Mortgage Rates Fall Again, Average 2.91%

Mortgage Rates Fall Again, Average 2.91%: A new Fed policy could help keep interest rates low for a longer period, NAR says.

July Home Sales Show Recovery Is Sticking

July Home Sales Show Recovery Is Sticking: Extending record gains from June, “the housing market is now booming,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun says.

Single Family Home Prices Rose in 96% of Metro Areas in 2020 Q2

Single Family Home Prices Rose in 96% of Metro Areas in 2020 Q2: Single-family home prices continued to rise in the second quarter of 2020, with 96% of markets showing home price appreciation.

FHFA Will Charge Extra Refi Fee Starting Dec. 1

FHFA Will Charge Extra Refi Fee Starting Dec. 1: Homeowners with Fannie- and Freddie-backed mortgages who refinance into lower rates will be charged a 0.5% fee to make up for the GSEs’ projected COVID-19 losses.

Mix of Housing Supply, Buyer Demand Enters Uncharted Territory

Mix of Housing Supply, Buyer Demand Enters Uncharted Territory: National housing inventory has plunged 37% year over year, while buyers’ heightened demand is spurring bidding wars and a rapid sales pace.

Pending Home Sales Rise 5.9% in July

Pending Home Sales Rise 5.9% in July: Home sellers are seeing their homes go under contract in record time, with nine new contracts for every 10 new listings.

Is It Safe to Hire In-Home Workers?

 Aug 31, 2020

LaTasha Beal

As a part of maintaining good social distance, many people are limiting who they bring into their homes. But this can lead to a bit of anxiety when you need to bring in some extra help to do jobs around the house. Plumbers, electricians and other contractors can’t do their jobs without access to your home’s internal space, but is it safe to bring workers inside when they also have to visit other homes and businesses as a part of their job?

Contractors want to keep themselves and their crew safe on the job, so almost any contractor you hire can be expected to follow appropriate safety protocols while in your home. With that said, there are things that you can do to help ensure that everyone remains safe when you have to bring in workers for necessary tasks around the house.

Necessary Questions

Before hiring a contractor or anyone to work inside your house, take a few moments to ask about their safety policies. You can ask about things such as whether they or their crew wear masks or ventilators when on the job or while dealing with customers. You can expect most contractors to have a safety and masking protocol in place, though it’s possible that you may encounter one or two who don’t want to take these precautions on the job. Asking them a few simple questions can help you identify those contractors and workers who will respect your desire to stay safe, and who will be careful the entire time that they’re in your home.

Cleaning and Sanitizing

Before contractors and in-home workers are scheduled to show up, take the time to clean up the area where they’ll be working and sanitize any surfaces that they’re likely to come into contact with. This makes it easier for them to do their jobs safely. It also demonstrates that you are willing to show others the same considerations that you wish to be shown as well. Some contractors will sanitize the areas they work in at the end of the day as a courtesy, but if they don’t, then you should carefully sanitize the area after any workers have left each day.

Masking and Distancing

Ideally, any workers who are in your house will wear a mask or other protection while they are inside. At the same time, you and your family should put a mask on whenever you’re in the same part of the house where work is going on. Additionally, while you should stay away from work areas whenever possible, it’s important to maintain proper social distance from workers when you do have to go into that part of the house. If you need to talk to the contractor or other workers, be sure to do it from at least a 6-foot distance or take the conversation outside if the work is happening in an area where proper distance is difficult to maintain.

Post-Work Cleanup

Once work is wrapped up and the work crew is gone, be sure to check the work area to see if there is any additional cleanup needed. Most if not all of the cleaning should have been done by the workers while wrapping up, but it’s possible that some materials will remain that need to be disposed of. Wear gloves and a mask when handling any packing material or other items that were left behind by the work crew. You should also sanitize the entire work area unless you know for sure that the workers sanitized everything just before they left. While it may seem like extra work, it helps to ensure that there aren’t any contaminated surfaces left behind.

