3 Costly Mistakes to Avoid This Winter

Nov 10, 2016

It’s that time of year, folks — winter is coming. It’s going to get cold. Now is the time to harvest what is left of your garden, winterize your sprinklers, and cozy up at home with your friends and family.

That said, there are three huge mistakes that can cost homeowners thousands of dollars. Luckily, you can easily avoid these mistakes by properly winterizing your home.

First of all, make sure that you buy a $2 protector for your outdoor faucet. It’s amazing how much damage a little bit of ice can do. Ice can cause pipes to explode or leak into your basement. Just an inch of water in your basement can cost up to $15,000 to pump out and dry. All you have to do to prevent this disaster is buy one of those protectors and take your hoses off of your faucets.

Now, I know everyone loves Instagramming icicles, but don’t just take your pictures and leave the icicles on your roof. If there are icicles hanging off your roof, then you probably have ice damming issues. Basically, when the ice melts, the water has nowhere else to go. Ice damming can cause serious damage to your roof, which costs thousands of dollars to repair. Not only that, icicles are also safety hazards; it can be very dangerous to walk beneath some of those huge icicles we get here in Salt Lake County.“A little ice can cause a lot of big, costly problems for your home.”If you notice that you have ice damming, you can pay a few hundred dollars to have someone come out and steam the ice away. You can even rent one of those steamers yourself. I also recommend installing a little extra insulation around the eaves of your house, which is typically where ice damming occurs. Heat tape can also help you avoid ice damming and water damage, which will save you thousands of dollars.

Finally, don’t let cold air sneak into your home. If you add up all of the cracks in the average home, it’s like having a 3x3 foot window open at all times. Not only will that make for a cold winter, it will also cost you a lot of extra money in energy bills. Fortunately, you can head to a Lowe’s or Home Depot and buy some caulk. Caulk comes in all kinds of different colors, so find the one that matches your home and fill up those exterior cracks. That way, you won’t have all of that cold air coming in through your windows, stucco, or doorframes.

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Jeremy Martin
jeremy@sternteam.com
801-598-9838

Jennifer Okobia
jennifer@sternteam.com
801-834-2900

Jacquie Reagh
jacquie@sternteam.com
619-540-5157

"Josh takes care of everything! He is so hardworking and honest. Josh is probably the best Realtor we’ve ever worked with so I’d highly recommend him!"

- Kristen

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- Paige

"When we planned to move to Portland to be closer to family, we knew we were going to talk to Joshua right from the start because we’d heard about him on the news. He came out and did a market survey and told us that he could sell our home. Lo and behold, the very first person that walked through the door bought it. It was so quick and Joshua helped us through every step of the way. It was a pleasant situation and he did everything he said he was going to!"

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- Paul

"We had phenomenal results! The pictures went up on a Tuesday night, we had an open house on Saturday and then we got 4 offers! He absolutely lived up to his reputation. It as a quick transaction, he was professional, and he always followed up. Every step of the process, he’d send me a video saying here’s where we’re at in the process and here’s what’s going to happen. For me, that was above and beyond, I’ve never heard of an agent doing that and taking that kind of time."

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- Phil

"He was very quick, efficient, and professional to our desire. On a Sunday while he was out of town on vacation, he sent us over an offer that we had received which we thought was pretty cool. We requested that we not having any showings or anything on Saturdays and he was ...

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- Alex

"I thought they were very good and professional. He really did a good job and kept us posted on what was going. Initially when he came over for the first visit, he spent several hours with us and went over all the details. We felt like things were going to go well after he ...

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- Bruce

"I had an offer and when they did the inspection the buyer wanted me to throw in an extra $1,6000. There was no way I was doing that so Josh took that back to them and handled it very well. They accepted it because of his great negotiation skills. They were fantastic, absol...

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- Michael

"They were great. Before we switched to them, the house was on the market for six and a half months. There were some offers, but they all fell through. Josh just had techniques and outlets that our previous Realtor did not have. We sold the house in seven weeks with Josh. T...

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- Laurel

"We had very good results. There was a closure failure that happened over the weekend, and Lee was out of town so Josh helped us navigate through the whole thing. The closure failure happened on a Friday, and by Saturday, they had gotten us another offer!"

