4 Tips To Lower Maintenance Costs As A New Homeowner

Average monthly maintenance costs for U.S. homes.
Average monthly maintenance costs for U.S. homes

The annual costs of owning and maintaining a home can be a big part of your monthly expense budget and overall housing costs. 

When you've bought your dream house, admiring the new property's beauty and amenities is often a short experience, as you start thinking about how much the home cost and the money you need to spend on maintenance. 

As a new homeowner, you can't forget about all the expenses that go into your property's upkeep and repair. Knowing exactly how much you have to spend on what can become a tricky business. Lucky for you, we've got you covered with a list of tips that you might find useful for budgeting your home maintenance. 

1. Moving in

Lowering your expenditures should start after you've signed the contract on your new home. One of the things you need to spend money on is relocation. That's the reason why you need to find a moving company that not only does the move to perfection, but also offers its services at a great price.

Nowadays, it's not an impossible task to find the right movers. The services of experienced Manhattan movers don't cost a small fortune, and they are tailored to your needs. With the right tools and proper workforce, they'll make the move seem like a breeze. 

2. The 1-4% range

As a general rule, you should expect to pay between 1% and 4% of your new house or apartment's value for maintenance on an annual basis. So, how much will you need to spend? If your home costs $350,000, you can expect to pay a minimum of $3,500 and a maximum of $14,000. 

Of course, that's a wide range, but you should be prepared for an amount between them. Apart from this, you have to consider the age of your home and where it is situated. It's just logical that an older home needs more maintenance and also a bigger budget on your part. And you can't forget about its location. When you live in an area with extreme weather, both during summer and winter, the maintenance costs can rise. 

3. Square footage counts

It's no surprise that the bigger your home is, the more you need to spend on maintenance. When it comes to making your budget for such things, it's a great idea to allocate at least $1 per square foot of your home for upkeep annually. If your house's or apartment's square footage is 3,000, then you'll probably spend around $3,000 on maintenance every year. 

One of the negative aspects of this system is that it doesn't consider your home's location or age. So, if you plan on using the square footage system, you might find that you'd spent a bit more than expected. 

4. Major repairs are not included in the maintenance budget

A big mistake new homeowners make is that they think significant repairs are a part of home maintenance. However, your budget should focus on those monthly or yearly repairs or upkeeping tasks that focus on general wear and tear problems. For example, your maintenance budget should focus on your lawn and grass, patio, or deck, making sure your vents and gutters are clean, replacing leaky faucets, and buying new filters on your air conditioning and heating unit.s 

All of these are considered smaller repairs that you can pay from your maintenance budget. Focusing on significant repairs, such as replacing your water heater, costly appliances, air conditioning system, or your roof, you are going to spend a lot more than what you've allocated for the upkeep of your home. To tackle such major financial issues, it's a great idea to have a healthy savings account. 

WiFi Only iPads & Apple Margins

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) disappoints Wall Street in their latest earning call beating guidance but not matching street expectations.  After looking at Mary Meeker's latest Awesome Web 2.0 presentation about the "State of the Web", this slide struck me the most as I listened to the Apple earnings call.

Apple's stock has risen over the last few years due to their close business relationships with the carriers and booming iPhone sales.  Have iPhone sales topped out due to insanely booming iPad sales?   iPads carry lower margins for both Apple and the carriers and have a incredibly better user experience than an iPhone.  Once you start using a tablet or an iPad you might only use your smartphone for tethering and essential messaging functions.  No longer are the thousands of iPhone applications relevant as the iPad has become the focus of my WiFi content data usage experience.   And yes its FREE!

Apple investors have also been expecting the iPhone 5 which technically is 2 years behind the curve on 4G standards. LTE and 4G phones have been on the market for a long time and Apple has not even announced the iPhone 5 yet as it just launched the iPhone 4S.  Surely Apple's inability to keep up with the pace of 4G data speeds on phones will catch up with them.

Carriers pay Apple handsomely for the right to sell the iPhone because the payback for the customer's data subscription is only in a few months.  Consumers are paying $50 to $100 for monthly data plan subscriptions and are NOT doing the same with iPads.  WiFi only iPad users are growing much quicker than the 3G iPad.  This translates into lower margins for Apple with a one time only sale price of $500 that will likely be lowered soon.  The current iPad selling at $500 will likely be forced to drop in price due to competition.

Amazon announced the Kindle Fire Android tablet at $200 and plan to make most of their money on data / content subscriptions.  Other Android tablet manufacturer including Google have grander visions of making money off of location based advertising which Apple is behind on as well.

