Rental properties are a great avenue to earn additional income. If renting out a residential property for the first time, you may not realize the risks and liabilities that tag along. You need landlord insurance to cover any liabilities arising in a home where you don’t reside.

Whether you’re renting out an apartment, home, or space inside your own home, you need to buy insurance for rental property to protect yourself and your property.

Why You Need Landlord Insurance

Landlord insurance gives a landlord an added home insurance coverage for exposure to any lawsuit filed by the tenants. Whether you’re renting out a house or apartment unit, you need to get the insurance for a rental property to cover the risk that arises out of renting to a tenant.

Consider the below scenarios:

• Lost Rental Income: You may find that a tenant has paid the rent, but you never received it. Now, the same tenant wants to sue you for wrongful evictions.
  • You can handle this situation with landlord insurance, as it offers temporary rental reimbursement to cover the money.
• Property Damage: The tenant may leave something on the stove, and the house catches fire, destroying your personal property and appliances which you rented along with the property.
  • To handle this situation, you can get coverage for risks, such as a natural disaster, fire, earthquake, electric/gas malfunction, etc. If possible, choose a policy that offers replacement cost rather than actual cash value.
• Liability Protection: Sometimes, a tenant may be injured badly while cleaning the window. In a lawsuit, they may claim that their injury is your fault and try to make you pay for the medical bills.
  • You can get coverage for medical or legal costs that arise if any tenant or visitor suffers injury due to a property maintenance issue.
• Your insurance for rental property will not only cover the property but will provide liability coverage, protecting you from such lawsuits.

Rental Home Insurance for Your Basement Apartment

If you want to rent out a section of your property or a basement apartment, you need to check with your insurance agent first. It may be necessary to secure your separate entrance. Make sure you remain compliant with the carrier’s requirements.

Don’t just choose a minimum coverage if you’re renting out a room. Insurance has to be taken for a rental unit that is attached to your home. At least, write a clause in your lease that requires a tenant to carry rental insurance at all times during the lease.

How to Get Rental Property Insurance?

When shopping for insurances, make sure you ask your homeowner insurance provider about a bundle of options. Don’t simply assume that it will cover all damages and liabilities while you’re not living in the property. Before you begin price shopping, talk to your agent extensively about the type of rental dwelling, consider what you need to address, and protect your rental property.

If you’re looking to protect your home and rent it out nicely, landlord insurance is necessary. It offers additional landlord liability coverage for the risks associated with being a landlord.

Selling your home is a big deal. Not only are you having to pack up everything from one house and move it to an entirely new location, but you also have to deal with the legal and administrative tasks of transferring ownership of that property at the right price and to the right people.

While you can do this whole process on your own, you may find that working with an agent will help to smooth things along, even if you do wind up paying a bit more in the process. To help you in making this decision, here are three reasons why you would want to use an agent when selling your home.

To Maximize Your Home

One of the hardest parts about selling a home is knowing how to handle the pricing structure of the whole thing. While you might feel like you know how valuable your property is, having an objective perspective on things like this isn’t necessarily easy for many homeowners. Because of this, you might want to use an agent to help in this area.

According to Zillow.com, agents can use their knowledge of the housing market in your area to maximize your home for you. Not only will they have access to comparable homes that are selling in your area to help with a pricing strategy, but they also know what fixes or repairs will pay off the most in the long run for you. All of these come together to ensure that you’re getting the absolute best price for your house.

To Widen Your Pool Of Buyers

Sometimes, trying to sell your home on your own can make the pool of buyers much smaller than if you’d have used an agent. This is because, according to Amy Fontinelle, a contributor to Investopedia.com, many agents have had bad experiences with homes that were being sold by their owners. So if other owners have burned them in the past, they might be less willing to show your home to their buyers.

To Make The Whole Process Easier

The amount of details that you have to keep track of when selling a house would make your head spin. Because of this, many people feel that working with an agent is worth the money simply for the ease with which they make selling their home. Elizabeth Weintraub, a contributor to The Balance, shares that things like purchase agreements, legal paperwork, negotiations, and more can easily be handled by an agent while these are areas that you might struggle with if you tried to sell your house on your own.

If you’re going to be selling your home soon and are wondering why you’d want to work with an agent to do so, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn these benefits.

While most people think of spending time in their backyard during the long summer nights, your outdoor space can be equally as enjoyable during the cooler months as long as you’re prepared for the weather or other elements that you might face there.

To help you with this preparation, here are three ways you can continue to enjoy your backyard as it gets colder.

