It's that time of year again, winter.  After a fairly temperate holiday season, it is easy to get a little lackadaisical about preparing your home for the fury of winter.  For this edition we checked in with Ned, who heads up our home watch services, about some winter hazards and how to get your home ready.  The point he stresses more than any other is the benefit of having a neighbor or qualified and insured business keeping an eye on your home.

Freezing

Winter on Cape Cod is not kidding around.  At the time of writing it is the beginning of 2020 and approximately 40 degrees outside.  But ol' Jack Frost knows better than anyone how to lull homeowners into a false sense of security.  Ned's tip? Turn off your water and drain your pipes.  Ned is fanatical about this and will even shut off his water in the summer if he leaves for a few days.  Here is his explanation.

"With your water off at the main line, a freezing incident (or broken pipe) is never as catastrophic.  All that can happen is the amount of water sitting in the pipes leaks out of the break, but no more!  If you leave your water on and a pipe breaks on Friday, by Sunday this could be gallons of water pouring onto your wood floors and destroying your drywall.  With a well winterized home including drained pipes, a shut-off main, antifreeze in strategic locations, and human eyes walking through habitable spaces, you greatly reduce the possibility of damage as well as the amount of damage that does happen.  The horror story is a former sales client had, over several months, tens of thousands of gallons leak out of a broken pipe before anyone noticed.  Please have your house checked."

Pests

Cold outside is cold for everything, including animals that like to be warm and fed.  If you winterize your home we recommend removing all food items, even those in plastic packages and bags.  Mice will eat through bags of rice or popcorn and make a mess in your pantry.  Also chimneys are a consideration if you don't need them for venting a furnace since raccoons, opossums and plenty of other animals can make homes in them over the winter leading to messy cleanup come spring.  

Storm Damage

As always Nor'Easters are a very real threat to property here on Cape Cod.  With hurricane force winds battering trees and roofs, these storms can drop branches or entire trees on your home.  We recommend some simple things to get ready for any storm here, and particularly where landscaping is concerned.  The main idea, remove large trees and limbs from the area immediately surrounding your house.  Old pitch pines are particularly susceptible to breaking off near the top and dropping heavy and damaging tops on houses, so pay close attention to these when assessing your landscaping.

Be prepared this winter and add the peace of mind of having a person walk through and around your home by contacting Chatelain Real Estate today.  With our house watch service you don't need to wait until April to discover a problem that has been ongoing since January.

With the 2019 hurricane season in full swing and the memory of the bizarre July Tornadoes still fresh in our minds, preparing for a storm should be a concern before winter hits.  Late summer and fall hurricanes do pose serious concerns for the Cape, winter Nor'easters are often just as damaging with the additional possibility of freezing [...]

For this blog we delve into the wealth of knowledge accumulated by Ed over his (undisclosed) years spent working in the yard on Cape Cod.  With the cold wetness this spring in particular we wanted to share some pro-tips to keep lichens from taking over your roof and improve the curb appeal of your [...]

With Spring finally here we are ready to shake off our winter coats and enjoy longer days and better weather (soon).  But take a rainy day this April (like today!) and make your home clean and tidy with these easy and fun spring cleaning [...]

It's that time again, Spring.  The daffodils are starting to poke up through the ground, afternoons are getting warmer, and homeowners are starting to take a long hard look at the shambles of their yards and homes after the winter.  We decided to take a bit of time for another installment of "Ask Agnes" and focus on home improvements and [...]

Don't you love a fresh coat of paint?  What better way to freshen up a room or change the style and swagger of your home.  Unfortunately painting can come with the undesirable consequence of an overpowering odor.  But don't let that discourage you from changing to the palette of your dreams.  With these helpful tips from Nolan Painting you can paint with abandon and enjoy the new colors, without the smell.

As always, if you are thinking of buying or selling your home give the professionals at Chatelain Real Estate a call today.  Or for more tips on homeownership check out our blog homeowner categories or our page dedicated to living on Cape Cod.

Massachusetts Governor Baker recently signed into law a change to the taxable nature of short term rentals.  This affects many of the property owners on Cape Cod who rent for less than 31 days in the summer months.  Some relevant information can be found on the [...]

Fall is a great time to consider more significant home improvements including bathroom and kitchen remodeling, exterior residing and shingling, and landscaping upgrades and improvements.  With the holidays still months away many projects can be completed before guests, turkeys, and trees begin occupying your time.  If your project is a more [...]

  As the days get shorter and the prospect of fall becomes ever more apparent, outdoor landscaping improvements seem less daunting.  Cooler weather makes outdoor projects more enjoyable and undertaking even simple jobs can add significantly to the curb appeal of your home.  The National Association of Realtors published a report relating to [...]

    We think this article by Tom Vanderbilt at Outsideonline is particularly poignant.  While it characterizes a mountain town in Colorado the parallels to Cape Cod are astounding.  Vanderbilt describes how the growing trend in short term rentals through companies like Airbnb is slowly eliminating potential housing for residents.  The problem is one of economics: if you can own a home in a desirable area, why would you rent it on a long term basis - yearly for example - when you can rent it on a short-term basis, through a company like Airbnb, and generate more income?  Vanderbilt follows a local father struggling to make ends meet, working multiple jobs, and worrying about where he will live when the tourist season starts...sound familiar?  What makes the Cape such a great place to live also makes it a great place to vacation and it is difficult to dissuade a homeowner from the extra income potential.

    On Cape Cod we are finding that more and more homes are being rented just for the summer, making them unavailable for long term lease seekers.  In fact, in response to the decreasing supply of affordable housing on Cape Cod, CCYP is holding a design competition for architects (see the brochure here).  The contest encourages a repeatable homes design balancing 'affordability, utility, adaptability, durability and suitability for the target demographic (young professionals, working families, year round residents).'  Other initiatives on Cape Cod seek to remove restrictions on building and renting accessory dwelling units (more commonly known as in-law apartments) to increase the amount of available housing.  This link comes from the local MLS on Cape Cod and describes the problem well.

    While the economy plays a large roll in housing trends on Cape Cod we are curious to see where the future will lead.  On one side of the coin locals will be increasingly priced out of the market and the Cape will be a resort where service personnel commute from less expensive housing elsewhere.  On the other side of the coin the development of Cape Cod will find a balance between the tourist economy that sustains the region and more permanent solutions.

If you are interested in learning more about housing on Cape Cod and buying or selling property please contact us today with your questions.