Three Reasons To Google Your Home Address (or your rental property, as well)
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
With virtually any type of information imaginable online, it makes sense to do regular internet searches for your home’s address.
There are at least six compelling reasons it makes sense to do so, especially if it’s an address you’re thinking of renting, buying or selling. Smart homeowners would do well to search for their addresses, too, and here’s three of the six reasons why:
1. To See If Megan’s Law Registrants Live Nearby
There is plenty of information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders in their neighborhoods. Nearly every state that has a Megan’s law-type sex offender registry has an online version that serves up the names, addresses, sex-offense history, and even photos in many cases, of convicted sex offenders. Googling your address and “Megan’s law”, or even your city or zip code and “Megan’s law”, will turn up a quick list of nearby registrants.
2. To Find Crime Reports and Data For Your Home and Environs
City, county and state law enforcement agencies all post crime data online, but a Google search for your address or city and “crime reports” is most likely to turn up your local police office’s crime map.
3. To Detect Scammers Trying to Rent or Sell Your House
Internet scammers have taken to ripping off home information and putting together fake listings offering other people’s homes for rent, or lease-to-own. They often list the home with inexpensive and easy terms, then ask the would-be-buyer or tenant to please wire or send the deposit money overseas. These scams often come to light only after the homeowner or current resident notices bargain-hunters checking out the place. If you start getting an inordinate amount of foot traffic to your home, or someone knocking on your door asking if they can see the place, you may want to Google your address. If you find a fraudulent listing, identify yourself as the home’s rightful owner and ask the offending site to take the scam posting down immediately.
- Scott Askew
Posted in: Intown Atlanta Real Estate News
Money Saving Tip – Get an Irrigation Meter!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
It is hot! But fortunately we have not reached Atlanta’s all-time high of 105 which occurred July 13, 1980! With the heat comes problems. Do you like a lush lawn, healthy bushes and trees, and vibrant flowers but you do not like the cost to keep those plants alive during our hot, hot summer months? Then consider doing two things that should, over time, save you big bucks.
Augment your soil around plants and flowers with water-retention soil such as Miracle-Gro’s Moisture Control Garden Soil. This product boasts to hold 25% more water than ‘plain’ garden soil. Miracle-Gro also produces Moisture Control potting soil which does a great job retaining water for plant use.
Install an irrigation meter for your irrigation system. Irrigation meters do not incur sewer charges since the water is not returned to the sewer system. If you have an irrigation system, but no separate meter, you incur higher water/sewer charges. While the initial cost to install a meter is not chump-change, over time, it will save you a lot of money! For the City of Atlanta, call 404-982-1486 for more information and/or to purchase an irrigation meter.
- Scott Askew
Posted in: Intown Living
What Is A Good Offer Price?
Monday, June 27, 2011
Listening to, and reading, the News, you would think every property that is ‘For Sale’ can be bought for 75% of its current asking price. And while this may be true in ISOLATED CASES, a majority of the attached and detached homes being sold today in metro Atlanta are selling for approximately 93.5% of their current asking price.
You notice I said current asking price in the previous paragraph. That is because REALTORS® are smart. They know when an owner has overly-ambitious-aspirations… (they’re over-priced). Yes, there are many property owners who disregard the advice of knowledgeable REALTORS® and list their property with the ‘highest-bidding-agent’, only to have to start a reducing campaign to find that market value was indeed what the good, knowledgeable agent recommended previously.
According to FMLS data, many homeowners will reduce their asking price a whopping 12-15 percent from their initial asking price before going Under Contract.
So what is a good Offer Price? Hire a knowledgeable REALTOR® to work as your agent. They will do an analysis and help you determine what is a good value and what is wishful thinking.
Finally – Make sure you are working with a REALTOR®. Many licensed agents are not REALTORS® and therefore do not have a Code of Ethics to which they must abide.
- Scott Askew
Posted in: Tips for Buyers
Summertime Energy Saving Tips
Monday, June 20, 2011
Record temperatures are causing Atlantans to put their air-conditioning systems, and our energy bills, into ‘over-drive’. Here are some tips to help bring down the cost associated with your energy bill:
* Set you thermostat at 78 degrees or higher. Every degree, up or down, costs approximately 3 percent.
* Invest in a programmable thermostat and use it wisely.
* Change you air filter every two or three months. A dirty, and in some homes I have seen, clogged, filter reduces airflow, which reduces cooling efficiency.
* Move furniture! Yes you read that correctly. I have been in homes where a sofas sit on top of and/or backed into, a register. And you wonder why it feels warm…
* Install a ceiling fan. Circulating air always feels cooler!
* Wash and dry clothes in the early morning or late evening hours when the temperatures have already fallen.
* Make sure you have proper insulation in the attic and your doors and windows are weather-stripped and caulked.
* Make sure your outside unit is not ‘choked’ by bushes, vines, etc. Proper, un-restricted airflow aids in your systems efficiency!
* Finally, take advantage of the offer by Georgia Power to have someone come out and do an Energy Audit. They will almost always find multiple ways to reduce your energy bill! 1-888-660-5890
- Scott Askew
Posted in: Intown Living
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