Bring In A Heat Source

In the summer, having a water feature or fans can help keep you cool. But in the fall and winter, you’re going to want some kind of heat source to take the edge off the cooler weather.

According to Lisa Hallett Taylor, a contributor to The Spruce, some of the heat sources that you might want to consider bringing into your backyard could include a fire pit, an outdoor fireplace, or a portable patio heater. All of these options will help give off more than just the body heat that you’d create by snuggling under a blanket. And if you live in an area where temperatures drop down pretty low, you’ll need an additional heat source to make being outside in your backyard a little bit more bearable.

Put Up Some Curtains

While most people know that putting up curtains over the windows in your home can help to keep the heat in, this same principle applies when you’re outside as well.

To make use of curtains in your backyard, you’ll need to have some kind of frame or structure that you can attach the fabric to. Once you have this, you can put up outdoor patio curtains that can be pulled all around your sitting area and help to block the wind as well as keep the heat in. Ideally, Mackenzie Grant, a contributor to Bustle.com, shares that you’d want to get waterproof curtains so you don’t have to worry about bringing them back inside if it were to start to rain or snow.

Install Some Lighting Options

In the summer, it stays lighter for much longer at night, which means you can enjoy your backyard without having to bring in a lot of outside light sources. But if you’re going out in the colder months, you’re going to want to install some lighting options.

According to Elizabeth Segran, a contributor to FastCompany.com, if you have access to electrical plugs in your backyard, you have all kinds of options for light. But if you don’t, you might want to focus your efforts on lighting pathways and other areas that you’ll need to take extra care around in order to be safe.

If you’re still wanting to spend time in your backyard even though the weather is changing, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you stay safe and warm outside.

We’ve all spent a lot more time at home than we’re used to during the past twelve months. During that time, many of us have started to find little things about our home environments that annoy us. We’ve begun to feel like it’s time to give the walls a fresh coat of paint or throw out all the living room furniture in favor of something new. Some of us have even started to think that we want a total change of scenery and we’d like to move house, but that isn’t possible for everybody! Instead, let’s talk about little changes that can make your living space start to feel new again.

We know it’s a cliche, but a change is often as good as a rest. The slightest difference to the arrangement of a room or the things in it can allow you to appreciate it in a new way. What once looked tired and dull suddenly becomes exciting again. Once you’re on a roll with making small changes, you find that you suddenly have new ideas about what to do with your new space, and you progress from there!

Not everybody has the budget to make wholesale changes to their home, and we understand that. That’s why we’re focusing on little things that can make a big difference. Without further ado, here are five easy tips and tricks for making a tired old house feel like a new one.

Buy New Wall Art

You probably don’t realize how much time you spend idly staring at the walls in your house – especially those in the rooms you spend the most time in. The more you do it, the more you notice things that annoy you – cracks, scuffs, outdated photographs, and the like. The good news is that you can transform a wall very easily in a way that doesn’t involve any painting or decorating. A good piece of wall art can transform the mood of a room and the people in it. It gives your room a focus point other than the television and introduces color where there was no color before. You don’t need to spend big money on this – we’re sure there are local artists in your area who would be thrilled if you bought from them. Alternatively, reproduction prints are available cheaply online. If you’re feeling especially ambitious, buy a canvas and a frame and make some of your own!

Get New Mirrors

A common problem with spending a lot of time indoors is that the internal dimensions of your home start to feel smaller than they really are. There’s an easy way to combat that – buy a mirror. In fact, buy several new mirrors! Aside from the fact that mirrors are always handy, a well-placed mirror is a tried-and-trusted way of making a space feel bigger. The walls no longer feel as solid or as restrictive, and that’s not the only bonus. You’ll also get more light into a room if you have a large mirror in it, as the mirror reflects the light back out into the room. Consider a long rectangular mirror behind your sofa or above the fireplace if you have one. Position it strategically, so it catches most of the light through your windows, and you’ll quickly find your room looks very different.

Change Your Lighting

The way a room is illuminated plays a huge role in determining what that room feels like. A naked light bulb will always make a room feel slightly intimidating. We don’t imagine that many of you have naked lightbulbs in many rooms in your home, but you might have lighting arrangements that don’t do the space any justice. Even if that’s not true, it’s probably a while since you changed them. A glass lampshade will make your room a lot brighter without having to change the wiring at all. Don’t just think about going brighter, though – give yourself options. Floor lamps can make a room much more cozier at night. If you have the option, you might even want to consider adding a small skylight to let more natural light into a room that struggles to get much. You’re looking for a warm, natural feeling during the day and then mood lighting at night.

