seven gallons of water. In comparison, the most recently designed models use less than a gallon of water with each flush. By saving between two and four gallons of water with each flush, you soon will be regaining the purchase price of your commode – by saving on your water bill!

• Composting toilets are becoming more popular. These commodes do not use water for flushing, and also require less power. Furthermore, they are more environmentally friendly than standard commodes, which make them especially desirable to those interested in making “green” choices while remodeling or renovating their homes.

• Install new plumbing. It’s very likely that the bathroom pipes and faucets were installed when the house was built, or with the last renovation. If your commode is older than 1994, chances are your plumbing will be older as well. Changing old, worn pipes can help you to save as much as ten percent of your water bill each month. Furthermore, if your house is more than 50 years old, lead pipes may have been used in the original plumbing. The dangers of lead poisoning have been well documented, especially in children.

• Purchase low-flow showerheads. These were introduced in 1992, and are mandated in all new homes or bathroom remodeling projects. These reduce water usage to 2.5 gallons per minute, and save an estimated 15,000 Liters of water each year. This translates into about a $30 decrease in the average household water bill. Recently, even more eco-friendly showerheads have been designed. These “green” options offer cost-conscious homeowners even more savings than their predecessors.

• Opt for tankless water heaters. These require very little space – less than 2 feet by 2 feet. In addition, they use up to 70 percent less energy than standard electric water heaters. Although they cost more upfront – approximately $1,000 more, the significant savings over time is more than worth the investment. Imagine saving 20 percent of the energy costs for your home with this environmentally friendly decision!

• If you cannot afford the extra outlay to purchase a new water heater, consider dialing down the heat on your older model. Older water heaters are set to heat at 180 degrees, which is much higher than any person’s tolerance for hot water. Newer models can still be dialed as high as 150 degrees, and this is still excessively hot for most people. Turning the water heater down to 120 degrees will save energy expenses – and also decreases the risk of a burn injury to someone in your household!

This article provided by the unique wall clocks designed and manufactured by PebbleArt Inc.

Photo Credit: Phil Romans

One of the main reasons for moving is to gain more room. If this is your situation, you may want to make your home appear larger, both for your own use and so it will be easier to get it sold. Here are a few things you can do to make your home seem larger. This can be an advantage when you are selling a small house.

1. Using Light to Your Advantage — Bright lighting makes any space seem larger. To make a room look larger than it actually is, there should be plenty of light to suggest a feeling of being open and unenclosed. Shine lights on walls so they will appear to be brighter. You might want to have lighting controls to adjust the intensity in each room as you wish.

2. Colors — Use only light shades of colors that have a warm feeling such as orange and browns. These colors can make a room look bigger, and more inviting. To give a room a sense of added depth, you might want to try the technique of using light shades on three walls of the room and a coordinated darker color on the remaining wall.

3. Minimize the Furniture — Rooms that have too much furniture look smaller. The more objects there are crowded into the space, the less space is available for people to visualize themselves being comfortable there. It’s all about idealizing the usage of space to accommodate living. Be sure not to crowd your furniture together when you want to make the room look larger. Avoid placing big armchairs and overstuffed sofas in cramped spaces. To maximize the utilization of space, try to use furniture that can serve more than one purpose. An example would be an end table with a built in magazine stand takes up less room than two pieces.

4. Your Choices in Decorator Items Too — The accessories you use in your decorating can have an impact on the appearance of overall size. Use curtains in a light color to allow plenty of light during the daytime. Select light colored furniture, or as an expedient you can use light colored covers and accent pieces for the furniture, because light colors will give a feeling of extra space.

5. Mirrors — Use large mirrors in strategic places to add depth to a room. There is hardly any improvement you can make that will be more cost-effective in making a room seem larger. Mirrors can be attractive art elements in and of themselves, and they serve a secondary purpose of making small rooms appear larger.

6. Reduce Unattractive Clutter — Efficient storage is an important consideration, especially in limited spaces. The more clutter there is in your home, the smaller it will seem. Use storage systems that fit your family’s needs. By reducing clutter, your home will seem more appealing to guests and prospective buyers — and you will be more comfortable there too.

You can use these secrets to improve your home with very little expense. In fact, these suggestions are among the best ways to improve your home, not to mention making it look great.

Information presented by the ultimate Colorado real estate experts, Automated Homefinder.

Browsing through other San Diego real estate-related blogs today, I thought I’d share some interesting links and news:

The multi-talented Jeanette Fisher not only designs interiors, but she’s author of several books, has been featured in numerous TV programs about real estate and interior design, and she’s currently in the process of opening up a real estate office in Las Vegas, NV. 

I first “met” Jeanette online as she was a member of the Home Solutions San Diego Yahoo! Group.  I then finally met her in person several years ago when she invited me to join her at a real estate investing conference in Las Vegas.  I helped pass out information at the booth she had there and participated in one of her seminars.  She’s such an entertaining speaker! 

It’s amazing how Jeanette can manage to keep up with so many real estate-related sites and blogs, plus be active in so many online social networking communities while creating her own communities such as Bamboo Women.  Visit Jeanette’s website to learn more about all the wonderful things she does:  www.jeanettefisher.com

P.S.  Jeanette has a few properties in Lake Elsinore, CA (where she is based) that are available to investors or home buyers looking to relocate.  Contact her at jeanette [at] joytothehome [dot] com

Expecting a treasured arrival to join your family? Planning to makeover a room to greet this newcomer? Read this article to make sure your nursery will be safe for the precious little one who will be living there.

If the home was built before 1978, the walls are likely to contain lead paint. To keep baby safe, this paint must be completely removed and the walls sanded. Expectant mothers, however, should not be doing this work. Anything that is accidentally inhaled by a pregnant woman affects the unborn child as well. In fact, if you are expecting, you should not even be in the home while the paint removal is occurring.

Likewise, the mother-to-be should avoid painting the new room and allow family or friends to complete this task instead. If the mother is exposed to the paint fumes, the baby will be as well. Timing is also very important; ensure this work is finished at least a month or two before baby’s arrival. This allows the paint to dry completely, which helps eliminate the toxins from the fumes.

Another consideration in redecorating is flooring. Newly purchased carpet, especially those that have been treated with stain-resistant materials, should never be added to the nursery. The chemicals with which the carpets are treated are toxic; they can cause breathing difficulties and other health problems to the newborn. It is much safer to keep older carpet in the nursery for a time; the fumes from these carpets have had time to disperse.

If the carpet is a disaster, and you must change the flooring, consider using materials such as natural linoleum, or pre-treated hardwood flooring. One consideration when using hardwood flooring is that water-based stains and finishes are much safer than those that are oil-based. This is because those that are designed with oil bases are more toxic. Ask the supplier; use only the safest materials in this precious child’s room!

If there are windows in the nursery, beware of curtains that are made of flame-retardant materials. Most of these materials contain a chemical called PBDE, which has unfortunately been associated with thyroid disorders as well as developmental delays in laboratory animals. Protect your baby by avoiding any fabrics or clothing containing these harmful chemicals!

Nursery furnishings can also be dangerous to the baby unless the expectant parents take care to avoid this hazard. First, older cribs are not safe. Many cribs have been recalled in recent years, and knowing which ones are considered harmful can sometimes be tough even for experts. Purchase your crib new, or look for a relatively new used crib that conforms to safety standards.

Furthermore, use mattresses, blankets, and other linens made of natural rather than synthetic fabrics. Synthetic materials may contain PBDE. Alternatively, they may have been designed to contain phthalates or formaldehyde, which can damage various body systems, including the liver, the brain, the respiratory system, or the kidneys. Start caring for baby now, even before he or she arrives!

This article provided courtesy of the artists and designers at PebbleArt Coasters.

Browse Baby Furniture at SHOP.COM

When you’re getting ready to sell your home, if you want a quick and easy transaction you have to decide on the right price. With a price that is unrealistically high, a house can stay on the market for a lengthy period and that is deadly. Unless you have the rare luxury of being able to wait a long time to sell after you decide you want to, it makes more sense to drop down a little in order to get a buyer quickly. This is especially true, of course, if you are committed to buying another place.

Get a Reliable Analysis to Start the Process

If you want to have a successful sale the thing to keep in mind is to be the very best deal around. If you are working with a Realtor, he or she will be able to provide a market analysis so you will know what prices other homes like yours have brought. Setting a realistic price is definitely an asset a Realtor can contribute to get the process started in the right direction.

Sell It or Hang on to It?

Consider the process of buying an item for your home. You would probably not spend too much time in deciding between an item you could buy in your neighborhood and one that costs less but had to be brought in from far away. Your time has a value as does the money you have to spend on your house while it is being sold. Taking these factors into account puts the subject into a different light. If you are selling when there is a down market, you may end up having to not only drop your asking price after it goes up for sale, but also offer other concessions such as unwanted schedule extensions in order to obtain a quick sale.

The Market Really Decides Your Timing — Use It

If it happens that after seriously looking at the case for not going for the maximum possible price you are still stuck on getting the highest possible amount, you have to wait until you can get that best possible price; in other words, you have to give appropriate credence to market conditions. Now might not be the best time to be selling, so you may have to give some on the “Sell it quickly” theme — but even so, when the market moves, you might have to go with little notice. This could mean selling your home before you have another, and unless you have relatives or friends with whom you can stay afterwards, you will be defeating your purpose in gaining extra money on the sale by having to move into temporary housing until you find another place. In some cases, the buyer might wait to take possession, especially if they want to stay where they are a little longer. But in most cases, once the buyers know the new loan has been approved they will want to close within a week or two.

About Those Repairs…

Another thing some sellers fail to take into consideration when pricing their home is whether their home is in the same condition as others that sold for a good price. If you have not maintained your home in top condition, you are not going to be able to sell it at the same favorable price as the other homes even if they are very similar. You can, however, price it to move even in a less than optimum condition by lowering your price to offset any work the buyer will have to do. Serious work such as a crack in the foundation, a roof that leaks, and heating and cooling systems may not be handled like this, although you can get away with it for problems that only affect the appearance of the home. Jobs such as renewing the landscaping, tidying up old gutters, and new paint can sometimes be overlooked in exchange for a price reduction as long as it is clear to the buyers they will be taking on some work in exchange for that great competitive price break you’re giving them. The main point is that if you consider both your valuable time and having the house sit losing luster too long with the “For Sale” sign up, the smartest thing to do is to do the smart thing by pricing right from day one. Price it right if you want to sell it.

There are buyers out there who go out of their way to look for such an opportunity, and if your home fits in this category you must be especially open-minded in your price setting to make it work out the way you want. In any case, though, the way to come out ahead in selling your home is by pricing it right from the very start.

This article was made available by Automated Homefinder, your Longmont real estate experts in Colorado.

Real estate photo credit: Allan Ferguson