Trussville Community Activities & Info Centers

Here is a quick glance of some of Trussville's Community Activities and Info Centers for all new homeowners in Trussvile!

How to Clean Your Fireplace

How to Clean Your Fireplace

By: Douglas Trattner

Wood- and gas-burning fireplaces need regular cleaning for safety and efficiency. Although some tasks are DIY-friendly, others are best left to the pros.

Cleaning a Wood-Burning Fireplace

Keeping a wood-burning fireplace clean begins with the wood you burn. To help prevent the buildup of dangerous (and dirty) creosote, which can lead to chimney fires, only use properly seasoned and stored firewood.

Ash Removal

Wood ashes only need to be removed when they begin to smell or get in the way of fire building. To remove, simply shovel up the ashes, place them in a bag, and dispose in the trash.

If your fireplace has an ash dump, push the ashes through the metal plate in the floor of the firebox. Use a vacuum to clean up the remaining ashes in the firebox and on the hearth.

Heads up: You’ll want to wait at least 72 hours after your last fire before attempting any cleanup. That way, you won’t put any hot coals in the trash where they could start a fire.

Also, don’t send hot or warm coals down the ash dump because they can ignite a fire in the walls.

Smoke and Soot

Poor drafting -- caused by a clogged flue (and forgetting to open the flue damper!) -- can result in the buildup of smoke and soot on the fireplace surround -- the area around the fireplace opening. Wearing gloves and using a stiff brush, clean the surround with a masonry cleaner.

If your fireplace has glass doors, clean the inside and outside with a standard glass cleaner or a homemade green window cleaner.

Pro Cleaning Schedule

Burning even the driest firewood will lead to soot and creosote buildup on the flue walls lining the chimney. Because both of these byproducts are flammable and dangerous, they must periodically be removed. Creosote buildup is the leading cause of chimney fires.

“If you burn a fire about once a week throughout winter, you should have your chimney inspected annually and professionally cleaned every other year,” explains Gary Spolar, a licensed chimney sweep and owner of Century Chimney in chilly northeast Ohio. Heavy users might require professional cleanings every year, he adds.

Regular chimney maintenance ensures warmth and safety. An inspection and a cleaning by a professional chimney sweep costs $150-$250.

Beware of store-bought fireplace logs promising to remove creosote buildup when you burn them. The Chimney Safety Institute of America says, “The use of these products alone is not an adequate substitute for mechanical chimney cleaning and inspection because it does not provide for the same level of protection to the chimney system.”

Cleaning Gas-Burning Fireplaces

We love gas fireplaces because they’re low-maintenance -- but that doesn't mean they’re no-maintenance.

Remove (if possible) and clean the glass doors with a non-ammonia-based glass cleaner or homemade vinegar solution.

Use a vacuum to clean up any debris inside or around the vents of the heat exchanger (if one exists). Check that gas logs are in the proper position.

·         “Visit HouseLogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®."

www.bonniehicks.com 

Related:

Ideas to Revitalize Your Fireplace

How to Make Sure Your Fireplace is Safe

November, 2013 - Market Update

November, 2013 - Market Update

Do you know someone interested in moving to the Birmingham Area?  Take a look at the Market Update for November, 2013 - per the Birmingham MLS.  Also, find here the Re/Max Housing Report for November, 2013.     www.bonniehicks.com 

                                   November, 2013 - Market Update - Per Birmingham MLS

What You Must Know About Home Appraisals

What You Must Know About Home Appraisals

By: G. M. Filisko

 

Understanding how appraisals work will help you achieve a quick and profitable refinance or sale.

1. An appraisal isn’t an exact science

 When appraisers evaluate a home’s value, they’re giving their best opinion based on how the home’s features stack up against those of similar homes recently sold nearby. One appraiser may factor in a recent sale, but another may consider that sale too long ago, or the home too different, or too far away to be a fair comparison. The result can be differences in the values two separate appraisers set for your home.

2. Appraisals have different purposes

An appraisal being used to figure out how much to insure your home for or to determine your property taxes may rely on other factors and arrive at different values. For example, though an appraisal for a home loan evaluates today’s market value, an appraisal for insurance purposes calculates what it would cost to rebuild your home at today’s building material and labor rates, which can result in two different numbers.

