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Smart home technology continues to grow in popularity among luxury buyers, and millennials in particular. Its a feature that can help your property to stand out from the rest, yet many homeowners are still on the fence about installing an automation system in their home.

Truth be told, there are plenty of benefits of having smart home technology. Here are just a few of the ways it can improve your life!

Energy Efficiency
Smart thermostats are proven to reduce the energy required to heat and cool your home. This means that in addition to lowering your impact on the environment, youre also saving on utility bills each month. Some systems can even monitor water usage to ensure there isnt a leak thats going to run up your bill.

Security
Once youre able to control and monitor your home security through your smartphone, theres no going back to the old days. You can see whos ringing the doorbell via live video stream when youre at work or unlock the backdoor for the dog walker when you go away for the weekend.

Convenience
The convenience that smart home technology affords is virtually endless, whether that means preheating the oven on your way home from the grocery store or turning on the coffee maker before youre out of bed. Youll soon start to wonder how you ever got anything done before.

Entertaining
When friends come over, you can use voice commands to turn on some tunes, get the mood lighting just right, and fire up the grill, all while mixing cocktails. Dinner parties just got that much easier.

Peace of Mind
Perhaps smart home technologys greatest quality is the peace of mind that comes with having control over your house. You can check on the baby with a camera-equipped monitor or make sure you closed the garage door while youre on vacation and rest assured that everything is okay.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

In all likelihood, your home is the biggest investment you’ll make in your life. To protect that investment, you should perform regular maintenance to ensure your home runs efficiently for years to come. Although most homeowners already know the importance of maintenance and tackle the most obvious jobs, you may be surprised to learn there are a few tasks you probably overlook.

Clean Your Refrigerator Drip Pan
Did you know that most refrigerators have drip pans? The pans need to be cleaned regularly; otherwise, they can be prone to mold growth. Pull the pan out carefully to prevent spills, dump excess liquid and clean the pan with an all-purpose cleaner.

Flush Your Water Heater
Check the temperature of your water heater to ensure it’s set below 120 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent scalding. Test its safety relief valve once a year so that it operates properly, and flush the system to remove sediment buildup, which can cause system failure.

Reseal Your Grout
Grout needs to be resealed annually to protect your tile from wear and tear. Most grout is made of sand and cement; this means it can absorb water, bacteria and even stains. Resealing will help your grout look better and last as long as possible.

Test Smoke Alarms
Testing smoke alarms and changing their batteries is a vital maintenance task for safety reasons. Smoke alarms should be tested twice a year. Remember, at minimum, you should have one detector on every level of your home, and in each bedroom.

Change Your HVAC Filters
Have your heating system inspected, serviced and cleaned annually. Proper maintenance can extend the life of your furnace, postponing an expensive replacement. Change air filters seasonally to monthly, depending on your home’s needs, to protect against major HVAC issues.

Block Out Pests
Prevent pests from setting up camp in your home by caulking small holes or cracks inside and outside the house to deter bugs. Also, use hardware cloth to cover any larger areas.

Mastering home maintenance tasks can be a chore, but by ensuring you’re not missing these all-too-often-ignored jobs, you’ll be able to rest easy knowing your home is that much more protected.

Source: Brentnie Daggett/RISMedias Housecall

Published with permission from RISMedia.

A homes roof is its most important feature, and for good reason. If the roof leaks or is damaged in some way, it can lead to a host of problems ” and insurance claims.

Many home insurance companies limit how they insure roofs, so its worthwhile before buying home insurance to know how your roof will be covered. Here are some of the ways a roof can be covered by insurance:

Old roof may need to be replaced

Some insurers wont renew an existing policy or issue a new one on a home with a roof thats 20 years old or older unless it passes an inspection.

Even if they do, they may only pay actual cash value for the older roof if its damaged, meaning theyll only pay for what the roof is worth at the time of the claim and not for the cost to fully replace it.

Are leaks and damage covered?

Some types of roof damage are covered by most home insurance policies: fire, vandalism, hurricanes and tornadoes. Others, such as wind, rain or hail may only be covered based on the age of the roof, or not at all.

For example, a leak on a roof thats 10 years old may be fully covered. But a roof thats 20 years old may only be covered for a leak for the value of the roof after 20 years of wear and tear.

If proper maintenance wasnt done to stop a leaky roof, then only partial reimbursement or none at all may be provided.

Coverage limitations

Other than an old roof, insurers may also limit coverage for such things as having a wood shake roof. A wood shake roof or wood shingle roof may require adding an endorsement to the policy, which is a written document attached to an insurance policy that excludes or restricts coverage of those wood features. Only the actual cash value of a wood shake roof, for example, might be covered.

Insurers may also want proof that there wasnt pre-existing damage before insurance coverage begins.

This can be assessed by a roof inspector who can give you a written report on the condition of the roof. It can include a cost estimate of repairs.

