The COVID-19 scammers are out in full force: How to avoid becoming a victim

While the government shutdown has brought out the best in millions of Americans, there will always be those who seek to take advantage of any situation.

Unfortunately, because government agencies charged with rooting out the scammers are closed, they’re finding it much easier to get away with their illegal hoaxes.

Thanks to the folks at Equifax, the credit reporting agency, many of the more common scams have been exposed. Be on the lookout and don’t get taken in.

“I’m calling from the [government agency name]”

Be wary of an email or phone call purported to be from a government agency. The person or email will tell you that the agency needs your banking information and, if they don’t receive it, your Medicaid or Social Security will be terminated.

Don’t fall for it and never follow a link in an email from someone you don’t know. “It could download a virus onto your computer or device. Make sure the antimalware and anti-virus software on your computer is up to date,” warns officials with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

According to the experts at Equifax, “… government agencies will not contact you unless you request it, and they will never request personal information over phone or email.”

The same goes for any communication regarding your government stimulus check. “The government will not ask you to pay anything up front to get this money. The government will not call to ask for your Social Security number, bank account, or credit card number. Anyone who does is a scammer,” according to the FTC website.

Learn more about the stimulus payment scams, later in this post.

Have you applied for a government grant or loan?

You may receive a letter, email or phone call telling you that you’re pre-approved for the loan or grant but they need your banking information so that they can deposit the funds.

The letters may appear to be on official letterhead and the emails may look equally authentic.

Again, never click on a link in these emails.

Instead, use the search bar in your web browser to navigate to the agency’s site to check your status, or call the number on the agency’s website.

Looking for a job?

Use caution when replying to job offers that arrive via email, especially if it’s for a job to which you didn’t apply.

Again, don’t follow any links within the email. Use your favorite search engine to research the company. Look for an “employment opportunities” or jobs section of the website and learn if the job is listed there.

Never give your email address or phone number to anyone you don’t know who calls or texts you.

Ignore potential employers who ask for a fee for training materials, an application fee or fees for anything else. “Employers and employment firms shouldn’t ask you to pay for the promise of a job,” according to the experts at the FTC.

Stimulus payment scams

Where there’s money, there are scammers trying to get their hands on it. The latest involves the stimulus checks that Americans are receiving in their bank accounts or in the mail.

Ignore phone calls and emails stating that you must pay a fee to get your payment or anyone who claims that you need to supply your social security number, bank account information or debit card account numbers to receive your stimulus payment.

The folks at the FTC urge you to follow these tips to avoid a COVID-19 stimulus payment scam:

  • The IRS won’t contact you about your payment. Anyone who emails, texts or calls you claiming to be with the IRS is lying.
  • There is no fee to claim your stimulus payment.
  • A common scam right now is a communication purported to be from the IRS saying that you were overpaid and need to send back some of the money.

If you suspect a scam, report it to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint

Remember:

  • Don’t click on any links or download any attachments in emails from anyone you don’t know personally.
  • Never give out personal information to strangers, regardless of who they say they are.

How to live in a home for sale without losing your mind

There’s a frustrating dilemma that occurs when your home is for sale. It happens when the need to keep the home clean, tidy and staged collides with daily living.

Trying to keep the home in showing-condition when you’re living in it, complete with kids and/or pets, is a delicate balancing act.

Then, there are all those little annoyances that you should be prepared to tolerate. It’s always easier and less stressful to enter a new process armed with knowledge. So, let’s dive into what you can expect while your home is on the market and how to make it easier on you and your family.

Keeping the home clean

According to a study from a few years ago, clean homes with no clutter sell for $1500 to $2000 more than comparable homes that are messy. Ah, that caught your attention, right?

Homebuyers feel that clean homes show pride of ownership, which means their perception is that it’s also been well-maintained.

If you have children and/or pets, keeping the home clean isn’t an easy job. Create a plan before the home goes on the market where each family member has a set of tasks to complete before leaving the home in the morning.

