Homeowner Tips

Homeownership is a goal for many Americans. However, maintaining a home can be overwhelming sometimes. Especially if there are years of deferred maintenance. Below is an easy-to-follow checklist to help you tackle these small tasks each month throughout the year.

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JANUARY

• Make sure your gutters are free from any ice dams and icicles.
• Inspect fire extinguishers
• Clean behind the refrigerator and stove to help better airflow and to prevent from appliances running to hot.
• It is important that you change your HVAC filter every 30 or 60 days.
• Deep clean your oven. If you eat home cooked meals regularly, they can get pretty dirty. A good cleaning once a year will help keep it nice.

[Estimated read time: 4 minutes]

Not all firewood is created equally! Find what firewood is best for your home.

Cold weather is officially here and it looks like it will be sticking around for a while! This is the time of year when people enjoy staying inside and relaxing next to a warm fire. Before stocking up on firewood and lighting that fire - let's look at some of the best firewood for your home!

Choosing the Best Firewood

The drier the firewood the better! Fresh cut wood, also known as “green wood” is not ideal. Unseasoned firewood smokes a lot more and is also a leading cause to creosote buildup - which can lead to chimney fires.

Different types of Firewood

Not all firewood is created equally. Understand what you are

Good news! The value of your home has gone up. The bad news is your property taxes likely have too.

With a little bit of luck, you may be able to appeal your Louisville property taxes if you believe they are inaccurate.

How does the PVA Determine Property Values

Each time there is a sale in your neighborhood the local PVA office will enter the data into their system to record the transaction. The sale price will then represent the value of the property for approximately the next two years.

However, the Jefferson County PVA uses a computer-assisted mass appraisal system (CAMA) to determine the property values for more than 250,000 homes. This algorithmic system is closely monitored to make sure the current market value of your home is

[Estimated read time: 6 minutes]

Summertime is one of the most popular times of the year for travels. Many families pack it up and head south for their annual summer vacation.

However, this could be a great time for Murphy's Law to pay you a visit.

Murphy's Law: “If something can go wrong, chances are, it will... and usually at the worst time.”

Below are some of the proper steps to take as a homeowner so your house is in better hands while you are away.

Checklist: How to Prepare Your House for Vacation

1. Put lamps on timers

Leaving the house dark all week may not be a good idea. If you haven't already, consider buying a couple timers for the lights in your house and have them set to automatically turn on at

[Estimated read time: 5 minutes]

Seven Ways to Paying Off Your Mortgage Early

Owning your home 'free and clear' is a homeowner's American dream. Some may argue that eliminating this debt, at a faster pace, may not exactly be the best use of your money. Depending on your stand, there are still a lot of homeowners that would love to be cut loose from this monthly debt. 

Slow and steady will get the job done but if you just bought your home, thirty years is a long time to wait! A lot of new homebuyers looking for Oldham County real estate love the idea of owning a home free and clear. Below we will cover seven tips on how to pay off a mortgage early.

1. Round Up Your Monthly Payment

There are a handful of creative ways that

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It's that time of year again to start preparing your home for the colder temperatures. As a homeowner, the fall season is always a great time to take the proper steps here in Louisville to winterize your home.

To help, we created a Gifographic to go along with the tips that can help you this season.

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<div style="clear:both"><img src="http://garrettsrealty.com/files/34/winter-tips-for-home-gifographic.gif" title="Winterizing Your Home Checklist - Gifographic" alt="Complete Guide to getting your home ready for winter - Gifographic" border="0" /></a></div><div>Courtesy of: <a href="http://garrettsrealty.com/blog/winterizing-your-home.html">Garretts Realty

Have you just recently bought a new home? It is important as a new homeowner to keep up with the maintenance throughout the year. To make it easier, try breaking it up over the year to help.

1. Keep up with the Landscaping

A great tip for homeowners that want to easily enhance the curb appeal for their Louisville KY home is by freshening up or even redoing the landscaping around the outside of their home. This will help increase the curb appeal of your home and also the value of your property. Experts even report that professional landscape designs can increase the value of your home by 5 to 10 percent. Some other quick tips to get you started...pruning the bushes and trimming the trees, put out fresh mulch and new landscape edging. Be

Cramped Kitchen? Start creating more space from small DIY improvements to large Kitchen Hacks.

To make the most out of your kitchen you need to be creative with the space. Without doing a major renovation and utilizing these ideas, you can make your small Kitchen feel Large again!

Single Bowl Sink...

 Choosing the right kitchen sink. Your sink is one of the most used features in your household. It is important to make sure you choose the right one, but also important to choose the one that is right for the space available. If you are in the market for a new construction home or just trying to create a little more counter space for your existing home. Getting rid of your old standard size double bowl sink and upgrading to a new and more

CLICK HERE: Twelve Tips to Winterizing Your House GIFOGRAPHIC

Winter tips for homeowners to help Save

As a homeowner, it is important to take the proper steps during the colder months to get your home ready for the winter. In Oldham County, just outside of Louisville KY, we typically have warmer temperatures all the way through October and sometimes in November. This makes for great preparation weather for a homeowner before the temperatures get too cold.

1. Programmable Thermostat

A programmable thermostat will automatically adjust the temperature for you based on your preferred schedule. By making these adjustments you could save up to 15% on your annual heating bill. Don't have a programmable thermostat? You could get