Cosmetic roof exclusions may also be included in an insurance policy. For example, a metal roof thats damaged by hail that causes dings in the roof may not be covered because its considered cosmetic and doesnt harm the durability of the roof.

For more real estate information, feel free to contact me.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Whether you’re scoping out a vacation property or looking into becoming a homeowner for the first time, applying for a mortgage is a lengthy and complicated process. While your real estate agent and lender will be there to walk you through the details, knowing what possible errors could lay in waiting will help you make the best decision. Let’s review some of the most common mortgage mistakes so you can avoid making them.

1. Weak credit history
Loans are all about credit history ” it’s hard to land a mortgage without one. But having a credit history doesnt mean you have a lot of credit; it simply means you have been given credit in some form and have a documented history of repaying it. How much credit? Lenders often like to see at least three lines of credit with a minimum two-year history on each.

And of course, you don’t just need a credit history; you need a good one. Pay down credit cards and loans regularly to heighten your score.

Pro tip: Paid off that credit card? Don’t cancel the account. Keeping the account active, even if it’s unused, helps build a strong credit history.

2. Weak work history
You’re less likely to get a loan if you can’t prove you’re able to hold down a job. And even if you do get approved with a weak work history, you may not be able to qualify for a good interest rate. What is a strong work history? Aim for at least two current, consecutive years of employment in the same occupation.

Of course, certain circumstances may provide an exception to this rule. If you are a recent graduate with proof of future income, or someone who is coming back out of retirement, some lenders may not hold a lack of recent employment history against you.

3. Opening new credit accounts
Maybe you got a big raise and are applying for a mortgage and leasing a brand new car all in the same month ” bad idea. If you’re thinking of applying for a loan, avoid opening brand spanking new credit lines. Lenders like to see solid, stable credit histories, and a brand new line of credit can’t offer that. Unfortunately, some people make this mistake thinking that it will help their credit score, when in truth it can hinder it.

4. Making big purchases
Slow down there, big spender. Just like lenders want to see stable credit history and employment, they want to see stable spending. If you make large charges to your existing credit accounts around the time youre shopping for a mortgage, you can increase your debt-to-income ratio. So hold off on that new furniture set or big screen TV until after you’ve purchased your home.

5. Not reviewing your credit report
When is the last time you checked your credit? Often, credit reports have errors, and you want to right these before it’s time to apply for your mortgage.

6. Not knowing what you can afford
These days, it’s very easy to figure out how much home you can afford. Simply find a mortgage calculator online, take a look at how much you can pay each month, and plug in the numbers. This will give you a solid idea of how much house you can afford, which can help you avoid disappointment down the road. It’s also important to get pre-approved for a loan before you begin your home search. There have been many instances where a home sale falls through because the buyers made an offer that they couldnt back up with a mortgage. By showing that pre-approval letter, the buyers are showing the sellers they can afford to make good on their offer, and may also be in a better position to negotiate. And these days, many real estate professionals won’t work with a buyer who isn’t pre-approved.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

With about 56.7 million people living with a disability in the United States, according to Census Bureau data, there are plenty of disabled people who may need help buying a home.

The good news is, help is available. Here are some laws and programs designed to make homeownership more possible for the disabled:

Federal law: The Fair Housing Act prohibits lenders, sellers and real estate agents, among other housing providers, from discriminating against the disabled in the home-buying process.

They also cant be discriminated against by preventing them from making reasonable modifications to the property, such as accessibility ramps. The act requires that builders of multifamily residences meet certain accessibility standards, such as wide doors for wheelchairs.

Housing counselors from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, are available to help the disabled buy a home or deal with other housing issues.

Another HUD program ” the Section 8 Homeownership Voucher Program ” helps low-income people to rent or buy a house by subsidizing their monthly mortgage payments.

High debt-to-income ratio: Homebuyers with a low income can have difficulty getting a home loan, and people with disabilities earn less on average than most Americans.

Less income can lead to higher debt, and a high debt-to-income ratio of 43 percent can prevent borrowers from being approved for a home loan.

A disabled homebuyer with a ratio as high as 50 percent can get help through the Fannie Mae HomeReady program, which allows the income of someone else who is living in the home with the borrower to be considered household income to help them qualify for the loan.

Financial aid: Down payment assistance, such as Individual Development Accounts, or IDAs, help low-income families buy homes by giving them grants for a down payment. Programs differ by state.

Help for vets: Disabled veterans can get a Specially Adapted Housing Grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to build or remodel a home for disabled access, or to use toward an existing mortgage thats adapted for disabilities.

Buying a home for the first time can be daunting. Whether youre disabled or not, seeking help from a trusted real estate professional will make the process easier.

Aaron Crowe is a freelance journalist who specializes in personal finance topics.

Published with permission from RISMedia.