4 Tips for Keeping Your Plants Cool This Summer   The Sacramento area is known for its hot summers, and heat can decimate a garden.  Don’t give up on all of your hard work until you try these 4 tips.   1.  Prioritize the pots.  You need to be extra careful with any plants that you have in pots. They don’t have the Earth to insulate them and, therefore, are much more susceptible to heat damage and drought. Be sure to keep these plants out of intense sunlight and leave them in the shade.  Water them at least once [&hellip

  Creating a Theme Palette         Sometimes you want more than just nicely painted walls. Sometimes you want something that is unique, something that is exciting or calm or subtle. Creating a theme palette can help you get started to making those special, unique rooms in your home. A theme palette is a combination of colors that work together to create a beautifully painted and decorated room. Some of the colors can be paint on the walls and the other colors in the palette can be items that you use to decorate the room. Take your time [&hellip

Sacramento Housing Numbers August 2013 Charts are good for showing the mind what the numbers are showing. The chart of number of homes for sale and homes that sold reveals the upward trend in a very choppy way. The last few months are showing a strong upward direction. The number of houses for sale took a big jump, which should mean a bigger selection of houses? But if you are in the real estate market, you know that does not mean it is the type of house you are looking for. The months of inventory chart shows how many houses [&hellip

First time home buyers: Determine how much debt can you afford Take a realistic look at how much future income you anticipate to have and how many expenses you expect to incur. Remember, the lender will tell you how much you are qualified to borrow, not necessarily how much you can afford. Only you know how much you can comfortably handle, what your other expenses are, how much you need to save and what kind of lifestyle you wish to maintain. Lenders use the monthly payment on a property to determine a borrower’s qualifications. The payment includes principal, interest, property [&hellip

The New Horse EPA–“Equine Property Academy”   Housing Sacramento Magazine’s (HSM) establishes the new horse EPA or “Equine Property Academy” center for horse ranch information in California. This EPA will give horse owners timely knowledge about available horse properties and their features.   The Equine Property Academy provides, free of charge, material about horse properties for sale, the detail of those properties, insights into horse property’s features, local horse tails, detail information about barns, arenas, pastures, fences and other ranch elements.   Horse properties are one of the most complicated real estate purchases homeowners can make. Horse ranches are not [&hellip

Hoarder Property Clean Up Issues What is the Impact of Hoarding on the house? The range of clutter-hoarding on a house can be a simple clean out of the property to structural damage along with major repair issues like mold removal mitigation, pest infestation of spiders, rodents, bed bugs, fleas, cockroaches etc. Hoarding houses have a smell. Removing that smell can be a specialized cleaning to total removal of the flooring and walls. Hoarding impacts the house in many ways. Read more here about –Living with Hoarding Is a Hoarded Property Sellable? A hoarder’s home poses specific health and safety [&hellip

Living green isn’t only the right thing to do…it’s also the smart thing to do. Cleaning Tips Green Energy Homes and Green Living Some commercial cleaning products contain harmful chemicals that can adversely affect waterways, rivers, streams, aquatic life and indoor and outdoor air quality. Cleaning products can also be harsh to human skin, eyes and respiratory systems, particularly for allergy sufferers. Fortunately, there are some effective and often less expensive green alternatives that can be made with readily available natural products. It is always good to test in a small area unseen first. Some specialty surfaces react to natural [&hellip

Living green isn’t only the right thing to do…it’s also the smart thing to do. Lighting Brightly lit homes show off the houses design features. Learning to use light wisely creates great effects and saves energy. Lighting is an effectual approach to produce green energy efficient homes. Lighting makes up almost 15% of average Sacramento California home’s electrical use, so paying attention to your home’s lighting design can be advantageous to your bottom line. Incorporating new lighting technologies can reduce lighting energy use by over 50%. Lighting Design •    Don’t assume every room needs overhead lighting. Lamp lighting is more [&hellip

Living green isn’t only the right thing to do…it’s also the smart thing to do. Landscaping California is a wonderful place to live. One of the little things that make this part of the world so nice is the landscaping around people’s homes. Landscaping is a powerful method to create a green energy home. It’s a well-known fact that energy conservation and efficiency efforts are good for the future of our planet. In addition to being good for our planet, did you know these same efforts can be good for our pocketbooks? Taking steps to minimize energy consumption can often [&hellip

Living green isn’t only the right thing to do…it’s also the smart thing to do. Cooling In California heating and cooling is likely your largest energy expense so changes made here may have the biggest impact on your budget. Heating and cooling costs comprise 50% or more of the average American utility bill. One of the best ways to curb heating and cooling bills is to use a programmable digital thermostat set to accommodate your family’s schedule. The thermostat will automatically raise and lower temperatures as needed, conserving energy and keeping your home at comfortable temperature levels. In Sacramento the [&hellip