This is the first earnings call since the passing of Steve Jobs where Tim Cook was alone at the helm.  Is he setting himself up for a great Holiday quarter? Apple could be sandbagging their next quarter before they release the iPhone 5 or have they run out of momentum?



Why is iOS 5 iPhone Update Draining Battery?

The iOS 5 iPhone upgrade seems to be having a fair share of about poor battery life after the upgrade is performed.  This is not surprising considering most people have lots of application that run in the background and the iPhone is constantly looking for your location and notifications.  This is less of a problem on the iPad that has a 10+ hour battery life.  The iPhone requires lots of processing power and bandwidth to operate and will ultimately result in few apps being used on the iPhone.  This is one of the reasons why we think that the on deck iPhone application industry will start to consolidate and gravitate further to HTML5.

Here are some suggestions to fix the iOS 5 battery draining issue we recommend the following:
  1. Turn off Bluetooth
  2. Deactivate unused applications using location service
  3. Turn Ping off
  4. Deactivate unwanted apps and notifications
  5. Reset your WiFi network settings
  6. Deactivate  Timezone location services to off
  7. Deactivate diagnostic and usage reports. 
Related Stories:
iOS 5 Fixes iPad WiFi Signal Dropping

iOS 5 Fixes iPad WiFi Signal Dropping

iOS 5 on my iPad has finally fixed the annoying iPad WiFi signal dropping issue.  iPad customers have been dealing with the WiFi dropping issue for many months by changing settings on the iPad and the router and none solved the problem up until now.   Some customers would find themselves hitting the Renew Lease button under settings multiple times per day without changing the location or leaving the network.

The good news is I upgraded my iPad to iOS 5 recently which was free but comes with a price.  The upgrade itself will take about an hour and may delete some of your downloaded applications if you are not careful.  We recommend that you sync the iPad apps with a Mac or PC first before doing the operating system upgrade.  The upgrade comes with a lot of new bells and whistles but the most notable feature is the new Safari tabbed browser which is nice instead of flipping between open pages.

I am still a believer in the iPad WiFi or iPad 2 WiFi only versions because I mostly use the iPad at home or in the office.  The costs simply do not make sense at this time when carriers have tiered data plans and caps.   Compare data plan pricing here.  When I need to use the iPad out and about I simply tether the iPad to my T-Mobile phone

Here’s How You Can Become a Home Designer

home design

If you are someone who loves homes, then pursuing a home designing career is a great idea. This is especially true in a country like Australia, where people are concerned about comfort and luxury. As a home designer, you will be consulting with a variety of clients (homeowners) on creative interior designing briefs and using design principles to turn ideas into reality. Besides, you will have to concoct designs and styles that suit architectural plans. From color schemes to furniture and fixtures to other installations, every element of the client’s homes will be your responsibility to create.

But just like any other profession, the profession of a home designer involves a few risks. Take, for example, your client suffers an injury or a financial loss during the course of providing your service. It can be due to a breach of professional duty, a mistake, or an omission on your part. Such an instance can lead your client to seek appropriate compensation by initiating a lawsuit against you. Believe it or not, legal battles in Australia calls for hefty expenses in the form of legal fees. Moreover, you may suffer reputational damage as a professional.

Your only resort to protect yourself against such events is a designer’s professional indemnity insurance policy. Such an insurance policy will cover your legal expenses and compensation costs, which you would have to pay out of your own pocket otherwise. To know more about the designer’s professional indemnity insurance, you can visit BizCover.

If you wish to start a career as a home designer but are feeling clueless about it, then fret not. Below are a few tips that can make the process easier for you.

1.     Get the necessary training

To become a home designer in Australia, you will be required to first acquire a VET degree. There are many institutions across major Australian cities where you can pursue an interior designing course. The prerequisites, subjects, and duration of these courses differ from institution to institution. You may have to contact the institution personally to know more about it.

Generally, the scope of entry into this profession improves greatly if you already have a degree in spatial design, applied design or interior architecture. A Senior Secondary Certificate of Education, including English and Mathematics, is a mandatory requirement. Also, some institutions require you to have a portfolio of work to show during a personal interview.

