​(StatePoint) Curb appeal is important, but it’s not the be-all and end-all of house hunting. By factoring in other priorities, such as great schools, a community feel, along with nearby amenities that improve your quality of life, you can feel right at home in your new neighborhood from the moment you arrive.

“Many families want it all -- the connection that comes with a small town feel, and the bustle and energy of shopping, dining and culture,” says Blake Gable, CEO Barron Collier Companies, the real estate development firm behind Ave Maria, a 5,000-acre community in Southwest Florida.

With the understanding that many families desire to work, live, learn and recreate all in one place, master-planned communities such as Ave Maria have grown in popularity in Florida, and often include residential neighborhoods, schools, town centers with shopping and dining, office space, business parks and recreational amenities.

Keyed into what neighborhood features foster community and enhance quality of life, Gable is sharing five quality-of-life amenities to look for while house hunting:

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A community feel: If you’d like your neighbors to be more than just strangers who happen to live close by, a master-planned community may be the right style of living for you. In many such communities, there are more golf carts and bikes than there are cars, creating a friendly atmosphere where it’s easy to stop, chat and catch up with neighbors-turned-friends. Such self-sustained communities often have their own sports fields, dog parks, nature paths, active events calendars and even social clubs. Whether it’s photography, bird watching or pickleball, you can nurture your interests while meeting new people.

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Healthy living: The right neighborhood for your family is one that’s built for a healthy lifestyle. Find out whether your prospective new neighborhood has achieved Blue Zones Project certification. This pioneering health initiative is helping communities commit to improving the well-being of residents by offering them opportunities to move naturally, eat better, develop social circles, and live with purpose. As one of the first places to earn the designation in Florida and the Southeast United States, Ave Maria is a good example of a town designed to help residents live their healthiest, happiest life.

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A town center: A neighborhood with its own town center blends big town convenience with small town connection. Merchants are not just businesses, they are neighbors, too, so that you don’t have to leave the neighborhood to find all the shopping and services you need, from supermarkets, restaurants and boutiques to spas, salons and doctors.

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Great value: The lifestyle you want should come at the right price. Fortunately, you don’t have to overspend to find a new home in one of the country’s most desirable locations, Southwest Florida. Named the fastest growing new home community in Southwest Florida since 2015 by MetroStudy, and Community of the Year by Collier Building Industry Association since 2015, Ave Maria offers the same type of lifestyle amenities, albeit at a much greater value, than similar options in nearby, more expensive Naples.

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​Top-notch schools: Check out local, state and national rankings, visit school websites, and connect with parents to learn their perspectives. Ave Maria is in the Collier County School District, which is ranked sixth in the state of Florida. Boasting highly-regarded pre-K to post-grad schools that are A-rated by the Florida Department of Education, its private schools are on-site and nationally recognized for excellence. It’s also home to Ave Maria University, which lends the local scene a college-town energy, complete with continuing education, cultural activities and athletic events. This accredited liberal arts university offers 33 majors and 31 minors.

To learn more about the quality-of-life amenities found in affordable master-planned communities, visit avemaria.com.

As you search for a home, consider narrowing your search to neighborhoods that offer a community atmosphere and a healthy, friendly lifestyle.

(StatePoint) Achieving your dream home through a remodeling project is an exciting prospect. Just ask the 55% of homeowners who reported renovating a part of their home in the past year.

As eager as you are for the work to get started, taking the time to ensure the job is done smoothly, safely and securely is important. Before contractors begin, take the following steps first:

1.
Ensure that any contractor working on and having access to your home is adequately insured and bonded should there be a mishap, injury on site, or damage to your property. It is appropriate to ask for your contractor’s license as well as proof of insurance, coverage limit details and a lien waiver.

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Read the contract carefully and ensure it includes a construction schedule, detailed hard and soft cost estimates, and any other information that may be required by your city’s building inspection department, such as construction drawings or permitting plans.

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Make a good investment by checking references and reviewing any Better Business Bureau ratings or complaints that have been filed against the company. Some states also provide public access to civil and small claims cases that have been filed against companies or individuals. This is important, considering homeowners spend significant sums to renovate their spaces according to their vision. In fact, the Joint Center for Housing Centers of Harvard University estimates that Americans will spend $485 billion on home improvement projects in 2023.

4.
You can’t be there at all times to let in contractors. Certainly, don’t start giving out your garage door code or leaving your door open -- this comes at high risk for theft. Instead, invest in a versatile lock box for which only you control the combination so you can grant access to a particular contractor on a given day, and then change the combination for the next need or worker. From the front door to the pool gate to the storage shed, find lock boxes that fit your project’s needs. The newest models from Master Lock include #5480D, which features a removable shackle for easy installation in many locations; #5481D, which is wall-mountable, and #5482D, which features a removable cable that provides flexibility to secure it in hard-to-reach and discreet locations. All feature double the storage capacity to accommodate keys, fobs, garage door openers or key cards in all shapes and sizes.

“We studied customers’ needs and reimagined our product solution to provide bigger, easier to use lock boxes that work for any door, piece of property or access point,” says Becky Fellows, senior category manager at Master Lock. “And after the remodel, you can repurpose it to provide a dog walker or short-term renter access to your property.”

5.
Make a plan for pets. This could be as simple as using gates to separate them from construction. However, if the project is kicking up dust and debris, or your pet is sensitive to loud noises, consider having them stay elsewhere, whether that’s with friends or at a pet hotel.

6.
​Protect your property and make life easier for your contractor by clearing their work area of furniture and other items. Determine whether you’ll relocate these items to rooms not being remodeled, store them in the garage or shed, or use a third-party storage space.

