Experienced home inspector Wayne Jones provides the following information so that you can properly care for your foundation in the upcoming summer months.

It’s not too early to create a support plan for your house foundation. Remember how dry it was last summer? Foundations and footers cracked and failed because of dry clay soil conditions. Watering your basement foundation (keeping the soil damp) is a good way to help reduce foundation/footer movement during dry conditions. Foundations with shallow footers, such as garages and crawl spaces can settle and crack first. Placing a soaker hose about a foot or so away from the foundation and letting the water trickle for several hours helps keep the soil damp. Remember, if you wait too long, it may take almost a day of watering for the moisture to reach down deep to the basement wall footer. Be aware that normal foundation wall cracks can seep or leak if the water is applied too fast or too close to the walls.

Spring is here and summer is just around the corner. In Cincinnati, it means we will be shutting down the furnaces and getting the AC units ready to cool. With energy prices on the rise we are all looking to be more efficient in our homes and one way is to only heat and cool only the rooms you use.

Traditional zoning heats/cools the various floors in your home so that your basement can be a different temperature than your main living level. New technology now allows you to zone individual rooms using pneumatic damper and multiple thermostats.

Each room can be set at different temperatures for different points in the day, reducing the work load of your AC and furnace. A Cincinnati heating and cooling company can give you a quote and start saving you money on your energy bills.

If you live in the city of Cincinnati and are considering renovating your home there is good news for you. The City of Cincinnati Department of Community Development has implemented both a residential and commercial tax abatement program to help attract new residents, businesses, and investors and encourage current residents, businesses, investors to improve their current properties. Any property owner may be eligible for this property tax abatement if they purchase a newly constructed home or are renovating their current home. Residential is defined as a single family home or any building with 1-3 units. With this tax abatement program, the commercial category is defined as residential multi-family property containing more than 4 units, office, retail, industrial, or mixed use.

Who Qualifies for the Residential Tax Abatement?

The way this program works is that certain types of improvements that actually add value to the home will qualify, while others will not. Part of the application process helps to determine if the improvements that you are making to the home are simply improving the condition of the home versus actually adding value. Painting your home, replacing your roof, new siding, new windows, new gutters, improved landscaping, a retaining wall, or resealing a driveway will all improve the condition and salability of your home but do not add dollar value. While adding a pool, deck, patio, or more usable square footage or living space to the home will add dollar value to your property and will qualify for the tax abatement. LEED- certified remodeled or newly constructed residential property is eligible for an additional tax exemption based on the certification level. Please click here for more information on LEED homes. The period for tax abatement begins with the date of documented completion of work.

Tax Abatement Limits

For example, if the owner of a $75,000 home makes $25,000 in improvements, the owner is only responsible for taxes based on the home’s original value for a period of ten years. So that would mean that the property owner’s taxes would remain at the assessed value of the $75,000 price but the house would actually be worth $100,000 if the owner were to have the home re-appraised. The portion of the tax by which the remodeling increased the value of the structure may be abated up to a maximum $275,000 market value.

Total Investment Eligible for Exemption (fair market value): $275,000
Assessed Value/Taxable Value is 35% of fair market value: $96,250
Assessed Value Multiplied by Tax Rate (.05694): $5,480.48
10% Rollback: $548.05
Estimated tax abated for one year: $4,932.43

For an application for the Residential CRA Tax Abatement Program, please click here.

While at the Cincinnati Home Show we had the opportunity to see a lot of interesting vendors and contractors. One of them was a company called BidMyCrib.Com The company is an online marketplace for home owners to put their home repair and improvement projects out to bid to local contractors. BidMyCrib takes the time to research the Better Business Bureau references and the insurance and bonding on all of the contractors it allows to access the system and bid on jobs. The cost is minimal - $14.95 per job, or about $40.00 per year if you have multiple jobs. The company has a minimum of one contractor for every type of job listed in their system so you should not be left wondering if someone is going to get back with you. Bids usually come in within 48 hours and you get to choose who gets the job. We always recommend asking for references and past clients, as well as checking with the BBB before hiring any contractor.

In reading a posting on Building Cincinnati.com, I learned about a home that is being built on the same site
as Homerama 2007. This home is being constructed to be LEED “silver certified” by The U.S. Green Building Council. It inspired me to think about how many people are now trying to be more environmentally friendly by driving hybrids, recycling, and using recycled products. The “green” revolution is a sign of the times that people are becoming more aware of how the conveniences of their everyday lives are affecting the environment and their health.

This demand is driving corporations to dedicate resources to producing “green products” for consumer use. While this new concept home in Montgomery is unique, many people are not looking to build a new home right now, but are curious about what measures they can take in their current home to make it more
eco-friendly or “green”.

The Green Guide has
many articles discussing home renovation and other ideas about what types of materials are being used mainstream.

Deciding whether it is financially feasible for you to incorporate some green measures into your home is something that you can research on your own or you can contact a professional to provide an evaluation of your home. This issue was raised by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and was reported by CNN as
well.

There are times and situations when home owners need to sell off their personal property. There are numerous circumstances that may lead up to an estate sale, but the one thing in common is that having a reputable company is essential.

Everything But The House is an estate sale company that services the greater Cincinnati market. They specialize in helping people gather their belongings, appraise them, and then sell them through tag sales, auctions, and even online auctions. If you are moving or have moved and need someone to sell your estate contents, local estate sales companies would be a good place to start.

I know that we all struggle with the same question - what repairs or upgrades should I do before I sell my home? We wonder if we are going to get the money back in a higher sale price, or with it help get my home sold before my next mortgage payment is due. Home and Garden TV shows give tons of great ideas on how to inexpensively update the feel of key rooms in your home, you just have to be willing to spend a little bit of money to make a lot of money.

Homegain,com has a Sales Maximizer that give you insight on the best investments you can make in your home before you sell it. Cleaning and de-cluttering a house is listed as the most cost effective investment you can make!A good Cincinnati Real Estate Agent can help you though the process of getting your home ready to sell for top dollar. An absolute must read is this Home Sale Maximizer Guide. Coming soon we will have a list of contractors we have worked with and would recommend so check back often!