Fannie Mae Foundation: How to Buy a Home

Expected outcomes of
Lesson 1

1. To know the basics about how major systems in the home work, how to
get utilities started, and how to turn them off in case of an emergency.

2. To be able to list the basic components of an appliance warranty and describe how to use one.

3. To learn how to find out about local services in the community.

4. To know what to do to prepare for emergencies.

Vocabulary
main electrical switch, water shut-off, thermostat, smoke alarm, fire
extinguisher, warranty

Pre-reading activity
1. Divide students into three small groups. Ask Group 1 to make a list of the things a person or family needs to know about their house or apartment before they move in. Ask Group 2 to list what a person or family needs to do before moving in, such as turning on utilities and finding out about garbage pickup. Ask Group 3 to make a list of things that can be done to keep the home safe.

2. Ask each group to think about whether the list would be the same for renters and homeowners.

3. Create a new list with things renters need to do on one side and things homeowners need to do on the other. Which list is longer? What additional responsibilities do homeowners have?

Getting to know your major systems
Some members of your class may be experts on this topic, and others may know very little. Ask the students who are familiar with utility shut-off valves to describe where they are located in their own homes or apartments. Have they ever had a reason to turn off the major systems? What was the situation?
Ask students how many of them have smoke alarms and fire extinguishers in their homes. How often do they check the batteries in their smoke alarms? Fire extinguishers often have complicated instructions for their use. Do they know how to use one? If possible, bring in a smoke alarm and a small fire extinguisher. Your hardware store may loan them to you if you explain the purpose. Together read and analyze the instructions for their use.

Keeping manuals and
warranties
Bring in some sample manuals and warranties for major appliances. Reinforce the importance of warranties. Talk about what they say to do if the appliance breaks. Discuss ways to file or store the warranties, manuals, and proofs of purchase together so they can be found if needed.

Extension activities
1. Ask someone from the fire department to make a presentation on safety in the home.

2. Go on a tour of a home. Ask the person showing the house to point out to the group the main shut-off valves, smoke alarms, and other safety devices in the home.

Utilities and collection
services
Make a list of the utility companies you need to contact when you move into a new home. Divide into small groups and assign each group a different utility. Have each group call the company to find out what it requires to
establish new service. Do you need a deposit? Is a deposit necessary if you already have an account and are simply moving to a new house or apartment?
Have the group assigned to find out about garbage collection ask if there is a recycling program in the area. What kinds of items can be recycled? Are there also drop-off points for other items that are not picked up at the home?

Finding out about nearby
services
Ask students to find out about local services such as hospitals, parks, recreation centers, and libraries. You may be able to contact your Chamber of Commerce or Tourist Bureau to get brochures about these services. Look in the phone book for the names of various kinds of services. Call and ask them to send
written information.

Making a house file
and storing documents
Talk about the importance of keeping household records in an orderly
fashion. Label some sample file folders for utilities, manuals, homeowner’s insurance policies, and so on. Have
students think about how the materials could be organized and stored (e.g.,
by category and by alphabetical order, in a file cabinet, in a cardboard box, or in a fireproof box).

Ask students to think about the documents they own that should be kept in a safe place (e.g., birth
certificates, bank notes, the title to a home) and those that can be stored
at home (e.g., utility bills, mortgage statements).
Point out that students should be careful when purchasing a fireproof box. Some metal boxes are advertised for storing documents but are not really fireproof. Read the labels carefully. You may also want to mention that many people store their documents insafe deposit boxes at a bank. There is a fee for this service. If you wish, have a student volunteer to call a bank to find out how much a safe deposit box would cost.

Unit 4: Your home is your castle

Lesson 1: Protecting and maintaining your home

Finally, the hard work of buying your home is behind you! But as moving day gets closer, there are new things to think about. Setting up your new home can be fun,
but it will be a lot easier if you get organized!

This lesson will tell you some of the things you will need to do to protect and maintain your new home. To help you learn about the many things to consider, let’s look at what Sue Johnson did before she and her mother moved into their new condo.

