Jyll Kata's (jyllkata) Blog

While being a landlord certainly has its cons, tops among its pros are the tax deductions for rental homes enjoyed by owners. From finding tenants to fixing faucets, renting out a home can be a lot of work. Yet perhaps the biggest reward for being a landlord isn’t the rent checks, but rather the ...

Tax deductions for vacation homes vary greatly depending on how much you use the home and whether you rent it out. A vacation home offers a break from the daily grind, but it can also offer a break from taxes. The IRS allows most owners to lower taxable income by taking tax deductions for vacatio...

When replacing siding, you’ll often recoup a significant amount of your investment, but there are tradeoffs in maintenance, price, and sustainability. Perhaps no other building material plays such as key role in your home as siding. It protects your house against the harshest elements and is a fa...

Don’t neglect to budget time and money for opening and closing a vacation home before the season starts and after it ends. A big reason for owning a vacation home is rest and relaxation, but it’s not all fun and games. Opening and closing a vacation home takes time and money. Plan to spend a day ...

When it’s time to replace your water heater, you’ll find a wide array of high-efficiency models offering big energy savings. Since hot water accounts for as much as 25% of your home’s energy use, when your water heater dies, the replacement you choose will have a big impact on your monthly bills....

When planning a kitchen remodel, keep the same footprint, add storage, and design adequate lighting so you preserve value and keep costs on track. If you’re contemplating a kitchen remodel, you’re also weighing a considerable investment. But a significant portion of the upfront costs may be recov...

Solving wet-basement problems is one of the most important things you can do to protect the value of your home and health of your family. Nothing poses a greater long-term risk to your home’s value than a wet basement. If left unchecked, basement moisture can ruin floors and walls, encourage mold...

It doesn’t take much effort to reduce standby power consumption; and you could save the equivalent of a few tanks of gas a year. You’re already paying a bundle every month to your cable and Internet providers. Why fork over even more money to the power company for the standby power consumption th...

Tankless water heaters promise big energy savings, but they aren’t right for every household. Here’s how to figure out if going tankless makes sense for you. There’s a relatively new alternative to the standard water heater tank that you probably have in your utility room. Rather than keeping gal...

Although they’ve been much maligned, adjustable-rate mortgages make sense in a variety of circumstances. Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) get bad press. The poster child for irresponsible borrowing, they’re the mortgage industry’s bad boys. But ARMs can be excellent loans for thrifty borrowers. H...