Dan Edward Phillips's (danedwardphillips) Blog

Homes with a 'locked' room, on the MLS? This week another home came on the market with a 'locked' bedroom.  The MLS showing instructions said; show the house and if your clients like it, the listing agent will make arrangements to have the 'locked' room shown.  There was no other explanation. Thi...

Curb Appeal is very important when it comes to finding a buyer for your home.  One item of 'curb appeal' that is often overlooked is the outside stairs or stairways of a home. Do your stairs look appealing?  Put yourself in the place of a buyer pulling up in front of your home, do the stairs or s...

If you are considering replacing the carpet in a room that has outside access, consider placing tile, instead of carpet, at the entryway.  There are two very good reasons! Carpet collects moisture that come in on shoes.  Also, when you open the door on a rainy day moisture also comes in and lands...

For homes with large trees nearby on the property, trimming the trees may result in lower heating and cooling costs.  In this area of California many properties have very large tall trees.  Most are Redwoods near the coast and Fir and Spruce further inland.  These are not ornamental trees which h...

If you will be adding a patio or deck to your home you will probably also be adding a door to access it.  The addition of a door will require a new header and additional framing. Another item to consider while adding the new door is to extend the roof overhang over the new door.  This will requir...

If the addition of a large patio to your home is on your home improvement list and your home is located in the Redwoods here in Northern California, there is one thing you will need to consider.  That is "roots". Redwoods do not have a tap root so their lateral root system is large.  These large ...

All Real Estate Agents try to maintain contact with the clients they have sold a home to. In addition, keeping those clients updated on home maintenance is very important.  Many new home owners are not accustomed to maintaining the home that they have purchased. Providing maintenance information ...

This is a very interesting post on the subject of 'venting' into crawl spaces.  Avoid it at all costs.  Thank you to Donald Hester of NCW Home Inspections, LLC in Wenatchee, WA for the post!  Please leave comments on Donald's original post. I crawl because I can- Quincy Home InspectionOn this par...

This is an excellent post on the subject of roof leaks in cold climates.  Thank you to Connecticut Home Inspector James Quarello for the post!  Please leave commets on James original post. One saying I have grown fond of is; You don’t know what you don’t know or one might conclude, ignorance is b...

This provides answers to many common questions on 203 K loans.  Thank you to David Artigliere, Home Inspector, in Collegeville, PA for providing the post.  Please leave comments on David's original post.   203K Consultant (PA): What's an Eligible Property?   As a 203K consultant in PA, I sometime...