Even the tiniest in the family can pick up toys and return them to their rightful place.

Yes, it may mean getting up a bit earlier in the morning, but for an extra thousand dollars (or two) it’s worth it.

Decide now what to do with your pets

Home sellers with pets have come up with some clever ideas on how to deal with their pets during home showings.

From dropping them at doggy daycare or a groomer to hiring a dog walker to get them out of the home during showings, crating them, come up with a solution that you can put into action on those days when agents will be showing the home.

Then, make sure their food and water bowls, leashes and toys don’t create clutter – stash them away.

Tip: If your dog uses the backyard as a potty, ensure that all the droppings are picked up before showings. The last thing you want is a potential buyer with “poop” all over her shoes.

Protect your privacy

While it may appear that they’re snooping, many homebuyers will open cupboards, drawers and closets to determine how much storage these areas provide.

Then, there are the small handful that are actually snooping, hoping to come upon anything they can pocket. Although it doesn’t happen often, it’s best to be safe and lock away or remove from the home the following:

  • Sensitive paper work (such as anything having to do with your mortgage and home, credit reports, anything could be used to steal your identity and anything else you wouldn’t want a stranger to see).
  • Checkbooks
  • Credit cards
  • Prescription medications
  • Firearms
  • Anything else that is easily pocketed that is of value

From the requests for last-minute showings to potential buyers wanting to view the home when you typically eat dinner, living in a home for sale can be challenging.

Relax into the process and keep reminding yourself that it’s temporary. Soon, you’ll find a buyer and can look forward to moving on to the next phase in your life.

And – a bonus – you won’t have to worry about what to do with the dirty dishes or laundry as you rush out to work in the morning.

Homebuyer: Can I Back Out if I Change My Mind?

What if you make an offer on a home for sale, the seller accepts it and then you change your mind about the purchase? Are you locked into the contract?

Whether you’re suffering from buyer’s remorse, you found another home you like more or any other reason, it’s a common fear.

The answer is, “it depends.” Finding another house you like more isn’t going to fly, nor will a bad case of buyer’s remorse.

There are other conditions, however, built right into the purchase contract, that will allow you to get out of the purchase. Often, this includes a return of your earnest money deposit, but not always.

These conditions even have a name: Contingencies.

The dictionary defines a contingency as “a provision for an unforeseen event or circumstance.” We like to think of it as an “if.”

“I will consummate the purchase of your home IF ‘Y’ occurs.”

Y is the contingency. It can stand for the success of your loan application, the sale of your current home, a satisfactory home inspection, the home appraises for what the bank is willing to lend. There are lots of different contingencies.

Contingencies have a time limit, which is written into the contract. For instance, the home inspection contingency may expire one or two weeks after receipt of the inspection report.

Let’s assume you didn’t miss the deadline. Instead, you ask the seller to fix the hole in the roof by a certain date. If the seller fails to complete the work to your satisfaction by that date, you can walk away from the purchase with a full return of your earnest money deposit.

Today, we take a look at some of the more common contingencies in a home purchase contract.

Common contingencies

Financing

That loan preapproval that you got from your lender? You do know that isn’t an offer, right? It is conditional on a number of factors, such as proof of employment and income as well as others.

Until the underwriter clears your file, you really don’t have a loan commitment, just a promise to try to get you one.

This is why buyers’ real estate agents insist on a loan contingency clause in the contract. This way, should you not get final approval for a mortgage, you can walk away from the agreement without penalty.

Appraisal

If the appraiser (hired by the lender) finds that your home is worth less than what you’ve agreed to pay for it, they won’t approve your loan.

There are, of course, ways to mitigate this disaster:

  • Come up with the additional money required
  • Come up with half the money required and request that the seller pay the other half
  • Ask the seller to lower the price
  • Walk away from the transaction

If it comes to it, and you end up walking away, the appraisal contingency allows you to do so.