Getting to know your major systems

When she was shopping for a home, Sue Johnson learned a little about the major systems such as the electrical, plumbing, heating, and cooling systems. But now she was worried. Would she know how to operate each one?

lightbulb During the building inspection for her home, she talked to the building inspector, Bill Moore, about her concerns. One of the most important things, he told her, was to know how to turn off the systems safely if things went wrong. Then you could always call someone to make the repairs. The second thing, he said, was to know how to operate the systems to save the most energy.

First, he showed her the fuse box. In her condo it was located in a bedroom. Newer houses, he explained, had circuit breakers instead of fuses. He showed her where the main electrical switch was. It turns off all the electricity in the condo.

Next, he took her out to the front yard and pulled up a metal plate on the ground. Inside was the main water shut-off valve to the condominium building. “If a pipe bursts or you can’t stop the water running from a faucet,” Bill told Sue, “you can turn off the water in the whole building by turning off the main shut-off valve.”

Finally, he took her down to the basement of the condominium building to show her the gas shut-off valve. “If you smell gas around your stove,” he warned her, “don’t wait to turn off the gas shut-off valve. Just turn off the stove and go to a neighbor or public phone to call 911. It’s too dangerous to be in a home with gas fumes.”

Bill also showed Sue how to operate her furnace, air conditioner, and hot water heater. He showed her how to adjust the settings to save the most energy.

He also advised her to get a thermostat that is on a timer. A thermostat measures the heat and cold in the house. That way, if she and her mother are away all day, she can set the timer to warm up (or cool down) the house just before they get home, instead of keeping it heated (or cooled) all day.

Finally, Bill checked to see that all the smoke alarms were working. “You should have at least one on every floor,” he told her. He also suggested that she get a fire extinguisher for the kitchen and one for the second floor.

Keeping your manuals and warranties

During the final walk-through inspection, Sue made sure to ask the owner if he had left all the manuals and warranties for the appliances. Sure enough, he had each of them ready for her, including ones for the refrigerator, stove, air conditioner, hot water heater, and others.

Each of the appliances, he told her, had come with both a manual and a warranty. The manuals explain how to operate the appliances properly. The warranty guaranteed free parts and service for a certain amount of time. The Document literacy section on this page describes warranties and how to use them.

garbage truck Local collection services

Sue also asked the owners about garbage, recycling, and leaf collection. In Sue’s area, garbage collection is on Mondays and Thursdays. She has to make a special call if she has something bigger to have picked up, such as an old sofa or appliance.

Utilities

Sue’s real estate agent had a list of the utility companies she would need to call to continue service. Well in advance of her move, she notified the electricity, water, and gas companies of a date to turn on services. Sue gave them her name, her address, a phone number where she could be reached, her employer’s name and address, and the day she wanted the service turned on. Sue also called the phone company. They told her about many extra services. To save money, she decided not to get extra services at first and to decide later if she really needed them. For long distance, Sue had a choice of many different companies. She decided on the one that gave her the best rates.

School buses

Finding out about nearby services

Sue wanted to get to know some of her neighbors. She also wanted to find out about nearby services. She decided to ask her new next-door neighbor, Mrs. Evans, about services in the area. The next time she saw Mrs. Evans in the hallway, she introduced herself.

Mrs. Evans told Sue about the nearest hospital, the library, the park, and a good recreation center for seniors that her mother might be able to attend. She also told her which pharmacies and grocery stores had the best prices.

Sue wanted to continue her education, so she called the main number for the public schools and asked where she could take adult education classes. The adult education office gave her the location for adult evening classes nearest her condo. Now she was beginning to feel much more “at home.”

filing system Making a house file and storing documents

One week after she moved in, Sue already had a large pile of manuals, receipts, and other documents. She knew she had to do something! So, she went to the office discount store and bought a large cardboard box for storing files and a box of file folders. She made a file for each of her appliances and utilities. She made other files for her mortgage payment forms, her homeowner’s insurance, and other forms. Sue put them in alphabetical order. Now she had an organized system to keep her important papers and receipts after she paid each of her bills.

While she was at the store, she also got a fireproof strong box. In this box, she put the title to her house, her homeowner’s insurance policy, and all her other important documents. She knew if there was time during an emergency, this was the box she would take out of the house first. After she was finished, Sue felt much better. Now she could find things when she needed them!

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