Fall Home Maintenance Checklist - Home Ownership series

Fall Home Maintenance Checklist

Home ownership is rewarding, exciting, and with the proper home maintenance your home will last a long time.  If this is your first time owning a house or you have owned a house for many years, it is important to do regular and preventative maintenance to keep your home in great shape.  The  following Fall home maintenance checklist will help in keeping your house in tip top shape.    

Exterior

Roof

ㅁ Inspect roof, attic, and crawlspace for any signs of damage or moisture

ㅁ Clean Gutters and Downspouts frequently throughout the fall

Lawn Care

ㅁ Fertilize Lawn

ㅁ Trim shrubs and trees

ㅁ Remove outdoor hoses, insulate pipes and faucets if necessary

Exterior Walls, Doors, and Windows

ㅁ Check dryer vent and clean if necessary

ㅁ Replace any light bulbs that have burnt out

ㅁ Check doors and windows for cracks and apply caulking or weather stripping if necessary

Interior

Heating and Cooling

ㅁ Replace air filters as needed

ㅁ Clean Air ducts

ㅁ Inspect heating and furnace system, verify it is in good working order

Attic

ㅁ Verify for proper insulation thickness and ventilation is occurring 

ㅁ Visually inspect attic for mold 

ㅁ Visually inspect for signs of animal or rodent infestation

ㅁ Examine for signs of a roof leak

Fire Safety

ㅁ Confirm expiration dates on fire extinguishers and replace expired ones 

ㅁ Test and maintain fire extinguishers, smoke, and carbon monoxide alarms

ㅁ Visually inspect smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms

ㅁ Replace batteries if needed on smoke and CO alarms

Other

ㅁ Check windows and door frames - repair any that are loose or damaged

ㅁ Install weather stripping or caulking around windows and doors

ㅁ Visually inspect plumbing and ensure pipes are well insulated

ㅁ Clean chimney and fireplace (if applicable)

ㅁ Clean baseboards

ㅁ Donate any unwanted household items or clothing

(C) 2022-23 jspublishing.blogspot.com

Money.com 50 Best Places to Live in the United States

50 Best Places to Live in the United States

Money.com recently released the "50 best places to live in the United States" rankings based on methodology of analyzing economic opportunities, quality of life, diversity, and more.  

It is important to note that Money.com changed their ranking methodology this year.  Money.com indicates, "Chief among those changes included introducing new data related to national heritage, languages spoken at home and religious diversity."   Money.com, also, prioritized locations with, "more regional diversity" and they "strove to include cities of all sizes by lifting the population limit."  These changes in methodology resulted in a "new tier of larger (and often more diverse) candidates," according to Money.com.

50 Best Places to Live in the U.S.

Lets take a look at the 2022 - 2023 "50 Best Places to Live in the United States" rankings and analyze the rankings by state.  To do this we will cover the following topics:

1. Primary Ranking factors considered
2. 50 Best Places to Live in the United States list for 2022 - 2023
3. State Analysis of the List
4. Breakdown of States in the List
5. Final Thoughts

Nine (9) Primary Best Places to Live Ranking Factors 

Money.com used these nine primary ranking factors in determining the Best Places to Live in the United States rankings:

1. Cost of living: This looks at how expensive it is to live in a community — factors included costs of transportation, health care, child care, insurance, and housing affordability relative to local income, as well as additional factors.
2. Diversity: Money.com says, "this factor looks at the population with a heavy focus on how well various races are represented and integrated into the community.   Other Diversity factors included age, religious diversity, heritage, and languages spoken at home.  Money.com gave preference toward locations with populations that were less than 80% white.
3. Economic opportunity: This includes indices tracking poverty, if the community employs a healthy mix of different industries,  job growth projections, and employment data.
4. Education: Looks at the percentage of the population with a four-year degree, high school graduation rates, K-12 test scores, and if the area is close to or includes one of our Best Colleges plus other factors.
5. Fun and amenities: This looks at location data to verify the location has interesting things for residents to do and tracks restaurants, parks, farmers markets, gyms, museums,  as well as infrastructure like airports, police departments and fire stations. 
6. Health and safety: This looks at factors that include health expectancy, access to clinics and hospitals, and violent crime indices, as well as, households reporting serious health problems.
7. Housing market: This looks at housing availability, rents, how long for-sale homes stay on the market, home sales prices, and listing prices — focusing on affordability.
8. Income and personal finance: Looks at how well various income groups are represented within an area, household income, and taxes.
9. Quality of life: Looks at accessibility to green space, risk of environmental catastrophe in the area, commute times, how walkable is the area, and weather.

