What’s Up With Electric Lawnmowers?

Maintaining your lawn is one of the summer’s big tasks. Depending on the size of your property, this could require just a few quick loops with a push mower, or it could take a good part of the day on a riding mower. Even homeowners who just use a small lawnmower are starting to feel the sting of rising gas prices, though, and those who want to leave the Earth a little greener may balk at how much added gas they use during the summer just keeping up with their lawn.

There is an alternative to traditional gas-powered lawnmowers, though: electric lawnmowers. Far from being a new fad, the first electric lawnmowers saw widespread use in the 1950s. They have a long (but not always glorious) history with homeowners, but are they worth considering today?

Electric Mowers Versus Gas Mowers

As you might guess, an electric lawnmower functions similarly to a gas-powered mower but uses an electric motor instead of a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine. There’s more of a difference between the two than just the engine that’s used, however. Due to weight and power differences, the architecture of an electric lawnmower differs from gas mowers in a few different ways.

One of the big differences is in the physical size of the mower. Electric mowers tend to be smaller physically, even when they feature similar cut sizes to gas mowers. This is because an electric mower’s motor is lighter than a gas motor engine, and can be secured with a less sturdy, lighter frame. The smaller size can also allow electric lawnmowers to fit into tighter spaces than bigger gas-powered mowers, especially if the electric mower is a chuteless mulching mower. The blade speed may be slower than that of a gas-powered mower as well, though it is still capable of cutting grass at the slightly slower rotation. This can lead to some smaller electric mowers having issues with thick grass, however.

Types of Electric Lawnmowers

There are a few different types of electric lawnmowers, though the primary difference between them can be summed up as corded mowers versus cordless options. Corded mowers are what people typically picture when they think of electric lawnmowers: You plug them in with an extension cord and that electrical cord provides power for the mower while it’s in use. This is typically used for smaller yards so that the user isn’t dragging a big extension cord all over the place, and these mowers tend to be (but aren’t always) smaller in size with a smaller cut size than other mowers.

Cordless electric mowers feature onboard batteries that are charged beforehand and function much more closely to traditional lawnmowers. There is no extension cord to drag around, and these mowers can appear in both push and riding forms. In most cases the batteries are built into the mower and are plugged in to recharge, though some mowers (especially riding mowers) feature removable batteries that can be swapped out and charged in dedicated chargers as well.

Is an Electric Lawnmower Right for You?

Electric mowers aren’t right for every yard, though they can meet a wide range of needs depending on the layout of your property. Some electric mowers tend to get a bit pricey, but they feature modern technology and rapid charging which can make a big difference. For those wanting to cut out even more gas, these mowers can be paired with battery-swappable electric trimmers and other lawn maintenance tools as well.

If your primary goal with getting an electric mower is to try and cut out gas costs, you might also consider hiring a landscaping service to maintain your lawn for you. In most cases this will be for a flat rate each month, so you don’t have to worry about sticker shock at the pump or finding time in your week to cut down the grass again. HomeKeepr can help you find landscapers in your area, even those who use electric mowers and other components to reduce their environmental impact. Creating an account is free, so sign up today and get matched with the landscaper you want.

 

Common Reasons Closings Get Delayed

Buying a home can be one of the most heart-wrenching and nauseating adventures of your life. But once closing is scheduled, that’s it, right? The stomach-in-your-throat feeling should go away and all is smooth sailing.

Well, not always. There are many reasons closings may get delayed. Don’t let this list get you down, but it’s a great bit of knowledge to tuck away just in case. Try to remember that sometimes delayed closings do actually happen.

Repairs Were Delayed

In this age of short labor and uncertain supply chains, repair delays are inevitable. It happens in ideal times, too. Maybe it happens because a part didn’t come in for that water heater that was on your repair sheet, or there was no one available to fix the siding where someone’s grill got a little overly excited and left a mark.

Sometimes you have no choice but to wait to close, especially if you’re using a loan type that requires the requested repairs be made prior to closing. But, in other cases, your real estate agent can create an addendum to your contract that allows the closing company to hold the cost of repairs in an escrow account for you, so that they are made on your behalf once the labor and materials are available.

