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Your Air is Inferior!

Home (Indoor Air Quality) Improvement

October 28, 2013 by Scott Bowen

AC_diagram

 

Detailed shot of inside workings of an AC unit.

Indoor air quality is a growing concern for many homeowners. As we spend more and more time indoors, and the air outside becomes increasingly polluted with contaminants; many people are looking for ways to ensure that their home is a safe haven of purified air. Between the contaminants you track in from outside and the large amount you create inside from day-to-day activities, it can be quite difficult to keep the air in your home fresh and clean. Here are a few simple things you can do to improve your home’s indoor air quality:

 

Reduce the Amount of Dirt You Track In

Some large foot mats positioned right inside of any doors leading outside will capture much of the dirt and filth that may otherwise make its way farther into your home. Dirt that gets tracked in with shoes tends to make its way into the air, as well as other contaminants contained within it. If you have a large enough mat, guests can remove most of those unwanted tag-alongs without having to consciously wipe their feet. Just make sure to regularly remove the build up of dirt from the mat where it belongs: outside.

 

Go Fragrance-Free

Many air fresheners contain unwanted pollutants that can irritate the respiratory system. While it may be making your home smell nice, the chemicals that produce the lovely aromas may be filling your air with unwanted contaminants. Consider using all-natural alternatives to keep the pollutants to a minimum.

 

Inspect Your Appliances

Older appliances may emit increased amounts of pollutants, such as asbestos, into the air. Have your aged appliances tested for high amounts of pollution emissions and discuss with an expert what options you have to reduce this unwanted byproduct.

 

Ventilation Issues

Opening windows is a temporary solution to a lack of ventilation in your home. (Re: “Stuffy”) While it can provide some much needed fresh air, it is by no means a solution to the problem. Your system may be improperly designed. You may consider having your system evaluated by a professional in order to determine what, if any, improvements are needed to bring your system up to standard.

 

Dehumidify

Dehumidifiers reduce the moisture in the air; a key component that cultivates mold-growth. Mold spores in the air are not only uncomfortable to imagine breathing in, they can have negative health impacts if not dealt with. Of course a healthy balance is needed; as too little humidity has its own set of issues as well. Speak with an expert to determine what works for you and your home.

 

Most importantly, make sure that you are replacing your system’s air filter on a regular basis. And if you’re not keeping up with regular maintenance on your system, then any fresh air that is brought in has to pass over dirty, contaminated coils.

 

To really get the best air you can breathe, you may be interested in a whole-home air filtration and purification system. For further information, contact Thomas HVAC for a free assessment to determine what options are best for your home comfort.

 

 

Scott Bowen

Comfort Consultant | Thomas HVAC Company

256-858-4822 | scott@coolhuntsville.com | www.coolhuntsville.com

 

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7 Local Backyard Oases You Want to See

I’ve seen many housees in the past years that I would not schedule a return without protection in some form or fasion. Iv’e also seen houses that made me want to stay for a few hours and just relax. The latter being the exception. I thought it might be neat to put together a short and sweet ppost showing some of the great local backyard oases in and around my area. The following are several pools and outdoor kitchens you may want to look into a bit closer. Feel free to comment and or share.

 

custom-concrete pool

Pool with a fountain
Pool with a fountain
Custom Stone raised pool
Custom Stone raised pool

 

Custom Outdoor Kitchen with tongue groove ceiling
Custom Outdoor Kitchen with tongue groove ceiling

 

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Custom concrete with fountain

 

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Outdoor Kitchen overlooking pool

 

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Custom Heated Pool with Mountain views

 

If any of these homes interest you and you would like to take a closer look, feel free to contact me for a showing appointment.

 

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Fannie Mae Shows Signs of a Recovering Market

2013 was an extraordinary year for a lot of Real Estate Pros. Many conversations about the housing market are ending in a much different matter than they had in years past. Lately the story is, “Wow”, We are really seeing an increase in home prices and a decrease in inventory”. Years ago this comment would have been accompanied with a graphic of a donkey with mouth wide open laughing hysterically.

The Real Estate market is definitely showing signs of growth and movement. Today home prices are beginning to slightly increase and whispers of a “Sellers Market” are rolling off agents tongues. This truly makes people a little more comfortable with the country still trying to pull out of the recent crash. All of this still would simply be mostly “lip Service” if not for the the giants of the mortgage market producing such impressive numbers. Let’s take a look at Fannie Mae and data released in a recent article by Timothy J. Mayopoulos President and Chief Executive Officer, Fannie Mae 

In the statement Fannie Mae reveals their financial performance, over the past few years, has improved significantly, and in 2013 reported “84.0 billion in net income and $38.6 billion in pre-tax income, the highest annual income and annual pre-tax income in our company’s history”. In addition to this improvement Fannie Mae also has strengthened the underwriting and eligibility standards as so to promote a more sustainable housing market as related to homeownership.

