A smart home is one you can control with a simple click on your smartphone, wherever you are. The idea is to connect different gadgets and devices, thus improving the overall functionality of your home.
If you follow the latest trends, here are a couple of ideas for you to turn your place into a 21st century home.
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When it comes to homeownership, first-time homeowners often have challenges. These challenges often surround home maintenance. Understanding the types of home maintenance that are necessary to manage a home and why home maintenance is important to keeping a home operating properly. If as a first-time homeowner, you need to hire someone to help with these tasks, how do you contract and interview these service providers? What can first-time homeowners look for when it comes to home management? Listen as John and Beth share their experience and tips for first-time homeowners.
IN THIS EPISODE:
● [01:46] Things first-time homeowners will need to be aware of
● [04:38] Types of maintenance first-time homeowners should be aware of
● [08:26] Smart home technology pros and cons
● [13:06] Costs for managing a home
● [18:40] Finding the right professionals to help with home maintenance
● [22:52] Paying attention to small inconsistencies in your home
● [26:43] First-time homeowner action items
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
● No matter what your age, no matter what generation you’re in, no matter where you live, you still struggle with the same things as a first-time homeowner.
● The specifics of maintenance fall into five categories: seasonal maintenance; maintaining the health of your home, like air quality; maintenance that keeps your home safely functioning; energy efficiency maintenance; and outdoor maintenance
● Preventive maintenance is extremely important in avoiding unexpected maintenance costs.
● When hiring maintenance professionals, first-time homeowners can utilize helpful platforms like Angie’s List, Porch, or others to find high quality professionals.
● Action step: Create a schedule for preventive home maintenance
LINKS MENTIONED:
www.homezada.com
BIO:
Elizabeth Dodson is a focused technology entrepreneur with successful skills in business development, sales, marketing, and finance with over 20 years of successful management of revenue producing partners. With great organizational skills balancing multiple roles and responsibilities as an entrepreneur and the drive to increase company revenues and user growth for a consumer technology solution with a partner solution to support the homeowner market.
John Bodrozic has start-up entrepreneur experience beginning with boot strapping, profitable growth, securing venture and corporate venture funding, acquisitions of technology companies, and selling a business to a publicly traded company.
SHOW NOTES:
In today’s episode, John and Beth talk about how to manage home improvements. We talk about the culture’s obsession with home improvements and discuss some of the most common problems that homeowners face with home improvement projects. John and Beth talk about budgets, hiring contractors, and how to make a plan for your home projects. At the end of the episode, we share several easy and important action items that will help be more successful with home improvement projects.
IN THIS EPISODE:
● [01:27] Why do people love home improvement projects?
● [6:24] New home builders
● [07:19] Projects that add value to the home
● [09:23] Home improvement problems
● [14:67] DIY vs hiring a contractor
● [18:54] How to hire a contractor and manage your budget
● [22:09] Action Step: Make a plan
● [24:08] Action Step: Create your budget
● [27:05] Action Step: How to hire a contractor
● [28:31] Action Step: Track costs during the project
● [22:50] Close out Phase
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
● Home improvement can pertain to lifestyle aspects to fit a family’s needs or structural aspects like new windows, roof, plumbing, etc.
● Bathroom and kitchen remodels are “money rooms.” They do add value to your home, but they also are very expensive.
● There are small projects that cost little but add value to your home. Like a new front door, painting your front door, making small modifications to your front porch etc.
● When choosing between DIY or hiring a contract it boils down to safety, skills, and time.
● Home improvements add value to your home, but you have to consider your neighborhood and surrounding homes. You don’t want to add so much value that you price yourself out of the market which could make it harder for your home to sell.
● Your contractor does not own your budget. You own your budget.
● Before starting a project, plan for what home improvements you want to do and prioritize them.
● Before hiring a contractor, get multiple quotes from multiple contractors. Don’t forget to check references and licenses.
● Track budget and costs during the project to maintain your budget and the project scope. Also take before and after photos to keep track of the changes.
● The closeout phase includes filing new warranties, checking with your accountant to see how new improvements impact your taxes, and lastly, updating your home insurance.
LINKS MENTIONED:
Paving is a popular backyard landscape enhancement that’s perfect for sprucing up your outdoor space. Outdoor floors must have certain built-in features, such as resistance to high temperatures and other inclement weather.
Don’t forget to factor in the color of the floor. Dark colors absorb heat and end up overheating. On the other hand, light colors reflect too much light, making dirt easily noticeable. So, consider going for neutral or intermediate colors.
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A fish tank is easy to buy, but a bit harder to maintain. Building an aquarium into a wall is, bluntly put, fairly hard to accomplish, and mistakes are bound to come your way if you’re unprepared.
Fortunately, there are numerous ways to go about installing an aquarium within a wall. So we’ll cover the easiest, most convenient, and most rewarding ways to install an aquarium. Without any further ado, let’s talk about the things you’ll definitely need.
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