Appraisals are also different from CMAs, or competitive market analyses. In a CMA, a real estate agent relies on market expertise to estimate how much your home will sell for in a specific time period. The price your home will sell for in 30 days may be different than the price your home will sell for in 120 days. Because real estate agents don’t follow the rules appraisers do, there can be variations between CMAs and appraisals on the same home.

3. An appraisal is a snapshot

Home prices shift, and appraised values will shift with those market changes. Your home may be appraised at $150,000 today, but in two months when you refinance or list it for sale, the appraised value could be lower or higher depending on how your market has performed.

4. Appraisals don’t factor in your personal issues

You may have a reason you must sell immediately, such as a job loss or transfer, which can affect the amount of money you’ll accept to complete the transaction in your time frame. An appraisal doesn’t consider those personal factors.

5. You can ask for a second opinion

If your home appraisal comes back at a value you believe is too low, you can request that a second appraisal be performed by a different appraiser. You, or potential buyers, if they’ve requested the appraisal, will have to pay for the second appraisal. But it may be worth it to keep the sale from collapsing from a faulty appraisal. On the other hand, the appraisal may be accurate, and it may be a sign that you need to adjust your pricing or the size of the loan you’re refinancing.

More from HouseLogic

How to use an appraisal to eliminate private mortgage insurance

Understanding the assessed value of your home for tax purposes

Understanding the amount at which to insure your home

Other web resources

More information on appraisals

How to improve the appraised value of your home

G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who’s had more than 10 appraisals performed on her properties in the past 20 years. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

Market Trends - Updated Monthly - Birmingham MLS

Market Trends | Monthly Update | July, 2013 | Birmingham MLS

Take a look at the market trends for the Birmingham Area MLS system for the month of July, 2013.


                               Monthly Market Trends - July, 2013, Birmingham MLS

Market Update for Birmingham Area MLS & Re/Max National Housing Report - June, 2013

Market Update for Birmingham Area MLS & Re/Max National Housing Report - June, 2013

Take a look at the Birmingham Area MLS Month to Date Statistics by Area and the Re/Max National Housing Report for June, 2013.  What a great time to be in Real Estate!  
http://www.bonniehicks.com

JUNE, 2013 Statistics 

 

 

Trussville Schools | Trussville AL | My Home Town

Trussville Schools | Trussville, AL | My Home Town 

 

Quick Pics of Trussville Schools - My Home Town!

For More info visit trussvillecityschools.com

By Bonnie Hicks Re/Max AL

Market Update May 2013

Market Update May, 2013 | Bonnie Hicks | Re/Max AL

What a great time to be in Real Estate!  Once again we have the Market Update for the Birmingham Area MLS for the month of May, 2013.  Take a look and send us referrals, if you have anyone considering a move to the Area!  

                   May, 2013, Market Update - Birmingham Area MLS

Market Update for April, 2013 - B'ham MLS Area

Market Update | April, 2013 | B'ham MLS area

Here is your Market Update for the month of April, 2013 in the Birmingham MLS area.  What a great year we have been having.  I hope you all are having a great year thus far! 

                                        April, 2013 Market Update - Per B'ham Area MLS

How to Assess the Real Cost of a Fixer-Upper House

How to Assess the Real Cost of a Fixer-Upper House

By: G. M. Filisko

Article From HouseLogic.com

When you buy a fixer-upper house, you can save a ton of money, or get yourself in a financial fix.  Check out these tips on How to Assess the Real Cost of a Fixer-Upper House. 

1. Decide what you can do yourself

TV remodeling shows make home improvement work look like a snap. In the real world, attempting a difficult remodeling job that you don’t know how to do will take longer than you think and can lead to less-than-professional results that won’t increase the value of your fixer-upper house. 

• Do you really have the skills to do it? Some tasks, like stripping wallpaper and painting, are relatively easy. Others, like electrical work, can be dangerous when done by amateurs.

• Do you really have the time and desire to do it? Can you take time off work to renovate your fixer-upper house? If not, will you be stressed out by living in a work zone for months while you complete projects on the weekends?

2. Price the cost of repairs and remodeling before you make an offer

• Get your contractor into the house to do a walk-through, so he can give you a written cost estimate on the tasks he’s going to do.

• If you’re doing the work yourself, price the supplies.