Home inspection

The home inspection report doesn’t have to derail the deal. If there are issues that the buyer can’t accept, negotiations can reopen to convince the seller to take care of them.

If the results are completely unacceptable to the buyer, a home inspection contingency allows him or her to cancel the deal, without penalty.

All contingencies are negotiable. If you feel you need more time to conclude a task, we will negotiate with the seller for more time.

It’s critical to meet the deadlines demanded of the contingencies and we work hard to keep you on track to do just that.

If you have any questions about anything in the home purchase agreement, don’t hesitate to ask. We’re happy to answer them.

5 things you may not know about home warranties

If the home inspection leaves you less-than confident that the home you really, really want to buy won’t need repairs in the near future, you may want to ask the seller for a home warranty.

You’re not alone, by the way. The home warranty industry rakes in more than $2.5 billion each year from people just like you — new homeowners seeking peace of mind.

Home warranties provide just that when it comes to the life expectancy of the home’s major systems. Some experts say that peace of mind is an illusion for those who don’t understand how the warranties work.

Read on to learn the five things you need to know about home warranties.

1. Home warranties are service contracts

Many new homeowners think of their home warranty as a type of insurance. It is not.

Furthermore, the federal government considers a warranty something that is included in the purchase price of the item. A home warranty is purchased separately, so it isn’t technically a warranty.

“Simply put, a home warranty is a yearly service contract that protects specific home systems and appliances,” according to the folks at First American Home Warranty.

2. Understand what’s covered

What your warranty covers depends on several factors, including the price of the warranty. The more expensive the warranty, the more it will cover.

The basic home warranty provides some coverage for the major systems in the home, such as heating, cooling, electrical and plumbing.

The home’s major appliances may also be covered.

3. Find out what’s not covered

“There are plenty of limitations; these plans generally don’t cover non-mechanical items such as windows or the structure of your home, for instance,” say the experts at ConsumerReports.com.

Unfortunately, exclusions (anything that isn’t covered) aren’t uniform across the home warranty industry. Most, however, won’t cover any repair or replacement of a problem caused by “normal wear and tear,” insect damage, deferred maintenance and acts of God.

This leaves the companies with a lot of wiggle room when it comes to accepting or denying a claim.

Some companies offer additional coverage for some of their exclusions, at an additional cost, of course.

4. Then, there is optional coverage

Optional coverage is the term home warranty companies use to describe coverage that you can purchase for certain systems, such as a pool and spa, septic, central vacuum or well.

If the home features any items not covered and you want coverage, ask for a policy that offers these options.

5. Is a home warranty worth the price?

“The average cost of a home warranty service contract ranges between $300–$600 per year,” according to Jessica Render at ConsumerAffairs.com.

When you need to use the warranty, and the problem is covered by the home warranty, the provider will send a service technician to your home. You are required to pay for the visit, which will run you between $50 to $100 per visit, according to Render.

Is the cost worth it? It depends. Many in the real estate industry feel that the peace of mind a warranty offers the new homeowner, who is typically cash poor for at least the first year of homeownership, is invaluable.

Consumer Reports and other consumer advocates feel otherwise.  “We recommend avoiding service contracts . . . far too often, warranty claims are denied because the company says the problem was pre-existing. Or, the claim is denied because the consumer can’t prove that a broken item was properly maintained,” says Anthony Giorgianni with Consumer Reports.

“Put your money in the bank instead,” he suggests.

If you do decide to go ahead with the purchase of a home warranty, check each company’s Better Business Bureau ranking and keep records of all home maintenance tasks you perform.

Cooped up at home? 5 outdoor projects to get your home ready for the post-pandemic real estate market

There’s talk in real estate circles that homebuyers who get into the market after we’re released from “self-isolation” will have an entirely different wish list than those who bought homes before the pandemic.

This makes sense when you consider that we’ve never spent so much time in our homes as we have over the past few months.

