Cheap Ways to Increase Home Value

If you are thinking of selling or renting, then this is the right time to be thinking of increasing your home value. Even though it may turn out to be quite an expensive task, it is really vital to upgrade, remodel and renovate a house so that you demand a rightful price for it. There are a number of things you can do to make it adequate for the market while staying on a low budget. Yes, it does sound impossible but it really isn’t. You just need to be careful and mindful of the details.

Here are some steps that may lead you to boosting your home value:

Inside is crucial

Inside of the house is, obviously, crucial. You need to have it neat and clean. Go with bright interior lights. A cheap way to give a fresh touch to the interior is to buy new curtains and linens. It will look elegant and give the feeling of new. Install new door handles, door bells and new locks. Keep the kitchen and bathroom spotless, and replace fixtures such as sink faucets and shower heads. Also, don’t forget to have all plumbing issues resolved. Add new wallpaper or a fresh coat of paint to prominent rooms such as the living room and kitchen. Walls you don’t intend to have repainted need to be washed. As for carpets – either shampoo them thoroughly or buy new ones.

Exterior is important

You know how we are taught that when meeting someone new, first impressions are the important, maybe even crucial? Well, the same goes for houses. The state potential buyers find it in will be the image stuck with them till the rest of the journey. So, keep the yard free of eyesores like dead trees and shrubs as well as free of clutters. Then, start with building a new fence around the property and changing the front door. Pint it some welcoming color, like white or any other that matches the tone of your home wall paint. Another good idea may be to add some flowers and plants along the front of the house, wash the house's exterior and apply new paint to window trim and other wooden surfaces.

Use space in a smart way

You know that room you’ve been using for ironing? Well, it’s time you turned into a room your clients will actually see as additional space! Remodel your attic or basement into a fancy teenage room, or instance. You can ask your realtor what it is that the clients are looking for and adjust to their needs – whether it’s a nursery, a master bedroom, crafting room, or else. Basically, invent a room!

Create Multiple Seating Areas

If you have a huge balcony or a terrace that you’ve used just for random coffee breaks it’s time you turned it into a summer den! Add patio furniture (you can get some amazing pieces at a low cost). The furniture will emphasize the size of the space and create a destination. Add pots with plants for more ‘natural’ and homey look and you are set!

Clear out the space

When living in a house, it is inevitable to clutter the space with unnecessary things we probably used once or twice. Go through your house, ceiling to floor and remove all things you don’t need. Once you are done, you’ll see how much more space there is! You’ll probably discover spaces you’ve absolutely forgotten you’ve got! Consult a friend who is interior decorator or someone who just has the eye for this sort of thing and see how you could re-arrange the furniture to give rooms more space. You’d be surprised how well it can look!

Maharashtra: One State, Many Cuisines

The Indian state of Maharashtra is located to the west of the country. With Mumbai as its capital, Maharashtra is India’s wealthiest and most developed state – and its residents take their food very seriously. Food is considered equivalent to God and traditionally offerings are made at mealtimes. The cuisine of the state is divided into segments based on the region and city, but there are some key ingredients that are common in all food across the state. These include peanuts, cashews, coconuts, seasonal vegetables and grains such as bajra and jowar.

Another characteristic that is common in the cuisine of Maharashtra is that food is often bitter in taste. This is due to the use of tamarind and kokam, which is balanced out with a subtle sweetness of gur. In addition, ghee, peanut oil, groundnut oil, ginger and garlic are all staple ingredients in kitchens across Maharashtra. The culinary regions of the state all have their own unique style and tradition.

The historic city of Kolhapur is highly regarded for its cuisine – especially its speciality mutton dishes. The ancient Kolhapuri cuisine features two curries of particular noteworthiness – tambada rassa and pandhara rassa. The former is a red curry made using powdered red chillies, and the latter is a white curry, a soup-like dish made from mutton stock, ginger, garlic and coconut milk, as well as spices such as cinnamon and coriander. It is served as a starter but is also believed to have medicinal uses to help cure coughs and sore throats. A Kolhapuri thali will typically include hot and fiery dishes. These might include fried fish, kharda (minced green chillies lightly fried with chopped garlic) and bread such as bhakri. 

Move further west and you come to the coastal Malvani region. Cuisine of this region is part of the wider Konkani cuisine, which favours fish, seafood, coconut and spices. All types of coconut are used in the food of the region – dried, fresh, paste or milk – and the dishes are generally made spicy with generous helpings of chillies (and other spices). The heat from Malvani cuisine is balanced by a drink called sol kadhi, made from kokam fruit and coconut milk.

In central Maharashtra you will find the Varadi region – again keen on its spicy cuisine. Signature dishes of the area include zunkar bhakar, pathawadi and vada bhat and recipes often include powdered coconut, daal and besan (gram flour).

Finally, we come to Parsi cuisine – an integral part of Marathi cuisine with a large Parsi population living in the state. No meal is complete without rice, potatoes and a helping of the famous kachumbar salad. Some particularly popular Parsi dishes are patra ni machhi (fish and green chutney steamed in a banana leaf), khichdi (rice and lentils), and jardaloo sali boti (lamb with apricots and almonds).

