Cool it down!

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Hey there all you renters, landlords, property owners and property managers. This time we’ll talk about how to keep our houses, apartment or duplexes cool.

If you have enough money you can hire a slave who is fanning you while you eat grapes, however if you are a mortal more like us, you can follow some of the following tips.

Stop modeling for your neighbor: All windows must be covered, put thin fabrics in the windows facing north and south, and for the rest use heavy fabrics that cover sunlight. So you have all the light without all the heat.

Do not be stingy and turn on the air: Fans are great because they help with moisture and cool the house, however, if the temperature is higher than 77 ° F, better turn them off, because they’ll only be moving hot air. Fans will work better after sunset.

Shake it off!: If you use air conditioning make sure it’s clean. If dust accumulates in the filters, the machine has to work harder, therefore it will use much more electricity. Besides that, you can prevent several diseases caused by bacteria accumulated in dust.

Go for a walk and close your house: Throughout the hours of extreme heat close your house. Close any place where hot air can enter. Once the temperature drops you can open everything and turn on the fans.

Don’t turn it off!: When you have the air conditioning on and the room is cooled, it may seem like the most reasonable thing to turn it off, however, you’ll only be spending more electricity. It’s better to mantain a steady temperature so the machines are not working overtime.

Read a book: The appliances radically increase the temperature of your house or apartment. You may not feel it, but television radiates heat. Unplug all appliances you are not using and go read a book.

With these simple steps, we guarantee that you’ll keep your house cooler. If not, at least you will entertain yourself closing windows and turning on fans.

Go green!

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Hey there all you renters, landlords, property owners and property managers. Today at Home Town Rent we will talk about plants. They are, without any doubt, beautiful and allow us to decorate the living room, kitchen or bedroom. Their scent is also very good for the house environment to be much more enjoyable. However, the most important thing about them is that they generate oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, just like trees. When plants are placed indoor they help purify the air by absorbing contaminants and gases.

In 1989, NASA conducted a study to determine the most appropriate plants to achieve this mission in an enclosed space. Here we present the top 5 plants according to Bill Wolverton, principal author of the research.

  1. Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)
  2. Spath or Peace Lilies (Spathiphyllum)
  3. The Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa)
  4.  Mother-in-law’s tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata)
  5.  Rubber bush (Ficus robusta)

How can Pothos help at home?

This plant has the capacity to clean and maintain the air of the place where it is completely renovated. Pothos remove, for example, substances found in furniture made of wood. Another benefit that Pothos offers is that it helps eliminate odors.

How can Peace Lilies help at home?

This species is capable of absorbing electromagnetic waves that can be generated by various appliances like TV, our mobile or the microwave. In addition, the Spathiphyllum is one of the best air filters.

How can The Lady Palm help at home?

This palm can be inside and outside, however inside the house or condo, it can eliminate harmful gases in the air such as ammonia and other volatile organic compounds that are harmful to our health.

How can Mother-in-law’s tongue help at home?

The mother-in-law’s tongue has a wonderful function inside our house, condominium or duplex; while you sleep, the Sansevieria trifasciata is responsible for converting carbon dioxide into oxygen and you use its medicinal properties in tea.

How can Rubber bush help at home?

It is effective in removing formaldehyde from the air that can come from the tailpipe emissions from cars, and prevent us from burning sensation in the eyes, nose and throat; cough; nausea and skin irritation.

These plants apart from making your home look fresher and more radiant, they have an immense benefit to your health so do not hesitate to get one, and if you have a small house, an apartment or duplex, you have no excuse because these plants are small and perfect for interiors.

Go Green!

Silent enemy

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Hey there all you renters, landlords, property owners and property managers. You should know that an enemy lurks in your house and is not your mother in law… its corrosion. Let’s learn how to fight it.

Living near the sea has its charms, but there are also invisible enemies to face. For example, corrosion taking hold of chairs, rods, artifacts and everything that is made of metal. This can happen at any place if you leave furniture outside.

So if you own or decided to rent a house, apartment, condominium or duplex near the beach to enjoy its delights, and your house has a bunch of furniture made of metal (for example, umbrellas, beach chairs, games terrace, appliances, etc.) pay attention because at Home Town Rent we’ll tell you how to protect them and deal with corrosion.

Corrosion can be caused by a reaction produced by the natural environment. This reaction is called oxidation and is what causes the metal to weaken and acquire that texture and color, until it’s destroyed.

The oxidation of metals in a house can certainly be considered a disease, since there is no way to reverse it, although you can stop it. Corrosion is metal cancer. As cancer metastasis begins to expand, it’s unstoppable “contaminating” the rest of the metal surface.

