Everything is connected these days, and that includes our houses. With wall-to-wall tech tempting potential homebuyers, how can you make your own house stand out from the crowd? These high-tech options can make your house so cool that you might actually have second thoughts about selling the place.

Make it easier to get in

What if walking into your home didn't require a key? What if you could simply push a button or two and walk right in the door, without having to carry around that keyring? Keyless entry has been standard with many car companies for years, and now you can have the same luxury with your home. Want even more security? Fingerprint scans are now becoming available for those who want to be absolutely certain that the person entering their home is truly supposed to be there. Best Consumer Reviews offers up three biometric door locks that have very reasonable prices.

Light the place up

Gone are the days when you had to flip a switch to get some light. Smart light systems sense when you come into the room and do all the work for you, so you never walk into a dark space. It can be an impressive part of your home security system, or it can be done with simple motion sensors. The cost depends upon the light you need, the size of your house, and what bells and whistles you want. An in-depth consultation with a lighting designer can help you figure out which route to take to light up the place. To learn about the education, training, and certifications your lighting designer should have, visit the International Association of Lighting Designers .

Control your atmosphere

Sure, you know all about the new thermostats that can read your activities and adjust your indoor climate accordingly. But did you know that they can do much more than that? Thermostats can use motion detectors to determine whether you are home, and adjust the temperature accordingly. It can also track the energy usage, giving you a clear look at exactly where your money is going. According to Mashable , even the coolest thermostats can run under $500.

Get a handle on the weather

Do more than just look out a window to figure out whether it's rain or shine. Wireless weather stations tell you much more about the outdoor situation, including forecasts for the next few days, the humidity (a heads-up for bad-hair days), and much more. These stations can be very simple and inexpensive, or can come with all the upgrades you could possibly desire. The New York Times points out that a personal weather station can cost between $150 and $2,500.

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6 High-Tech Options to Make Your Home Stand Out

Ambiance The special atmosphere or mood created by a particular environment. Ambiance is what makes us feel like we belong or want to remain in a particular space. Think of cozy, romantic restaurants with candles, alcoves of fancy old hotels, warm rock fireplaces and overstuffed chairs with low lighting. Night lighting in you garden can create a similar ambiance and its simpler and more affordable than you think.

Night lighting can do several things. It can extend the time you can spend in your garden and enhance the setting. It can address safety issues for you and guests walking through the yard. Security can be handled in an aesthetically pleasing manner and be appropriate to the site. Lighting can bring special interest to specimen plants, sculptures, and ponds while adding depth, and interest to your creation.

Lights and shadows are always attention getters. To achieve your goals for lighting take time to do a little research and planning. Drive through nice neighborhoods likely to have night lighting. Make notes of what catches your eye. Do you like the up-lighting illuminating a beautiful tree trunk? What about the low lights guiding you up the walk to the front door? Is there a light on or in the fountain or pond?

Also, make a note of what doesnt work, like harsh lights on a blank wall (you dont want to look like funeral home or model home). Flood lights detract from the ambiance. Are there glaring lights in the shrubs? Can you actually see the light bulbs? Lights should not shine into the windows of the home. Too many lights along a path can make it look like a runway. Unbalanced lighting will divide rather than unite a garden. Avoid high contrast ratios hot spots of bright light surrounded by large dark areas. Flooding the whole garden with light creates an artificial atmosphere and washes out the moonlight and night sky.

Yard lighting used to be solely electric. Today there are a number of solar powered lights that are making a big splash in the market. They are easy to install with no wiring and have no electric bill. It is any easy chore that almost anyone can do.

Guidelines

1. Light the pathways even if they are simple routes only you use. You deserve enjoyment too. Short or tall stake lighting is available for this; just press them into the ground.

2. Light stairs. Stick lights can be laid along the step, string lights (50 to 100 LED lights inside a PVC tube that is designed to hold up against the elements.) can be wrapped on the railing or laid along the step, stakes work well here also.

3. Accent the most dramatic trees in the garden with solar spot lights. Illuminating the trunk and branches from below can add enough glow that the garden can be navigated safely at night.

4. Some decorative light fixtures can add style when used with moderation.

Read more:
At Home Living: Creating evening ambiance in the garden

Names: Trish Floyd and Carey Beavers, owners of a contract office furniture dealership

The home: A three-bedroom, three-bath Craftsman-style bungalow built in 1930

Where: Atlantas Kirkwood neighborhood

Why they sold: After living in the home for nine years, they wanted more space, especially for the furniture that Floyd inherited from her mother. I had big, chunky furniture that I loved that didnt quite fit in the house, she said. They work and have friends who live in Avondale Estates, and they found a home to buy in that community. They contacted another friend, Margie Yondorf with Atlanta Intown Real Estate Services, to help them sell their home. We loved Kirkwood and we knew it was a good market, Floyd said.

