Category Archives: Home Improvements

Renting Houses

Posted by Santi on May 20, 2013 Comments Off

Several years ago we bought three houses to rent out and it is terribly frustrating to try and keep up with all the tax and paper work associated with keeping rentals. I have found a great property management software that I have begun to use. Buildium puts the software out and it is so very easy to use and has all the information you need to manage any of your properties including condos or your professional lease management operations.

As with any renting, one must find the right renters that will be responsible in taking care of your property as well as the renter being able to pay their rent on time each and every month. We have all heard horror stories of rentals gone bad, but I’d like to think that with the right research and the right referrals and references a lot of this nonsense wouldn’t even happen and that the percentage of rentals being destroyed is on the low side. So far we have been lucky and I count our blessings each and every day.

Check out the web site for this great property management software at buildium.com, see if it fills your needs to manage your properties.

 

 

Insulation, Energy, Assistance

Posted by Santi on May 15, 2013 Comments Off

So while the guys where at my folks the other day taking care of all of the door and window replacement issues that they have been dealing with as of late, they recommended that my folks check into having a full fledged home energy audit in new jersey to see what else they can do to help keep the cost of energy down at the old home stead. It doesn’t look like any type of energy prices are going to be going down any time soon and now is better than later to get as green as possible in any way that you can, especially in your own home.

There really is a lot of assistance with home repairs businesses and programs all over the country now a days. And considering how hot this summer looks like it will become, I just can’t imagine my parents sweating it out trying to conserve their electricity costs or sweating it out trying to figure out how to pay for that high cost. So now it looks like I’ve got to start looking for a company that does this type of work and some insulation assistance in the state of NJ to get lined up over the weekend.

Mosaic Glass Tiles

Posted by Santi on April 29, 2013 Comments Off

It seems that Judy’s hubby who she just recently married as is now living out in the boonies of Wisconsin, has gotten Judy into the remodeling mode for her own home. They have just recently moved into a house left to her by her late uncle, she fixed it up just enough so that they could move in to and now wants to go the next step further.

The first room is going to be her bath and she emailed some really cool pics and links that are just awesome. One site has a nice selection of hand painted porcelain sinks with just a splash of a little Mexican flair, that are just gorgeous, Judy and I both then fell in love with the glass tile products at another website as well and now she is definitely going for the beautiful glass mosaic tiles that we both agreed on there. It seems that I am involved with more of the choices then her hubby has been.  LOL

Judy’s mother had told her about Edenmosaictile.com, seems she had run across this website while she had been looking for some unique glass tiles for their outside pool area. Judy’s mom did have some lovely decorative ceramic tile work done that is so vibrant and beautifully colored, I’ve seen the pictures of course, thank goodness for the Internet so that we can share such goodies so easily.

Kitchen Wall Spice Racks

Posted by Santi on April 8, 2013 Comments Off

I’ve decided to go ahead with my first plan of buying my mother a spice rack for Mother’s Day which will be here real soon. Her old wall spice rack fell and broke into a million pieces a few months ago, what a mess that was! Now I don’t proclaim to know a whole heck of a lot about spice racks, but I’ve been taking a bit of time and looking around online and I’ve seen a few kitchen spice racks that I think she would welcome into her kitchen.

My mother is one of the best cooks around and she really depends on her spices. I’m not sure why she hasn’t replaced the broken one, except that maybe she knew it would be a good gift idea for someone to get for her on the numerous gift giving occasions, much like I plan to do for Mother’s Day. My mother is a hard one to buy presents for, so this is the perfect opportunity for me to get her something that she really needs and hopefully will use for a very, very long time to come.

Tackling The Luminaire Lighting

Posted by Santi on March 9, 2013 Comments Off

Well it looks like we just might be able to enjoy a nice weather weekend this up and coming weekend, finally. There truly is hope for an early spring as the groundhog has successfully identified for us all to look forward to. As I am typing there are still numerous piles of snow still left on the ground from last week’s torturous snowstorm that rocked the east coast for days on end. The only thing we really lost from that storm was the satellite for the televisions for a couple of hours in the early morning hours, so that wasn’t near as bad as others that were left without any power at all for over 4 days. One of these days I really have to buy a generator for us to use in emergency situations that keep popping up each year. Something for us to seriously consider when we get our tax refund in the next month or so.

This weekend I will be over at my brother-in-laws helping him with the luminaire lighting at poolsupplyunlimited.com that he has been anxious to get installed before it gets too late in the season to where other numerous chores will take over all of his time, as well as mine. Spring is the busiest of seasons, but the best, in my book. Hope you have a great weather weekend as well!