If you are renting or living close to the beach or in coastal areas you should be especially alert and protect your furniture from corrosion. You can take the following measures:

Choosing the right metal: for example stainless steel or aluminum. They are metals that hardly corrode.

To remove corrosion in early stages from your furniture you can use a rust remover, it is available at any hardware store. With steel wool, apply deoxidizer in the areas of rusted metal. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions and use hand and eye protection.

Another trick to remove oxidation is to apply white vinegar with a cloth, leave half an hour and then rinse. Employ it especially in appliances.

Baking soda is another excellent metal antioxidant, make a paste with water and apply it on the rusted areas.

Once you have removed corrosion apply a protective layer, which may be a brightener, or a layer of anti-corrosive paint.

With these tips you will prevent oxidation and destruction of metal furniture in your home and you won’t ever have to worry on your days at the beach.

Do you have rental questions of your own? Comments? Concerns? Love letters? Hate mail? Ring it in: Hometownrant@hometownrent.com

Ring It In!

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Hey there all you renters, landlords, property owners and property managers. The year is coming to a close, and that means it’s time for champaign, friends, music, and a long, sloppy countdown to the new year. Many of you probably already have plans for your new year’s eve celebrations, and many of you may be thinking of having people over to your house, apartment, condo or duplex to have a roarin’ good time before the year is up. We know that if you’ve decided already, there’s no turning back now, but luckily, the Hometown Rant has the guide for you to not spend New Year’s day getting evicted, or just sitting in the shambles of your destroyed rental property.

For all you tenants out there planning on having a shindig, a neighborly thing to do is to let the people living around you know that you’re going to have people over, that they’re welcome to join, and that if you happen to get too loud, they should contact you before calling the police. This does mean, however, that when they do come tell you to turn it down a little bit, you actually listen, even if it means telling your friends band that the show is over for the night. Most reasonable people know that New Year’s Eve is a popular time for celebration, but that doesn’t change the fact that some people have to work in the morning. Be curteous to those who you share a space with, and respect their wishes too, even if they’re being party poopers.

The next thing for tenants to do is to party-proof your house, apartment, condo or duplex. Depending on how fancy your lifestyle is, this will be easy or challenging. Things like glass centerpieces and framed pictures are good objects to move out of the way, especially if raucous dancing is in order. Consider getting a rug for your wood floors, or not serving red wine if you just got new white carpeting. Have receptacles for people to recycle their empty beer cans, so they don’t just throw them in the lawn. All of these things will help you the next morning when you get up to survey the damage.

Of course, not everybody is going to be hosting. Many of you will be attending various New Year’s Eve parties hosted by your friends, so for all of you, make sure you’re treating the space as though it were your own. If somebody likes you enough to invite you over to their house, apartment, condo or duplex, don’t let them down by being the guy who decides to throw the couch out the second story window and burn it in the lawn. Unless your hosts are a frat house, this probably won’t go over too well.

Lastly, if you’re having people over and drinking, make sure your guests are not driving home. Take people’s keys if you need to. New Year’s Eve is typically the most common night of the year for D.U.I.s, and if you get away with just a ticket, you’re lucky. Don’t start the new year dead in a ditch. Celebrate responsibly, and have a great year!

Do you have rental questions of your own? Comments? Concerns? Love letters? Hate mail? Ring it in: Hometownrant@hometownrent.com

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

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Hey there all you tenants, landlords, property owners and property managers. The holiday seasons are upon us, and with them have come the cold weather. Depending on where you live in the country, this will mean more or less to you, but most of us will be impacted by the weather in the winter, at least a little bit. Lucky for you, the hometown rant has the guide to keeping you warm and cozy inside your house, apartment, condo or duplex all season long.

If the weather does get cold enough to make it uncomfortable inside your rental property, you’ve probably already got some coping strategies, ranging from wearing a lot of layers to burning your possessions in a little pile on the floor. Hopefully you haven’t got to that point yet, although it is the last step before sucking it up and actually turning on your heat.

Once you’ve given in though, you’re going to want to take some steps to conserve the heat, so you get the most bang for your buck. A big part of this process depends on the age of your rental property, specifically as it impacts the seals around the doors and windows. Older places tend to have more gaps and cracks, making any attempts to heat the interior more and more futile. If you do plan on running the heat in an old house, we suggest you get some easily removable rubber seals, something like these, which, if applied correctly, can make a big difference in the heat retention of older houses, apartments, condos or duplexes.

If your rental property doesn’t have central heating, you could consider using space heaters in the rooms you’ll be occupying most frequently, but keep in mind that multiple space heaters will quickly run up your electric bill, and can even blow a fuse if used at the same time as a few other electronic devices. If you have central heating, it’s probably going to be more efficient to run that and take measures to keep that heat in.