Finding the Best Contractors

HomeKeepr is here to help you find the best contractors for the work you need who will respect your desire for safety in the home. Sign up for a free account today and start finding workers based on real recommendations from people you trust.

Homes Are Going Under Contract in Record Time

Homes Are Going Under Contract in Record Time: NAR’s Chief Economist Lawrence Yun says there are no indications that contract activity will wane anytime soon, particularly in the suburbs.

Mortgage Applications Are 33% Higher Than a Year Ago

Mortgage Applications Are 33% Higher Than a Year Ago: “Mortgage rates at record lows and households looking for more space are driving this summer’s surge in demand,” according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Painter’s Masks: A Primer

 Aug 27, 2020

LaTasha Beal

One of the best things about owning your own home is how much you can do to make it your own. Although big jobs like laying tile and building decks might be more than you’re ready for, a simple and easy way to make a big change to the atmosphere of a place is to give it a paint job.

Of course, before you even pick up that big brush, it’s important to have all the safety equipment you’ll need on hand. Many paints contain a variety of particles that can become airborne and get inhaled, which is not very good for your lungs. That’s why painter’s masks are absolutely not optional.

Surgical Masks Versus Painter’s Masks

By now, most people are pretty familiar with paper face masks. While paper masks may all look the same, there are actually some pretty major differences between surgical masks and painter’s masks.

Surgical masks, which are generally sold for medical purposes, offer little to no protection from inhaling airborne particles. They’re only good at preventing you from exhaling germs onto someone else. This is why you don’t see surgical masks for sale in the same department as painting and sanding masks; they simply don’t do the same job.

Painter’s masks, which can also be made from a paper-like material, are specifically designed to prevent particles from penetrating their surface and getting into your lungs. Also commonly known as dust masks, these masks are actually filtering devices and offer various degrees of filtration, much like the air filters you use in your furnace.

Mask Ratings: What Do They Mean?

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has very specific ratings to help painters and other professionals determine exactly what type of mask to use in a given situation. It’s not uncommon for a professional painter to have a variety of filtering masks on hand for different working conditions. For most homeowners, there are two main factors to consider:

• Oil Resistance. The “N” in an “N95” means the mask isn’t oil proof at all. You might not think that’s a problem with painting, but if you’re working with any kind of coating that’s oil-based, using a mask with no oil proofing is the same as not using a mask at all. The letter rating is vital to your safety. N, as already stated, means no oil-proofing, R provides up to eight hours of oil-resistance, and P can remain oil-proof for more than eight hours at a stretch.
• Filtration. The number part of the mask’s rating is all about the percentage of one micrometer particles that are being removed from the air coming into your face, based on clinical trials. A 95 rating filters 95 percent of these tiny particles, a 97 filters 97 percent of particles, and 100 is akin to a HEPA filter, removing 99.9 percent of those airborne particles.

For most homeowner projects, a 95 percent filtration mask is adequate protection, but if you’re working in a home that is known to have lead, asbestos or other fine and dangerous particles, you may need a more powerful filtering device.

Enter the Cartridge Respirator

Cartridge respirators are tight fitting masks with removable filtration cartridges that offer more protection than a basic dust mask. Although the rating system is essentially the same, cartridge respirators can also filter out harmful vapors and particles smaller than one micrometer. When choosing a cartridge respirator, you can grab one that will allow you to stack filter cartridges, and thus filter a range of environmental hazards all at once.

Not Sure About Respirators?

If you’re not sure what respirator is right for your project, or you’re concerned that you may simply not be able to protect yourself from whatever hazards your paint and walls may be hiding, hiring a painter is a perfectly good option. Not only do they have the experience to get your job done faster and with less interruptions to your life, they’re in the business of protecting themselves from the various vapors and particles that are involved in sanding, priming and repainting walls, floors and other surfaces.

You can find a great painter in your HomeKeepr community who can do the job safely and correctly! Sign up for your free account today to get started.

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