Financing Issues

Many homebuyers, especially first-timers, don’t realize that their financial information will be verified again prior to closing. It has to match, more or less, what it was when you applied. So, same job, same amount of money in the bank, same amount of debt (or less, less is ok), same everything. Usually that’s possible within the narrow window between loan approval and closing.

Unfortunately, sometimes things go wrong, and that second verification reveals a new credit line that’s been opened (for new house stuff, of course), or a change in employment, or some other problem. In these cases, closing will be delayed until those issues can be resolved. Moral of the story? Don’t do anything financially interesting between approval and closing, and all will be well.

Appraisal Was Too Low

In the current real estate atmosphere, with prices changing radically at the drop of a hat in some markets, it’s not unusual to hear of a closing that’s been delayed due to an issue with the appraisal. Of course, the issue isn’t with the appraisal, so much as it is with the market data no longer supporting the seller’s asking price for their home. The appraisal is just numbers on a page, based on what’s already been sold. A too-low appraisal can delay closing, since sometimes a second appraisal will be needed to verify that there were no errors in the first appraisal, or the seller and buyer will have to go back to the table and renegotiate the terms of the contract.

If you have to renegotiate your contract, it’s likely going to be due to your bank’s unwillingness to loan more than the house will appraise for at that moment. In that case, the contract will need to be reduced to the appraisal price. Sometimes this is possible, sometimes it’s not if the seller owes a fair amount on their house or needs the difference to make their next purchase. There’s not a lot you can do if you can’t come to terms, but most of the time, your real estate agent and closing agents will find a way.

Needing Help to Keep Closing on Track?

Just drop in to your HomeKeepr community and ask for help finding the kinds of services you need to get your closing back on track. You’ll find any kind of home pro you could possibly imagine within our digital neighborhood, from general home repair professionals to specialists like HVAC experts. You can even get recommendations for insurance agents, bankers, and escrow services from HomeKeepr! Why not sign up today? It’s free, and meeting your next roofer, gardener, or interior designer could be just a few clicks away.

 

More Ways to Stormproof Your Home

As spring turns to summer, one thing that unfortunately comes along with that change is summer storms. For some people this means frequent downpours or heavy rains. For others it means lightning or the possibility of severe weather. Even for those who don’t live in areas that commonly experience tornadoes or other severe weather, there is still a possibility of damage from things like flooding and high winds. Whether storms are a common occurrence where you live or only infrequent, keeping your home safe during bad weather should still be a concern.

You’ve likely already seen suggestions for how to stormproof your home and stay safe during inclement weather. To make sure that you’ve covered all the bases, here are a few additional ways to stormproof your home that you might not have thought of.

Stormproofing Your Property

There are a few changes that you can make to your property that may significantly reduce the likelihood of storm-related damage to your home. One big thing that you can do is inspect any trees on your property before storm season, and again in the fall to make sure that there aren’t any dead or damaged limbs that could break under pressure. Getting these removed will not only make your trees look better, but will also help protect against home damage or injury from falling limbs.

If your home is on a downward slope or located in a low area, you might also consider installing French drains to reroute water away from your foundation. This can be very effective in preventing damage from flooded basements and garages, as the drains will keep a lot of that water from actually reaching your home. Depending on how the French drains are set up and where they drain to, this can move a significant amount of water away from your home during a storm.

Upgrading Your Defenses

If you’re considering home improvements, there are a few options you might consider. If thunderstorms are common where you live during the summer, installing a lightning rod or other lighting protection components can be a good idea. You also might want to get transient voltage surge suppressors to plug high-value electronics such as computers and televisions into as well, since these help to limit voltage to 1.5 times the normal voltage range. While this is still higher voltage than these devices are used to, they are much more likely to survive without damage compared to the significant amount of voltage they might experience during a lightning strike surge.

Other improvements you can make to better protect you during a storm include installing new windows and a new roof. Advances in window and roof materials make them much more durable than they were even a decade ago, and if your windows and roof have been in place for a long time, then they might already be experiencing some wear and tear. Not only will replacing them before the weather gets bad help to prevent leaks and other storm-related problems, but in the event of a big storm, you may even have an installation warranty on your side.

