firsttownDESIGN

Drywall/ Plaster Repair When rehabbing old houses, cracks and holes in the plaster are common. Often, holes in ceiling plaster are the result of water infiltrating either from the roof, or from a split plumbing line. Holes in walls are often the result of vandalism, but could be the sign of more serious foundation issues. Once the root cause is fixed (see basic water repair section) cut a square area and replace with inch drywall. Once your piece is cut, secure it with multiple drywall screws, mud the gaps, tape, re-mud then sand to a smooth finish.

Basic Water Pipe Repair If you are working on a foreclosed home that has sat over the winter it is important to inspect for burst water pipes in the basement and walls. The hardest part of the repair is finding all the leaks. You do this by turning on the water, listening for falling water, then visually inspecting where the water is coming from. Once you find the leak, cut out the old section of pipe and cut a section of new pipe to replace it. Rough up the end of the old and new sections of pipe with your sandpaper. The easiest solution is to buy a Shark-Bite coupler and push into place. No flame is required for this repair..

Drain Repair Drains work by using the force of gravity to expel wastewater down and out of the house. Improperly working drains can be the result of improper pitch in the drain line or a clog. Clogged drains are a very common problem. When a working drain gets clogged, Draino or a quick snake will often do the trick. If that doesn’t work, unscrew the drainpipe and inspected for clogs. If a clog is found in there, simply remove the clog, replace the drain and test the drain. In a vacant house, a clog can become impenetrable. If you encounter such a clog, you need to cut it out and replace that section of drain. Using a saw or grinder cut out the clogged section of pipe. Once the clog is cut out, cut a similar length of PVC pipe to replace it. Either connect the new pipe to the old with PVC connectors or with a fernco connector. If you use the PVC connectors make sure that you clean the old pipe thoroughly and apply PVC cement to ensure a proper seal.

Replacing Light Fixtures Be sure the power is off to the fixture by checking the wires with a voltage meter. Remove the old fixture. Strip off a section of the wire casing and attach your new fixture with wire nuts and electrical tape. Insure that no unexposed wire remains. Since each fixture will come with its own set of instructions, be sure to read those instructions thoroughly to insure proper installation. Electricity can cause severe injury if you do not follow instruction implicitly.

Window Installation To measure your window, open it all the way and measure from inside of the window casing. Buy your new window as close as possible. Remember, you can make up for a window that is too small, but it is much harder to expand an opening for a window that is too big.. Next, remove the old window, making sure not to damage the wood frame. Once the window is removed place wood shims on the sill and level the shims. Once the shims are level secure them in place with screws (drilling pilot holes will keep the shims from splitting). Put the new window in place. At the sash, place more wood shims between the wood frame and the window to fill that gap, and then secure the shims in place by screwing through the window frame and into the wood frame. Repeat this step about six inches from the top and six inches from the bottom of the sides. Once the sides are secure, make sure you can easily open and close the window. Fill the gaps around the window with expanding foam insulation.

Refinishing Wood Floors First remove the old carpet. Then remove all of the tack strips, staples, nails and quarter round molding. Once the floor is clean, run your drum sander with the grain of the wood. It is very important that you keep the drum sander moving at all times though. If you leave it sit it will quickly eat into the floor, leaving the finished floor wavy looking. Start with 36-grit sandpaper, then 80-grit, and then 100-grit. Once the main body of the floor is sanded, do the edges with an edge sander using the same grits of sandpaper that you used on the main floor. When all the sanding is complete, sweep the floor, and then vacuum the floor. Apply your choice of stain or apply polyurethane directly to the wood. Finish with 2-3 coats of polyurethane. Replace the trim molding along the floor.

Laying Tile Start by removing the old coverings whenever possible. Once the old covering has been removed put down a cement backerboard over the entire area to be tiled. Fill in the joints of the backerboard with mortar. Begin tile installation by troweling on a thin application of mastic over a three to four foot area. Set the tile in place and push gently to secure the position. Continue in this fashion until the tiles are all in place. Allow the mastic to dry for 24-hours before grouting. If you are laying a natural stone tile be sure to seal the tile prior to grouting. If you don’t, the tile will appear hazy. Remove all tile spacers. Mix the grout and push the grout into the seams using a rubber float. Immediately wipe up excess grout with a damp sponge. After an hour or so, wipe down the tile with a piece of cheesecloth to get rid of the haze on the surface.

Texturing a Ceiling Texturing a ceiling is one of the simplest jobs you will do on a home, yet it gives the room a finished look. Dip a texturing brush with a long (4 foot) handle into a bucket of top-coating mud. Push the brush into the ceiling in a random pattern. After it dries finish by painting with a white ceiling paint. (Note: This project can be messy. Either do it before you put your floors in or cover them completely. )

Painting a Room Be sure to prep the wall surface prior to painting. Do this by applying a thin coat of spackle to any pin holes or cracks, then sand to a smooth finish. Next, apply one coat of latex primer to the surface of the walls using a roller. After the primer dries apply your paint. Two coats of a flat paint will generally provide complete coverage. To edge the walls, apply painter’s tape to the trim, and brush the paint onto the edges. After you have painted the edges, remove the painter’s tape and you’re done.

Landscaping The exterior is the first impression people will get of your house. Take time to remove all the overgrown 1950’s era plants and replace them with smaller more modern looking plants. After removing the old shrubs, cultivate the bed and mix in organic materials like manure, compost or peat moss. The exterior is the first impression people will get of your house. Most of the time, I remove all the overgrown 1950’s era plants and replace them. If there are any good plants in the landscape, I try to remove them in a way that they can be re-used in the landscape. If they are too large to remove, prune them to improve their appearance. After removing the old shrubs, cultivate the bed and mix in organic materials like manure, compost or peat moss. Arrange your new plants on top of the beds. Once you are happy with the arrangement, remove any burlap or plastic and plant them. Be sure not to bury the root balls of shrubs. You want to plant the shrub with just a little of the ball showing above the ground

So you’ve thought about starting your own business working from home, but is it a great idea? What’s so great about starting your own business and spending time working from home?

Here are 7 reasons why you should consider starting your own business from home…

1. Less time travelling to and from work. How much time do you think you will spend getting to and from your spare bedroom that now acts as your ‘office’ – a lot less than the time you used to spend sat in the car, hearing the same records on the same radio station, whilst the traffic you’re stuck in doesn’t move.

It may seem I’m making a silly point, but it is in fact a very key benefit to working from home because of the amount of ‘travel time’ you save, allowing you to either start work quicker, or see more of your family, or simply just to spend more time in bed!

2. You can save money. By the fact that a part of your home’s mortgage or rent can be offset as ‘office rent’ means you can actually save money working from home. Plus there are many other savings like the electricity, phone bills, car fuel costs, etc all of which you can use part of what you pay on your home bills to offset your tax bill.

3. More family time – this is a key one. When you consider that in the world there is never enough hours in the day, and spending quality time with those we love can often drop down the priority list, even when we know they should be amongst our most important priorities. Having the ability to work from home means even taking a silly thing like a coffee break means you can have a 15 minutes catching up with your partner or playing with the children, times you and they will value.

4. Time control. You are in control of your own time – you work when it suits you; at the times that best suits you. If your daughter has a swimming gala, you can take the afternoon off and be one of the few parents that could make it to support your little girl. You can then choose, if you wish, to make up any lost hours of work by working in the evening. It’s really only working from home that offers you this type of flexibility.

5. Share the business. By working from home, you may choose to share the business you’re your partner, and have many of the additional benefits of working together, sharing ideas, achieving things as a partnership – in both business as well as social. Now you and your partner may not feel working together is a good idea, which I respect, but it’s the ability that working from home offers which allows you to choose.

6. Create the working environment that suits you. Put around you the environment that you would most enjoy working in. I love music so whilst I’m working from home I like to play music and not just the work’s radio channel – whatever ever CD I want; I only have to please me. I also love my dog, so he spends most of the time curled up at my feet in the office (when he’s not nagging me for a walk!). My point is you create around you the working environment you enjoy working in.

7. Finally …it’s fun! I really enjoy working from home and most folks I coach and help increase their incomes working from home, would say the same and agree – working from home is so much more relaxing and less stressful.

When you pull together all these 7 great reasons for starting your own business from home, it’s easy to see why it makes so much sense.

Yes, there is huge value to being able to 100% focus all your time and energy on your new business, especially when you’re working from home, and the rewards will mean that you business will grow exponentially by being full time over working your business part-time. There is one caveat to this; you need to use all your new ‘full time’ time commitment to really apply to your business – and I mean REALLY apply your energies in a focused way.

I have helped people who have gone from part-time to full time with their new businesses and this increased time input has resulted in them being less ‘effective and productive’ when they are full time than they did when they were part-time. “How is this possible?” I hear you say – it’s a common problem many self-employed people have when they suddenly make the commitment to run their business on 100% of their time; they suddenly fill their days with ’stuff’ that is ineffective and unproductive to their business; ultimately their putting in the hours but not actually doing the things that will improve and increase their incomes.

Some people have said to me “I’m doing more hours but my business isn’t increasing”, and the key reason is that yes the hours maybe being put in, but how productively those hours are being used is the key.

There are only TWO reasons why someone doesn’t get the increase in business as they should…

1. They are doing the wrong things OR 2. They are simply not doing enough of the right things.

My information is intended to help you not make the mistakes to do the wrong things when you run a business working from home, so if when you go from part-time to full time you don’t get the growth in your business with all these extra hours being put in, it’s likely you are simply not doing enough of the right things with all your additional hours you’re now inputting.

It’s really easy to be ‘busy being busy’ but the real key is to identify what actions in your business really make you the money and try to do those particular actions as often as you can throughout your working day and week.

Get into the habit of questioning your actions by saying to yourself “is what I’m doing now really help me to grow my business AND income?” and answer the question to yourself with full honesty. It’s not enough to just ‘think’ what you’re doing is helping your business – is that action clearly and unquestionably improving your income? Because if it’s not, dump it and get on with something that is!

It’s all too easy to get into the pattern of being busy without being effective. The key is to stay focused on all the things that improve your income, and dump or put on the back-burner all the things that distract you from doing the things that increase your income.

Buying Realtor In order to get the best deals on the market, you need to have a realtor who is familiar with the foreclosure market. They work directly for one or multiple banks in the area that are trying to sell distressed homes. These realtors can give you advice on the market, advice on how to bid for a property, and they often have connections with a Loan Officer who can get you financed in today’s market. Ask for referrals from people who buy or sell homes.

Mortgage Professional You need a mortgage professional who will be honest with you and work quickly for you. Today’s mortgage market is different than it was one month ago, six months ago, a year ago. Your mortgage professional must be up to date with the change in the market. Many times the mortgage professional at larger lending institutions will be more capable of adjusting to this market and the changing needs of it. I do not endorse any lender over another, but I do get financing from Wells Fargo and Countrywide, two of the nations largest mortgage lenders.

Selling Realtor If you get the right buying realtor, they won’t have time to sell your home. They are too busy with their bank contracts. You need a selling agent that is well versed in your city, or even in your neighborhood. The key is to find an agent who is honest with you to price your home correctly to ensure a sale. Time is money when you are flipping a house. Price it wrong and you could carry a property months longer than you should. Mortgage, taxes and utility payments can easily run into the thousands of dollars and cost you time gong towards your next project.

Home Inspector If you don’t get this right it can cost a lot. Imagine buying a house without running radon tests or asbestos tests, only to find out months and tens of thousands of dollars later that you can’t sell because the beautifully remodeled home is contaminated. he key to choosing a home inspector is to make sure they hold certifications and can check your investment for mold, radon, lead paint, and asbestos. Also, if you pay attention to the home inspector reports, you will learn what to look for when you first visit a house.

Contractor As the investor, a lot of what you need to know to buy wisely is learned by working with your contractor. The contractor controls the pace of work. The contractor also spends your money for you. They help you to develop and adhere to a budget. Some people walk into an investment property, see holes in the walls and ceilings, and get scared off. I walk in, see those same holes, and know that for $400-$1,000 there are no more holes in the walls, the plumbing is repaired and I can move onto another phase of my renovation.

Suppliers Don’t buy retail you can save twenty to forty percent buying from a building supplier instead of Home Depot. Plus they usually deliver for free. Look them up in the phone book under “Building Suplies” To get an account, you need a company name, a credit card and a bank account, that’s it. Don’t buy retail!

CPA This is not where you want to save money with turbo tax. An experienced CPA will help you save thousands. Make sure they are familiar with real estate investing. Also don’t wait till after the first of the year. sometimes you can make changes in Nov and Dec that will salve you thousands. Make sure they have degree in accounting, they don’t actually have to be a CPA.

Attorney They can help you decide whether you should incorporate, form an LLC or go it alone as a sole proprietor. A real estate attorney can save you money on title work, can draw up rental/ lease agreements and can advise you on tax strategy when buying and selling your real estate. If you buy a commercial building a real estate attorney is a must.

Insurance Agent You need an agent you trust. Ask the tough questions so that your exposure will be at a minimum. Are you covered in case of loss from fire, flood, theft, or injured workers/ tenants. If your policy leaves you exposed in any one of these major areas, your work could all be done for nothing.

Friends & Family If you feed them well, provide a frosty beverage or two, and don’t overwork them, the friends and family work crew will have fun, make your job more fun and most importantly work for free. Jobs like light demolition, painting, cleanup and many yard projects can be handled by anyone who owns a home.