Now lets take a look at the rankings.

50 Best Places to Live in the United States List for 2022 - 2023

1. Atlanta, Georgia
2. Tempe, Arizona
3. Kirkland, Washington
4. Raleigh, North Carolina
5. Rogers Park (Chicago), Illinois
6. Columbia, Maryland
7. Somerville, Massachusetts
8. Ann Arbor, Michigan
9. Tampa, Florida
10. Jersey City, New Jersey
11. Boise, Idaho
12. Chapel Hill, North Carolina
13. Irvine, California
14. Fort Lee, New Jersey
15. Arlington, Virginia
16. Naperville, Illinois
17. Milton, Massachusetts
18. Fremont, California
19. Carmel, Indiana
20. Rockville, Maryland
21. Franklin, Tennessee
22. San Diego, California
23. Hillsboro, Oregon
24. Abington, Pennsylvania
25. San Jose, California
26. Alexandria, Virginia
27. Chanhassen, Minnesota
28. Denver, Colorado
29. Overland Park, Kansas
30. Morristown, New Jersey
31. Lafayette, Colorado
32. Camas, Washington
33. Altamonte Springs, Florida
34. South Burlington, Vermont
35. Marietta, Georgia
36. Kirkwood, Missouri
37. Glen Cove, New York
38. Kaneohe, Hawaii
39. Hutto, Texas
40. Madison, Wisconsin
41. Salt Lake City, Utah
42. Bentonville, Arkansas
43. Sarasota, Florida
44. Nashua, New Hampshire
45. Norman, Oklahoma
46. Greenville, South Carolina
47. Juneau, Alaska
48. Coralville, Iowa
49. Jeffersonville, Indiana
50. Sparks, Nevada

State Representation in the List

Analyzing the list by state the following data can be determined:

• 34 states had at least 1 city ranked in the list.  
• 22 states had 1 city represented in the list.  
• 12 states had 2 or more cities represented in the list.
• 16 states had no representation in the list.

Break down of states with 2 or more cities in 50 Best Places to Live:

California is the state with the most places represented in the list with 4 cities included in the "50 Best Places to Live in the United States".

Florida and New Jersey both had 3 cities in the rankings. 

And Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington states all had 2 cities each in the list. 

Lets take a look at the breakdown of cities by state.

California - 4 cities

• Irvine, California (13)
• Fremont, California (18)
• San Diego, California (22)
• San Jose, California (25)

Florida - 3 cities

• Tampa, Florida (9)
• Altamonte Springs, Florida (33)
• Sarasota, Florida (43)

New Jersey - 3 cities

• Jersey City, New Jersey (10)
• Fort Lee, New Jersey (14)
• Morristown, New Jersey (30)

Breakdown of States with 2 cities in the rankings

North Carolina's 2 cities are both in the top 15.  Illinois, Maryland, and Massachusetts cities are all in the top 20 cities in the list.   

Here is the breakdown of the top 50 Best Places to Live in the Unites States by State having 2 or more cities in the list:

Colorado 

• Denver, Colorado (28)
• Lafayette, Colorado (31)

Georgia

• Atlanta, Georgia (1) 
• Marietta, Georgia (35)

Illinois

• Rogers Park (Chicago), Illinois (5)
• Naperville, Illinois (16)

Indiana

• Carmel, Indiana (19)
• Jeffersonville, Indiana (49)

Maryland

• Columbia, Maryland (6)
• Rockville, Maryland (20)

Massachusetts

• Somerville, Massachusetts (7)
• Milton, Massachusetts (17)

North Carolina

• Raleigh, North Carolina (4)
• Chapel Hill, North Carolina (12)

Virginia

• Arlington, Virginia (15)
• Alexandria, Virginia (26)

Washington

• Kirkland, Washington (3)
• Camas, Washington (32)

It is nice about 70 percent of states are represented in the list of 50 Best places to live in the United States.  9 states have 2 cities in the list, 2 states have 3 cities in the list, and 1 state (California) has 4 cities in the list.