As a landlord, property owner or property manager, you probably have a general idea of how your properties fare in terms of winterization, so let your tenants know how to best seal in that warmth. They’ll probably appreciate the advice, and if not, hey, it’s their loss. Above all, stay warm and have fun!

 

A Full Plate

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Hey there all you tenants, landlords, property owners and property managers. Sometimes you may think to yourself, man, I’ve got too much stuff on my plate! We know we have. Sometimes we also find ourselves thinking, man, I’ve got too many plates on my stuff! The ratio of plates to stuff is an important one to maintain in a rental property, and one that is often overlooked by tenants all over. Lucky for you, this week on the rant, we’re talking dishware–everything from salad forks to serving bowls, when to use what, and how to store it so it doesn’t clutter up your precious space.

The first thing to consider as a tenant looking to move into a house, apartment, condo or duplex, is whether or not you plan on entertaining often. With thanksgiving just past, it may be another year before you have to host a massive dinner, but many of you out there are bound to have another big family get together in about a month’s time, and many of you will probably have friends or family over even sooner than that.

Most of the time when entertaining company, you’ll think about how much food you need, but an important and oft-overlooked aspect, especially among you twenty-somethings is thinking about how many plates and utensils you need. Your friends may pretend that they’re cool with eating out of frisbees and dog bowls, but part of being an adult is having dishware to serve your food on when you have company. You don’t necessarily need your grandmother’s silver and fine china, but at least a set of matching plates and bowls is a great thing to own, especially if you host people at your rental property fairly regularly.

On the other end of the spectrum, part of maintaining a clean kitchen is not having too many things in it, especially since there’s a tendency to not wash things if you can just grab a new, clean one, until eventually you have a pile of dirty dishes on every surface available. Especially if you live in a smaller apartment, try to figure out what your bare essentials–a few plates and bowls, a nice mug, enough silverware for a few guests, but not much more than that. Otherwise you’re running into clutter territory fast.

As a landlord or property owner, make sure to advertise it if your property has lots of cupboard space and areas for entertaining company, since these can be major draws for potential tenants who plan on hosting events, and don’t worry, people who care about cupboard space probably aren’t the keg and solo cup crowd anyhow.

Do you have rental questions of your own? Comments? Concerns? Love letters? Hate mail? We’ve got room on our plate: Hometownrant@hometownrent.com

Thanksliving

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Hey there all you renters, landlords, property owners and property managers. It’s that time of year again—the time when you get together with your in-laws, family, friends, and inevitably that random guy who you think might be dating your cousin, but you don’t want ask him because then he’d know that you’ve forgotten his name. It’s probably Steve. Or maybe Randy.

Anyways, Thanksgiving is upon us, and for many of you tenants out there, that means hosting an uncomfortable number of people in your rental property until they’ve all safely snapped out of their debilitating food comas. Not to worry though—here at the rant, we’ve got you covered like gravy on mashed potatoes.

Speaking of enormous piles of food, if you are hosting people, make sure that everyone has a rough idea of who’s expected to bring what. Traditionally, the host provides the bird, but obviously the dimensions of the kitchen in your rental property will decide what you can provide and what you can’t. Figure out what you can do, and have guests account for the rest.

Also, think about the size of your house, apartment, condo or duplex in terms of how many people you can realistically seat, and how much counter space you have for dishes. Having too many friends and too much food aren’t the worst problems to have, but they can be problems. Avoid potential awkwardness by figuring out beforehand how many people you’ll be entertaining.

As a guest, help your host out by contacting them and asking if they want you to bring something. Have your grandma’s super-secret pumpkin pecan pie recipe? Offer to bring a few to share, but don’t worry if there’s already a few pies in the works. You can always switch it up to keep your meal balanced and delicious.

Lastly, landlords and property owners–remember that it’s during this time of year that tenants often have guests over, so make sure to remind them about parking and fire safety measures. You don’t want to be a buzzkill during the holidays, but reminding people that overcrowding an apartment in which you’re deep frying a turkey is not the most prudent move. Stay safe!

Do you have rental questions of your own? Comments? Concerns? Love letters? Hate mail? Give them here, thanks: Hometownrant@hometownrent.com

The Long Hall

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Hey there all you tenants, landlords, property owners and property managers. This week on the rant, we’re in it for the long hall. Or the short hall. Any and all halls, really. Those rooms that aren’t rooms, that strange in-between space through which you traverse, navigating your beloved house, apartment, condo or duplex. Hallways are one of the most oft-overlooked areas of a rental property, but they can often be the difference between a cozy home and a hellish nightmare.