No matter the size of your home project, if contractors are involved, you’ll want to ensure they are up to the task, and that your home is prepared for their arrival.

(StatePoint) While finances are a main topic that families fight over, a new survey discovers that cleaning and organizing also top the list.

According to the survey, which was conducted by Duck brand, 76% of people feel “overwhelmed” by their family members’ messes. In fact, the research finds that messiness impacts relationships between family members: 46% of people say it causes “tension” between them; 35% say it causes arguments; and 33% say it is a “source of stress on a daily basis.”

Knowing that disorganization impacts relationships, the survey aims to shed light on the source of the stress, as well as pet peeves families have when cleaning and organizing:

• Arguments about tidying up may happen frequently because 74% of people say they have a different idea of what “clean and organized” is compared to other members of their household. Additionally, 44% say “cleaning and organizing frequency” is the most difficult task for their family to agree on.

• Survey respondents say their top peeves about their family’s cleaning and organizing style is they procrastinate (56%) and they don’t like to clean/organize themselves at all (36%). According to 48% of survey respondents, another big annoyance is having to frequently remind other people in the home to pick up their belongings. When they don’t clean up after themselves, most (58%) say it makes them feel annoyed and some say they feel angry/frustrated (29%).

• Clutter in the living room is the “most annoying mess” that family members make on a regular basis, followed by not wiping up spills in the kitchen or fridge (45%), according to the results.

Although there is a lot to disagree about when it comes to clutter, there is one thing families are aligned on: 85% believe “living in a tidy home leads to more harmony among household members.” Duck brand offers simple solutions for a happier, more efficient home: Install EasyMounts Interior Drywall J Hook in the hall closet, entryway or garage to encourage family members to keep bags, hats and toys off the floor. If the kitchen is a messy hotspot, place Clear Classic EasyLiner Brand Shelf Liner in the fridge to cut down on sticky spills.

For expert tips and ideas on how to use EasyMounts and EasyLiner around the house, visit Duck brand.

“Families are constantly on the go, so it is hard to keep up with daily tasks around the house,” says Angee Mantell, Insights & Innovation product manager at Shurtape Technologies, LLC, the company that markets the Duck brand. “Implementing a few simple solutions can help teach tidy habits and encourage everyone at home to play their part in making spaces neat and clutter-free.”

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Check Out the Garage Door

What is probably the largest piece of mechanical engineering in your home, can also have some of the largest problems associated with it. A shoddy garage door can be a bit of a headache as it can let out your home’s heat and be a structural weak point for a would-be burglar to exploit.
Take a look at the inside of the garage door first – keeping a close eye on springs and tracks. If you need to replace any springs be extra careful – these pieces have plenty of tension wrapped up inside of them and improperly handling them can result in injury or worse.
If any other parts look dirty or rusted, clean them off and give them a healthy application of lubricant. Greasing them like this reduces friction while at the same time giving it extra protection against the elements. Speaking of the elements, spend some time checking out the perimeter of your garage door – any gaps should be fixed with new weather-stripping.

Time to Declutter

While most people wait until spring to do any major cleaning project, for garages autumn is the better time. The reason for this is that you’ll probably want to do some parking in your garage come the winter months.
Before you begin to take a good assessment of what you do and don’t need – those roller blades from twenty years ago aren’t going to be useful to you anymore, but all those haphazardly thrown cleaning supplies probably will be.
Don’t be afraid to part with things that you’ve had for a long time – getting rid of all your old things will only make room for the new.

In-Depth Cleaning and Maintenance of the Floor

If your garage floor has become battered and bruised over the years and you want to fix it, now is no better of a time. A clean floor can make a world of difference in a garage and can often be done with a day worth of work.
Go ahead and sweep out all the corners of the garage, brushing up dust mites and spider webs as needed. To make sure you get everything, go ahead and put a dust mask on and fire up that blower to blast it out of the front.
From here you can get some real in-depth cleaning with a high powered hose nozzle or a pressure washer with associated soap. If you want, you can go a step further and repaint the floor to give it a look that will really pop.

Inspect the Walls and Foundation

Now that you’re here this might be the best time to look at how sturdy your garage is. Ideally, you want to inspect the interior and exterior of your garage walls to see if there are any cracks or mold build.
The rule of thumb here is that any cracks that are smaller than a ¼” width shouldn’t be concerned with – anything bigger than this though you might want to either institute some sort of repair or if it’s serious enough have a contractor come and look at it. Check to see if the roof is straight to make sure that nothing has settled up top.

Organize

It’s time to get everything in the proper order. Organizing your garage can save you plenty of time and headache in the future. Try to get all the cleaning supplies in one spot, tools in another. Try to invest in other things like shelves, cabinets, and hooks to hold extra items.
Make sure to take advantage of all parts of your garage too – this includes the ceiling. There is plenty of unique racking and hooks out on the market today that allow your garage to hold a lot more than you would normally think possible.

Institute Safety Protocol

This is also a great time to see how safe everything is. If you’ve already decluttered and cleaned you’ve actually already completed part of this tip, as a well-organized garage is much less likely to be a fire or tripping hazard in the future.
Aside from this, you should spend some time seeing if your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are in working order – if they beep sporadically or not at all, you should switch out the batteries.
If your detectors are more than ten years old, then you should invest in new ones. Chemicals should also be in good working order – it’s best to have especially volatile chemicals like chlorine, bleach, and ammonia a safe distance away from each other. Make sure to also have all other poisons and chemicals properly labeled and out of reach of little hands.
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