carrie.davis – Page 10 – Dirt2Doorbell

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!

Can I change the Floor Plan?

Yes, but there are limits based on the price of the home. In the first time or first time move up homes, the limits are more restrictive to keep the price low and the construction time and delivery date fixed. In custom and higher priced homes, there are sometime no limits because the price includes the right to make large changes and there are very few limits as to the time or delivery schedule. Make sure to ask the sales person as to what is allowed or not allowed.

-Ron Formby

This is a very frequent topic of conversation in our sales offices. One of the items we will never change is the elevation–the look of the front of the home–which includes not only brick placement and front porches but also the roof lines. Something that would seem very simple like adding or removing a window can have a huge ripple effect in the materials needed for the roof line, the framing and the load of the home. One other thing in a home we will not change is the plumbing. When looking at a floor plan in one of our brochures, you might see a perfect place to bump a bathroom back into an adjoining bedroom or closet and move the sinks or showers around. Our value pricing is based on building the same home the same way every time. Plumbing is a major expense in a home and it runs throughout the slab. To change the plumbing in a home, we have to re-engineer the layout of the plumbing in the slab and this is expensive. We will, however, exchange a tub for a shower if you choose, since that plumbing is already there. We do have a few framing changes as options on a few of our plans. These typically involve changing a bedroom or formal dining room into an office with double doors. Sometimes our buyers want something a little different that is not requested as often. These framing changes that we do allow inside the home are called non-standard options. These items will be discussed with your salesperson and your change requests will be submitted with a signed contract.

Halloween Costume Contest

Announcing the Antares Homes Halloween Costume Contest! To participate in our Halloween Costume Contest, you must post a photo of people in Halloween costumes in front of your Antares Home on our Facebook page. www.Facebook.com/AntaresHomes The deadline is October 30th, 2010 at noon. We are giving away three goody baskets for the winners who will be announced on our Facebook page on the 30th of October. No home yet? No Problem! If your home is currently under construction or pre-construction, just pose in front of your unfinished home or with your Antares Homes SOLD sign! You must either be under contract or closed on your Antares Home to participate. If you do not have a Facebook page, you can e-mail your photos to me at [email protected] and I will post them for you!

Recipes for Bryan and Nikole

Why don't I get any? — Bandit wants to know why he didn't get any leftovers.

Appetizer:

French bread, pre-sliced

Brie

Honey

Walnuts

Non-stick cooking spray

Coat a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray and place French bread slices on the cookie sheet. Lightly coat bread slices with non-stick spray and put into an oven pre-heated to 350. At the same time place Brie in a shallow baking dish and put into the oven at the same time as the bread. Remove bread when it starts to brown. Remove Brie as it gets melty and starts to pour out of the rind. Scoop some Brie onto the toasted bread, top with a few walnuts and drizzle honey over the top and eat. MMMMmmmmmm.

Salad:

Hearts of Romaine

Matchstick Carrots

Roma Tomatoes

Cucumber

White Onion

Mushrooms

Crumbled Goat Cheese

Avocado

Chop, slice and dice into a pleasing arrangement and serve with your favorite dressing.

Pasta Sauce:

3 Italian Sausages

1 Can tomato paste

1 *oz can garlic tomato sauce

1 *oz can Roasted Tomato and Garlic tomato sauce

1/2 tablespoon sucralose

Italian Seasoning to taste

Onion powder to taste

Couple of tablespoons of white wine

A little water or chicken broth to adjust thickness to taste

Brown sausages and then slice. Add sausages to the remaining ingredients and let bubble for an hour or so. Serve over pasta. We had whole wheat Rotini.

Dessert: Thaw and Eat Key Lime Pie. Bryan says he will eat a whole one while he participates in an online gaming binge on his X-Box. I would love to be able to stomach a whole Key Lime Pie, but I just can’t. I had trouble serving myself in the first place and dropped it on the table both times. Yes, I ate two slices. Can you blame me? It was Marie Callender’s.

Ask the Expert!

As a home building company we have a high volume of experts in our offices. All of our construction managers are Certified Graduate Builders through the National Association of Builders. They have taken the courses and passed their exams and are certified experts! Or maybe just certified 😉 Our Principals are Certified Graduate Builders as well and the icing on the cake is that the owner of our company, Ron Formby is a Certified Master Builder. He’s had more classes and exams than anyone! We are going to feature an “Ask the Expert” topic in our Homebuilding 101 section. Since we have so many experts, we should have lots of good answers to your frequently asked questions! Send us your questions at [email protected] and maybe yours will be the next featured question.