Landlords, property owners and property managers, when preparing a property for rent, make sure your hallways are clean and looking as nice as the rooms to which they lead. Hallways, being high-traffic areas, often see quite a bit of wear and tear, including wall scuffs and dirty or scratched floors, and this can be a deterrent to potential tenants looking to rent out your property. One thing to consider when looking at remodeling is the type of flooring in your halls. Carpet is cozy, but more difficult to clean. Wood is nice, but requires some care to keep it looking good for years to come. Think about the type of tenant you want to rent to, and make your choice accordingly.

As a tenant, especially if you’re looking to spruce up your house, apartment, condo or duplex, consider doing something to the hall. Obviously, this will depend on how wide your halls are, and how much space there is to navigate, but even something as simple as a few framed pictures can break the visual monotony of a large white expanse. If you want to get fancy, put in a little table, maybe with a plant on it. Little touches like this are what make a living space feel ‘lived in,’ so to speak.

Also, don’t forget to clean your hallways, especially ones on the first floor that lead to outside doors. These are some of the areas in your rental property most likely to get dirty quick, and also some of the least likely to be cleaned regularly. Do yourself a favor and save on deep cleaning in the long run by keeping your hallway free of dirt and debris that could get tracked into the rest of the house later on.

Do you have rental questions of your own? Comments? Concerns? Love letters? Hate mail? We’re in it for the long hall: Hometownrant@hometownrent.com

Fall Ball

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Hey there all you tenants, landlords, property owners and property managers. It’s that time of year again, the time when the leaves begin to change colors on the trees, when dusk gets a little longer each day the grocery stores fill up with displays of gourds and big bags of assorted candies. Autumn is upon us, and that means things to do to keep your house, apartment, condo or duplex clean and cozy for the coming fall.

As a landlord, property owner or property manager, if you haven’t already, around now might be a good time to see if any of the properties you are responsible for need work done since it’ll only get more difficult and more important as the weather gets colder. Ask your tenants if there’s anything you can do for them, and remember–you’re legally obliged to give them notice before you send anyone over to work on the place.

Tenants: especially if your rental property is located in a neighborhood with a lot of trees, you’ll probably have to do some raking to take care of the leaves. Now might also be a good time to clean your gutters of the summer’s debris before the weather gets worse. Depending on what type of property you rent, your landlord may or may not have some sort of lawn service hired to do this sort of thing. If so, great, but if not, you might just have to bust out the work gloves and the ladder. Trust us though, it’ll make your life that much easier when it does rain. All the information about who is responsible for yard work and upkeep should be in your lease. If not, contact your landlord to find out.

Now may also be a good time to start re-organizing, putting your summer toys in storage and getting your fall and winter gear down from the attic. It’s definitely sweater weather already, and in a few more weeks you’ll probably want a coat too. You’ll thank yourself the first morning you step outside and immediately retreat back in to add another layer before venturing forth once again.

Do you have rental questions of your own? Comments? Concerns? Love letters? Hate mail? Holla at us: Hometownrant@hometownrent.com

 

Bed Head

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Hey there all you renters, landlords, property owners and property managers. This week on the rant, we’re putting the rumors to bed. Or maybe we’re spreading rumors about beds? We’re not sure. We’re tired. We need to go to bed.

By most conventional metrics, the bed is the most important piece of furniture in the entire rental property–it’s the one you spend the most time in. In fact, you probably spend more time in your bed than in any other place. When you think about that, it becomes abundantly clear that no matter whether you live in a house, apartment, condo, duplex, your bed matters.

For you landlords and property owners, providing the bed probably won’t be your responsibility,  unless your rental property is of the short term or pre-furnished sort. If you do provide a nice bed, you’ll want to advertise that, as well as making sure you’re renting to tenants who are going to take good care of it.

On that note, tenants, if you’ve invested in a nice mattress, make sure you take good care of it. Buy several fitted sheets and a washable cover so cleaning and changing your bedding is easy and you don’t have to wait for the dirty stuff to be finished before re-making it.

When choosing a mattress and bed frame, you have a few things to think about–the size of your living space, your budget, and whether or not you’ll be sharing your bed regularly with a special someone, or maybe a faithful canine.

We’ve found that a full size mattress tends to be the best balance of size, affordability and space occupied,  though if you want more room to relax, you could bump up to a queen, or even a king. If you want to really ball out, you could even go with a Shaq bed, though you’ll have to also spring for the custom circular superman fitted sheets.

Whatever your choice, make sure it’s one that’ll stay comfortable for a long time–bad mattresses can lead to lack of sleep and back pain, both of which will tend to make your life miserable in the long run. Do yourself a favor and get the bed you deserve!

 Do you have rental questions of your own? Comments? Concerns? Love letters? Hate mail? We’ll sleep on it: Hometownrant@hometownrent.com