Homeowner Tips – Page 3

Top 10 Reasons Antares Homes Salespeople Are the Best!

Contender for Salesperson of the Year: Monique Tinsley!

1) We are present at our sales offices during operating hours:

We have heard from our customers that Builder A is never open, or Builder B never has a salesperson at the office even though it is open. We are in the business of selling homes and that can’t be done without a salesperson to meet with you!

2) We are excited to see you when you walk in our door:

All of our salespeople will give you a hearty welcome when you come to our offices. We know that there are many other builders to choose from and we are glad to have the opportunity to serve you!

3) We want to know what your needs are:

Don’t be taken off guard when you are in one of our sales offices and our salespeople are asking you endless amounts of questions! It is important for us to make sure we match you to the right home or floor plan. We are focused on building neighborhoods that are occupied by happy Home Owners just like you!

4) We know a lot about financing:

In the current financial landscape, lending regulations change very often. We do our best to prepare for upcoming changes and understand what all the options are. Each Home Owner has a unique set of circumstances and we need to be able to problem solve on the fly.

5) We can help you with your credit:

As lending regulations change, so do credit requirements. We have experienced several increases to the bottom line credit score requirements and have figured out several ways we can help our customers to increase their scores without enrolling in pricey credit repair programs.

6) We are knowledgeable about construction:

We have the luxury of working with Certified Graduate Builders who teach us about why we build homes the way we do. If we don’t know an answer off the top of our heads, an expert is a phone call away!

7) We are dedicated to customer service:

We want to make sure you have the best home buying experience possible and that starts with good follow up. We make sure to keep in touch with you even before you buy a home with us.

8) We are honest:

We offer the best value at the best price. No bait and switch here!

9) We are constantly striving to improve:

Our sales people attend weekly training. We rely on each other for feedback and help. We have a spirit of service to each other as co-workers that benefits our customers.

10) We have fun!

If you only knew…

Holiday Decorations

Better Homes and Gardens December Sunshine — Better Homes and Gardens "December Sunshine"

Over the long weekend a lot of families were in their yards placing their decorations and Holiday lights. It seems like every year the scenes in the yard and the decorations in the front windows get more and more elaborate. I am not talented at decorating anything including my living room and I rarely decorate for the Holidays because it can be so overwhelming for me. So since my stepdaughter really wants to decorate this year I have been debating whether or not to put up a tree. So, I thought what if I did smaller arrangements through out the house instead of a big tree? Here are some easy ideas for Holiday decorating that I found:

Simple Ways to Decorate for Christmas from Better Homes and Gardens. Some of theses ideas look really simple and very pretty. I am going to try a few and then post them later.

Holiday Decorating made Easy by Good Housekeeping. I love the snowflake garland! It reminds me of making snowflakes in Elementary school.

101 Easy Ideas from All Things Christmas. I love #43!

If you are really crafty and ambitious, (unlike me), here is a great video on how to decorate a tree with spectacular ribbons. It looks so beautiful, but not something I am going to attempt!

Thank goodness for DoItYourself.com! One of their first pieces of advice is to bring out all of the red and green items you already have in your home and group them together. I really feel like a “duh!” head when I read advice like that, but if they didn’t print it, I would never have thought of it!

MMMmmmmm Clove oranges!

How to decorate on a budget! I love this one because I really don’t want to spend a lot of money to decorate my home for only six weeks out of fifty-two weeks! The use what you have section is my favorite.

How could I have forgotten about Popcorn Garlands?

Maybe I will have a tree this year, but it may be a smaller one. I saw lots of pretty arrangements calling for a smaller tree doing research for this post. I found that there are many more decorating ideas for those people who are a little craftier and have a better decorating sense than I am in possession of. I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, making a wreath is not for beginners. Please make use of the comments section and send me any ideas or experiences you have had with making simple and easy Holiday decorations!

Staining Your Fence

It is soooo exciting to get your new house keys and begin moving all of your things into your brand new home! Decorating and housewarming parties are all you can think of.

But wait! Don’t forget about your fence. Unless you chose to upgrade to a stained fence at the Selection Studio you will need to stain your fence right away according to Cecil Smith, one of our Certified Graduate Builders. He advises that you buy a high quality stain that will seal and protect for at least five years. Behr has one that will last for ten years! There seem to be many opinions on the internet as to when and how to stain a fence, but Cecil’s advice is the sooner the better! Get to it!