In addition to developing stronger requirements for home buying eligibility, Fannie Mae has also worked to help owners avoid foreclosure by “completing more than 1.5 million workout solutions since 2009. In 2013, we completed 234,000 foreclosure prevention solutions. Less than 1 percent of the single-family loans in our book went into foreclosure in 2013, and we strive to help every at-risk family find an alternative to foreclosure.”

Below is a graphic giving a few numbers to grow on. Take a look and decide for yourself if you still should be standing on the sidelines or if it is time to Move forward?

fannie mae numbers at a glance

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Bad, Bad Real Estate!

As the Real Estate market turns the corner and begins the ascent back to sustainable numbers, we are starting to see increased inventory. With this increase we are also getting new photography ideas. While spending hours per day viewing hundreds of listings and images for clients, there seems to be a great number of Agents who should have their picture taking license revolked.

Understandingly, it is extremely difficult to get a perfect picture to successfully market a home online. To be honest, some  are not even trying. A simple smartphone takes better pictures than a large part of what can be found online.

For the ones who do use a camera that does need to be wound after each click or dropped off at a discount store for processing, a simple scan of your surroundings first could go a long way. Take a look at a few images recently compiled from a local MLS. These homes are currently being marketed online with these photos.

If any of these images are of your house or you took the photo or know who did please keep the identity hidden. This is in no way a solicitation of business nor an insinuation to hire a different Realtor. It is simply a lighthearted light shedding exercise to help increase the quality images used for Real Estate marketing online.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

cluttered-real-estate-photo
A little decluttering maybe?
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People in the picture?
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Dirty sinks, clutter, blurry, time stamp on the picture?

 

 

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YIKES!
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What is this even of?
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This could be a scary ghost sighting? When you see it.
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A Blair Witch project?
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Showing the great small space perfectly?
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Looks like a picture was taken of a picture?
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Ready for spaghetti and syrup?
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Guess what this is and WIN?
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Must be a flip phone?
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North Alabama Area school closings for Winter storm

EXIT

 

 

 

Alabama A&M Universitydelayed until 10am Tuesday
Albertville City Schoolsclosed Tuesday
Arab City Schoolsclosed Tuesday
Athens City Schoolsdelayed 2 hours Tuesday
Athens State Universitydelayed until 10am Tuesday
Bethel Baptist Schooldelayed 3 hours Tuesday
Boaz City SchoolsClosed Tuesday
Cherokee County Schoolsclosed Tuesday
Colbert County Schoolsdelayed until 10am Tuesday
Cornerstone Christian Schooldelayed 3 hours Tuesday
Country Day Schooldelayed until 10:30am Tuesday
Covenant Christian Schooldelayed until 10am Tuesday
Cullman City Schoolsclosed Tuesday
Cullman County Schoolsclosed Tuesday
DeKalb County Schoolsdelayed 3 hours Tuesday
Etowah County Schoolsclosed Tuesday
First Baptist Child Dev Centeropening 9am Tuesday
Florence City Schoolsdelayed 2 hours Tuesday
Franklin County Schools (AL)delayed 3 hours Tuesday
Ft Payne City Schoolsclosed Tuesday
Gadsden State Community CollegeAll campuses closed Tuesday
Guntersville City Schoolsclosed Tuesday
Hartselle City Schoolsdelayed 3 hours Tuesday
Huntsville City SchoolsDelayed 2 hours Tuesday
J. F. Drake State Technical Collegeopening 10am Tuesday
Jackson County Schoolsclosed Tuesday
Lauderdale County Schoolsdelayed until 10am Tuesday
Lawrence County Schoolsdelayed 2 hours Tuesday
Limestone County Schoolsdelayed 3 hours Tuesday
Madison Academydelayed until 10am Tuesday
Madison City Schoolsdelayed 2 hours Tuesday
Madison County Schoolsdelayed 2 hours Tuesday
Mars Hill Bible Schooldelayed until 10am Tuesday
Marshall County Schoolsclosed Tuesday
Muscle Shoals City Schoolsdelayed 2 hours Tuesday
Northwest-Shoalsdelayed 3 hours Tuesday
Oakwood Adventist Academydelayed until 10am Tuesday
Russellville City Schoolsdelayed 3 hours Tuesday
Scottsboro City Schoolsclosed Tuesday
Sheffield City Schoolsdelayed until 10am Tuesday
Snead State Community Collegeclosed Tuesday
St Bernard Prep Schoolclosed Tuesday
Tuscumbia City Schoolsdelayed until 10am Tuesday
Virginia Collegeopening 10am Tuesday
Wallace State Community CollegeClosing at 3 p.m. Monday, evening classes cancelled
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Huntsville Alabama “New Clinton Ave Project” to Bring Downtown Shopping Alive!