Create A Games Room

If your home is anything like hours, there will be a room in your house that you don’t know what to do with. It might be a spare bedroom that nobody ever sleeps in or a room that was supposed to become a study but has instead become a storage room. That’s wasted space. Instead, consider turning it into a games room. We don’t mean investing in arcade game cabinets and pool tables (unless you really want to) but put your games console in there with some comfortable chairs and a few other entertainment options. How much more fun would it be inviting friends round to play cards at a table rather than doing it remotely at online slots websites? Even if that’s not your thing and online slots are actually your preferred style of gambling, you could take your laptop or tablet into the room and play online slots in a space that suits the activity. A games room is really just an entertainment room, so whether we’re playing games on websites like Money Reels, PlayStation games, or watching a movie, having a room that’s dedicated to having fun improves the mood of your entire home.

Buy Some Houseplants

The word ‘lifeless’ is a word we come across often when we see people express their frustration with their living spaces. A great way to do away with a feeling of lifelessness is by introducing life into your home, and the easiest way to do that is to buy a few plants! Plants bring color and shade into your home, but that’s not all. They also help to purify stale air and generate oxygen on top of the pleasant aroma of the flowers that bloom from them. Flowers unfortunately don’t tend to last for very long after they’ve bloomed, but your local garden center should be able to point you in the direction of a range of long-living plants that should stick around for longer. There are even a few varieties that can live on indefinitely and don’t require much maintenance from you. Green fingers help, but they’re not necessarily a requirement!

We all get bored with our homes from time to time, but we often forget how easy it is to solve that problem. If the space around you is looking a little dull and uninspired at the moment, try one of the tricks we’ve listed above. You might be surprised at how much difference they make!

Being a homeowner is tough on its own, but it’s an entirely different animal when you decide to purchase a fixer-upper. Taking on the task of updating an old home comes with a myriad of potential challenges.

Along with cooler temps, the changing of seasons means the beginning of flu season. Getting the flu is not fun and, for some people, the symptoms can keep them home from work or school for weeks. There are various things you can do to improve your immune system to prevent the flu in the first place. There is also natural cold and flu medicine for those who are unable to avoid getting sick.

To help cope with flu season, there are certain essentials everyone should  have. Some are good to take along with you, while others are good to have at home.

Take-Along Essentials

For people on the go, there are certain essentials that help fight off the flu and other viruses. One of the biggest prevention practices is good hygiene, such as washing your hands, but this can be more difficult without access to soap and running water. You should always carry hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes or both to use when regular soap is unavailable. These should be used frequently to prevent the spread of germs.

You should also carry a package of facial tissues with you. Germs spread through coughing and sneezing, and using a tissue as a barrier helps to prevent the spread to others.

One of the most important things you can do to improve your immune system is to eat properly. This, too, can be more difficult when you are out and about, but proper planning helps. Pack healthy snacks that are easy to eat on the go. Examples include fresh fruit and vegetables, almonds or other nuts and bottled water.

For those who have flu or cold symptoms, the best thing to do is to stay home, but that is not always possible. Keeping cough lozenges, pain relievers and other symptom fighters on hand can make things more bearable.

Home Essentials

Just as you should carry healthy snacks with you, make sure your kitchen is stocked with unprocessed food that is rich in vitamins and antioxidants. If you are experiencing flu symptoms, drinking tea, soup or other warm liquid can help improve throat irritation and reduce nasal congestion. Stock your medicine cabinet with flu-fighting supplements such as vitamin C, echinacea, vitamin D, elderberry and zinc.

Another way to strengthen your immune system is to keep stress to a minimum. Some home essentials that may help include meditation CDs, a yoga mat and a stress-relieving journal. There is also non prescription anxiety medication for those who struggle to lower stress naturally.

Another home essential, especially if there are young children, is a thermometer. Fever is a common flu symptom, and it is a good idea to monitor your fever because if it is too high, a visit to the emergency room may be in order.

Protect Yourself from the Flu

Take steps this flu season to keep yourself healthy. Whether you are on the go or are staying home, there are certain essentials, such as Brillia for adults, that can keep your immune system strong, prevent viruses or manage flu symptoms. Make sure you have what you need to stay strong.

For most kids, being outside and playing in the dirt is a great way to pass a few hours of time. To take advantage of these feelings, you might want to consider giving your kids some outdoor chores that will help to indulge their desire to get a little dirty, give them a chance to get some fresh air, and save you from having to take care of all this outdoor maintenance on your own.

