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Be a Smarter Homeowner

By: Beth Dodson and John Bodrozic
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  • Summary

  • Welcome to Be a Smarter Homeowner podcast, where hosts, Beth Dodson and John Bodrozic are dedicated to helping you save money and get organized while managing, maintaining, protecting, improving, and eventually buying or selling your largest financial asset and biggest expense, your home. Discover how easy it is to be a smarter homeowner. Having worked with homeowners for over 20 years, your co-hosts are two of the three co-founders of HomeZada, a digital home management software platform that helps you to manage everything about your home in one digital place. Episodes of Be a Smarter Homeowner Podcast will feature John and Beth as they explore all the different aspects you need to know while owning a home; from home maintenance, home improvement projects, tracking your home finances, storing important documents, to creating a home inventory. With a focus on the financial impacts all of these things have on your home’s value and the expense to own it, turn the complexities of homeownership into solutions that will make your life easy and stress free. Being a homeowner can be costly and frustrating if you're not in the know. How do you know what maintenance tasks to do and when? Most homeowners forget or don’t know what to do which ends up costing you more money in repair and energy costs. Do you understand your insurance policy? Save your wallet and home from taking a hit. Make sure you have the coverage for your belongings, with the liability protection you need. Love DIY and home improvement? Plan and manage all your remodel, landscaping, and design projects. Discover how to hire contractors, stay on budget, track your costs, and save information for future tax, insurance, and resale purposes. What financial info should you know? Stay in control and up to date on various financial metrics such as home values, mortgage balance, home equity, household expenses, completed projects and maintenance costs. Where are your home documents? More disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and house fires cause home damage and destruction. Learn the value of having a home inventory using photos, videos, and documents of your home and your personal property. Looking to buy an investment or rental property or vacation home? Discover important strategies on how to manage multiple homes by staying organized and in control. Intimidated by being a first time homeowner? You're excited for your new home, but now what? Accelerate your knowledge on what it takes to manage your home and avoid costly mistakes. How to get top dollar when selling your home? Get insights into current market conditions for your home and strategies you can take with your real estate agent to market your home. Planning for retirement? Get prepared with financial planning on your home equity and even include estate management plans on how to disperse your home and your assets to your heirs. Have an aging parent? Get information on downsizing or aging in place and more data on how to remotely manage your elderly parents’ home for them. The podcast will feature experts in the industry. And with your home likely being one of the largest purchases of your lifetime, these experts will keep you informed, offer you tips and tricks, and weigh in on the risks and benefits of all things related to homeownership.
    2021
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Episodes
  • How to Manage a House Flip

    How to Manage a House Flip
    Jun 23 2022

    On today’s episode, we discuss our tips for house flipping. Most people are aware of the HGTV version that shows a complete home remodel in a 1-hour episode. This conversation helps to peel back the layers and walk-through the financial and physical aspects that are crucial to executing a flip. Listen to learn the steps and processes to know what homes and locations to invest in, how to plan ahead for taxes, and what projects make a home more valuable.

     

    IN THIS EPISODE:

     

    • [01:01] What is a house flip and how to find the best location for your flip?
    • [07:10] What’s involved in a flip: Financial and physical aspects.
    • [11:49] Taxes and whether to sell vs rent your newly remodeled property.
    • [15:27] What projects make a house more valuable and whether to invest as an individual, with a partner, or as a team?
    • [21:45] How important is staging a house before you sell it?
    • [26:35] Learn from others who have flipped before.

     

    KEY TAKEAWAYS:

     

    • The key to flipping is knowing the market and the right locations. Then look for low priced homes in those trending neighborhoods.
    • The more you can do on your own without hiring a contractor, the lower your cost is to do the home improvement, which means the more likely that you're going to be able to make more money on the flip.
    • There are five key financial elements to consider doing a flip: purchase price, remodel investment amount, remodel timeline, estimating sell price, and lastly taxes.

     

    RESOURCE LINKS

     

    HomeZada Website

     

    Guide to House Flipping
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    28 mins
  • How Health and Home Maintenance Go Hand and Hand

    How Health and Home Maintenance Go Hand and Hand
    Jun 2 2022

    We want to speak about how your home can impact your health. You might not realize but regular home maintenance plays an important role in protecting you from illness. On today's episode, we discuss four key components to consider when thinking of your health as it relates to your home. Listen as we give helpful tips related to air, water, fire and earth and the damage they can cause.

     

    IN THIS EPISODE:

     

    • [01:20] What is a healthy home and why it’s important. 
    • [2:45] How to protect air quality in your home. 
    • [09:20] The two main ways that water in your home can affect your health.
    • [16:42] How to protect your family and home from fire.
    • [23:52] Understand the different threats that the earth poses to your home.

     

    KEY TAKEAWAYS:

     

    • One of the first things you can do to protect air quality is change your air filters, change them regularly. Do not wait, change them regularly.
    • Be better prepared for a fire inside your home by placing fire extinguishers in key areas of your home so you can easily access them.
    • If you bought a home with a retaining wall, you want to make sure that the retaining wall is being held in place and draining correctly. If not, the build of water can cause major issues to your home. 



    RESOURCE LINKS

     

    HomeZada Website

     

    https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/DOC_11880.PDF

     

    https://zen.homezada.com/2021/09/26/a-glimpse-into-toxin-free-trends-6-ways-to-create-a-non-toxic-home/

     

    BIO

    Elizabeth Dodson is a focused technology entrepreneur with successful skills in business development, sales, marketing and finance with over 20 years of successful management of revenue producing partners. With great organizational skills balancing multiple roles and responsibilities as an entrepreneur and the drive to increase company revenues and user growth for a consumer technology solution with a partner solution to support the homeowner market.

    John Bodrozic has start-up entrepreneur experience beginning with bootstrapping, profitable growth, securing venture and corporate venture funding, acquisitions of technology companies, and selling a business to a publicly traded company.
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    32 mins
  • Projects You Can Do Yourself During Home Remodeling Month

    Projects You Can Do Yourself During Home Remodeling Month
    May 12 2022

    May is Home Remodeling Month but we don’t need to always do large and expensive projects. We can transform our homes with simple, low-cost, DIY projects. In this episode, we discuss the different types of projects you can do that are affordable, easy and can often be completed in a weekend. Tune in to hear our tips to refresh your home with simple DIY projects.

     

    IN THIS EPISODE:

     

    • [01:50] Cost-effective exterior project ideas.
    • [05:37] The benefits of installing low voltage lighting outside.
    • [12:26] Interior DIY project ideas.
    • [16:00] How to refresh a room with decorative and furniture type projects.
    • [19:15] Tips when using paint to transform different spaces.
    • [23:08] Where to find inspiration and other easy project ideas.

     

    KEY TAKEAWAYS:

     

    • DIY projects can be great ways to update your home for a low cost.
    • When investing in your home, focus on the front of your house first. Take care of your grass, irrigation, and consider adding shrubs, trees and potted plants. 
    • The front door is the main way we welcome guests. Freshen up your front door with a bright paint color or new hardware. 
    • Organization is another way to invest in your home. When you have a clutter-free environment, you have a more productive environment. 

     

    RESOURCE LINKS

     

    • HomeZada Website
    • 4 Quick and Easy Smart Home Projects
    • 5 Quick and Easy Home Projects to Finish in a Weekend
    • 7 DIY Home Improvement Projects That are Easier Than You Think
    • 7 Home Improvement Projects You Can Do in a Weekend
    • 7 Projects to Get Your Home Ready for Summer Fun That Cost Less Than a Smartphone
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    29 mins
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