By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The housing market is flashing signs of health ahead of the spring buying season.
Sales of previously occupied homes are at their highest level since May 2010. More first-time buyers are making purchases. And the supply of homes fell last month to its lowest point in nearly seven years, which could push home prices higher.
Sales have now risen nearly 13 percent over the past six months. While they are still well below the 6 million that economists equate with a healthy market, the gains have coincided with other changes in the market that suggest more sales are coming.
"The trend is clearly upward," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that re-sales increased 4.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million.
Single-family home sales rose 3.8 percent. And the number of first-time buyers, who are critical to a housing recovery, increased slightly to make up 33 percent of all sales. That’s still below 40 percent, which tends to signal a healthy market.
One concern is that the market is still saturated with homes at risk of foreclosure, which can lower home prices generally. Those increased to make up 35 percent of sales.
But the supply of homes on the market has plunged to 2.3 million, the lowest level since March 2005. At last month’s sales pace, it would take more than six months to clear those homes, consistent with a healthy housing market. Fewer homes on the market could help boost prices over time.
Most economists said the January report was encouraging, especially when viewed with other recent positive housing data.
Mortgage rates have never been lower. Homebuilders are slightly more hopeful because more people are saying they might be open to buying this year — and they responded in January to that interest by requesting more permits to construct single-family homes.

"The rise in existing home sales in recent months adds to the indication from housing starts, building permits, and homebuilder sentiment that the sector has improved modestly since the middle of 2011," said John Ryding, an economist at RDQ economics.
Much of the optimism has come because hiring has picked up. More jobs are critical to a housing rebound. In January, employers added 243,000 net jobs — the most in nine months — and the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, the lowest level in nearly three years.
Analysts caution that the damage from the housing bust is deep and the industry is years away from fully recovering. Since the bubble burst, sales have slumped under the weight of foreclosures, tighter credit and falling prices.
Many deals are also collapsing before they close. One-third of Realtors say that they’ve had at least one contract scuttled over the past four months. That’s up from 18 percent in September.
Realtors say deals are collapsing for several reasons: Banks have declined mortgage applications. Home inspectors have found problems. Appraisals have come in lower than the bid. Or a buyer suffered a financial setback before the closing.
Sales rose across the country in January. They rose on a seasonal basis by nearly 9 percent in the West, 3.5 percent in the South, 3.4 percent in the Northeast and 1 percent in the Midwest.

By Brian O’Connell

NEW YORK (MainStreet) – Growing signs of improvement in the housing market could draw more buyers in the coming months, and although the rules of the game haven’t changed much, the big question for anyone returning to the housing market – or getting into it for the first time – is what are the long-term lessons to be learned from the recent housing downturn?

In fact, all the key lessons are things buyers and borrowers should have known before the housing crash – the crash just underscored how important they were. Even if the market does improve this year, as many experts predict, it’s not likely to strengthen fast enough to offset the damage homeowners do when they make basic mistakes.

Lesson 1: Buy the cheapest home that will serve your needs for the next seven to 10 years. As we’ve seen, home prices can and do fall from time to time. That may be rare on a nationwide basis, but it happens quite often in individual markets. The more expensive your home is, the more you will lose if the market turns south.

Also, the recent downturn highlights a fact well known among experts but resisted by many homeowners: Homes are not always a very good investment. Even when there is not a downturn, in the average year home appreciation barely beats inflation, and mortgage interest, insurance, taxes, maintenance and other costs can turn a home into a money loser. It can be much more profitable to own a modest home and invest the savings in something more promising.

Lesson 2: Plan to stay put for a good, long while. Traditionally, experts assumed that the average homeowner could break even in four or five years. During that time a home could be expected to gain enough value to offset the various costs of buying and selling, making owning better than renting. But price gains could be small and intermittent during the next few years, pushing the breakeven period to seven, eight, even 10 years.

Lesson 3: Stick with a simple mortgage, like the standard 30-year fixed-rate loan. This is kind of a no-brainer right now, as lenders aren’t offering the exotic types of loans that got people into trouble in the mid-2000s – things like subprime, interest-only and pay-what-you-want loans. But as conditions improve, lenders could again offer unique products that could backfire.

Borrowers who can stomach some risk and don’t expect to keep their loans for decades might take a look at straightforward adjustable-rate loans, like five- and seven-year ARMs that don’t start rate adjustments until the initial period is over. But to make any ARM an acceptable risk, you must be certain you can afford the largest payment it could possibly require.