What do you do if you have lived in your home for awhile and haven’t stained it? Well, it’s not that hard. Take a survey of your fence and make any repairs that are needed such as replacing damaged boards. Then use a mold and mildew stain remover and powerwash your fence. Then use a wood prep after it dries. Depending on the condition of your fence, you might just need a good powerwash and then a wood prep. It is crucial to remove the mold, mildew or fungus before staining your fence. Let the wood dry and stain on!

Green Cleaning

As a company we have many conversations about Green Building. We are very concerned with being Green and have made many choices about the construction of our homes based on a Green focus. As the Green Marketplace is evolving there are lots of opinions about what makes something Green. For us, as a builder of new homes, it means reducing the amount of energy used to operate a home.

Another way that people want to be Green is to reduce the amount of harsh chemicals used in every day life. Often these chemicals end up in our rivers and lakes as well as in our groundwater. Rust cleaners and oven cleaners are particularly toxic. Some folks even argue that bleach is too toxic to use on a daily basis. I have been surfing the web trying to discover what folks are doing about this. What I’ve noticed is a big trend towards DIY household cleaners. I have uncovered a few Blogs and websites that I think you might like if you are also thinking of reducing the toxicity of your home!

Paige found some recipes on making household cleaners and tried some out. Here’s what she found that works and in some cases doesn’t work!

Sometimes you can use simple solutions of one or two commonly used products such as Baking Soda or Vinegar.

1001 Uses For Vinegar

The Vinegar Institute!!!! Wow!

The New Home Maker loves Baking Soda for cleaning.

Arm and Hammer also has a pretty exhaustive list of uses for Baking Soda.

Here are some recipes for non-toxic cleaners.

How to make a non-toxic cleaning kit.

Non-toxic Rust remover? Really!

If you try any of these Green alternatives, let me know how they worked for you. I am going to polish my silver jewelry with Baking Soda tonight!

Caring for Your Countertops

homepage-products — Use this gem for your Granite!

Our Standard counter tops are Wilsonart Laminate. These are wonderful because they are so durable and they come in so many beautiful colors. We have over 20 colors in our Standard Options to choose from in our Selection Studio and our buyers really love the choices that we have. But, how do you care for them? Well, it’s really easy! I visited the Wilsonart website to find out more. Make sure to use a cutting board when chopping up foodstuffs since the surface can be marred by sharp objects. Always use a mild cleanser like Windex. Be careful to never clean with abrasive cleaning products and limit the use of bleach on the laminate counter tops.

We often have homeowners who choose the granite countertops as well. I found a great website that sells granite care products! We recommend that you use Bar Keeper’s Friend to clean the granite. It is very important to seal it once a year since granite is a naturally porous stone. Never stand on your granite since it is possible to crack it that way.

If you have a favorite cleaning product for your countertops please let us know!

Winterizing Your Home

It’s that time of year again! The heat has been turned down outside and your dog’s coat starts to thicken up and all of a sudden you can sleep with your windows open. Most people start to think about winterizing their homes as the weather stops being brutal for a minute. Since this is Central Texas and not the Midwest or any other clime which has snow for ages, winterizing here is a little less intensive. The main areas to worry about are the places that cold air and rain can cause problems.

You want to check around your doors and replace any weather stripping that is worn or has come loose.
Check around your windows and caulk in spots where your caulking is damaged. In a newer home, you may not need to do this for several years, but it is a good idea to check this every season.
If you have a fireplace and it hasn’t been used since January, it is a good idea to call a chimney sweep in to inspect your chimney and remove any bird nests or other pests such as bees or wasps that may have decided your chimney is a great place to live.
Be careful not to stack firewood against your home. This can cause a couple of problems, one of which is giving termites access to your home and the other is excessive moisture against the slab and siding. Also, rake and clear away any debris that has accumulated against the slab and siding over the summer months.
Another thing to plan for is having an HVAC professional come to your home to inspect your unit and clean the ducts if necessary. If you burn candles often or have pets living in the home you should change the filters every month even if you buy the three month filters.
Buy some rock salt and keep it in the garage for those surprise ice days.
Cut away tree branches that have grown up against your home.
Make sure your rain gutters are clear and downspouts have splash blocks positioned so that water is siphoned away from your slab.
Disconnect water hoses and, even though we have the frost proof hose bibs, I suggest installing an inexpensive insulated cover once the weather is threatening to freeze.

As you are inspecting the exterior of your home for things to seal up, make sure to NEVER seal up the weep holes in your brick. Those spaces at the bottom of your brick area on top of the slab are there on purpose for drainage and you can void your brick warranty and other warranties on your new home if you seal them. Any moisture that gets behind the brick needs a way out and that is provided by those weep holes. Happy Winterizing and enjoy the cooler weather!