To help you pick the right tasks for the right aged kids, here are three landscaping chores you can give your kids or teens.

Teens and Power Tools

In most situations, you’re going to want to save the big tasks that require the use of power tools for your teens to tackle. But before you let them do this for the first time, it’s vital that you give them proper training not only on how to use the tools safely, but also on how you prefer your landscaping or maintenance tasks to be finished.

According to Amy Morin, a contributor to Very Well Family, you teens need to be taught the safest ways to use tools like the lawn mower, weed whacker, rototiller, and any other power tools or equipment that you use to take care of your outdoor tasks. Additionally, you should give your teen a refresher course on using things like a leaf blower or snow blower as the seasons change, since they might have forgotten the finer points of your tutorial from the previous year.

Using Hand Tools

Before your kids are big enough to use these power tools or bigger pieces of equipment, there’s still plenty for them to do to help with the landscaping and maintenance around your home.

Generally, anything that requires a hand-held tool should be saved for your children in older elementary or junior high school. Angie’s List shares that this includes things like a garden hoe, clippers, or shears. This will help to keep your kids safe as well as keeping your garden safe from younger kids that might just be too anxious to clip or chop down anything they see.

Basic Cleaning and Maintenance

For your really little kids, their outdoor chores should focus more on basic cleaning and maintenance tasks. So if you have things that need to be gathered, like leaves or pinecones, or if your yard has become overgrown with weeds, Carrie Madormo, a contributor to Taste Of Home, shares that having your younger kids identify what needs to be found and then rounding them up can be a great chore for them.

If you’re wanting your kids to help more with the outdoor chores you have to do around your house, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you decide which tasks are going to be best for your kids to assist with.

Pests inside your house and garden can create a lot of nuisances. However, choosing the right pest control in Phoenix will ensure that you can reduce the harmful impacts caused by pests.

There might be many pest control service providers available in your area, but make sure you choose only the most reliable and reputable company for the job. In this guide, we are highlighting certain do’s and don’ts that will help you in choosing the right pest control company.

The Dos

1.      Choose a Licensed Pest Control Company

Ensure that you only hire a licensed pest control company, which complies with the necessary licensing requirements. Moreover, licensing requirements vary from state to state; therefore, you should be well-aware of the guidelines associated with your region. Additionally, choose a company that holds experience in handling the particular kind of insects that you are dealing with. You can ask the company to give reference numbers of previous customers.

2.      Look for Experience

Pest control services involve exposure to chemicals that are harmful. An experienced company will take the right precautionary measures before and after handling those pests. This way, the team ensures that there is no damage to your house and mitigates any health implications. They use the right chemicals in a safe and effective manner in order to get rid of insects.

The Don’ts

1.      Don’t Fall for the Fancy Sales Pitch.

Many companies tend to make hyped-up claims in order to attract customers. While the popularity of the pest control company in the online search is an important factor, do not rely on your decision solely on that. Do not believe that the company has an updated license just because it says so. Request their license number and verify the same. Understand how their process works thoroughly and ensure that they are effective and safe.

2.      Do Not Forget to Compare the Prices

Do not pick a company just because they offer services within your budget. Instead, make a list of top pest control service providers in your area and compare their services and costs. While you want a provider who can provide affordable services, you certainly do not want to overlook the quality factor. Make sure you take note of different aspects such as license, experience, services, costs, etc. and compare the service providers on these facets before making a final decision.

Final Thoughts

Pests can be harmful to your house as well as your health. Taking care of pests on your own only helps to a certain degree. In order to get rid of them for good, you need professional assistance. These professionals have experience in this specific field and target the root cause of the issue and eliminate the insects from there.

This extensive measure ensures that there is no damage in the process. Moreover, when getting rid of pests, there is typically the exposure to chemicals, which, if not carefully handled, can be dangerous. A professional pest control company leverages the right tools and techniques to get the work done in an efficient and effective manner.

There are many reasons to add a basement kitchen to your house’s design. First of all, having a kitchen in the basement makes entertaining very easy. If you and your friends are watching the Super Bowl downstairs, no one has to miss a single play to refresh the snacks or heat up the mini corn dogs.

Also, having a second kitchen in your basement means that you can easily house out-of-town guests and still allow them their privacy. For example, if your in-laws have to travel in order to see you, they probably stay for more than one or two days. By having their own area where they can cook and hang out, they won’t feel like they’re imposing on your home. If this sounds like a dream come true, here are three tips for a flawless basement kitchen design.