• Either way, tack on 10% to 20% to cover unforeseen problems that often arise with a fixer-upper house.

3. Check permit costs

• Ask local officials if the work you’re going to do requires a permit and how much that permit costs. Doing work without a permit may save money, but it'll cause problems when you resell your home.

• Decide if you want to get the permits yourself or have the contractor arrange for them. Getting permits can be time-consuming and frustrating. Inspectors may force you to do additional work, or change the way you want to do a project, before they give you the permit.

• Factor the time and aggravation of permits into your plans.

4. Doublecheck pricing on structural work

If your fixer-upper home needs major structural work, hire a structural engineer for $500 to $700 to inspect the home before you put in an offer so you can be confident you’ve uncovered and conservatively budgeted for the full extent of the problems.

Get written estimates for repairs before you commit to buying a home with structural issues.

Don't purchase a home that needs major structural work unless:

• You’re getting it at a steep discount

• You’re sure you’ve uncovered the extent of the problem

• You know the problem can be fixed

• You have a binding written estimate for the repairs

5. Check the cost of financing

Be sure you have enough money for a downpayment, closing costs, and repairs without draining your savings.

If you’re planning to fund the repairs with a home equity or home improvement loan:

• Get yourself pre-approved for both loans before you make an offer.

• Make the deal contingent on getting both the purchase money loan and the renovation money loan, so you’re not forced to close the sale when you have no loan to fix the house.

• Consider the Federal Housing Administration’s Section 203(k) program, which is designed to help home owners who are purchasing or refinancing a home that needs rehabilitation. The program wraps the purchase/refinance and rehabilitation costs into a single mortgage. To qualify for the loan, the total value of the property must fall within the FHA mortgage limit for your area, as with other FHA loans. A streamlined 203(k) program provides an additional amount for rehabilitation, up to $35,000, on top of an existing mortgage. It’s a simpler process than obtaining the standard 203(k).

6. Calculate your fair purchase offer

Take the fair market value of the property (what it would be worth if it were in good condition and remodeled to current tastes) and subtract the upgrade and repair costs.

For example: Your target fixer-upper house has a 1960s kitchen, metallic wallpaper, shag carpet, and high levels of radon in the basement.

Your comparison house, in the same subdivision, sold last month for $200,000. That house had a newer kitchen, no wallpaper, was recently recarpeted, and has a radon mitigation system in its basement.

The cost to remodel the kitchen, remove the wallpaper, carpet the house, and put in a radon mitigation system is $40,000. Your bid for the house should be $160,000.

Ask your real estate agent if it’s a good idea to share your cost estimates with the sellers, to prove your offer is fair. 

7. Include inspection contingencies in your offer

Don’t rely on your friends or your contractor to eyeball your fixer-upper house. Hire pros to do common inspections like:

• Home inspection. This is key in a fixer-upper assessment. The home inspector will uncover hidden issues in need of replacement or repair. You may know you want to replace those 1970s kitchen cabinets, but the home inspector has a meter that will detect the water leak behind them.

• Radon, mold, lead-based paint

• Septic and well

• Pest

Most home inspection contingencies let you go back to the sellers and ask them to do the repairs, or give you cash at closing to pay for the repairs. The seller can also opt to simply back out of the deal, as can you, if the inspection turns up something you don’t want to deal with.

If that happens, this isn’t the right fixer-upper house for you. Go back to the top of this list and start again.

What are your ideas on How to Assess the Real Cost of a Fixer-Upper House?

"Visit HouseLogic.com for more articles like this.  Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS." 

G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer whose parents bought and renovated a fixer-upper when she was a teen. A regular contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

http://www.bonniehicks.com

Market Update for March, 2013, Birmingham Area MLS

Market Update for March, 2013, Birmingham Area MLS

What a great time to buy a home!  Check out the Market update for March 2013 in the Birmingham AL Area! 

March, 2013 Market Update

Your Top Home Ownership Tax Questions Answered

Your Top Home Ownership Tax Questions Answered

By: Natasha Padgitt

Which tax benefits do home owners miss? Will you get audited if you take the home office deduction? Find out the answers to these questions and more before Tax Day.

There are a lot of home ownership tax benefits — if you don’t forget to take them. To make sure you get your due, HouseLogic asked tax expert Abe Schneier, a senior technical manager with the American Institute of CPAs, for tax-filing tips.