Time on market: 8 days

Original price: $379,900

Sale price: $365,000

What it took

Yondorf visited their house and told them, Get rid of this, get rid of that. Clean this, clean that, Floyd said. Their work included rearranging furniture and placing some items in storage.

The writeup about the home in the listing emphasized its location on a corner lot in Kirkwood. A granite rock wall around the property gave it definition, along with a front porch, Floyd said. A previous remodel had increased the master bedroom and closet, along with the kitchen, which had granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Floyd and Beavers had added a carport and fence to the backyard. Yondorf arranged an open house quickly, and they accepted the first offer. We were obviously ecstatic, Floyd said.

More:
Clearing out Kirkwood bungalow proves a key step

The beginning of the end for the former Aloha Mobile Home Park may have been last summer, when Daytona Beach code enforcement officers did a thorough inspection of all the trailors and the park.

DAYTONA BEACH Up until this spring, a mobile home park at the corner of Beach Street and Madison Avenue was a quagmire for city government officials.

For years, the Aloha Mobile Home Park had aging trailers infested with rats, cockroaches and mold.

The property was saddled with electrical wiring problems, sewage leaking out of trailers spilling onto the ground, faulty plumbing, inoperable appliances, broken windows and doors, junk stored outside, dilapidated roofs and illegally installed power meters.

Now, those same city officials see the property a few blocks east of Ridgewood Avenue as a blank slate with potential to become a new burst of development in a struggling neighborhood.

The beat up trailers have all been demolished or hauled off, and whats left is a vacant lot with tall trees near the Halifax River thats up for sale.

I am pleased and relieved to see the trailers gone, said Hector Garcia, the citys head of code enforcement. It was a tremendous eyesore. It was a headache. I look forward to something new and positive.

A potential buyer is talking about putting a senior citizen housing complex on the land, said Deputy City Manager Paul McKitrick.

The propertys current zoning allows for a wide variety of commercial and high-density residential uses, McKitrick said.

Its expected that any new owner will want to rezone so that the entire parcel has a single zoning designation, McKitrick said.

Excerpt from:
Farewell to Aloha Problematic Daytona Beach trailer park property poised to get new life

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AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, 2014-09-12 08:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (IBC, Entropic Meeting Suite G106/G107; Hall 13) -- Entropic (Nasdaq:ENTR), a world leader in semiconductor solutions for the connected home, announced today that Triax has added new Entropic-based MoCA(r) (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) Ethernet-to Coax Adapters (ECAs) to its in-home connectivity product suite. By adding MoCA adapters to its product offerings, Triax is enabling European service providers to offer more advanced, high-bandwidth IP streaming services that leverage the extremely reliable, high throughput connection that is offered by Entropic's MoCA technology.

Adoption of MoCA as the leading home networking backbone solution continues to gain traction globally as consumers want a secure, high-speed distribution network for broadband and WiFi extension in every room of their home(s). By adding MoCA-based ECAs to its product line-up, Triax is providing a straightforward plug-and-play solution - that simply connects to the existing in-home coaxial network - to create a high-speed, whole-home entertainment backbone. The new ECAs enable consumers to gain the most reliable home entertainment experience, and service providers to offer enough bandwidth for streaming high volumes of whole-home High-Definition (HD)/Ultra HD (UHD) multimedia, online gaming, and data content - with no latency.

MoCA adapters give consumers and operators alike a cost-effective way to bring Internet access to all connected entertainment devices in the home by converting the existing in-home coaxial wiring into an Ethernet network, without having to run multiple cables. Plus, Entropic-based MoCA adapters improve whole-home video and data coverage by extending the wired network backbone to all corners of the home in order to distribute HD and UHD media, low latency online and cloud gaming, over-the-top (OTT) / Internet content and wireless entertainment anywhere in the home.

'Triax is proud to be working with the founder of the MoCA standard to provide premium MoCA home networking solutions to the Retail and Operator markets,' said Peter Lyhne Uhrenholt, product director, Triax. 'The European market has high demand for technology solutions that can improve the performance of the home network and deliver a robust and dependable in-home video and content distribution system.'

In addition to offering ECAs based on Entropic's MoCA home networking technology, Triax is also offering a full portfolio of single-cable outdoor unit (ODU) products based on Entropic's leading analog Channel Stacking Switch (CSS(tm)) single-cable integrated circuit (IC) technology. By providing CSS technologies with the use of MoCA home networking, satellite operators gain a competitive advantage in their ability to offer the most reliable streaming of multiple HD and UHD video, audio and data traffic into and throughout the home.

Mr. Uhrenholt continued, 'This is an exciting time for home entertainment and we believe that by combining the CSS and MoCA solutions, Triax can provide a single Home Networking solution for satellite as well as IPTV and cable homes.'

