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- Cars Trapped in Garages, Luxury in Belize, What is the 1% & 50% Rule?
Cars Trapped in Garages, Luxury in Belize, What is the 1% & 50% Rule?
For Serious Homeowners seeking a Practical Understanding.

Luxury Homes In Belize
Belize is a nation on the eastern coast of Central America, with Caribbean Sea shorelines to the east and dense jungle to the west. It’s official language is English, and population around 420,000 people.

A 4,500 square foot beach front modern home with pool! 5 beds, 3.5 baths. Asking $3.6 million. Check out that indoor/outdoor bathroom. Near Placencia airport.
120 acres on a hillside? Check out this 4 villa and 2 home estate. Just outside San Ignacio. Asking $3.8 million.
What a Gutter Upgrade Actually Costs
We studied what roofers are saying about gutter guard prices in 2025… and here’s what we found out.
Finding the best price comes down to just two simple things:
Cut out the middleman and buy from the manufacturer to save big money.
Get guards that install over your existing gutters - no need to replace anything so you’ll save a fortune.
With a little help, you can find the best gutter guards at a great price.
Check out this no-cost website where you can ‘skip’ the middleman and get (fair) local pricing.
Just hit the link below, and complete a 1-minute survey to get started on finding the perfect gutter guards for your home.
1% Rule & 50% Rule
How much will my home cost to maintain?
How do I decide whether to repair or replace?
These are 2 common questions, and “rules of thumb” have been circulated to answer these concerns.
Furnace Maintenance!
The 1% Rule
Your home repair and maintenance will be about 1% of your home value per year. In other words, you should save this much per year to be ready for what your home may need.
If you have a $400,000 home, you can expect to pay about $4,000 per year on average to maintain your home.
The 50% Rule
If the repair cost exceeds 50% of the cost of the current value of the appliance, replacement is often a better choice. Note the use of “current value of the appliance”, as we believe the common method of comparing to the full cost of replacement is flawed.
An Example:
If it costs $6,000 to replace your furnace today:
Your current furnace is 15 years old,
The typical lifespan of a furnace is 25 years (Learn More Here About Typical Lifespan)
Your furnace likely has about 10 years of life left
Your furnace is worth about $2,400 currently (10/25 * $6,000 = $2,400). This is the retained worth (salvage value) of the system you have.
You should spend no more than the following to repair your furnace:
Max you should spend on a furnace repair: 50% * $6,000 * (10 years / 25 years) = $1,200
The fact is, these are not rules. These are very rough bits of data that can be used as guidance. The problem is, the (many) details matter.
We’ll be exploring in future newsletters the real way to know how much your home is going to cost you. It is possible to predict fairly accurately, and know what you are in for.
Sneak preview: The more bathrooms you have, the more your costs over time explode!
Credit Card Rewards For Homeowners
Does your home use Nom Nom, Orkin, Terminix, Arlo, or American Home Shield?
With “Chase Offers” on Chase Bank’s line of Sapphire credit cards you can save 15% and other similar savings at these companies and several dozen more.
Plus, Chase is currently offering 75,000+ bonus points to new card members.
Overhead Garage Door Maintenance
When is the last time you did maintenance on your overhead garage doors?
Garage overhead door spring, mounted on shaft.
If you’re garage door becomes disabled due to a broken spring, your car could become trapped in the garage. Garage doors are very heavy.
This maintenance should take about 30 minutes per door.
Garage overhead door roller. There are typically 10-12 of these per door.
A typical overhead garage door is pretty heavy. A very strong spring provides the muscle to lift the door.
Garage overhead door cable anchored at the base of the door.
The maintenance tasks include:
Tighten all hardware & fasteners. You will need a few wrenches and possibly screwdrivers.
Check door versus spring balance
Disconnect the opener (with the door shut, pull the red handle downward, as this will disconnect the opener from the door) and manually lift the door. It should stay open on its own about halfway up, and move smoothly up and down.
If it feels heavy or falls quickly, the springs may need adjustment.
Inspect steel cables.
These cables connect the door to the horizontal shaft with the spring. A failure of one of these cables could result in the door not opening.
Lubricate all moving parts with special garage door lubricant.
Spring
Rollers
Chain
Stay Tuned For Next Week’s Newsletter Exposing the true cost of home long-term improvement costs! We’ll dig deeper into the 1% rule. |
The KnowYourHome Newsletter For Serious Homeowners seeking a Practical Understanding. |
The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Some of the links included in this newsletter are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Always perform your own due diligence before making any financial or business decisions.