If your Brooklyn home was built more than 35 years ago, as most were, bringing your electrical wiring up to code is worth serious consideration. Not only will you maintain the safety of your home and family, your house will meet updated building codes and national requirements for residential homes. Today’s households utilize more gadgets, devices, and appliances than ever before. And that means easily overloaded electrical systems and possible danger to families living in older homes with outdated and insufficient electrical wiring.

Indications Your Electrical Wiring is Not Up to Code

How do you as a homeowner know whether or not the electrical wiring in your home needs updating? Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do the lights in your home flicker?
• Are breakers constantly tripping or fuses frequently blowing?
• In order to use one appliance, do you need to another appliance off?
• Have you discovered melted electrical wiring?
• Do you have faulty circuit breakers that don’t trip causing shocks, overheating and fire?

The issues caused by outdated electrical wiring are easily resolved with the installation of a new electrical panel.

Tell-Tale Signs Your Home is in Need of a New Electrical Panel

Just as old electrical wiring needs to be brought up to code, your electrical panel needs to be updated or replaced. Look at and listen to your panel box.

• Do you hear crackling sounds from your panel box?
• Is there corrosion or rust on the breakers or panel?
• Are any of the electrical service conductors overheating?

More Signs Your Electrical Panel Needs to be Replaced

Now take a walk through your house to look for and consider the following:

• Do any appliances run at less than full power?
• See any two-pronged outlets? Two-pronged outlets are non-grounded.
• Are your kitchen and bathrooms equipped with GFCIs (ground fault circuit interrupters)?
• How many extension cords do you own and how often must you use them?
• Do you need surge protectors to protect the appliances in your home?
• Was your home built with a 60-amp electrical service? Does it still run on that 60-amp electrical service?
• Is your electrical panel a fuse block panel or split-buss panel? A split-buss panel is an electrical panel with no main breaker.
• If your home has a 100-amp electrical service, is it sufficient to run necessary appliances?

Other Reasons You Need a New Electrical Panel

• Kitchen renovation
• Home addition
• Installation of a major appliance: HVAC system, stoves, spas, power equipment, etc
• More outlets are needed
• Homeowners insurance requirements have to be met
• A 240-volt circuit is needed
• A sub-panel needs to be added

What is an Electrical Panel?

Your electrical panel is a painted or gray metal box mounted on a wall inside your home. It is easily accessible and usually located in a utility room, laundry room, garage, basement, or closet. In rare instances, an electrical panel may be located outside the home.

Your utility company provides power to your home via your electrical panel. Power is systematically distributed throughout your home through major and minor electrical wiring which branch out from your electrical panel. Thus a properly functioning electrical panel is essential for home safety and the use of your gadgets, devices, and appliances.

Just Because You’re Living in a Newer Home Doesn’t Mean Your Electrical Panel is Safe

Fuse boxes were designed before the 1950’s. And they were built to handle only 30-60 amps of power. Our appliances today require 100-200 amps or more. This is why fuse boxes pose huge fire and electrocution safety risks. If your home uses a fuse box or any of the following electrical panels, have a new electrical panel installed immediately:

• Federal Pacific Electric Electrical Panel
• Zinsco Electrical Panel
• Pushmatic Electrical Panel

Is your electrical wiring in dire need of an update? Does your Brooklyn home need a new electrical panel? Schedule an electrical inspection of your older home. Update your electrical wiring in steps, if necessary, but start today. Prevent electrical emergencies, and protect your home and family.

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Charles D’Alessandro

Your Brooklyn Real Estate Agent with Fillmore Real Estate

718-253-9600 ext. 206

[email protected]

 

The kids return to school, trees lose their leaves, pumpkin-flavored everything hits the stores, and we don our favorite warm sweaters. Some celebrate Halloween and put candy makers in the black for another year. Then, before we know it, it’s time to plan a bountiful Thanksgiving Day feast and start decorating for Christmas. Are the holidays really a viable time to buy a home? With all the festivities and merrymaking taking place until New Years, who even has time to sell a home? But the holidays are the perfect time for house hunting, and here are five great reasons why it makes good sense.

Merry Christmas! Let’s Go House Hunting!

Because everyone else is planning feasts and vacations or checking off gifts from their gift list, house hunting during the holidays can pay off in a big way for a buyer.

1. There are fewer buyers

Most people are busy celebrating, attending, hosting, and opting out of house hunting. I mean, who wants to be out in cold, snowy weather anyway? And fewer buyers means less competition and less stress for you.

2. Home sellers are highly motivated

Since home sellers are highly motivated to sell in December, they are open to negotiations. The number of homes available to choose from may be small, but sellers are much more flexible. And you might get a better deal!

What makes a home seller so motivated to sell in December?

• Relocation

If they have school-aged children, they may want to get into a new home before the last half of the school year begins.

• Their Home was Listed in the Fall

Sellers may be feeling anxious that their home is still on the market after Thanksgiving after having listed it back in September. And they may have grown weary of staging and leaving their home each time strangers want to walk through it.

• Tax Advantages

– A contract in hand before the end of the year can be beneficial to a seller for two reasons.

– A landlord incurs a loss on a rental property and wants to claim that loss as a deduction for the same calendar year.

– A seller expects a salary raise after January 1. This could subject them to a higher capital gains tax on the sale of their home if it sells for a large profit. It would be financially advantageous to sell the home before their raise in salary kicks in after the first of the new year.

3. Buying before year’s end brings tax perks in April

Homeownership allows you to deduct mortgage interest and property taxes in April. And that can add up to a lot in dollars saved. Property tax deduction caps at $10,000. Homeowners are allowed to deduct the interest on mortgages up to $500,000. This is down from the current $1 million.

And if you itemize your taxes, many closing fees are tax-deductible. Check with your accountant about this.

4. You’ll get a more accurate idea of what you’re going to live in

Houses for sale in the spring always look irresistible due to their curb appeal. Newly-planted flowers, lots of natural light, budding trees, warm temperatures, and fresh air make house hunting an encouraging endeavor. But cold, dreary weather has a way of revealing things about a home that need attention. Ask yourself, “Can I live with this draftiness or poorly lit kitchen next year?”

Cold weather also reveals issues to inspectors that they wouldn’t normally find if the home was being inspected in a warmer season. But make sure your home inspector checks how well the air conditioning unit works and what condition the roof is in if it’s covered with snow.

5. Professionals are more accessible

December is a slow month for movers, inspectors, and mortgage brokers, too. This makes them available to help you move right away.

Real estate agents and lenders usually have fewer clients in December which makes them eager to get your home purchase closed before December 31. And because they have fewer clients in December, they’ll be more readily available and have more time to answer questions.

House hunting during the holidays is advantageous for buyers because of the season’s activities. So, go ahead. Avoid overwhelm and ring in the New Year with the purchase of a lifetime! And don’t worry. Santa will find you in your new home!

Call Charles D’Alessandro to start house hunting in Brooklyn this month.  Contact Charles D’Alessandro, your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate, at (718) 253-9700 ext. 206 today or click here now.

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Charles D’Alessandro

Your Brooklyn Real Estate Agent with Fillmore Real Estate

718-253-9600 ext. 206

[email protected]