'We believe Triax can increase the penetration and expansion for MoCA throughout Europe as European consumers across all Pay-TV segments want more HD and UHD streaming services -- from multiroom content sharing to over-the-top video and WiFi extension,' said Al Servati, vice president, Marketing, Entropic. 'We are invested in growing the European home networking market and recognize there is a great opportunity to expand the technology's reach and awareness.'

Availability

The MoCA-based ECAs are generally available from Triax today. For more information on Entropic's silicon and software technology, visit Entropic's website here.

Read more here:
DGAP-News: Triax Adds Entropic-Based MoCA Adapters to Its Home Networking Product Line-Up

by SHAWN CHITNIS & KREM.com

KREM.com

Posted on September 9, 2014 at 6:35 PM

Updated yesterday at 8:20 PM

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Two On Your Side learned residents of a West Spokane mobile home park have received more time to find new places to live.

Staff at the Hilltop Mobile Home Park said they were working with Spokane leaders to try to get the mobile home community up to certain safety standards.

In late August, safety concerns led Spokane leaders to order the eviction of RVs from the Hilltop community. The City claimed electrical wiring was unsafe in the park.

WATCH: Fire hazard forces West Spokane RV owners to move

"It's the property owner's responsibility to make sure that he's providing for conditions that achieve (safety)," said one city leader.

One week after the eviction order was issued, KREM 2 News observed many electrical cords still hanging outside resident's trailers.

See the original post:
Despite eviction, some tenants remain at Hilltop Mobile Home Park

Home sellers can expect buyers will perform a home inspection before closing on a home, and for many, its a stressful part of the home-sale process. Rarely does the inspector find absolutely nothing wrong with the place. Whats more, buyers may ask for all the items in the inspection report to be addressedeven if theyre not major problems.

In the last couple of years, because it has been a buyers market for so longinspection reports end up acting as a punch list for sellers to tend to, said Wes Flacker, owner of Century 21 Magellan Realty in Boise, Id.

What can you expect when the inspector walks through your home, clipboard and digital camera in hand? Here are some of the most common problems that pop up in inspections of American houses, broken down by category.

Read the original here:
Amy Hoak's Home Economics: 7 things that are wrong with your house

The Northwest Regional Housing Program, representing the counties of Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, and Washburn, is now accepting applications from homeowners needing to make major repairs to windows, exterior doors, shingles, siding, insulation, furnaces, wiring, plumbing, water and sewer laterals, failing septic systems or wells; and other major home improvements.

Funds are available to assist qualifying applicants make necessary repairs to owner- and renter-occupied housing units and to provide down payment assistance to qualifying families purchasing a home.

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See the article here:
Home repair funding available

World of Wires
Electronic Installations 15 years of experience in home automation. Professional installations and great experience. TV installations, surround sound, outdoor lighting, home wiring and pre-wiring,...

By: World Of Wires

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World of Wires - Video

BERKELEY COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - Bond was denied Thursday evening for a 31-year-old Summerville man accused of breaking into a home in the Cane Bay area and assaulting a woman and her 4-year-old son.

Brandon Keith Sigmon is charged with first degree burglary, two counts of first degree assault, three counts of kidnapping and possession of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime in connection to the Wednesday afternoon incident.

"The monster that did this forces his way into our home and terrorized me and my two children," said the victim in Thursday's court hearing."He hit me several times in the back of my head with a gun that he had previously pointed at my face and the back of my head."

Authorities said since the incident occurred, the victim along with her entire family has been "terrified" to even return to their home.

Deputies say Sigmon was apprehended after he was spotted hiding in a construction area Wednesday evening. Authorities say after he was spotted, he jumped into a pond and ran into a wooded area where he was arrested.

Sigmon is being held at the Hill-Finklea Detention Center, according to Berkeley Sheriff's spokesman Dan Moon.

Investigators say Sigmon was posing as a vacuum cleaner salesman when the home invasion occurred after 2 p.m. at a house in the 300 block of Decatur Drive where he forced his way inside the home and assaulted a woman, who investigators say suffered "fairly extensive" injuries.

The woman told deputies she saw the man walking from the front door with his hands up, saying, "OK, ma'am, OK, ma'am." She said the suspect's behavior made her nervous and she called her husband to let him know about it, but before she could walk out of the front foyer area of her home, she heard the glass shattering from the back door.

She told deputies she saw the man enter the home and charge at her, yelling for her to get off the phone. The suspect then began to punch her and hit her in the head with a handgun, the report states. The woman told authorities as she asked the man what he wanted, he appeared to get angrier and continue to hit her, and pushed her head against the wall several times.

The victim said her two-year-old daughter and four-year-old son were in the home and were crying. Police say the suspect then ordered her to make them stop crying. When they didn't stop crying, the woman said the suspect pushed her son and he fell against the wall.

Link:
Investigators arrest suspect accused of assaulting woman at Cane Bay home