Start with storage.

Some of the first aspects you notice about all cooking spaces are the kitchen cabinets. Although you might not need as much storage as you do in the main kitchen area, you’re still going to want high-quality cabinets that can house your downstairs needs.

You need to imagine all of the ways you’re planning on utilizing this space. For example, is there a possibility that one of your parents could move in with you and use this space as an attached accessory dwelling unit? If so, you’re going to want more cabinet storage space for their separate groceries. You have power over the ultimate design, so make sure it fits your needs.

Remember to treat your basement kitchen cabinets as well as you would your upstairs cabinets by protecting the shelves with lining. Moisture will break down the inside of your cabinets, so make sure you protect them as much as possible. Even the most high-quality cabinets are no match to water damage.

Choose beautiful and functional flooring.

If your basement is carpeted, and you’re planning on doing any actual cooking in your downstairs kitchen, you may want to put down a different kind of flooring in that area. Spills happen, and you don’t want to end up staining your carpet. Choose engineered wood flooring, ceramic, or even vinyl flooring to keep your space easy to clean. Having this area in different flooring will designate the space, which can be great if the area is open-concept. If you prefer to have a unified look, make sure you budget for brand new flooring for the whole space.

Keep the space cocktail classy.

When you have kids, they seem to spread and take over every space. Although you don’t mind this, sometimes you just want a space that doesn’t include pizza rolls and dinosaur chicken nuggets. Your basement kitchen can be the one area that belongs to the adults in the house. Kids have a lot more energy to go up and down the stairs, so they don’t need to store their snacks in the basement. Install a wine fridge and wet bar and create a grown-up oasis for you and your spouse. You can impress your friends with your cocktail making skills back from your bartending days.

Before you get started on this big project, make sure that your basement is structurally sound. If the foundation needs any work, consider repairing it with a wall anchor system before building the basement kitchen of your dreams. Once the structure passes the test, you’re free to start designing and constructing. One final bonus tip: if you and your spouse aren’t the DIY kinds of folks, that’s totally fine. Make sure you hire a professional who will know how to integrate your basement kitchen. This whole process should be a reward, not a headache.

Gardening isn’t for everyone; however, most owners of garden do want a stylish user-friendly outdoor space. Luckily, there methods and products which help to keep a garden both attractive and low maintenance. This article will show you tips and tricks for having the best-looking garden with the lowest amount of upkeep required.

Replace natural grass will artificial grass

Taking care of natural grass can be time consuming, as grass needs to be frequently cut and watered. Some people even hire professional gardeners to partake in this work for them. Artificial grass is a lower maintenance alternative, meaning it will not have to be cut and watered.

Consider paving some areas of your garden

Grass is a more commonly used material for gardens, but grass and paving and complement each other. You may decide to add a paved area to your garden, like artificial grass it is low maintenance and it is a material that does not alter. There are various types of paving which can be purchased, for example: granite, Indian Sandstone or concrete, or you may even decide to add some shingle to areas of your garden to jazz it up a little.

Limit your plants and flowers

If you are really keen on having a zero-maintenance garden and outdoor space, then you will have to limit the amount of plants and flowers you have. Like artificial grass, there are artificial options of flowers, that look just as good as the natural ones. However, if you really can’t part with your natural flowers, it is a good idea to invest in a sprinkler, that way you do not need to keep watering your plants and flowers as the sprinkler will do the job for you.

Consider using solar lighting outside

Solar lighting is self-sufficient, it charges by using sunlight during the day and once it is dark outside the lights are activated. This method of outdoor lighting is not only hassle free, but it is also free charging, as it uses purely sunlight opposed to adding to your electricity bill. Solar lights can be very pretty and add a romantic vibe to your outdoor area.

Add a hot tub!

This article is about keeping your garden low maintenance, but just because it is low maintenance it doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun. If you decide to add a hot tub to your garden you are adding a fun element to it. I would say hot tubs are less maintenance then adding a swimming pool to your garden and it also costs a lot less to buy a hot tub opposed to a swimming pool. Hot tubs are also a good idea for adding a social aspect to your garden and hot tubs are known for helping relieve stress, so hot tubs are therefore fun and good for your mental health.

Invest in outdoor furniture

If you want your outdoor area to be a social space, it is of benefit to have some outdoor furniture to lounge about on. There are different types of outdoor furniture that can be purchased and if you are looking for furniture that is stylish but low cost, placing a beanbag on your grassed area will be just as comfortable and welcoming.