Home-Tech

By David Orr, REALTOR e-PRO GREEN SFR

You’re all excited about building your new home and can’t wait to move in. In that excitement there are myriad things that you may not be aware of - or even thinking about. When building a home, it’s important to think out-of-the-box.

What follows is based on both my experience as a REALTOR and in having my own home built several years ago. To help you stay on track, and not be overwhelmed by your new home and all the things going on with the construction; here are 17 things your builder will NOT do…unless you ask:

1. Cat 5/6 network wiring (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_6_cable ) and jacks throughout the home - even in the dining room (It make become your office one day. Mine did.)

Make sure to have it installed on the patio and in the garage too. Sometimes your Wi-Fi can’t reach a room in the house, so it’s important to be able to connect your room to your router or cable modem via these RJ-45 jacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_connector ).

2. CATV (coaxial cable for cable TV) jacks ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_television  ) - at least two per room…EVERY room - throughout your home, patio and garage. You may want a TV or router there one day. It’s much more difficult to add these after the fact, than it is while the house is still in the framing stage.**

The cost to the builder at the framing stage is negligible - maybe $30 or $40, if anything at all. However, if you wait until after the house is built, the local cable company may charge as much as $150 per outlet!

Better to have it done during framing, and let the builder pass that cost on to you as $30 or $40 per outlet.

3. Phone jacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_jack )- at least two per room. Yes, I know you plan on using wireless phones or your cell phone. However, it’s a minimal cost now - and if you ever do need a phone jack…(See #2 above)

4. Consider using structured wiring (http://bit.ly/strctWire )when building your home. It costs more initially, but will allow you to connect all your home wiring, internet and multimedia for current and future use. And without having to run new wires throughout your home - tearing up the walls and ceilings in the process. You can read more about it on the Leviton site at http://www.leviton.com/connectedhome .

More to come on 17 Things Your Builder Will NOT Do…Unless You Ask - Parts 2 and 3.

Here is a link to all of the resources in this post: http://bit.ly/fNLC0b

My special thanks to Wikipedia for helping make this a much more useful and insightful post. (http://en.wikipedia.org/)

** Personal experience with my own new construction home. In most cases, I didn’t realize I needed to do this, and my real estate agent (who worked for the builder) didn’t know about them and thus, failed to mention them as well.

Copyright 2011, David W. Orr. All rights reserved.

Like many, I pre-ordered my copies of Microsoft Windows 7 back in June of this year.  Amazon.com was taking orders, and you couldn’t beat the value: $99 for the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade version! So I ordered two copies, one for my laptop and the other for my main PC.

Locally, some of the office supply stores are offering a similar discount; but it seems they are tying it to a new PC purchase.

The installation was much easier than any of the articles I read online and in the tech magazine. I saw on the Toshiba site (my laptop is a Satellite with AMD Turion 64) that if I didn’t back up everything, when I installed Windows 7 it would erase it all!

Well, that’s just not the case.

Normally, I don’t put anything on the Windows drive except Microsoft and Windows files. So it wouldn’t have been any great loss if it had erased the drive. If you’re a techie-type person, you know that you can partition a single hard drive into multiple logical drives (C, D, E and so on).  In this way, you can set aside one drive - usually the C drive - just for Windows. Then have other drives for all your programs, photo’s, games, etc.

In case you’re wondering, there’s a great partitioning program out there called Easeus Partition Master. There are two flavors: the Home Edition, which is free for home users only; and the Pro version which costs less than $40. It is the best and fastest partition tool I’ve ever seen or used. And I’ve used several - all of which at the time were a lot more than $40. And there’s nothing wrong with the free version. It just works!

Back to the upgrade…

Check out the Tech Net site for information on the Windows 7 upgrade. It’s a bit different depending on whether you’re coming from Windows XP or Windows Vista.

From the time that I started running the Windows Easy Transfer tool - (to move all of my settings to an external hard drive - you can use a USB Flash Drive as well) - until completing the installation of Windows 7, was about 2 hours.

The transfer tool did it’s job, moving about 12GB of data to the external Seagate drive.  Then I started up the Windows 7 upgrade - it installed and worked!