2.     Know your skills

Home designing is a skilled profession. Your clients will expect you to deliver superior-quality work, which becomes possible only when you possess some core hard and soft skills. Here’s a quick overview of the various skills that you will be required to have to pursue a home designing career:

  • Creative thinking: People like to see something unique in their homes. This uniqueness will show in your work only when you are able to think beyond conventional norms. As a home designer, you should be able to put together different materials, colors, and artwork to create a best-in-class home.
  • Technical skills: Besides out-of-the-box thinking, you should also be able to think about the different technical aspects involved in designing homes. You need to have some degree of calculative abilities to be able to determine the number of materials required and the costs involved in executing various home designing projects. You will also have to be well-versed with some computer software like PhotoShop and AutoCAD to come up with drawings and design layouts.
  • Communication skills: Your primary job as a home designer will be to communicate your design ideas to a variety of people, such as property owners, vendors, and fellow designers. So, your communication skills will play an important role in providing clarity of ideas to your clients. You should have a good command of your language skills (both oral and written) to achieve professional success.
  • Organizational skills: You need to be highly efficient and organized as a home designing professional. Your clients will expect you to be active and deliver everything within stipulated timeframes. You will have to work with various tradespeople and vendors in tandem so that the project is executed properly.

3.     Know your earning prospects

Last but not least, you should be aware of how much earning potential you will have as a professional home designer. On average, a home designer in Australia makes $1,146 per week or $59,952 per year. You may not be able to charge a huge sum during your initial phase as a home designer. As you gain experience and build a portfolio over time, you will surely have good negotiating power.

Also, you will have to know how much time you will have to put into your job. Ideally, the number of hours worked by home designers is the same as all jobs in Australia, 44 hours per week. As you organize yourself into a professional home designing company, you should be able to delegate most of your work to your employees, thereby reducing your work stress considerably.

The above are some useful tips to follow if you wish to become a home designer in Australia. Know that it’s an extremely lucrative career option, especially if you are creative and communicative. It stores a huge money-making potential and will give you ample opportunities to meet and work with new people. 

References

[1] Seek.com, Interior Designer, Avl at:  https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/role/interior-designer

[2] Career FAQs, How to become an interior designer in Australia: careers in design, Avl at: https://www.careerfaqs.com.au/careers/how-to-become-an-interior-designer-in-australia-careers-in-design

[3] Good Universities Guide, How to become an Interior Designer, Avl at: https://www.gooduniversitiesguide.com.au/careers-guide/interior-designer

[4] Open Colleges,  How To Become an Interior Decorator: Career Salaries, Job Stats & Education, Avl at: https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/careers/why-how-become-interior-decorator

How to Get the Most Out of Your Employees in Florida

Your Floridian employees the backbone of your business. If you want to strengthen your company’s core, it’s absolutely essential that you get the most out of these staff members on a daily basis. Once you optimize the day-to-day performance levels of your workers, the level of service that you provide to your consumers will be sure to improve. This will then stand you in better stead as you attempt to improve your company’s brand image, which in turn will no doubt have a positive impact on your long-term profit turnover.

If you want to get the most out of your Florida-based employees, be sure to put the advice laid out below into practice.

Pay Florida’s minimum wage

If you fail to pay your employees adequately, don’t be surprised when they produce a poor standard of work. Your staff members don’t work for you out of the goodness of their hearts. They give their all to your cause day in, day out because they want to be paid. Quite simply, your employees deserve to be compensated fairly for the time and effort they devote to you, which is why you must ensure that you pay them Florida’s minimum wage amount.

For a comprehensive breakdown of how much you should be paying your Florida-based workforce, be sure to check out this helpful Microsoft article on the matter.

Take out workers’ compensation insurance

Taking out workers’ compensation insurance isn’t just a recommendation in Florida; it’s a necessity. If you want to do right by your employees and, in turn, stay on the right side of Floridian law, it’s imperative that you cover your company with this type of premium.

When taking out workers’ comp for local businesses, be sure to explore your options at Next Insurance. With this team of insurance specialists by your side, your journey to a tailored coverage solution will be made simple and stress-free. You will be guided through the insurance process in minutes, and you’ll even be able to take out the premium online. This will save you a lot of time and effort, both of which can then be devoted to putting the rest of the advice laid out in this article into practice.

Provide your employees with benefits

There are millions of Floridian employees that rely heavily on the benefits provided to them by their employers. If you want to do right by your staff members and, in turn, improve their morale levels in the workplace, it’s imperative that you go above and beyond to reward their hard work, dedication, and loyalty.

One of the biggest benefits that you can provide your employees is paid time off. There are a number of holidays that all public employees are expected to have off in Florida, some of which include:

1. New Year’s Day

2. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

3. Memorial Day

4. Independence Day

5. Labor Day

6. Veterans Day

7. Thanksgiving Day (and the day after)

8. Christmas Day

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