Review Your Policies

One last thing that you might want to do is look over your homeowner’s insurance and any other insurance policies you have for your property to see exactly what is and isn’t covered regarding storm damage. Flood damage commonly isn’t covered by standard policies, and depending on where you live there may be other storm-related exclusions as well. You definitely don’t want to wind up surprised at your coverage level if you have to make a storm-related claim.

If you’re looking for additional coverage or considering changing your existing policy, let HomeKeepr help. Our app can connect you with insurance agents in your area who will make sure you have the coverage you need for whatever problems might come your way. Creating a HomeKeepr account is free, so sign up today!

 

Tips for Adding Your First A/C

The weather is heating up, and so is your house. In many areas, this summer may be yet another record-breaker, and the thought of adding an air conditioner to your climate control system has probably crossed your mind more than once. But how do you get started with such an undertaking? What should you keep in mind as you shop for a system?

Your FIrst Air Conditioner: You Have Options

Before you even start to look around at systems, it’s important to understand your options. Until recently, the most popular home system was a unit that integrated with your central heating system. These air conditioners use an outside condenser to cool fluid that moves through a copper tubing system, and move it back into an air handler, so the air passing over the copper coils will cool as it’s drawn into the unit through a system of ducts.

While the cooling technology is absolutely sound, and the same that’s used in most air types of air conditioners, you now have different options when it comes to how this is installed.

In the past, you’d need ductwork in each room of your home, including at least one duct that would suck in warm room air for the cool coil treatment. Installing a system like this for the first time can be time-consuming, messy, and sometimes very impactful to your home. Holes will have to be cut in floors, walls, or ceilings (sometimes all three) in order to accommodate a traditional system if you’ve never had ductwork in your home before.

For these homes, another option exists: the ductless mini-split system. Ductless mini-splits are fairly new technology, but work the same as all air conditioners. Room air is drawn across cool coils to keep the temperature down. But unlike a traditional ducted system, a ductless mini-split is just that: ductless.

Instead of holes in the floor or the walls or the ceiling, you have a unit that hangs high on the wall in several rooms (depending on your home’s configuration and your need). A few small holes are drilled through the wall for things like copper tubing for coolant.

What’s a SEER Rating?

When shopping for air conditioning units, it’s important to keep in mind the SEER rating of the air conditioners you’re considering. You’ll see a whole range of price points, this is largely to do with the efficiency of the units themselves, which is expressed as the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating (SEER). The higher the number, the less the unit will cost to run, which can absolutely make it worth paying a little extra for — to a point.

Most states require at least a minimum SEER of 13 for traditional air conditioning units. Even a high-end traditional unit might not exceed 25 SEER. A ductless mini-split, on the other hand, can have ratings as high as the mid-40s.

Along with being significantly more efficient at the unit itself, ductless mini splits don’t experience temperature loss via the ductwork, so they can be very inexpensive to run since the unit directly removes room air, treats it, and sends it back in without needing to force it through sometimes long and winding ducts where some of that cooling could be lost.

However efficient, ductless mini-splits can also be more expensive than a traditional unit, so the cost should be balanced with the benefits, including longer-term savings, before you choose one over the other.

Still Not Sure What Unit Is Right?

Don’t worry! We’ve got your back. Just log into your HomeKeepr community, where your network can recommend an HVAC installer who can answer all the questions you may have about installing a brand new air conditioning system. They can explain what type of unit is best for your home, as well as the costs that will be involved from start to finish.

You can even get second or third opinions, so you’re really prepared for the project ahead. Don’t worry, membership is always free! Log in today to get started.

 

Installing a Pool? Tell Your Insurance!

Swimming pools can be a lot of fun. They give you a way to cool off during the summer, have fun with friends and family, and even get some low-impact exercise that feels more like play than work. Unfortunately, they can also be a hazard if you aren’t careful around them. As a result, your homeowner’s insurance company is going to want to know about that pool, since it creates a new point of liability.