Lesson 4: Spruce up your credit rating. While this has always been a good practice, it is especially so now that lenders are so jittery. The borrower with a top-notch rating is likely to get a much lower mortgage rate than someone with a so-so rating.

Lesson 5: Don’t go overboard on home improvements. For many years, studies have shown that major improvements like new kitchens and bathrooms do not add as much value to a home as they cost. Improvements are lifestyle expenditures, not investments.

Winter’s doldrums got you down? Grab a screwdriver and a hammer and fight back with easy home repairs that’ll raise spirits and get your house ready for spring.
Accomplishments — even little ones — go a long way toward a sunny outlook. Fortunately, there are plenty of easy, quick home repair chores you can do when you’re mired in the thick of winter. For max efficiency, make a to-do list ahead of time and shop for all the tools and supplies in one trip. On your work days, put the basics in a caddy and carry it from room to room, checking off completed tasks as you speed through them.

What to look (and listen) for
In each room, look around and take stock of what needs fixing or improving. Focus on small, quick-hit changes, not major redos. Here are some likely suspects:
1. Sagging towel rack or wobbly toilet tissue holder. Unscrew the fixture and look for the culprit. It’s probably a wimpy, push-in type plastic drywall anchor. Pull that out (or just poke it through the wall) and replace it with something more substantial. Toggle bolts are strongest, and threaded types such as E-Z Ancor are easy to install.
2. Squeaky door hinges. Eliminate squeaks by squirting a puff of powdered graphite ($2.50 for a 3-gram tube) alongside the pin where the hinge turns. If the door sticks, plane off a bit of the wood, then touch up the paint so the surgery isn’t noticeable.
3. Creaky floor boards. They’ll shush if you fasten them down better. Anti-squeak repair kits, such as Squeeeeek No More ($23), feature specially designed screws that are easy to conceal. A low-cost alternative: Dust a little talcum powder into the seam where floorboards meet — the talcum acts as a lubricant to quiet boards that rub against each other.
4. Rusty shutoff valves. Check under sinks and behind toilets for the shutoff valves on your water supply lines. These little-used valves may slowly rust in place over time, and might not work when you need them most. Keep them operating by putting a little machine oil or WD-40 on the handle shafts. Twist the handles back and forth to work the oil into the threads. If they won’t budge, give the oil a couple of hours to penetrate, and try again.
5. Blistered paint on shower ceilings. This area gets a lot of heat and moisture that stresses paint finishes. Scrape off old paint and recoat, using a high-quality exterior-grade paint. Also, be sure everyone uses the bathroom vent when showering to help get rid of excess moisture.
6. Loose handles or hinges on furniture, cabinets, and doors. You can probably fix these with a few quick turns of a screwdriver. But if a screw just spins in place, try making the hole fit the screw better by stuffing in a toothpick coated with glue, or switching to a larger screw.
Safety items
You know those routine safety checks you keep meaning to do but never have the time? Now’s the time.
7. Carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. If you don’t like waking up to the annoying chirp of smoke detector batteries as they wear down, do what many fire departments recommend and simply replace all of them at the same time once a year.
8. Ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlets. You’re supposed to test them once a month, but who does? Now’s a great time. You’ll find them around potentially wet areas — building codes specify GFCI outlets in bathrooms, kitchens, and for outdoor receptacles. Make sure the device trips and resets correctly. If you find a faulty outlet, replace it or get an electrician to do it for $75 to $100.

Another good project is to replace your GFCIs with the latest generation of protected outlets that test themselves, such as Levitron’s SmartlockPro Self-Test GFCI ($28). You won’t have to manually test ever again!
9. Exhaust filter for the kitchen stove. By washing it to remove grease, you’ll increase the efficiency of your exhaust vent; plus, if a kitchen stovetop fire breaks out, this will help keep the flames from spreading.
10. Clothes dryer vent. Pull the dryer out from the wall, disconnect the vent pipe, and vacuum lint out of the pipe and the place where it connects to the machine. Also, wipe lint off your exterior dryer vent so the flap opens and closes easily. (You’ll need to go outside for that, but it’s quick.) Remember that vents clogged with old dryer lint are a leading cause of house fires.
11. Drain hoses. Inspect your clothes washer, the dishwashers, and the icemaker. If you see any cracks or drips, replace the hose so you don’t come home to a flood one day.
12. Electrical cords. Replace any that are brittle, cracked, or have damaged plugs. If you’re using extension cords, see if you can eliminate them — for example, by replacing that too-short lamp cord with one that’s longer. If you don’t feel up to rewiring the lamp yourself, drop it off at a repair shop as you head out to shop for your repair materials. It might not be ready by the end of the day. But, hey, one half-done repair that you can’t check off is no big deal, right?

