Asbestos is a very good fire-stopper. It was used in construction materials for that reason. In the older housing stock common in Eastern Massachusetts, there is frequently asbestos someplace. Over the years, previous homeowners may have already removed it. Your home inspector will look for it before you purchase (if you insist on having that
The porch made a strong comeback in American home architecture. In 1993, 42% of new houses were designed with a porch. By 2005, more than half of all new construction had porches. In east south central America (Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi) 89% of newly constructed houses have porches. Why does America have a love
Real estate must be insured before a lender will close on a mortgage. First time house buyers need to buy homeowner’s insurance before closing on their property and have the policy approved by the lender before closing. If they buy a condo, the condo association has already chosen the insurance and is paying for it
Do you suspect you have mold allergy? Guest blogger Elizabeth Shields writes about mold allergy symptoms and what you can do if you find out that you have a mold issue at home. Mold is a typical issue every homeowner has to deal with from time to time. They’re the slimy black, sometimes greenish, white,
In real estate a “captured room” is a room that can only be accessed by going through another room. Captured rooms can make the house less usable, thus less valuable. Does it matter? Whether a captured room matters, for value, depends on whether it changes the way people can use the room. Types of captured
Over the years, some of our clients have needed emergency services for different kinds of house disaster. Fortunately, full-blown fires are rare. Flooding definitely happens to our clients. Disaster: basement flood Most often water in the house is from broken pipes, washing machine overflows or intake line failure, or leaking hot water tanks. Every few
"This house smells!" Houses collect and hold odor in the heat of the summer (and in the dead of the winter). Most summers, in the cities and college towns, rental property was shown while the tenants were still there in hopes of selling before the end of the lease. This led to lots of smelly
What should a house cost? When we see properties in the Metro Boston area, it is impossible to judge their value without considering the cost of repairing and maintaining them. That’s why electronic valuation programs are so wildly wrong; they can’t tell the difference between a not-renovated house, a badly maintained house, or a maintained-but-not-updated
Below are two tales. One is a story about a squirrel and one about a raccoon. Neither should live, rent free, in your home. The squirrel: It is baby squirrel season. Sometime this winter, squirrels find romance in attics and other indoor spaces. Babies start moving around in April or May. So, if you are
When temperatures cooled down in early September, mice started house hunting. They will close on a new place before Halloween. If you ignore one mouse, there will be even more. If you think mice are cute, think again. One may be cute, even two of three. Cute or not, mice reproduce at a rate of