Ron’s First Reflection

Well, this reflection may be more of a rant. With over 37 years in the building business, the one thing that really bugs me is the cities disregard for value/affordable housing. It almost seems that the cities have forgotten that when we can house our people, business will show up and want to be in the city. Residential rooftops bring in businesses which create jobs, and raise the tax base and increase the city’s revenue. Over the last several years, cities have forgotten this and have imposed impact fees on new homes only to make the new developments and homes pay a very unfair tax. Well here we go again. The City of Fort Worth in its best wisdom is considering upping the Transportation Impact Fee again. They just increased the fee to $2,000 for all NEW homes permitted, and now want to increase it again making the fee $3,000.00. With all the other fees, building permit, Water Impact Fee, Sewer Impact Fee, etc. the fees for a New 2,000 square foot home permitted in Fort Worth before any construction is started, we have to write check to the City of Fort Worth for a total of $4,200.00 and now they want to raise that cost to $5,200.00! What you need to know is you have to pay this fee in the cost of the new home you are buying. This has gotten to be ridiculous. There is no increase in new home starts and the city is losing money due to lack of new home starts. Fees like these makes the consumer look to a more affordable price in a city that does not charge these high fees. The same exact floor plan in another city other than Fort Worth (in a comparable community with the same lot costs) will be the same $4,200.00 or $5,200.00 cheaper. And the City of Fort Worth which had a $70,000,000.00 budget deficit (just balanced by laying off hundreds of jobs and cutting services to city pools and libraries) can not see that these fees do nothing but drive the budget further in debt. The City of Midlothian in 2010 waived over $5,400.00 in fees and has seen an increase in building starts which has brought in revenue and tax base dollars. Cities in California have waived fees as well, trying to jump start a down housing industry. Cities believe this tax, and it is a tax on New Homes only, works because they are taxing someone that does or may not live in the City currently, so they don’t make voters unhappy. New homes pay their own way and contribute to the tax base and revenue stream. Let’s start building New Homes encouraging people to live in our city instead of trying to run them out of it.

Bumpy Credit? Don’t close all of your credit accounts!

Another reason that people who want to buy a home can’t is that while they were working on their credit themselves, they closed all of their credit accounts. One thing that can make a big difference to your credit score is to not have any revolving credit. Lenders want to see that you can charge it up and pay it off. Or at least, make your minimum monthly payment. So, even if you have worked tirelessly to get your credit above 620, you might not be approved if you don’t have any open credit lines. So what do you do if you have closed all of your credit lines? Open a secured card. You can search for these on line and they require a deposit up front. Whatever the deposit requirement is, that’s your credit limit. Don’t go all crazy and charge it up to the limit. There is no point in opening a new trade line and maxing it out. Keep your balance to 30% of the maximum. On a $500 secured card that is a balance of no more than $150. Buy some gas, put the gym membership on it and pay it off every month. The good thing about secured cards is that they start reporting to the credit bureaus pretty quickly and will help to raise your score when you need it done in a jiffy. Need more help with this? Call one of our sales offices and we might just surprise you with how we can help! 1-800-ANTARES

Mortgage Insurance Premiums

What are they and why should I even think about them? According to Wikipedia (love Wikipedia) it is an insurance policy which compensates lenders or investors for losses due to the default of a mortgage loan. When someone is foreclosed on, that’s a default of a mortgage loan. On an FHA loan, which is the type most used by our buyers, the buyer must pay a mortgage insurance premium at closing. This premium is often split into upfront fees and monthly fees. The upfront fees are part of closing costs and, for our buyers, are usually rolled into the mortgage amount. The monthly fees make up a part of the monthly house payment which also includes the principal, mortgage interest and escrowed taxes. Since increasing the mortgage amount and increasing monthly premiums would greatly affect the monthly mortgage payment a customer makes on a $100,000 mortgage, you can very quickly see why you would want to pay attention to this. HUD issued a letter #2010-28 stating that it would decrease the upfront premium to 1% of the loan amount and increase the monthly premiums which will have a direct effect on the monthly payment. On a $100,000 loan that would be about $22/month difference. If you can get on contract before October 4, 2010 and get you loan in process, this will not affect you.

Parkview Hills Committee Meeting

Parkview Hills home owners have a Committee Meeting the first Monday of every month. This is a group of folks who work together to improve the neighborhood and communicate with the HOA management company. They meet at the Model Home at 6836 Waterhill Lane, Fort Worth, TX 76179 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. Our next meeting is October 4, 2010. See you there!

Dinner with Bryan and Nikole

So yesterday was my husband’s birthday, but he went fishing for the week with his Grandpa and Dad and Brother, so the huge dinner I made last night was for Bryan and Nikole! I’ll post the recipes later (‘cause it was so yummy), but we had a wonderful appetizer of toasted French bread with baked brie and walnuts finished with a honey drizzle, pasta with a homemade red sauce that included Italian Sausage (my FAVORITE) and a beautiful salad. YUM. Oh yeah, and Key Lime Pie for dessert which was a fortunate impulse buy because it happened to be Bryan’s favorite. We talked about dog training and being home owners, since we all have dogs under a year old and own homes. I asked Nikole if people were often surprised to find out that she is a homeowner, she said absolutely. She just started a new job and since she just turned 20 this summer her co-workers were a little shocked. I wanted to find out why they had decided to purchase a home so young. We all agreed on the benefits of such a choice, but how did the conversation come up? As it turns out, Nikole’s mom was the one who suggested to Nikole that it might be a good idea to buy a home. Nikole agreed since she was tired of being restricted by the rules in a rental property and she wanted a place of her own to make into her space. It wasn’t necessarily a new home that her mom had in mind, but as Nikole and Bryan talked to friends and family they found a lot of good advice about buying new over re-sale. Since the payments were about the same as their rent, buying a new home made a lot of sense. Also, Bryan’s sister had just purchased an Antares Home and loved the energy efficiency. Bryan and Nikole both view owning a home as a hobby and another full time job. They have projects planned for their back yard and have even hosted a wedding! Congratulations Bryan and Nikole on your new home at Ashford Park!