For a taste of the food of Maharashtra you can book a table at one of London’s fine-dining Indian restaurants. Here the chefs will be able to produce dishes identical to those served in Maharashtra by cooks who know these authentic recipes like the back of their hands.

AC System Replacement Basics for Homeowners

Most homeowners are ill-equipped to deal with the major systems that make their houses comfortable and functional. Considering the amount of knowledge and experience required to become a licensed plumber, electrician, or HVAC technician, just for example, this really isn't very surprising. And while the truly enterprising weekend warrior might bust out the tools and the home repair guide and get to work flushing the water heater, changing out lighting fixtures, and replacing the furnace filter, most of us simply call in the pros when something goes wrong. And when your AC unit goes kaput, the last thing you're likely to do is replace it yourself. That said, there are some things you'll need to consider before you choose a new model. And your HVAC technician can help you find the right product for your home if you know what questions to ask. Here are a few basics for any homeowner looking to upgrade their AC system.

 

image:en.wikipedia.org

The first issue to address is the unit itself, and there are a couple of concerns. For starters, you want to make sure you get the right size of unit for your home, which is to say, a model that offers the appropriate capacity for your square footage. Any HVAC technician worth his salt should be able to warn you off units that are too large or too small for your home. But it never hurts to ask. If you end up with a unit that is improperly sized you'll either burn it out trying to cool your home or end up paying way too much for your energy bill and potentially facing issues with condensation and leakage. The point is that you need to make sure your new unit is the right size, and this is especially important if your home has had any additions that would increase the square footage (meaning you likely wouldn't want the same size unit you had before).

You should also ask about energy efficiency and pollution. Old-school AC units are notorious for using a refrigerant called Freon, a chlorofluorocarbon responsible for ozone depletion. Most newer models have switched to fluorine-based (rather than chlorine) refrigerants as a means of doing less harm to the environment. And of course, you'll definitely want a modern unit that is as energy efficient as possible, which probably means selecting a model that offers 2-stage or variable speed cooling, as opposed to single-stage operation.

Whereas single-stage units run at 100% capacity every time you turn them on, a 2-stage product will work at a little more than half capacity when you only need to adjust the temperature a couple of degree and then bump up to full capacity for larger leaps in cooling. A variable speed, on the other hand, varies by demand, but keeps running at low capacity even when the desired temperature is reached, ensuring that fresh air is always cycling through your home, improving your interior air quality in the process.

That said, your job isn't quite done yet. While you're upgrading your AC, you might also want to perform a heating system comparison to ensure that all of your HVAC equipment meets your many needs. And you should certainly add a programmable thermostat to the mix if you don't already have one so that you can set an appropriate schedule for heating and cooling your home. You may even want to include a zoning system to optimize your entire HVAC system and keep your home environment as comfortable as possible. With the right AC system in place you can increase comfort and savings while cutting your carbon footprint. It's a tall order, but when you know the basics you should be able to meet all your goals.

5 Easy Ways for Homeowners to Reduce Their Energy Consumption

Once you've grown up, gotten your own place, and started paying the utility bills, you'll finally understand why your parents were always yelling at you to turn off the lights when you left a room and put on a sweater rather than bumping up the thermostat to produce more heat. Energy can be an expensive commodity, especially when you fail to pay attention to how much you're using (and wasting, for that matter). Plus, most energy creation still entails some amount of pollution and waste in the process. So if you're looking to do your part for the environment while simultaneously finding ways to reduce your monthly energy bill, here are just a few easy ways for homeowners like yourself to engage in energy conservation.

image:energy.gov

The best place to start is by taking a page from your parents' playbook - turn off electronics when they're not in use. If you leave a room, turn off the lights and the television. If you're done using your computer, don't just leave it idling; set it to hibernate or power it down completely. And program your thermostat to decrease demand by 10-15 degrees during long absences like the eight hours a day you spend at work, for example. You can even plug electronics into power strips that feature on/off switches so that you can put a stop to the phantom drain that occurs even when your electronic devices are powered down. These easy options may save you a little or a lot, but they're only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reducing energy consumption.

Another great option is to start using energy-efficient products like those recommended by EnergyStar.gov. By spending just a little more on CFL bulbs, you can enjoy the long-term savings that come from a product that uses a third of the energy of incandescent bulbs and last ten times as long. It also fits in a standard socket so you won't have to upgrade your fixtures. And when it's time to replace your fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer/dryer, water heater, furnace and AC unit, or any other appliances in your home, go the extra mile to seek out products that bear the Energy Star label, certifying excellence where efficiency is concerned. You'll cut your consumption and your monthly utility bills in the process (some also conserve water).

Of course, you can take your efforts to the next level with a home energy audit. By hiring a professional technician to conduct an inspection and tests in your structure you can find areas of waste that include leaks and poor insulation, giving you the information you need to make your home more airtight and energy efficient. Just make sure you know how to fix poor indoor air quality that may result; any time you increase airtightness you might need to address ventilation issues, as well. There is no shortage of ways to reduce energy consumption on the home front, and new ones are popping up every day. So start by becoming aware of energy waste in your structure, as well as the steps you can take to reverse it. From there you can select the easy, effective, and efficient options that suit your home and your lifestyle.