Maintain your new home to preserve its value

[caption id="attachment_761" align="alignleft" width="225"] (Photo credit: Paul/Flickr)[/caption] When we buy a home, we hope that it'll be a great place to live. But we also hope to own a property that will see its value appreciate over time and become a nice retirement nest egg when the time comes. It's important to maintain your property so it'll help you achieve the retirement of your dreams. When you purchase a newly built home, you'll have done the pre-delivery inspection on the property's interior, exterior and systems. Once you've made note of any of the issues and notified the proper people, there are steps that can be taken to have your home look better longer. Since we're now in fall, you'll want to clean out your gutters and downspouts of any leaves and debris to avoid draining issues later on. If you have a hose, make sure it's removed and stored properly. Also, if you plan to use your chimney, check your roof and chimney for any damage. If your windows are leaking air, you'll want to check your sealing and either change them or install weather stripping before winter sets in. You'll also want to check your furnace and humidifier to ensure they're in good working order when it comes time to turn them on. During the winter, most of your home maintenance will happen indoors since people are less likely to want to get out in the cold. Make sure your central air conditioning unit is protected and while snow shovelling, check that any snow on your rooftop is cleared so it doesn't block your vents. Your furnace filter should be regularly changed and cleaned and your heat recovery ventilator should too. Regularly clean your humidifier and check your exhaust fans. This is also a good time to clean your drains, which can be done by flushing them with baking soda, vinegar and hot water. When spring comes around, your biggest issue is handling the melting snow, rain and wind. Make sure your furnace filter and heat recovery ventilator is regularly cleaned. You'll also need to clean your eavestrough and downspout and check for any damage to your roof, shingles, driveway and walkway. If you have a sump pump in your basement, check that it's working to handle the melting snow and rain. Inspect your fencing and caulking too. With the gorgeous summer weather back, it may be hard to convince yourself to regularly do housework, but tell yourself that it will pay off in the long run. Drain or flush your water heater and change or clean your HVAC. Air out your basement on dry days and inspect your roof, shed, garage, window and door sealing, septic systems, exhaust fans, driveways, walkways, doors and locks. In a condo, you have less home issues to worry about, but one problem that could cause a lot of damage in the long run is moisture, but if there are ways to prevent it from wrecking havoc on your property's value. Also, check and reset your ground fault circuit interrupter and test your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors once a month. Whether you decide to buy a newly built home as a place to call home or to rent out, recover some of your money through an HST rebate with help from Rebate4U. Our priority is to provide our clients with the most professional and quality service in obtaining rebates for their new and renovated homes. We are proud to offer our clients the most personal and attentive service, and we make sure that all of our clients are 100% satisfied.