If your home already had a pool when you bought it, your insurance company would have wanted to know about it when you first took out the policy. If you’re installing a new pool, you’re still going to have to tell them, and they’ll adjust your rate accordingly. Let’s take a look at pools and insurance to give you a better idea of how your insurance company sees your new pool and what you can do to keep those rates in check.

How Do Insurance Companies See Swimming Pools?

Swimming pools are classified as an “attractive nuisance” by insurance companies, meaning that they are potentially dangerous and have an appeal that could attract children and others to them. The attractive nature of a swimming pool creates a liability on your part, leaving you responsible for any injuries or other incidents that occur in relation to the pool. The large amount of water that they hold as well as work-heavy components such as filter pumps also subject pools to a lot of wear and tear, and failure to properly maintain a pool can actually cause insurance companies to deny claims that occurred because of a lack of regular maintenance.

It’s worth noting that insurance companies view above-ground pools differently than they do in-ground pools. Above-ground pools are considered personal property and usually classified as an “external structure”, while in-ground pools are generally viewed as a feature of the property. This can affect not only how your liability is calculated but also how your policy covers repairs for any damage that occurs to your pool.

When to Tell Your Insurance Company

For the most part, you aren’t required to tell your insurance company when you start to install a swimming pool. Instead, you’re required to inform them once the swimming pool is complete and before it’s put into service. This means that you don’t necessarily have to let your insurance company know as soon as you contact a pool installer, but you do have to let them know once installation is wrapping up and before you actually start using the pool.

The reason for this is that many pool installers have to schedule installations in advance, and in some cases may run into delays or other setbacks that cause them to reschedule. Depending on when you contract your installation, you could schedule it weeks or even months in advance of the pool actually being ready. It can be a good idea to let your insurance company know that you’re looking to install a pool in the future, but they won’t adjust your policy until the pool is in place and ready to start being used.

Safe Pool Installation

Reducing liability is an important part of pool ownership. This includes things like installing a fence around the pool, setting up monitors or alarms to let you know if anyone is around the pool without permission, and installing non-slip walkways or putting other safety measures into place around the pool’s perimeter. In some areas these are required by law, but they are still a good idea even if they aren’t legally required.

HomeKeepr can help you to find installers to set you up with the pool of your dreams, as well as the pool safety measures that will keep your friends and family safe. You can even look for insurance providers if you’re in the market for a new homeowner’s policy that will provide you with pool coverage. Creating an account is free, so sign up today to make your dreams of your own pool a reality.

 

What’s a Smart Air Conditioner?

As temperatures rise, it’s important to have ways to keep your home cool. There are a lot of different options to accomplish this, including both single-room solutions and solutions that help to cool down the entire house. While different people choose different methods to heat and cool their homes throughout the year, the majority of cooling solutions will include some sort of air conditioning.

Smart thermostats are popular options for those who have central heat and air, as they give a greater amount of control over the temperature that the home stays at. What happens if you need cooling for one specific part of your home, though? If that’s the case, you might want to consider a smart air conditioner to help you meet your needs.

What Is a Smart Air Conditioner?

As the name implies, a smart air conditioner is an AC unit that connects to the internet via Wi-Fi to enable various “smart” features. This includes the ability to control the air conditioner’s settings remotely via a smartphone or tablet app, setting routines to adjust the cooling level automatically during the day, and the ability to incorporate the smart AC unit into routines controlled by smart assistants like Alexa or the Google Assistant. Depending on the unit, there may be other smart features available as well.

Typically, smart air conditioners are smaller in size, and have the form factor of a window-unit air conditioner. Occasionally you’ll see standalone portable smart AC units or smart units with a larger form factor, but these are less common. The purpose of a smart air conditioner is to cool a single room and maintain a desired temperature, so they are usually sized accordingly. Costs can vary based on size, cooling throughput, and smart features that are unique to the specific air conditioner.

Smart Air Conditioner vs. Smart Thermostat

The function of a smart air conditioner is similar to that of a smart thermostat, but they accomplish their tasks in different ways. Smart AC units have the “smart” components built into the same unit that is doing the actual cooling, so its technology is self-contained. Smart thermostats are controllers that interface with a standard central heat and air system, adding “smart” capacity to a system that wasn’t designed with smart function in mind.

