How We Helped Cathy Purchase Land to Start Building On

“Basically, we bought some land and she was the realtor that helped us get the land and we are going to build. She was very good at talking to us about the comps in the area and what would be a fair price to ask. We were very satisfied with her.”

How We Helped Ernest Efficiently Find a New Home for Him and His Family

“It was a very good experience. The results were excellent. I started working with her about 18 months ago when I was looking at the possibility of a lease to own and we went through the pros and cons. Every single time I met with her we talked about the houses as we walked through them. What am I looking for? What are the kids going to think? I feel like every time I met with her whether it was on the phone or in person she was always very open, had a good discussion, and everything. My overall experience with Joan was wonderful.”

5 Home Inspections Myths You Need to Know About

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

In this edition of Rock Talk we’re joined by Andrew McClish, owner of Pillar to Post Home Inspections, to help us go over the top five myths about home inspections. Andrew is a licensed engineer here in Colorado who worked in structural engineering in the consultant world for seven years before starting his franchise.

1. Myth: New construction homes do not need a home inspection. With the market booming, we’re currently seeing a lot of people skipping out on their home inspections for their new builds. This is a mistake. If nothing else, doing the inspection can give you peace of mind and a degree of protection in knowing exactly what you have.
2. Myth: Sewer scopes are not necessary. Sewer scopes are always recommended for older homes, but we’re seeing a lot of buyers of newer homes not doing them because they assume they’re not needed. Just because a home is new doesn’t mean it automatically won’t have problems with its sewer system. As the saying goes, better safe than sorry.
3. Myth: You don’t need to check radon gas levels. Sometimes people assume that features like walkout basements and crawlspace foundations naturally prevent homes from having high radon levels. Radon, however, is naturally produced by uranium in the soil, meaning it can enter through many cracks or openings. Hence, homes with walkout basements can have just as high of radon levels as those with enclosed basements. If you’re going to have someone living in the basement of your home, we recommend that you test for radon no matter what.
4. Myth: Concrete slab movement means foundational issues. In Colorado we have very expansive soils, which means sometimes slab movement is unavoidable. However, this doesn’t indicate foundational issues because the slab itself is separated from the foundation.
5. Myth: Moisture in the glass means you need new windows. Windows with a broken sill can sometimes attract moisture that turns into an incessant fog. If this happens, you don’t need to replace the entire window, just the glass. This will save you a lot of money.

“

If nothing else, doing a home inspection gives you peace of mind.

”

If you have any questions about what we’ve just gone over, or need an awesome home inspector, feel free to reach out to Andrew anytime. If you have ideas for our next topic, please drop us a line and we’d be glad to make it the subject of our next edition of Rock Talk. Make it a great day!

How Your Backyard Can Make You More Money Now

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

When selling a home, most people will focus the bulk of their attention on the inside and don’t consider the potential of their outdoor living area. In this edition of Rock Talk, Dusty Hettinger, of both Rocky Mountain Ponds and Waterfall as well as The Sprucery Garden Center, is here to explain how water features and outdoor landscaping can significantly reduce your home’s days on market by extending your living area and adding value to your property.

Do water features actually add value to your home? Installing a water feature and adding some simple landscaping to your yard not only looks attractive, but can also significantly decrease your home’s days on market and extend your living area by essentially adding square footage outside of your home.

Here’s a quick example. A few years ago we had a client who was trying to sell his house without any sort of outdoor landscaping. His house sat on the market for about a year, and then he asked us to come in and take a look at the outdoor area. Without making him sink a whole bunch of money into an expensive renovation, we just added a simple water feature as a focal point. The house sold within a month.

“

We added a simple water feature as a focal point and sold fast

”

How difficult is a water feature to maintain? A lot of people ask this question having heard horror stories about waterfall maintenance in the past. The most common water features installed today are ponds. We make our ponds about three feet deep and install the pump down at the bottom to create flow. The key is that we’ll only put a few inches of water into the pond so that when the sun shines onto it, the rocks will absorb more sunlight than the water. This prevents the formation of algae. This way, the only step you’ll have to take in order to maintain the pond is to occasionally place a bit of algaecide in the water.

We’ll also install a high-efficiency pump and a float-valve in the pond. This will automatically add water from your irrigation system so that in the summer, the pond stays filled at all times. If you decide that you’d like to turn the water feature off in the winter, just unplug it and it will self-drain without any need to take the pump out of the water. All of this makes maintaining your water feature very easy.

Which landscaping options are best for the local area? After adding your water feature, the next step will be to complement it with the right landscaping as a backdrop. The problem that many of us have is that local deer love to eat a variety of flowers and colorful plants.

Luckily, we know of certain perennials that flower for a long time, which deer tend not to eat. Salvias, yarrow, and most types of daisies are all perennials that add a splash of color in spring, summer, and fall. At The Sprucery, we actually have an entire section of deer-resistant plants.

If you have any other questions about this topic, feel free to contact Dusty by phone at 303-237-9919 or emailing him at http://rmpw.com/contact-us/. And if you have an idea for future episodes of this blog, please send them to us and we’ll make them the focus of our next topic. Thanks for watching, and make it a great day!