8 Major Concerns for a Modern Homeowner

Becoming a homeowner in 2023 is already very challenging! Facing the various home ownership concerns is an added level of complication for first home buyers. There are more and more issues in the insurance claim processing, there are more home inspectors overlooking issues prior to a sale, and with more and more electronics in the home, a plumbing emergency is more detrimental to a homeowner’s way of life on a normal day.

Here are some concerns that are new to homeowners in 2023:

Home Inspector Failure

Recently home inspector integrity has been a hot topic as many home inspectors returning from covid-19 world and the pandemic do not seem to want to get their hands dirty anymore and do the real work.

So, we are getting lots of questions regarding how to prepare for a home sale and how to double check if your home is in proper condition for sales. While the team at Orange Restorations handles hundreds or flood, fire and mold damages sites, they get the question too.

Why does a home inspector fail to see that a quality inspection is needed? Inspectors can let their guard down for a number of reasons, one big one is simple laziness, but of course there are more worries that an inspector could have been paid to miss something.

Fire Damage Repairs

Recently, Orange Restoration took a job where a homeowner was concerned with their home’s electrical wiring in their attic.

After a free Attic Health attic inspection, sure enough, the team uncovered that the electrical wiring was not done properly! After a deeper dive, the attic inspector was able to uncover asbestos, mold and even a leak that caused the mold!

This home had just completed escrow and the new owners were in the new home, but the quirks associated with the home were longer than they had thought.

The homeowner was struggling with the power constantly going out at the breaker and needing to reset it. Electrical experts are a great resource for home owners when they have complex problems. In this case, Orange

While Orange Restoration focus is on fire damage and mold removal, they often get calls prior to the fire or the mold damage begins.

Thus, Orange Restoration began working within other trade specialities! While Orange Restoration has done many projects in repairs, our team is composed of experts of other trades who have focused on building and working with integrity to do work right the first time.

Working with Orange Restoration will also put various tradesmen and craftsmen in your home to restore to the way things were before the flood, fire or mold damage.

Often a mold expert, a flood remediation technician, an electrician, a plumber and a rebuilding construction expert are needed in a single restoration project, and Orange Restoration has a master of each of these trades in house!

Plumbing Emergency

Often Orange Restoration is on the front line for emergency flood mitigation, but they can also handle the plumbing problems that could have created the flood! Orange Restoration comes with years of experience on restoration projects and remodeling, but also, they have a consistent need for a master plumber, so they are teamed up with Pro Plumber San Diego. Flooding and any other plumbing emergencies can rapidly damage your home and eat away at the structural integrity of your home.

Attic Cleaning

As mentioned earlier, an attic inspection could save your home! Attic Health inspectors are known to uncover all the secrets of your attic. Often the Attic Health team will be called out due to mold smell or dead rodents in the attic.

The Attic Health team can clean it all out, check conditions of your insulation, check for air leaks, HVAC efficiency testing, adding in rodent barriers and can even remove dead rodents too! On top of the clean up, they can provide recommendations for HVAC efficiencies and insulation; then also remove and reinstall new insulation for your attic and crawlspace.

Homeowner Insurance Challenges

Many home buyers neglect the additional costs of buying a home in their mind, but when reality hits, they need to get a calculator. Homeowners insurance has become more and more evasive to keep up with as premiums continue to rise and finding the right policy to cover realistic threats to your home is hard.

When considering natural disasters and some of the work done by Orange restoration, you will want to choose the best insurance for your home. Making sure to properly assess risks is essential when purchasing a home insurance policy.

In an example, you might not think to get flood insurance in SoCal, but if your home has a basement, you may want to think this over! Considering how often leaks in the basement go overlooked, a flood can happen in your basement while the slow leak develops to turn into a larger leak and some water depth while your urgency to clean it hasn’t even begun to surface yet.

When considering insurance, be sure to consider having a professional risk assessment done. Knowing the risks is at least half the battle, then all you need to do is make sure you feel coverage is adequate for your homes’ risk factors.

Smart Home Security and Cybersecurity for Home Devices

It would be so 2003 for me to leave this section out, but with the increasing use of smart home devices and how they can pose security and privacy risks, we know your thinking about it. What if these devices all got hacked!?

Imagine trying to gain control of your kitchen after it has been hacked. Homes now need not only a copy of every key, but a log book to keep passwords and access information for digital tools such as spotify and netflix but also the things that control our home like wifi, access control & security cameras, thermostat, virtual home assistant, and other smart devices.

One major pointer for these tech tools is to keep updating them for optimum performance, use strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and for updating, make sure you are keeping smart devices updated with the latest firmware as precautionary measures to prevent cyber security threats.

Environmental Sustainability and Energy Efficiency

With the growing importance of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency for modern homeowners, many seek to do better to recycle.

Homeowners can make eco-friendly choices such as installing energy-efficient appliances, using renewable energy sources, and adopting green building practices during home renovations. Having a connection with the local recycling centers and knowing what goes where is a huge part of the puzzle.

Make sure to keep clearly marked bins for all recyclable materials, keeping batteries and other hazardous materials out of the recycling and also going to the proper recycling collections is important.

Summary

The challenges faced by homeowners in 2023 are unique to this decade! Some new ones show moral decay such as home inspection failures, but most worries of a modern homeowner are down to Earth such as fire, plumbing emergencies, classic skeletons in the attic (cleaning), home insurance complexities, smart home security, and keeping up with the Joneses on environmental sustainability with proper recycling.

Please consider the importance of thorough and regular home inspections by professionals, prompt maintenance of any issues, and adequate insurance coverage to fill the cracks. The new modern need for strong cybersecurity measures for smart home devices has changed the stresses of a modern home owner, but please try to see the value in the technology.

Overall, these new tech devices provide valuable information and guidance for navigating the complexities of homeownership in 2023, make sure that these tools work for you, not against you!