- Roger

"My son had died unexpectedly, leaving a property in Salt Lake City. I’m in Virginia, but we found Josh after going through my son’s paperwork. Josh had sold him the home in Salt Lake back in 2006. We went to Salt Lake City, and Josh gave us a very straightforward presentation. Josh first gave us different ways for us to sell the house to my friend’s kids, and when that didn’t work out, he put the house on the market. I went back to Virginia, and Josh worked with some of my friends in Salt Lake City to sell the house. He kept me updated throughout, and the whole process was so easy, even though it was long distance!"

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- Una

"We got great results! The house sold, and it was fast. He was very professional. Our initial meeting with him was fantastic. He prepared an analysis of different homes that have been sold in our area. I’ve never seen that from another Realtor before, and I thought that was...

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- Jill

"They have friendly customer service, and an extremely quick response time. He was very professional. The first time we worked with him, we just randomly called Keller Williams because we needed an agent. We needed to fly in 24 hours later, buy a house in 24 hours, and fly back. He was very accommodating. He really got us acclimated to Salt Lake City, so he was more than just somebody who showed us through houses!"

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- Kimberly

"I’ve been very pleased. Initially, we went with another real estate firm. We had twelve showings in seven months with them. My wife did some research, and Josh came in. He’s on the ball. He’s sharp. He has a plan, and the passion and energy to execute that plan. He sold the house in three weeks. Any time I brought up some kind of issue, it always impressed me that he had a plan. He just goes right into problem-solving mode."

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- Gary

"Everything was outstanding! The marketing of the home was exceptional. We’ve owned several homes, and it was by far the best marketing plan for selling a home that we’ve ever seen. We were just thrilled with the results!"

- Lee

"Josh was very honest and thorough. He had a lot of experience and he was very well-informed. We listed our house, and it sold within a few days! We had a different agent before, and the biggest problem with them was we never knew where we stood. Josh had great communicatio...

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- Cheryl

"They were good. Jacquie followed through on everything!"

- Ralph

"Immediately, I got a large number of listings that were specifically targeted to me. I had a wide-ranging list of criteria; I was looking in the city and semi-rural areas. My agent, Jacquie Reagh, was very accommodating and gave me a huge variety to look at within my first price point. She was there, looking at the houses with me, offering her opinions and I felt very well supported during that process. When I found a place, I upped my ante and we got the offer going. She worked through a lot of intricacies and negotiating, down to adding bar stools, the surround sound system and the built-in home theater. It was a little bit of a tough negotiation, but everything went really well. At closing, my out-of-pocket costs were about the same because the home was appraised for less. So, that was a good deal for me, but I paid more in closing costs, and she offered to pay the difference herself."

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- Scott

"We sold the house so that's always good, I was impressed with their teamwork, they each had their individual jobs to do. Their follow up with exceptionally good. Appreciate what they did. We ended up selling the house. It's always a good day when you sell your house. No co...

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- Alma

"He is very easy to meet with. He responded quickly to any questions I had. It was good working with him. I got good results, I feel. One of the things that happened to us was with our home. People put in an offer that ended up being higher than what the value of the home was. And we were almost having to back out of the deal because we needed that down payment for our next house. But they ended up taking a cut in their commission so we could go ahead. We were very thankful and it is not something you see everybody do. "

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- Tanja

"Excellent. Jacquie was very responsive and very fast. We had to do several changes because of financial changes. We had to do a lot of contract mods. I imagine she doesn't have to do those very often. We had to do a lot of addendums to the contract and she was super fast on all of that. She really kept me in the loop and made sure I knew what I needed to do, so I think she did really good. I think if she hadn't have been so responsive and helpful, our sale would have fallen through. I think she saved it for us"

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- Randall

"I actually knew Brett previously. He was very accommodating. I called him very last minute, that's initially how my start of looking to buy a home started. He pretty much dropped everything and was able to come and help me!"

- Danae

"The Stern Team actually came recommended by a friend of ours. Michael just happened to be a bonus. We didn't know a specific agent or anything, just that The Stern Team has a good reputation. So, I asked Mike, in particular, why should I choose The Stern Team versus another realty firm. Confidently, but not over-confidently, he told the story of The Stern Team and each process, each person responsible and accountable for each step of the selling process. He made a believer out of me enough that I put four houses up for sale in his hands. He kept his word, everything he said would happen, happened. We were actually out of our house three weeks sooner than we had planned because of the selling approach."

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- Eva

385-999-7273

successteam@sternteam.com

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