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Home Repair Contractors

How Your Home Can Pay For Emergency Repairs

Steve Cicero/ Getty Images; Illustration by Austin Courregé/Bankrate

Key takeaways

  • Home equity loans and home equity lines of credit can be an option to help cover emergency home repair costs.
  • Benefits of using HE loans and HELOCs include lower interest rates, longer repayment terms and possible tax deductions.
  • Downsides of home equity financing include putting your home up as collateral and diluting your ownership stake.

As a homeowner, maintaining an emergency savings account is a good way to be prepared for the unexpected home repairs that inevitably arise from time to time. With  emergency savings at the ready, you can

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Home Repair Contractors

The Trans Handy Ma’am: the home repair TikToker championing renters | Renting property

In April 2021, Mercury Stardust, a Wisconsin maintenance technician, was “cleaning someone else’s poop off myself” after a clogged toilet came apart. She happened to see a video of someone asking how to use a ratchet strap, one of those complicated-looking thingummies often used to tie down cargo. As soon as she tidied up, the 33-year-old responded as digital natives often do: she recorded an instructional video, wearing a (clean) flannel shirt and overalls while skillfully handling the tool in question.

The minute-long video introduced her signature enthusiastic and encouraging patter, ending with: “Learning something new is a triumph,

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Home Repair Contractors

Winter Home Maintenance Hacks to Prevent Claims

Winter is a beautiful time of year, but this season can be merciless on your home. If you’re not prepared, the chill, ice and snow bring a host of challenges. Equip your home with the ultimate winter defense to conquer the elements and enjoy the season to its fullest.

The Secrets to Winter Home Protection

Winter Surface Care

Hazardous winter conditions can cause accidents and injuries. Stock up on salt, ice melt or sand to enhance traction on slippery surfaces, such as sidewalks, steps and driveways. Ensure these materials are pet-friendly to protect your four-legged friends. These simple supplies will

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Home Repair Contractors

Akron’s home repair program faces delays and questions from residents

AKRON, Ohio — Several communities across Ohio received huge chunks of cash after the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, aimed at helping people recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, was passed in 2021. Akron received $145 million and decided to allocate $20 million towards a new program to fix up older homes in sections of the city.

We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we’ve followed through on here.

While some residents are reaping the plan’s benefits,

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Home Repair Contractors

Rising repair costs & natural disasters making US home insurance less affordable: IRC

A combination of both the growing frequency and severity of natural disasters, along with rising home repair costs and other economic factors, have contributed to less affordable homeowners insurance, according to a brief from the Insurance Research Council (IRC).

The IRC, an affiliate of The Institutes, a provider of risk management and insurance knowledge solutions, measures affordability with the ratio of average homeowners insurance expenditures to median household income.

In 2020, the most recent year for which this data was available, this ratio sat at 1.93 percent, which means that US households are said to have spent an average of

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