The Fox Team

We’ve all given thought to having someone get our mail while we’re on vacation but what about those FREE papers that get delivered to our homes?? And how much time is wasted collecting and throwing away all the junkmail that comes our way? I’ve realized that I keep up with my ever growing email by unsubscribing to everything immediately that I don’t wish to receive so it doesn’t clog my email, but what if we took that a step further and cancelled our junk mail as well?

I know that I personally do all my reading online. Any news I get local or global is directly from the internet and I consistently throw those free papers away without ever even opening them. I open my mail over the trash. What costs would be saved if I cancelled those catelogs that I don’t actually subscribe to and removed myself from mailing lists that I don’t care to receive from.

Of course there are still vendors that I DO want to see, and some fundraising mailings that I like to receive but the bulk of it I do not. I didn’t even give it a thought until I read something online looking for a “No Free Papers” sign to hang on my mailbox. How much would it help the environment to go more “green”? How much more fun would it be to get my mail when it was filled with things I actually wanted to receive.

For those that don’t want to undertake this task themselves, there are companies out there that will do it for you.

For a step by step guide and a great video about cleaning up your junkmail, check out the link here from WikiHow http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Junk-Mail

If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without alcohol,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

Then you are probably the family Dog

• Your agent should be there and be fully engaged in what is happening throughout the entire process
• This is a great time for you the buyer to be getting an education about the inner workings of the home. Everyone that is purchasing the home should be in attendance if at all possible
• The purpose of a home inspection is to fix things that are wrong. Structural, Electrical, Mechanical and Plumbing. Not to nit pick and give a list of a million trivial things. You are buying an existing home, not new construction
• Your home inspector should be a licensed, bonded and a trusted representative for you, NOT your “Uncle Charlie” who used to build homes. A great resource would most likely be your agent since they do this all the time and probably have a preferred company that they work with regularly because they’ve done a good job in the past. If you don’t feel your agent is a good resource, there are other ways to locate one, but as I said, do you research and make sure they have the requirements necessary
• With so many homes in this current market being sold “as-is”, doing a thorough inspection is a MUST to be sure that you have a well informed idea of what you are taking on with the purchase.
• Your “as-is” addendum should ALWAYS allow you void your contract within a certain period of time based on the results of your home inspection
• A standard home inspections covers the 4 areas I mentioned above. If you are purchasing a home that is on well and septic, you should request these inspections as well
• Other inspections to be considered would be Radon, if that is a concern for you or the area you are purchasing in is traditionally high in Radon, a chimney inspection or a swimming pool inspection. These are all additional inspections and not generally covered within the scope of a standard home inspection. Make sure these are discussed when writing your offer with your agent.