HouseLogic: What’s the most common home-related tax deduction or credit claimed by home owners?

Abe Schneier: The mortgage interest deduction, [which the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® estimates amounts to about $3,000 in tax savings for the average itemizing home owner] and [the deduction for] real property taxes.

HL: Which tax provision do home owners often overlook?

AS: You can deduct mortgage insurance premiums [or PMI] if you were required to get PMI as a condition of receiving financing on your home. Some people will overlook that, although it’s typically disclosed on the 1099 that you receive from the bank, along with all the deductible information you need.

HL note: The PMI deduction has been extended through 2013 and is retroactive for 2012.

[Another area of tax-filing confusion is] whether you’ve correctly treated any points you paid if you refinanced. In a new home purchase, the points can be deducted [in the tax year you paid them]. But typically in a refinancing, you have to amortize and deduct any points you paid over the life of the mortgage, and people tend to forget that after a couple of years.

HL: What’s the No. 1 mistake home owners make when filing their taxes?

AS: Because you receive a statement from the bank with details [such as] how much mortgage interest you paid over the year, and how much the bank pays on your behalf in real estate taxes, the number of mistakes has dropped.
But if you’re in a state where you pay the real estate taxes on your own — the bank doesn’t handle it for you — [people] make mistakes because sometimes real estate tax bills include other items besides pure real estate taxes. It could be trash collection fees; it could be snow removal fees that the state or county is assessing on the real estate tax bill. Since the items are included in the same bill, home owners sometimes deduct [those fees] regardless of whether the items are actually taxes.

HL: What’s the single most important piece of advice for people filing their taxes as a first-time home owner?

AS: You have to take a look at your closing statement from when you bought the house. It’s commonly called the HUD-1 form and you receive it at the closing. Occasionally, there are fees such as prepaid taxes or interest at closing that can be deductible.

HL: What tax advice do you have for someone who’s owned their home for 10 or 20 years?

AS: If you’ve been a longtime home owner and you’ve been through refinancings, you have to be careful about how much interest you’ve deducted, especially if you have a home equity loan or equity line. A lot of people who’ve refinanced have sizable equity lines. The maximum outstanding home equity debt that’s deductible is $100,000; the maximum deductible amount of interest paid on mortgage debt is $1 million.

HL: What home improvement-related records should home owners keep?

AS: Absolutely keep your receipts for couple of reasons:

1. You want to make sure — if there are any warranties attached to the work that was done — that you maintain those records and you have something to go back to the person who did the work in case something doesn’t function properly.

2. If you’ve added value to the home — you’ve added a deck, you’ve added a room, you’ve added something new to house — you’ll need to know what the gain is on that capital improvement when you sell the house.

HL note: Tax rules let you add capital improvement expenses to the cost basis of your home, and a higher cost basis lowers the total profit or capital gain you’re required to pay taxes on. Of course, most home owners are exempted from taxes on the first $500,000 in profit for joint filers ($250,000 for single filers). So it doesn't apply to too many people.

HL: How do I tell the difference between a capital improvement and a repair?

AS: Typically a repair is [done] to allow an item, like a home furnace or air conditioner, to continue. But if you were to replace the heating unit, that’s not a repair.

HL: Does taking any home-related tax benefits, such as the home office deduction, make a taxpayer more likely to be audited?

AS: Only if numbers look out of the ordinary — for instance, if one year you were writing off $20,000 in mortgage interest debt and the next year you’re writing off $100,000 in mortgage interest. Taking the home office deduction in and of itself doesn’t usually generate an audit. However, if you claim nominal income and significantly higher expenses in an effort to create artificial losses, the IRS will see that there’s something else going on there.

HL: Once filing season is over, when should home owners start thinking about next year's taxes?

AS: Well, hopefully, when you visit your CPA to give information about or pick up [this year's] tax return, your CPA has spoken with you about your plans for [next year]:

• If any major improvements are scheduled

• If you’re planning on moving

• How to organize any expenditures for fixing up the home before sale

If you’re planning to do any of those things, talk with your CPA so that you’re prepared with documentation and so that the [tax pro] can help minimize your tax situation.
 

"Visit HouseLogic.com for more articles like this.  Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS."