Found 79 blog entries tagged as Tips For Maintaining Your Home.

If you’re getting ready to put your Santa Cruz home up for sale, it’s time to make all those repairs that have been simmering on the back burner.  When buyers come looking, they want things in tip-top shape, otherwise they think you have not been taking care of the property.

Here are your ten must-do repairs before putting your Santa Cruz home up for sale:

1. Repair the roof.  Maintaining a sound roof literally tops the list of crucial home repairs. Replace missing shingles and fix damaged shingles.
2. Clean, clear and caulk gutters.  When the weather is dry, get on a ladder and clean out all the leaves and debris from the gutters.  Check their condition, repair any loose sections and caulk around the end caps.
3. Fix sagging screen doors and other…

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Whether it’s your mother’s, mother-in-law’s or grandmother’s Santa Cruz home for sale that needs work, make the effort this Mother’s Day to give her your time and make a few quick improvements. Fixing up a Santa Cruz home for sale can be overwhelming, especially if costly repairs are needed.

To give you some ideas, here are six fast and inexpensive improvements that will have your loved-one’s Santa Cruz home for sale looking better and selling faster:

1. Neutralize the rooms. Your father might take pride in his fly-fishing-inspired man cave, but potential buyers may not love it. Pack away as much of the fishing memorabilia as dad will allow, and brighten the room by painting it a neutral color.

2. Add lighting. Modern track lighting can help…

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When selling a Santa Cruz home, the last thing you want potential buyers to focus on are projects they’ll need to complete. Even though it’s cosmetic, wallpaper — and the thought of long hours stripping it — might make many buyers start questioning whether they really want to buy your Santa Cruz home.

When preparing your home for sale, remove all old wallpaper. This project can be completed in one weekend and will greatly improve your property’s appeal. Below are five steps to get rid of wallpaper and increase your resale potential:

1. Remove the old wallpaper. Renting a wallpaper steamer is an absolute must to save you time and aggravation. It’ll make the job much quicker and is much less likely to damage the wall underneath.

2. Scrub your walls…

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Got a squeaky floor in your Santa Cruz home? It can be an aggravation and leave a bad impression on prospective buyers walking through your home. You can fix squeaky floors fairly easily. Here are some options:

• Sprinkle talc or powdered graphite over gaps in wood flooring. If your squeaks are caused by loosened boards rubbing against each other, graphite can act as a lubricant and take care of the squeak.

• Face-nail boards back into place. If your squeak is caused by wood rubbing against loose nails, carefully nail them back down.

• Shim it. If your problem is a gap between your flooring and joist, get someone to bounce on the squeak while you’re in the basement. When you can see where the gap is causing the squeak, insert a shim in the gap.…

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If your Santa Cruz home needs beautifying, vines can be the answer to your landscaping questions.

• Vines can be used to screen unattractive features. Whether it’s the neighbor’s mess, an alley or whatever, you can hide it from view with vines grown on a fence or trellis. If it’s a retaining wall you want to hide, you can plant vines above it to cascade down and transform the area.

• Create shade quickly. If you have too much sun at your Santa Cruz home and don’t want to wait several years for trees to grow, erect an arbor and plant vines to grow over it. If it’s big enough, consider placing a bench or picnic table underneath and have an oasis for gatherings.

Here are some perennial vines to consider:

• Clematis is a stunning choice. Large,…

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Is there anything more enchanting than having hummingbirds visit your Santa Cruz real estate? These tiny creatures are the size of a large bug. Their lightning speed, amazing hovering abilities and threadlike tongues are a marvel to behold.

Here are some ways to make your Santa Cruz real estate attractive to hummingbirds:

1. Hang hummingbird feeders. This is the quickest method.
 Make it sweet. Fill your feeder with a simple solution made of one part white sugar to four parts water.
 Don’t use honey. Solutions made with honey will ferment and can kill hummingbirds.
 Keep it clean. Rinse the feeder before every refilling, and wash it periodically. Be sure to rinse the soap out very thoroughly. Once a month, disinfect with hydrogen peroxide and rinse…

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April begins gardening season, the time we get antsy to start working the soil, thinking about fertilizing the lawn and planting flowers in our Santa Cruz home.

Whether you’re preparing your Santa Cruz home to put it up for sale or just doing general maintenance and upkeep, here is your to-do list:

Annuals and Containers:

• Deadhead flowers to promote more blooms.
• Clean and sanitize summer containers, and plan your design for the summer.
• Plant summer annuals after the last frost.  Bring them indoors or cover with a cloth during a late cold snap.
• Start seeds indoors for annual herbs.
• Plant annual herbs such as basil and cilantro after the last frost.

Lawn:

• Raking should be your first task of spring lawn care. This removes dead grass,…

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Preventive maintenance is crucial to the value and upkeep of your home.  Keeping your Santa Cruz real estate in great shape with regular check-ups will save you the headache and cost of emergency repairs.

Here are six items to add to your outdoor spring maintenance checklist:

1. Clean the Gutters:  Gutters work best when clean and free of gunk.  Check yours for foliage, tree limbs, etc., especially if trees hang over the roof.

2. Make sure the downspouts are clean:  They should point at least two feet away from foundation walls.

3. Check exterior paint: Look for chipped, cracked paint.  Scrape off any failing paint, sand it down, prime the surface, and paint it with a high-quality, low-VOC exterior paint.

4. Brighten your Santa Cruz real…

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Flowering shrubs add interest to any landscape and early spring is an ideal time to plant them. Shrubs are relatively maintenance free. Once you plant them, they are a perennial source of beauty.

Keep these tips in mind as you plan how to dress up your Santa Cruz home with shrubs.

• Plan ahead. Make sure you know how tall your chosen shrub will grow. Don’t place a tall selection in front of a window where it will block your view.

• Coordinate colors. Consider how well the color of your new shrub’s flowers will complement the color of any established flowers that will be blooming nearby at the same time.

• Go for fragrance. Flower color is not the only thing to consider. What could be nicer than having the scent of lilacs wafting through the…

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You’ve heard about the plight of honey bees. But did you know there are 4,000 species of native bees in North America? Many of them are in peril due to habitat loss and pesticides. While they don’t produce honey, these insects are a vital part of our ecosystem. If the (non-native) honey bees continue to have troubles, we will need our native bees more than ever to pollinate our crops and gardens.

The vast majority of native bees are solitary rather than social insects. Unlike honey bees and bumble bees, each female has her own nest, so you don’t need to fear the possibility of being attacked by the colony. Solitary bees are docile and do not have the painful sting of honey bees.

Here are some ways to welcome native pollinators to your Santa Cruz…

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