February Buying Advice: See what homebuyers put on their ‘must-have’ lists — and which features they realized they didn’t need.

By Melinda Fulmer of MSN Real Estate

Just as most of us have a list of traits that are non-negotiable in a spouse, every house hunter has a list of things he or she wants in a house. Of course, these features and amenities won’t necessarily ensure a match that stands the test of time.

We asked our readers to tell us what they love most about their current home and what, in hindsight, was clearly just a passing fancy. In this month’s Buying Advice, we’ll look at the real-estate love letters they wrote and compare them with what buyers are shopping for today.

We’ll also check in with the latest home-sales data that hint at a bottoming market and answer a question that many first-time homebuyers have: "Where do I start?"

Finding the perfect house
It doesn’t take a mansion to satisfy most of our readers over the long haul. Indeed, for many of those responding to last month’s query, it was the small conveniences — a laundry area near the bedrooms or a spacious closet — that helped ensure long-term love.

However, the one thing that seemed to bring the most satisfaction was a bright open space, no matter the square footage:

"Of all the houses that I have built/purchased/leased, the one issue that stands paramount is openness — large windows and an open-concept interior home plan," said reader Alan Sadler via email. "There is nothing more depressing than walls, walls and more walls."

Jane Curkendall agreed, putting at the top of her list for her next home an "open floor plan" where the kitchen and family room are together, "lots and lots of light" and "lots and lots of windows." Maybe that’s because she wound up spending so much time in her current home’s sunroom addition. "This is where our office is, and where we hang out," she said in her email.

Large windows with a nice view can make up for a home’s shortcomings, readers said.

"Our home is flooded with warm light for most of the day," said reader Ralph Banks from New York, via email. "We also still enjoy the water views out of some of the windows of our home after living here for 27 years."

Carrie Douglas, a buyer, said she is looking for "pleasant outdoor vistas visible from the windows" in her next home, as long as it also includes an up-to-date kitchen and plenty of storage space.

Also high on our readers’ lists were comfort-adding features such as central air conditioning and heat.

"Of all the improvements we have made to our house throughout the nine years in it, this has been by FAR the best investment," said Carmen Munoz, a reader from the New York area. "Our home is always at comfortable temperatures and there is so much less maintenance involved with this system than with our old … gas boiler/window A/C."

Also high on our readers’ lists of must-haves were generous kitchen cabinet storage, large closets, good-sized bedrooms and a level backyard that’s easily accessible for entertaining.

One thing Munoz said was a mistake in retrospect was the mother-in-law suite she was determined to have when she bought her home. "It has created strife within our family because people think it is OK to come stay there for extended periods of time," she said. This rarely used space has raised her heating and cooling bill, she said.

Housing-market snapshot: Sales continue to rise; prices continue to dip. But is there light at the end of the tunnel?
Existing-home sales continued to rise in December, swelling 3.6% to 4.61 million, from a downwardly revised 4.39 million in December 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median existing-home price dipped 2.5% from the previous year to $164,500.

While that may not sound that encouraging, economists see a glimmer of hope in the numbers. December marked the third straight month of sales increases and a 5% uptick from November.

"The pattern of home sales in recent months demonstrates a market in recovery," said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist. "Record low mortgage interest rates, job growth and bargain home prices are giving more consumers the confidence they need to enter the market."

The total housing inventory at the end of December dropped 9.2% from November to 2.38 million homes for sale — a 6.2-month supply at the current pace — down from a 7.2-month supply in November.

Economists such as Mark Fleming from CoreLogic are now saying that 2012 should be the year the housing market starts to turn the corner as the prices for nondistressed homes begin to stabilize.

Housing sales could see a further boost this year, analysts say, as homeownership begins to look better than renting. A recent report from Capital Economics shows that the median monthly mortgage payment of about $700 is close to even with the median monthly rent, making the move to homeownership much more attractive — especially in the face of rising rental rates.

However, at least one market watcher says talk of a recovery is still premature. Lance Roberts, CEO of StreetTalk Advisors, said he doesn’t believe the market correction is over, given the high levels of debt that some consumers are still struggling with; the high number of owners who have negative equity in their homes and therefore have little ability to move; and the combination of unemployment and underemployment that is making it impossible for many to save for a down payment or qualify for a loan.

