Posts with tag 'new homeowners'

If you're looking to preserve a piece of architectural history and repurpose it into a living space, converting an old barn into a home might be just what you need. Across New England, converting an old barn frame into a new residence or secondary home building has been catching on. 

While it seems like a simple enough project, there is much more challenge than meets the eye when building a barndominium. If you're up for the task, here's how to get started. 

Research Old Barn Frames

You will want to make sure you have a solid understanding of common layouts in historical barn frames so that you can incorporate your new living space details well inside the old framework.

Having thi...

Click Here to Read More...

Last month, I noticed a massive groundhog hanging out in my yard. I've seen groundhogs around in the past, but usually an infrequent sighting here and there, as if my yard served as a pass-through rather than a home. This one, however, was lying on the ramp leading into my shed, sunning herself. As soon as she noticed me, she scurried under the shed, which I presumed to be the location of her burrow. The next day, there she was again, all flubber and fur laying out in the sun. This went on for a while, until one day she was flanked by two other groundhogs, much smaller than her. All three retreated to their burrow once they noticed me, and that is when I realized I didn't have just one groundhog living under my shed, but an entire groundhog family lived unde...

Click Here to Read More...

Allow me to set the scene: I am home alone, on my day off, doing some cleaning. It's the end of the day, with the sun hanging on for maybe another thirty minutes or so, and I decide to start a load of laundry. It's a bit windy outside, but nothing too wild or crazy. No rain, no thunder.

I head downstairs into the basement to start my laundry, and as I'm filling the washing machine, the lightbulb in the lamp above my head starts to flicker. I think to myself, I really hope that bulb doesn't go out; I don't think I have any extras. But, I am not too worried about it, as the light that illuminates the rest of the basement is just fine—or so I think.

As I'm loading the last part of my laundry into the washing machine, everything suddenly goes dark. I...

Click Here to Read More...

Purchasing a new home is a milestone worth celebrating. It comes with so many great benefits and a lot to get excited about. Still, there are some challenges to the process to keep in mind.

One major aspect to prepare for and consider as you move into first-time home ownership is managing your finances and planning for additional costs that may not always be obvious.

Here are some things to remember to budget for in your first year of homeownership. 

One–Time and Initial Costs

There are some additional costs that come with buying a new property and moving in. One such category is your closing costs. You should also remember to include the one-time moving f...

Click Here to Read More...

It's officially winter, and we've already seen several days and nights where the temperature has gone below zero. I remember a few Decembers back, we were hit with a stretch of fifty-degree days filled with rain and heavy winds. The wind caused a ton of damage, leaving a lot of people without power, one of them being me. Without any power, I also had no heat, and it seemed as though in a matter of hours the warm rain was replaced by bone-chilling cold. To this day, I don't know how I made it out of those few days without a frozen-pipe disaster.

Click Here to Read More...