Final Thoughts

With the change in ranking methodology this year, the Money.com "50 Best Places to Live in the United States" list looks different from previous years.  Is the changed ranking methodology better?  Only time will tell.  One result of the changed methodology is that the cities represented in the list are cities or communities that are deemed more diverse than previous rankings.  

It is nice to see about 70% of states represented in the list. California, Florida, New Jersey, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina all are well represented in the "50 Best Places to Live" rankings for 2022-2023.   

Some states with the largest population are under represented or not represented at all in the list.  Ohio which is the 7th most populated state in the United States with approximately 11,700,000 people (2020 census data) did not have any cities in the "50 Best Places to Live in the United States" rankings.  Texas and New York the 2nd and 4th most populous states respectively only had 1 city in the list.

Source Article:  Money.com 50 Best Places to Live 2022-2023

(C) 2022 jspublishing.blogspot.com

Home Maintenance Checklist for Spring - Home Ownership series

Spring Home Maintenance Checklist

Home ownership is rewarding, exciting, and with the proper regular home maintenance your home will last a long time.  If this is your first time owning a house or you have owned a house for many years, it is important to do regular and preventative maintenance to keep your home in great shape.  The  following checklist is available to keep your house in tip top shape.    

Exterior

Roof

ㅁ Check for curled, damaged, or missing shingles

ㅁ Examine and insure chimney cap is in good condition

ㅁ Examine flashing around chimneys and vent stacks

Gutters and Downspouts

ㅁ Inspect for leaks along seams and corners of gutters

ㅁ Check the condition of paint on gutters, if applicable 

ㅁ Check that downspouts drain away from the home

ㅁ Clean gutters and downspouts

Exterior Walls

ㅁ Clean Dryer Vent

ㅁ Check exterior painted surfaces for mildew or peeling

ㅁ Inspect exterior wood for insect damage

ㅁ Inspect exterior blocks or bricks for cracked mortar

ㅁ Check siding for loose or missing pieces and for signs of mildew

Garage

ㅁ Lubricate (Oil or grease) garage door hardware

ㅁ Inspect garage for signs of pests or rodents

ㅁ Inspect garage for water damage

Exterior Windows and Doors

ㅁ Verify all windows and doors open and close properly 

ㅁ Inspect glass doors and windows for loose putty around glass panes 

ㅁ Inspect windows and glass doors for broken or cracked glass

ㅁ Verify all latches on pivots on windows and doors are in good working order

ㅁ Visually inspect sliding doors and verify door tracks are in good working order

ㅁ Lubricate and clean sliding door tracks

ㅁ Door Hinges - tighten screws and lubricate 

ㅁ Replace storm windows with window screens 

ㅁ Examine weather stripping for damage and replace if not in good working order

Yard and Grounds

ㅁ Visually inspect outdoor patio, decks, and porches for loose boards or parts 

ㅁ Repair, power wash, refinish, and seal decks and porches

ㅁ Check deck and porches for protruding nails; reset any protruding nails 

ㅁ Examine window wells for proper drainage and clean them

ㅁ Trim any tree branches that scrape against the house

ㅁ Pest Control - perform routine seasonal pest control

ㅁ Check walkways and driveways for cracking and settling and perform repairs

Interior

Basement

ㅁ Verify sump pump and valves are in good working order 

ㅁ Inspect basement to check for signs of water - wet surfaces or puddles

ㅁ Dust and vacuum basement surfaces

ㅁ Examine basement floor drain and verify drain is working properly

ㅁ Examine basement for moisture, leaks, termites, and wood rot

Heating and Cooling

ㅁ Replace air filters as needed

ㅁ Examine dehumidifier 

ㅁ Inspect heating system and verify it is in good working order 

ㅁ Examine air conditioning system

Attic

ㅁ Verify for proper insulation thickness and ventilation is occurring 

ㅁ Visually inspect attic for mold 

ㅁ Visually inspect for signs of animal or rodent infestation

ㅁ Examine for signs of a roof leak

Fire Safety

ㅁ Confirm expiration dates on fire extinguishers and replace expired ones 

ㅁ Test and maintain fire extinguishers, smoke, and carbon monoxide alarms

ㅁ Visually inspect smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms

ㅁ Replace batteries if needed on smoke and CO alarms