The two systems also have different intended uses. Smart air conditioners use a small form factor because they are designed to cool a single room, and have integrated temperature sensors to help accomplish this. Smart thermostats, on the other hand, are intended to cool an entire house. As a result, the thermostat has its own temperature sensor and can also interface with additional sensors in other rooms if they are set up; this lets the smart thermostat more accurately monitor the temperature of the entire house and adjust it accordingly instead of focusing on the conditions of a single room.

Do You Need a Smart Air Conditioner?

If you have a small area to cool and want a greater amount of control over that cooling, a smart air conditioner might be right for you. This is especially useful if you have other smart appliances that the air conditioner can work within routines. By setting up a smart AC unit in the room where you need it most, you can save money on your overall household cooling costs.

If you’re hoping to cool an entire house, though, putting smart air conditioners in every room could be a costly endeavor that would really drive up your summer cooling expense. For cooling the entire home, a central air conditioner with a smart thermostat is a much better option. If you’re considering this, HomeKeepr can help you connect with the HVAC pros you need to get everything installed and set up. Creating a HomeKeepr account is free, so sign up today and you’ll be cooling down in no time.

 

Do Plants Help Sell a Home?

When you’re looking to sell your house, there are a lot of little things that you can do to increase the likelihood that some prospective buyer is going to make an offer. Many of the tips you’ll find to improve your home’s appeal focus on things inside the house, ranging from paint colors to furniture and a variety of other little tweaks. There is something else that you can do to improve the appeal of your home that’s often overlooked, though: add some plants.

A lot of people don’t put much thought into the plants around their home when prepping for a sale, and this can be a big missed opportunity. From fixing up your lawn and garden to adding splashes of greenery indoors, there are several ways that you can leverage plants to help sell your home when the time comes. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Increase Your Curb Appeal

While interior staging is important, it’s easy to forget that the outside of your home is the first impression that potential buyers are going to get. There are obviously a few external things that you can do, such as slapping a fresh coat of paint on the door and cleaning up the windows a bit. However, one of the biggest boosts to your home’s curb appeal comes in the form of improving your lawn and external plants.

As soon as you start considering selling your home, it’s time to treat brown spots or thin areas on your lawn so that everything is lush and green. Cleaning up flower beds, adding decorative plants on the porch or along the walkway, and otherwise sprucing up the look of the outside will go a long way toward capturing the attention of potential buyers. Just like a shabby exterior can dampen buyer enthusiasm, a well-manicured lawn and decorative flowers or trees can get buyers excited before they even step inside.

Bringing in a Touch of Nature

Exterior landscaping isn’t the only way that plants can help you sell your home. Potted plants, vases with fresh flowers, and even small decorative potted trees or other tall plants can add both color and a sense of freshness to your home that are hard to replicate. It’s the same reason that a lot of grocery stores have fresh flowers near the entrance to the store; when people see plants and flowers, their brains immediately focus on the idea of freshness and life. In stores, this makes people assume that the produce is all fresh, and in your home, it helps potential buyers to picture themselves living in the house.

If you choose flowers or other plants with pleasant scents, bringing them in can add to the overall freshness of the air without the need for artificial air fresheners or incense. This can let your plants serve double duty, improving the quality of the air while also adding a splash of color and life to your home. Just make sure to avoid plants that produce a lot of pollen or else you may have some cleanup to take care of before potential buyers come for a tour.

Call Some Help if Needed

It’s possible that you won’t really be able to take care of everything you want to do all on your own. Perhaps you have trees on your property that need trimmed or have to have dead limbs removed. Maybe you want to revitalize a flower garden but don’t really have the time. It’s even possible that you’d love to add some floral touches to your home, but aren’t really sure what would go best with your house. It’s okay, we’ve got you covered.

HomeKeepr can connect you with landscaping and trimming pros in your area that can take care of whatever issues you’re having. Creating a HomeKeepr account is completely free, so there’s no reason not to reach out to professionals if you need the help. Sign up today and you’ll be one step closer to taking your home from “For Sale” to “Sold.”