Anna's Blog

Every time I open up the newspaper or log on to my favorite news websites, I see the word “foreclosure” all over the place! This is certainly the hot news item these days, but make sure you know the facts before you get too worried.

First of all, every market is different and you need to look at the local numbers, not just the national picture. Yes, the foreclosure rate is up, but it is only one small piece of the real estate puzzle. The states where foreclosures are increasing the most are California, Florida, Nevada & Arizona and these states are skewing the national averages.

My last couple of blog entries have been about safety… so the question is: do you have a plan?

Over the course of my college years, I think I moved about a dozen times from dorm to apartments to summer sublets… and each time I moved my architect father would draw out my floor plan and create 2 escape routes in case of fire. Or if he couldn’t come up to Madison and see it for himself, he would have me draw it out. I found this very annoying, but you know, it was a good idea! I always knew how I would get out of my burning apartment. In one very tiny efficiency apartment, there was one door and one window (2 stories up), so he made me get one of those rope ladders that hang out your window. My friends would all joke about it, but man, was I ready for that emergency!

So are you ready? Do you know who you will call if there is a gas leak or when your carbon monoxide detector goes off? How about if a pipe freezes and bursts? Or if a storm blows a tree on your house?

So I had a little bit of a scare last week in my house. Don’t worry (mom), everything is fine, but I did get a bit lucky.

I had my annual furnace check up and the technician noticed right away that the exhaust pipe on my water heater was disconnected. Basically, exhaust was pumping right into my house – carbon monoxide! It was his guess that it had been off ever since I had my roof replaced this summer – it probably got knocked off when they put on the new roof vents. I had just shut all of my windows and sealed up the house for winter, so his discovery was very lucky timing. That carbon monoxide could have done some scary damage to me and my pets if it had not been discovered when it was! So if you do not have a carbon monoxide detector, go out and get one now! If you do have one, make sure and test it at least every year to make sure it is operational.

Do you know where your water main shut off valve is? If you don’t, go look for it RIGHT away!

If you don’t know what to look for, it is typically close to your mechanicals, so probably in your basement or if you do not have a basement, near your water heater. Look for a copper pipe that comes out of the cement floor and has a colored handle (I see red most often).

I recently heard from a past client who had a dishwasher hose burst in the middle of the night and he didn’t know where the water shut off was, so everything got ruined. He now has to get new flooring, new kitchen cabinets, new doors and trim – what a nightmare!

And I learned the hard way – during my first year of home ownership a pipe froze & burst during the winter and I didn’t know where the shut off was. Luckily I have a great neighbor who ran right over and shut it off for me.