NJ | Move or Improve

10 Year Smoke Detectors

Have you ever encountered a moment of panic when your smoke detector goes off in the middle of night? Certainly more of a disturbance than your morning buzzer going off, most people have been in the situation of popping up in the middle of the night, looking for any potential issues and making sure everyone is safe.

More often than not, this issue is a “false alarm” and the battery simply needs to be changed. However, that doesn’t make the experience any less frightening. And for any number of reasons, the device still seems to act up in the coming weeks. A simple solution… getting a sealed ionization smoke alarm with 10-Year Lithium Battery.

Common brands like Kididie and First Alert are readily available at Lowes, Home Depot, and even online through Amazon, some cities and states now require these specialized smoke alarms. Many New Jersey towns insist in these for the mandatory fire inspection before a home sale. Professional realtors will inform sellers of this in advance to take care of as not to have delays in the process. The National Fire Protection Association recommends replacing smoke alarms every 10 years and current estimates suggest that smoke alarms are in 96% of US homes. However, it is estimated that approximately 20% of them are not function due to battery issues.

This is not a problem with the 10-Year Lithium Battery Alarms. Since they are sealed, they are completely tamper proof. Further, due to the lithium battery, they are entirely capable of working for the full 10 years, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. They are available as both smoke detectors and smoke – carbon monoxide combination detectors.

These batteries are also immune to power outages. Further, these smoke alarms are known as “ionization” smoke sensors meaning that they are quicker to detect smoke and fire as opposed to their predecessors. So if you’d like to avoid late night scares, annoying “chirpring” from faulty smoke detectors, it is recommended, even if you city or state does not require it, that you upgrade to the far superior 10 Year Lithium Battery Smoke Alarm Detectors for your home and your family’s safety.

MOVE or IMPROVE?

Do you think it’s time to IMPROVE your home?
People and families change over time. Certain needs and wants evolve. As children grow, often both they and the parents feel a need for separate spaces to watch TV, game or just hang out. That might mean a need for a great room addition or a finished basement. Families also enjoy entertaining friends which often creates a desire for a bigger, nicer kitchen and possibly an inviting outdoor living space. Families expand with additional children or other family members joining them. This might require bedroom additions, a master suite addition or an in-law suite.

Projects like these are tens of thousands of dollars. Larger projects or multiple projects often well exceed one hundred thousand dollars.

Now you must enter the following considerations:

Do we have the cash? Should we liquidate some of our assets? Should we seek a renovation loan?
Will we be over improving our home and pricing ourselves out of the neighborhood?
How long do we plan on staying here?

Faced with these questions, one should also consider whether to MOVE instead. That would mean doing all the minor repairs that the house needs and many cosmetic updates so that it will show well when listed for sale. De-cluttering and staging are almost always a suggestion of professional realtors.

While readying to sell your home, you will be seeking for possible homes to purchase that have the size and features that your family needs and desires. The fiscal math is not as simple as sell for “x” and then buy for “y.” Here are other expenses that may need to be factored into your financial equation:

Real estate fees
Lawyer fees
Closing costs
Professional services such as a home inspector and title insurance
Moving expenses
The possible need for new/more furniture and decorating

After that, there are some other unknown variables:

What are the neighbors like?

Friends for the kids?
Traffic?
Parking?

When you’re not sure which to do, you should consult with professionals. MOVE or IMPROVE in NJ is compromised of realtors and project designers that work together with families faced with these same options. The process is similar to the HGTV show “Love It or List It” only tailored to the real world where the decision needs to be made up front and not at the end of a major renovation at the end of an episode.