"The bottom line is that until we see a substantial REAL recovery in employment … there will be no recovery in housing," Roberts said in his X-Factor Report.

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson

Today’s home sellers have a hard row to hoe, as my Mom would say. Home values have dropped, the market is flooded with competition and even if a buyer does come along, a record high number of deals fall through. On top of that, they face the age-old conundrum of having two seemingly conflicting aims: they want to get their homes sold, fast, but also want – and need – to squeeze every single possible dollar out of it.

While it’s tempting to price your place on the high side and ‘test the market’ or ‘negotiate down,’ overpricing your home can actually deter buyers, cause your home to lag on the market and eventually even expose you to the risk of being perceived as desperate and receiving lowball offers.
Here are 5 ‘cures’ to the temptation to overprice your home, all of which can help you max out the chance that your home will sell.

1. Check the Comps! “Comps” is real estate lingo for comparable sales – the nearby, similar homes that have recently sold. You might think that your taste level, aesthetic style and home maintenance practices are vastly superior to those of your neighbors – and you might be right. But this will be the single largest purchase your home’s eventual buyer will ever make, and trust me – they will be doing the research. The small contingent of urgent and qualified buyers who are active on today’s market do not want to overpay for a home, and most will view your home as overpriced and not worth the hassle (or the haggle) if it is out of whack with the recent sales prices of similar homes.

Similarly, appraisers will use these numbers when figuring out your home’s value. Even if you do get an offer at a higher-than-justified price, if the buyer’s appraiser finds that your home is overvalued compared to other nearby recent sales, it can cause major delays in your buyer’s mortgage process – or derail it altogether.
Work with your agent to find and evaluate the recent sales in the area, and to ensure that your home’s list price makes sense vis-a-vis the comps.

2. Get inside the minds of the local home buyers. The vast majority of buyers – over 90 percent – start their house hunting online. And what most of them do is type in a price range, a range of bedrooms and bathrooms and a geographic area, then spend dozens of obsessive hours perusing hundreds of listings.
Given the flooded market and buyers’ busy lives, many will screen your home off their interest list in a New York minute if it seems overpriced from its online listing. If that one-inch picture and the number of beds, baths and square feet either (a) doesn’t make it into their search results because the price is so much higher than what most local buyers want to spend on a home with those criteria, or (b) seems underwhelming, for the price, compared to the other online listings of similar homes, prospective buyers will never even make it into your home, and all your stunning staging and crave-able curb appeal will never have the opportunity to work their magic.

Local agents have an inside track on what local buyers care about and what they will and will not spend. Talk to your agent about it, but don’t forget to actually listen to and consider what your agent has to say! If you don’t trust what an agent is telling you about where you should list your home, talk to several agents – if the consensus is a recommended list price range lower than what you had in mind, that’s a sign you should reconsider.

Also, search for similar homes to yours on Trulia, to see how it would stack up against similar listings online at the price range you have in mind. That’s where local prospective buyers will see it (and screen it in or out) first.

3. Visit competing Open Houses. Buyers do not shop for homes in a vacuum. They’re out there looking at dozens of homes – or more – to make sure they’re (a) getting the best deal possible, and (b) not missing ‘the one.’ So, while viewing a thumbnail image of your competition and seeing the list prices of other homes online is informative, it is even more useful to walk through the actual properties with which your home is competing, in living color.

Before you put your home on the market, take a few hours and visit nearby Open Houses. This exercise is the most vivid way to get a reality check about what you’re up against and what your home’s strengths and weaknesses are compared with the other homes buyers will see, which will go a long way in getting you to the right asking price. Even if you are unpleasantly surprised at how nice the neighboring homes are at low prices, taking this information in before you list your home is much less painful than waiting months for the market to give you this education (in the form of no or uber-low offers).

4. Get an inspection – in advance. Home buyers have long used the home inspection as a negotiating tool to get the seller to come down on the sale price mid-stream. Get ahead of the game by getting your own inspection(s) – talk with your agent about which ones are appropriate – and getting the skinny on your home’s condition before you list it. Keep in mind that you will likely need to provide any written professional inspections you obtain before listing your home to the buyer under your state’s real estate disclosure laws.

