Around The House

Exclusive Buyer Agents Offer An Alternative To The Traditional Real Estate Buying Process

There’s more than one way to buy a home, and all three of the paths below can lead you the house of your dreams. Only one of them assures that your interests are protected at every turn, however.

For people unfamiliar with the real estate process who want help navigating its complicated twists and turns, an exclusive buyer agent could be the best choice. Even better, it usually doesn’t cost you anything extra.

Which of these three methods of navigating the complicated real estate buying process sounds better to you?

The Traditional Method

The seller and the seller’s team win when transactions are handled the traditional way. That’s great for them, but it doesn’t always work out well for buyers.

The traditional way involves a listing agent and a showing agent both working for the seller. The buyer is viewed as a customer and stands alone, without representation of any kind in the transaction.

The Dual Agent or Intermediary Method

A less common way to handle real estate transactions is through a dual agent or intermediary who represents both the seller and the buyer — with full disclosure to both, of course. If this agent is a person of integrity, he or she doesn’t favor one party or work to the disadvantage of either the buyer or the seller.

The problem with this method is the potential for conflicts of interest. In many cases, no one wins with this method.

The Buyer’s Agent Method

Exclusive buyer agents work for home buyers — not sellers like most real estate agents — to make sure the transaction is completed in a way that’s favorable to you. With a buying broker on your side, you can be sure no one is trying to take advantage of you.

Since the seller has a listing broker standing with them, the transaction is balanced and ethical. This sets up a situation where everyone can feel good about the deal knowing that it’s completely fair.

The Choice Is Obvious

Smart buyers choose the method that assures them complete representation.

An exclusive buyer agent is the best choice for many real estate transactions, and using an EBA instead of a traditional real estate agent could be the best choice for you the next time you purchase a new or existing home.

Shade Gardening: What If All You Have Is Shade?

These days many people are looking for ways to put the best food available on their table. One of the best ways to do this is to plant a garden. But when thinking about a garden, the first place that comes to mind is a nice sunny spot in the yard.

While this might be ideal, not everyone has a plot with full sun, but that’s no problem. There are lots of vegetable that will grow just as well with little amounts of sun. Vegetables that are grown in order to harvest their fruit or to use their roots usually need full sun to develop, but if you are going to use the stems or leaves, the plants can often be grown very successfully with just a few hours of sun a day.

So if you have a place in your yard that gets between three to six hours of sun a day, what types of vegetables can you successfully grow?

All types of lettuce and salad greens grow well in shade. Other greens such as mustard, turnip, collards or spinach also do well with little sun. Most beans and peas seem to thrive and produce a good yield in a shade garden. Other vegetables that a shade gardener could try are radishes, broccoli and cauliflower.

A garden in an area that is partly shady tends to need to be watered less frequently because there is less sun to dry out the ground. Also, vegetables that tend to stop producing due to the heat will often continue to produce a harvest longer if grown in a shady area. This means that you will get more produce from the space you have. These are just two benefits to having a shade garden.

Be creative when choosing a space for a shade garden. Add chard to a bed of your favorite perennials. Use large pots and have some lettuce growing just outside your kitchen door, ready to harvest on a night you want a big salad to complement a meal. If you have a window box, radishes or a mixture of various greens would fit in nicely and provide color and interest to the box while also helping to supplement your food supply.

Whatever type of space you have — whether full sun or shade — make the most of it and in this way you can double your vegetable production. And your family can enjoy some nice fresh vegetables beginning in the spring and all the way to the fall.

Register Booster Fan Review: Is Suncourt The Right Choice?

A register booster fan is a rather simple device that increases the amount of air coming out of a vent to help improve the air circulation in a room and at least make the occupants feel that the temperature is more comfortable.

One of the most popular brands of register booster fans on the market is Suncourt. Models like the Suncourt HC500-W and HC300 Flush Fit Register Booster are among the most common.

According to the company, these Suncourt air register boosters can increase the airflow coming out of a vent by up to 85 percent, but does that rise result in increased comfort for those in the room?

They Really Work

Some online reviews have been somewhat critical of similar register booster fans, and that’s to be expected. People who find that the device functions as it says it will rarely bother to write online reviews. For the most part, only those who are dissatisfied sound off.

Some people are also confused by exactly what these air vent booster fans do. They don’t actually lower the temperature of the air coming out of the vent. If the air coming out is already cold, however, but it’s simply not blowing with as much velocity as it should, these fans work great.

That’s right: Suncourt register booster fans work as advertised for most users, making them a great value for the small price they cost. And since they can help lower electric bills by keeping homeowners from having to change their thermostats, they are an especially good deal.

Only One Small Issue

A problem could arise, however, if the air vent you want to boost is not located near an electrical outlet. These fans have to get power from somewhere, and many models don’t have a battery option. That means the fan must plug into an electrical outlet.

Some people find this required electrical connection unsightly, but these electrical cords are no more unsightly than any other. It’s a good tradeoff anyway. Having to have a cord running from your air vent is a small price to pay for a room that’s much more comfortable than before.

Most models are intended to fit into a 4-inch by 10-inch vent, but adapter plates are available to allow Suncourt register booster fans to fit into other sizes of vents.

Some manufacturers claim a 3 to 5 degree reduction in the temperature of a room when a register booster fan is in place. That certainly seems possible since these ingenious devices push air that was simply drifting out of vents into the portions of the room where occupants can benefit.

Ordering a register booster fan like the ones shown on this page from Amazon is probably your best bet. The fans already come with a generous warranty, but Amazon’s return policy makes getting your money back quick and simple if you decide the device isn’t for you.

You probably won’t want to return your vent booster fan, however.

Once you feel for yourself how much difference one of these fans makes in the comfort of your home’s hardest-to-ventilate rooms, you’ll want to order more.

Does A Home Cholesterol Test Kit Really Work?

Requiring only a drop or two of blood and no doctor’s visit, a home cholesterol test kit can be a great way to keep a check on levels without a doctor’s visit, but are they useful? By most accounts, they provide good information when used correctly by educated patients.

Experts agree that while a home cholesterol test kit is not a substitute for professional medical advice, it can be a useful tool in lowering dangerous cholesterol levels, one of many risk factors for coronary disease.

All of these devices are not the same, however. Some only measure total levels while a few break down results into HDL, LDL and triglycerides, allowing users to be fully informed about how much of each type of fat is found in their blood.

While most major medical associations and heart disease prevention organizations have not taken an official position on these products intended to allow users to monitor their own levels, most support monitoring blood fat levels.

These numbers can vary widely depending on what kind of test is used, whether a patient fasted before the measurement was taken and other factors that cannot be controlled during either home or office testing. While that means that a home cholesterol test kit may not always get the same results as a doctor’s visit, each visit to a health care professional may result in different numbers too.

Many medical professionals suggest that patients avoid becoming obsessed or preoccupied with frequently checking any aspect of their health status, but they also admit that frequent checking does no physical harm.

Doctors also caution that blood fat levels are only one risk factor for heart disease. Patients should also consider their other risk factors like smoking, obesity and family history when assessing their risk for heart disease. For understanding these complex factors, there is no substitute for a medical advice.

Still, a home cholesterol test kit can help someone who is concerned that his or her level might be high determine if a problem exists and decide whether a visit to a clinic is necessary. These self-tests can also be useful for people who already know their status to determine if their corrective efforts are working. Because the numbers can vary based on a variety of factors, however, several tests may be needed for confirmation.

When used correctly by people who have a full understanding of heart health issues and risk factors, a home cholesterol test kit can be a useful tool that provides valuable health information without the need for a doctor’s visit.