Real estate chores to check off in springtime

This time of year when I was at Emory, my grandmother would call and ask if I was able to come to her house and help with her spring cleaning. It was a well-rehearsed ritual, involving adding manure to her flower garden, planting annuals and whatnot, and perhaps most importantly, cleaning all the windows in her house, inside and out.

Ive never known anyone else who annually cleaned every window in the house, inside and out, but thats the way she was. It made perfect sense at the time. This is the same woman who saved wrapping paper from Christmas for reuse next year. Today, we call that recycling.

In any case, this is a good time to think about some of the chores we should perform if we expect to be good stewards of our real estate. Here is a list of some chores you may have overlooked:

1. Watch for your notice of assessment

Under Georgia law, your Tax Assessor is required to send you a notice of assessment, in which the county tells you how much it thinks your house was worth on Jan. 1 this year. That notice usually arrive in May or June. Its your responsibility to disagree (to lower your tax bill) or ignore it (which means their guess will be used to set your tax bill.) My advice is to politely disagree more about that another time.

2. Shoot a video of your house inside and out

Its a very good idea for you to have available a relatively recent video of the condition and contents of your house, including exterior and all interior rooms and basement and attic. Open all containers, closets, and drawers and record the contents. That way, in the unlikely event you have a meteorite (or anything else) destroy your home, you can easily prove what you lost. Then put it on YouTube and dont store the video in your house. If the video is destroyed as well, its worthless.

3. Perform a Safety Review

Its smart to ask a friend or relative to join you for a walk around your house and your yard. You should be looking for anything that might be considered dangerous to anyone for almost any reason. Look for uneven surfaces, loose rugs, poorly supported decks, steps without adequate handrails or adequate lighting, and on and on.

For example, do you have roots growing under the walkway leading to your front door (I do) and is it possible that someone, especially an older person who has trouble walking, might trip and fall as a result of your root? If so, that might be considered negligence on your part, and you are potentially responsible for any pain or suffering that results from a hazard you know about (or should have known about).

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Real estate chores to check off in springtime