You might be able to repair some things at relatively low cost and include the recent improvements in your marketing. Alternatively, you can set and negotiate pricing based on any condition issues or needed repairs you want to pass down to the buyer. This empowers you to get to a final price that aligns with market conditions and the condition of your home without taking massive mid-escrow hits on pricing. It also empowers you to offer a discount for needed fixes up front, when the price break has the most power to help attract bargain-seeking buyers.

5. When in doubt, go low. An overpriced home, in most cases, will cause a lot more problems in your real estate journey than an underpriced one. Think about it: an overpriced home just sits on the market with little or no buyer interest until the seller cuts the price. And many interested buyers just sit, waiting for that price cut, seeing it as a cue to make an even lower offer.

Now, consider the opposite end of the pricing spectrum: you start with a lower price than you want, but one that is supported by the comps in your market – or even goes a tad bit lower than recent homes have sold for. Lots of buyers are attracted to your house, in part because it looks like a great value for the price. You end up with multiple offers, which gives you the upper hand in negotiating a higher price.

The moral: if you aren’t sure about what price to place on your home, go a little bit lower than the recent comps sold for. Insiders know from experience that you’ll sell your home faster this way – and at a better price than if you overprice it out of the gate.

These steps can help you get out of your own way, get a bird’s eye view on the market and see your home as buyers will see it. And that’s a reality check that can make the difference between selling your home and not.

Here’s a look at price trends and how they differ between distressed and nondistressed homes.

By Nick Timiraos of The Wall Street Journal

Home prices are falling again, but some analysts see a silver lining because the prices of homes that aren’t selling out of foreclosure have been holding steady.

CoreLogic reported that home prices in October declined by 1.3% from September and by 3.9% from a year before. A separate index released in early December by LPS Applied Analytics showed that home prices in September had dropped by 1.2% from August

"Many housing statistics are basically moving sideways," said Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic.

Still, the CoreLogic index shows an important emerging trend in which home prices — excluding distressed sales — are stabilizing.

What’s the difference between distressed sales and nondistressed sales?
Unlike traditional owners, banks are often faster to cut prices in order to unload properties quickly — or what are called "distressed" sales. The upshot: The more homes being sold by lenders in any given month, the faster prices tend to fall.

This was clear throughout the initial years of the housing bust. Prices declined most sharply in 2008 as banks dumped foreclosed properties at fire-sale prices. Owner-occupants are less likely to list their homes for sale in winter, too, which means that each winter prices drop because distressed sales account for a growing share of sales.

Are prices of distressed homes falling at the same rate as nondistressed homes?
That’s been the case up until recently. While home prices overall were down 3.9% from one year ago, prices excluding distressed sales were down just 0.5%. In September, total prices were down 3.8% from one year ago, but nondistressed prices were down 2.1%.

This shows that while price declines are resuming, they are not yet falling from one year ago for nondistressed homes. In fact, during the first nine months of 2011, prices of nondistressed homes remained relatively stable, with year-over-year declines between 2% and 3%.

Analysts at Barclays Capital, in a report published in early December, called this "the most important trend in the housing industry right now."

Why would any stabilization of nondistressed prices matter?
If it’s true that prices of nondistressed homes are stabilizing, even as distressed homes continue to fall in price, it would mean that a distressed home is "increasingly being seen as a poor substitute for a nondistressed home," writes Stephen Kim, a Barclays housing analyst. He says it’s possible that the "bifurcation between distressed and nondistressed homes will only widen with the passage of time."

Won’t the overhang of foreclosures put pressure on nondistressed prices anyway?
That’s all too possible. More than 2 million loans are in some stage of foreclosure, and it may be too early to argue that those won’t in some way affect the sale prices of nondistressed homes. For one, homes that sell out of foreclosure at significantly lower prices could be used by appraisers as "comparable" sales, which may make banks less willing to lend at an agreed sale price for a nondistressed home.

In certain markets where many homes are selling out of foreclosure, it’s hard to simply set aside distressed homes. "You can’t deny the fact that if half of homes that sold in San Diego in a given year were distressed, that is the trend," said Kyle Lundstedt, managing director at LPS.

What could happen if this trend holds up, with distressed prices falling and nondistressed prices staying flat?
It could stabilize something else: homebuyer confidence. "There is nothing that strikes fear in a homeowner’s heart than to hear that his home value has declined," Kim writes. "But if it was home-price trends that got us into this funk, it stands to reason that a recovery in sentiment will be similarly ushered in once price declines have abated — which is precisely what the CoreLogic price data shows us."

The holiday season can be a busy time for homeowners, but don’t lose sight of your home’s security and safety – especially if traveling is part of your holiday plans.