I was really surprised how easy the backup and installation was. You need to know that I have been working with and installing Windows Operating Systems since version 3. And before that, I used an Apple Macintosh 512KE, which has (yes, it still runs - as long as I change out the 9 volt battery!) Microsoft Word (called Word for Macintosh) on it. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that Microsoft Word was running  in a GUI (Graphical User Interface) on the Mac - long before Windows came on the seen!?

Anyway, back to the Windows 7 installation. If you are considering upgrading, you should use the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - to verify that your system can actually be upgraded. In my case, I recently built my Main PC, so I knew it would work. But yes - I ran the tool  - just in case :)  - because with software, there always seem to be surprises.

According to all I’ve read, if you are upgrading from Windows XP, you’ll need to re-install every program on your PC. Well, that’s a bit of a stretch. I can say, based on my experience that you will need to re-install all your programs that tie directly into the Windows operating system. Many don’t. And those that don’t, won’t need to be re-installed. In most cases, I just had to provide my serial number or key codes again. But you won’t need to re-install them all.

Of the major programs,  those I’ve had to re-install. Programs such as:  Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Acrobat Reader, CutePDF Pro, CutePDF Writer, Dreamweaver CS3, Corel Paint Shop Pro X2, Corel Painter Essentials 4, and of course - Microsoft Office XP. [I love Office 2007 - but will need to save up some more pennies first.]

Right now, I’m just finishing up cleaning out all the old programs that I won’t need anymore. It’s a lot of work…I have about 2TB’s of storage. (That’s 2 TRILLION BYTES of data storage space!) It’s not all filled, but cleaning up on this system, that means trashing hundred’s of Gigabytes of files - all being sent to the Recycle Bin.

I’ll try to update you on my experiences installing and running Windows XP Mode later. Suffice it to say - it really works!

– David

The energy-efficient home is moving from the horizons of futuristic planners to the agenda of current homeowners.

It’s not so much a matter of newer technologies – though alternate energy sources like solar and geothermal are making considerable inroads in the modern home. It’s more a matter of improvements on very familiar furnishings and appliances. Put simply, these options save by losing less.

It may be well worth it to give your home an efficiency upgrade. First, you’ll want to figure out what needs fixing. To identify problem areas, contact a qualified professional and get an energy audit of your home. Some upgrades are simple and less expensive.

For example, one common problem is insulation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that proper ceiling insulation alone can reduce your heating bill by as much as 20 percent.

Other energy draining can be solved by replacing old fixtures with more modern and efficient models. Windows, doors and skylights equipped with sealed double or triple panes also reduce heating and cooling costs, and are features for which utility companies often offer rebates.

The EPA notes that air leakage from gaps in your home’s structure – holes for plumbing and wiring, for instance – accounts for 25 to 40 percent of the energy a common home uses for heating and cooling. Similar troubles come from inadequately sealed duct joints and otherwise inefficient, older heating and cooling systems. All can be repaired or replaced.

Even conventional systems such as ventilation can release enough heat from your home to cost a fortune in unnecessary bills. Upgrading these systems can pay for itself – and later pay off as an attractive resale value when possible buyers of your home want to benefit from this form of savings.

And when you’re ready to go from finding the problem to fixing it, the government doesn’t just supply the bad news – it provides some solutions, as well. The EPA’s “Energy Star” rating has appeared on numerous products, identifying efficient appliances and other home furnishings that enable vast savings. Energy Star central air conditioners can save 20 percent on cooling bills.

Studies have shown the resale advantages of homes with lower energy costs. Look for such solutions, and buyers will be more likely to look into your home. Your utility bills, Energy Star fact sheets and other documentation can be attractive proof to present to prospective buyers.

In the short term, you can save on some of these improvements even as they enhance your home’s value. In addition to offering expert advice and home-selling solutions, real estate brands such as ERA Real Estate, feature the ERA® Select Services® network of national and local vendors with leading household products, often at a discount.

Consult a local ERA Real Estate professional on how to navigate the options and opportunities available for the energy-conscious homeowner. Your investment in the future can have many returns right in the present.