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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — When Alabama Media Group moved its Huntsville hub downtown in October, one of the first things some of us noticed while walking around the corner for lunch was a nice downtown building on Clinton Avenue that was filled with mini-storage units.

What a waste of a prime downtown space, we thought.

Chad Emerson, the CEO of Downtown Huntsville Inc., must have had the same thought when he started his new job as downtown development guru in August. On Wednesday, Emerson announced The Clinton Avenue Project, something that’s apparently been in the works since just after Emerson arrived.

Chad Emerson-river.jpgChad Emerson, CEO of Downtown Huntsville, Inc.

Downtown Huntsville Inc. will lease six of the ground floor storage units and sub-lease them to small business start-ups that need a place to get off the ground.

“It gives local, small business entrepreneurs an opportunity to test whether their retail concept can be successful in an urban, walkable setting like downtown,” Emerson told AL.com business writer Lucy Berry.

Here’s a sample of the small businesses that will incubate in the storage units: Anne Condit will open up Live Easy, a handcrafted art and goods store; Huntsville artist Christian Wegman will sell original paintings and prints; another unit will feature a rotating gallery for artists to sell their work for up to two weeks at a time; and John Whitman, a visiting University of Alabama in Huntsville professor and founder ofHuntsville Open Tech Coffee (HOTCoffee), will launch a new public service venture called Business Button in one of the units.

The city and organizations like DHI predecessor Big Spring Partners have been working for years, with some success, to revitalize a downtown that once was dominated by bail bond companies and lawyers offices.

Emerson and his one employee, Director of Communications and Branding Macy Chapman, along with a dedicated board of local business and “thought leaders” such as Chairman Evans Quinlivan and Vice Chair Scott Averbuch, are taking it quickly to the next level.

The accomplishments in just six months are almost too many to list, but here are some highlights.

The early success is evidence of the pent-up demand for unique, interesting, and walkable experiences

• The fun and creative “Pop-up Parks” competition brought people downtown in November to play Twister, visit outdoor coffee bars and Zen gardens built overnight in parking spaces around the courthouse square.

Chad Emerson Pop Up Parks.JPGDowntown Huntsville Inc. CEO Chad Emerson checks out the Pop Up Park entries on the Courthouse Square earlier this month. (Eric Schultz | eschultz@al.com)

• Tapping into the nationwide food truck craze, Downtown Huntsville Inc., sponsored astreet food gatheringdowntown that was wildly successful. The City Council has helped take advantage of the phenomenon by amending an ordinance to let food trucks serve downtown seven days a week.

• In January, Emerson and DHIpresented awards for Downtown Development of the Year (Belk-Hudson Lofts); Downtown Advocate of the Year (city planner Marie Bostick); and Downtown Event of the Year (Greene Street Market).

• On Feb. 9, DHI brings the “Retro Winter Games” downtown, complete with dodgeball, capture the flag and foursquare.

• There are plans in the works for a downtown putt-putt golf challenge sometime in the spring.

There are also bigger, more permanent projects in the works that the city and DHI are working together on, including a redevelopment of the old Holiday Inn property and a new convention hotel across from the Von Braun Center.

Emerson also has announced a “Blue Sky Idea” project to generate even more new and eclectic events and projects, even if they are dreams – like a downtown tram system — of what could be if we had millions to invest.

In such a short time here, Emerson, who came from a similar position in Montgomery, has become a trusted adviser to the mayor and local business leaders, and brought much-needed energy to the job of promoting and building a vibrant downtown.

In Emerson’s words: “The early success is evidence of the pent-up demand for unique, interesting, and walkable experiences. This downtown has so many assets that there’s no reason it shouldn’t become one of the best among peer cities.”

Written by Director of Community News Shelly Haskins for the Alabama Media Group editorial board in Huntsville