Before pulling out of your driveway for a night on the town or a weeklong getaway, make sure your home is secure. Check all points of entry, including doors, windows and sliding glass doors. With more guests coming and going around the holidays, there’s a greater chance that someone inadvertently left a door unlocked.

If you’re going out of town, ask a neighbor you trust to keep an eye on your home while you’re away. Set some interior lights on timers to give the illusion that you’re home. You may want to suspend your mail and newspaper delivery if you’re going to be away for an extended time.

Many homeowners enjoy decorating their home’s exterior during this time of year. Before stringing up lights, check for frayed wires, busted bulbs and broken plugs. To prevent a potential electrical fire, check the manufacturer’s instructions to see how many strands can be safely strung together.

Taking the appropriate security and safety measures during the holidays can help ensure that you and your family stay safe during this special time of year.

It’s time to put some of your tools to bed and prepare your home for the cold months.

By Roy Berendsohn of Popular Mechanics

You may be prepared for the snow to fall, but you had better make sure your home and tools are ready for the cold months ahead. We’ll tell you how to properly store those tools you won’t need, and how to prepare the ones you’ll be using this winter.

Mower
A mower used at the end of the season needs to be emptied of fuel. First, drain or siphon the gas tank dry. If the gasoline you’ve been using in the mower over the summer has a fuel preservative, you can store it until next spring or run it in your snow thrower. If the gasoline has not had a preservative added, you need to use it up as soon as possible. Allowing it to sit over the winter will cause the ethanol in the gasoline to separate and its other chemical components to degrade. It’s also likely that condensation will form in the gas tank.

Start and run the mower to empty it of remaining gas. If fuel lines are easily accessible, you can disconnect and drain them to ensure that the mower is as fuel-free over the winter as possible. (Note: There’s another school of thought here, espoused by pros such as Matt Scherbring of Iowa’s Monticello Equipment Co. He advocates adding stabilizer to a mower’s fuel tank, running the mower and then putting it away for the season. "Nine times out of 10, it’ll start right up in the spring," he said.)

You should give your mower a thorough cleaning before the winter, too. Remove and sharpen the mower blade. Apply a light film of oil to it and reinstall it. Disconnect the spark plug lead, tip the mower over and clean the underside of the deck with a wire brush and a putty knife.

Remove the spark plug and spray a shot of oil into the cylinder. Pull the recoil handle several times to ensure that this film of oil is evenly distributed on the wall of the cylinder. Replace the spark plug with a new one.

Clean or replace the air filter. Wipe the top of the mower deck clean. Lubricate all exposed cable-movement points and pivot points using a good-quality spray lubricant. Change the mower’s oil.

Finally, store the mower as far as practical from pool chemicals, cleaners or fertilizers — anything that could cause corrosion if it spilled on the mower deck.

Trimmer
The procedure for storing a four-cycle string trimmer is identical to that for a mower, but remember to clean the string head and install new line.

For two-stroke string trimmers, things are a bit simpler. Run the machine dry; clean or replace the air filter. Clean and rewind the string head. Sharpen the string-cutting blade on the debris deflector.

Chain saw
If you rely on a chain saw for winter woodcutting, now is the time to give the saw a thorough cleaning, tune-up and sharpening. Buy extra chain and, if you do a lot of cutting in frozen wood or in dirty winter conditions, consider buying a pro-grade bar with a replaceable nose sprocket.

If experience has taught you that you need to run your chain saw at a moment’s notice to clear your driveway or remove storm damage, consider storing the saw with packaged fuel in the gas tank. One example is Stihl’s MotoMix. This fuel consists of high-octane gasoline without ethanol. It’s blended with premium two-stroke engine oil at a 50:1 ratio. Otherwise, mix up a fresh-batch of two-stroke fuel using the highest octane gasoline you can find and two-stroke engine oil that is blended with gasoline preservative/stabilizer.

Snow thrower
If you haven’t prepared your snow thrower for the rigors of winter, now is the time to give it a tune-up, following the same procedure that you used on your lawn mower or string trimmer (if it’s an older single-stage machine powered by a two-stroke engine). In the case of four-cycle engines, however, be sure to use a winter grade of engine oil.

Buy extra shear pins. The last thing you want to do is hit a fallen tree limb buried in the snow, snap a shear pin and put your snow thrower out of commission. Keep the pins where you can find them, preferably hanging on a magnetic tool strip above your workbench.

Lubricate all linkages. The chute crank and various operator levers can take a beating in extremely cold and wet conditions. Lubricate all pivot and wear points and thoroughly test that they move easily before putting the snow thrower into service.

Consider all other spare parts. You don’t want to have a drive belt fly apart in the middle of clearing your driveway or a slide shoe grind a groove into it. Inspect these parts and be sure that any retaining bolts, clips and other parts are lubricated and turn freely, in case you need to bring the machine into the garage for a quick adjustment or repair.

Other jobs
Shovel ready: Now is the time to give your snow shovel a quick once-over. If it has an aluminum wear strip that’s loose, tighten it, remove it or replace the shovel. Take a file and clean up any ragged plastic or aluminum edges.

Snow-shovel blades are notorious for loosening in the handle socket. Remove the cheap little sheet-metal screw they installed at the factory and replace it with a larger screw.

The only things more useful than a snow shovel are a square-edge No. 2 shovel (the kind you use for shoveling sand and gravel) and a round-edge version of the same tool (the kind you use for digging in dirt). Both of these can be lifesavers if you need to loosen up the berm formed by a passing snowplow at the end of the driveway, or if you have to chop through the snow and then move the remainder with your snow shovel. Grind or file away any ragged edges on the blade. If the blade is loose in the socket, re-rivet it. Yes, you can still buy shovel-handle rivets.

Lawn care: Apply fall fertilizer to your lawn. This should be a high-nitrogen blend that contains extra potassium — that’s the "K" in the fertilizer’s NPK ratio listed on the bag. Potassium improves the grass’s cold-hardiness and, combined with nitrogen, it sets the stage for the grass to store carbohydrates over the winter so it can bounce back quickly in the spring. Rinse the fertilizer spreader out on the lawn, and be sure to sweep or blow fertilizer onto the lawn if it has fallen onto paved surfaces.

Salt: Stock up rock salt for routine ice-melting chores, but also buy some more expensive calcium-chloride pellets and save them for when conditions really get bad. These will melt ice at lower temperatures than rock salt; U.S. Salt Inc. says calcium chloride is effective all the way down to minus 25 Fahrenheit. Even if that’s a bit of a stretch, its ice-melting prowess is well-known and worth the money for severe conditions.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Make repairs now and avoid disaster later. Have the boiler or furnace tuned, stock up on emergency supplies and make any repairs that keep the house safe and weather-tight. Example: The last thing you want is a loose handrail on the front stoop when someone is making his way up icy steps, in the dark, with the wind blowing in his face. You get the idea.

Take a look at the most common things that can go wrong when you have guests and learn how to prevent them.

Imagine you’re preparing to host your annual holiday party, and you’re past the point of no return. The veggies and meats have been bought. Guests are already braving busy airports and crowded highways to get to your home—and then your oven won’t turn on. Your home-cooked meal has quickly turned into a microwave dinner.

That’s just one of many hosting nightmares that can end your holiday party before it even begins. Thankfully, some of the most damaging mishaps easily can be avoided. We collected five of the most prevalent issues and give you preventative tips to keep your holiday party on track.

Problem: The oven doesn’t heat

For any holiday occasion, the oven is the most important appliance in your house. If it fails to work, the centerpiece of your meal could go from roasted beef, ham, duck, or Tofurky to Peking Duck from the local Chinese takeout joint.
How to avoid:

• There are any number of reasons a stove can break, but one common cause of disaster is easy to prevent. Don’t self-clean your oven until AFTER the holidays. You risk blowing a fuse or a thermostat, and tracking down an oven technician around the holidays can be tough.

Problem: The kitchen sink clogs

The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest of the year for plumbers. The prime cause of this clog-a-thon is the mistreatment of drains when cooking holiday feasts. We hope your Thanksgiving went well, and that you avoid clog-a-thons for the rest of the holidays.

How to avoid:

• Fats and cooking oils can solidify in your pipes, so never dispose of them in your kitchen sink.

• If you have a garbage disposal, make sure it’s running before anything goes in it, and never feed it any stringy, fibrous, or starchy foods like poultry skins or potato peels.

• To fix, don’t rely on chemical drain-clearing products that can harm your pipes. Use a snake instead, available for $15 at your local hardware store. Best to keep one on hand.

Problem: The heat goes out

As the party’s host, you’re supposed to hang guests’ coats—not apologize to them for having to keep them on. A lack of heat can stop a holiday party dead in its tracks.
How to avoid:

• The key to avoiding freezing your party to a standstill is regular maintenance of your HVAC. Every 90 days, a new one-inch pleated furnace filter should be installed. If you haven’t done it in a while, now’s a good time to replace it.

• Also inspect insulation on refrigerant lines that are leading into your house. Replace them if they’re missing or damaged.

Problem: The toilet stops up

Toilets have a way of clogging up at the worst times, such as during parties and when you have overnight guests. This is especially true if you have a low-flow toilet from the early 1990s.

How to avoid:

• Don’t flush anything other than sewage and toilet paper down the toilet. And there’s nothing wrong with putting up a polite note to remind your guests to do the same.

Problem: The fridge doesn’t cool

Without a properly functioning refrigerator, your meat could get contaminated, your dairy-based treats could go sour, and you may not be able to save your yummy leftovers. To avoid discovering a warm fridge after it’s too late, take these simple precautions.

How to avoid:

• Get a thermometer for your refrigerator to make sure each shelf stays below 40 degrees and you can be aware of any temperature changes.

• Also make sure the condenser coils located on the back of the unit or beneath it are free to breathe. Coils blocked from circulating air by cereal boxes atop the fridge, or dirtied by dust or pet hair can prevent a fridge from keeping cool.

Don’t forget about exterior grading, indoor air quality

By Paul Bianchina

Fall is in the air already, which means that another chilly winter can’t be too far behind. So before the cold weather arrives, here’s your annual checklist of things to do to get your home ready for the change of season.

Inside your home

Check smoke detectors: Don’t neglect that smoke detector any longer! Take some time right now to check the operation of detectors, and to change the batteries. If you have an older house with a limited number of smoke detectors, install additional ones at each sleeping room, and make sure there is one centrally located on each level of the home as well.

Install a carbon monoxide detector: As houses get closed up for winter, the chances of carbon monoxide poisoning from malfunctioning gas appliances increases substantially. If you have a furnace, fireplace, water heater, or other appliance that’s fueled by propane or natural gas, or if you have an attached garage, install a carbon monoxide detector. They’re available inexpensively from many home centers and other retailers, and offer easy, plug-in installation

Service your heating system: Perform a complete system check of your furnace annually, either by yourself or by a trained furnace technician. Check for worn belts, lubrication needs or other servicing that might be required; refer to your owner’s manual for specific suggestions, and follow any manufacturer safety instructions for shutting the power and fuel to the furnace before servicing. Check the condition of duct joints and insulation, and of course, change the filter.

Upgrade your thermostat: An older thermostat that’s a couple of degrees off can result in a lot of wasted energy, and so can forgetting to set the thermostat down at night. You can take care of both of those problems with an upgrade to a programmable thermostat. Programmable thermostats are digital and typically very accurate, and they allow for easy, set-and-forget programming of temperatures for different times of the day, including energy-saving nighttime and workday setbacks.

Outside your home

Trim trees: Trees that are overhanging your home can be a real hazard. They can deposit debris on your roof, scrape against shingles during wind storms, and, worst of all, snap off with potentially devastating results. Have a professional tree trimming service inspect the condition of overhanging tree limbs, and safely cut them back as needed.

Check the gutters: Clear the gutters of leaf and pine needle debris, and check that the opening between the gutter and the downspout is unobstructed. Look for loose joints or other structural problems with the system, and repair them as needed using pop rivets. Use a gutter sealant to seal any connections where leaks may be occurring.

Break out the caulk: A few hours and few tubes of caulking can make a big difference in both your heating bills and your comfort levels this winter. Caulk around windows, doors, pipes, exterior electrical outlets, and any other exterior penetrations where cold air might enter. Use a good grade of acrylic latex caulk, either in a paintable white or, if you don’t want to paint, use clear.

Drain sprinkler systems: In colder areas, now is the time to be thinking about having your sprinkler and irrigation systems blown out. You can rent a compressor and do this yourself, or contact a landscape or irrigation system installer and have them handle this for you. This is also the time to shut off outdoor faucets and install freeze-proof faucet covers as needed.

Adjust exterior grade: Fall is also a great time to look at the grade around your home, and make sure that everything slopes away from your foundation to avoid costly problems with ground water. Add, remove or adjust soil grades as necessary for good drainage.

Change light timers: If you have exterior lights that are controlled by timers, including low-voltage ones, check the timer settings. Change the "on" times to an earlier hour to reflect the earlier winter darkness, so that you always have adequate outside light available.