Look for home offices to be on many homebuyer wish lists. Outdoor spaces, however, will be hot sellers as well.

How’s your backyard looking? If you’re planning on selling, take a good long look and get to work on some projects to make your home stand out when we get back to normal.

1. Start with a clean slate

Winter is firmly in the rearview mirror. If your front and backyards still show winter’s scars, it’s time to get that remedied.

Get rid of all the debris that winter deposited in your yard. Remove broken branches, trash, leaves and any other debris.

Although we love spring, we don’t care for the weeds it brings. Weeding should be next on the list.

Pruning dead or dying branches from trees and shrubs will not only make them look better but make them healthier as well.

Tip: Disinfect your pruning equipment before using. Give it a 5-minute soak in a disinfectant, such as Lysol. Rinse with water and allow to air-dry.

2. Turn your attention to the hardscaping

Hardscaping refers to the non-living elements in your landscape. This includes pottery, benches, water features, pavers, arbors and fencing.

Consider painting the fence if it needs it. Darker colors are better, according to Darin Bradbury, a landscape designer.

“Not only does the dark color give those vertical surfaces around the garden a uniform finish, but it creates the perfect backdrop for all that green foliage,” Bradbury tells Georgia Madden with Houzz Australia.

3. Add new plants

While the gardening centers at the big box home improvement stores remain open during the pandemic, it’s a good idea to shop online right now.

There are many online plant retailers and we’ve rounded up several for you: DirectGardening.com, NatureHills.com, BrighterBlooms.com and FastGrowingTrees.com.

Landscaping professionals suggest that we should choose a theme before planting. The theme can be based on color, scent, pollinators (such as butterflies) or choose from some of the popular gardening themes:

Sticking to a theme helps prevent the space from looking too “chaotic and disconnected,” landscape designer Wayne De Klijn tells Madden.

“The right plant for the right space” is an old gardening adage that describes one of the most important secrets to gardening success.

Before purchasing plants, observe the landscape for a few days. Where is it sunny all day, shady all day, partially sunny? Choose your plants based on the existing conditions in your garden and you should have far fewer problems.

4. Mulch – the workhorse of the landscape

Mulch offers so much to your garden. It’s ornamental, it helps suppress weeds, it keeps the soil cooler in the summer, it helps the soil conserve moisture and, if it’s organic, it breaks down, adding nutrients back into the soil.

Choose whichever type of mulch you like and spread at least 2 inches of it over the soil, keeping it about 6 inches from the base of each plant.

5. Spruce up outdoor furniture 

Since we are all supposed to be staying home, running out to buy a new patio furniture set is not a wise idea. Hopefully, with a little DIY action, you can spruce up what you have.

Best of all, you can buy most of the products you’ll need online at Amazon.com or Gardener’s Supply Company and have them delivered to your door.

If your outdoor furniture is made of wood, follow the instructions you’ll find online at YouTube.com. Ideas for updating other types of patio furniture can be found at BobVila.com.

Stay well!

 

Cornavirus patient in the home? Here’s what you need to do to avoid infection

We’ve been admonished to do our part to “flatten the curve” by socially distancing ourselves from others, by washing our hands frequently and other forms of collective action.

If you happen to share a home with a coronavirus patient, it’s even more important to remain vigilant against the coronavirus.

While a daily cleaning and disinfecting of the home is important, there are additional tasks to perform when caring for someone suffering from the effects of the virus.

What to use to disinfect

After cleaning high-touch surfaces in the patient’s room (soap and water is fine for this), use an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered disinfectant, according to the instructions on the label. Wear gloves and ventilate the area while working.

The EPA offers a very long list of disinfectants to choose from on its website at EPA.gov. Many appear to be available only to professionals but the experts at the Centers for Disease Control offers several recipes for DIY disinfectants to use on surfaces that may be contaminated by COVID-19 (coronavirus):

  • 4 teaspoons of household bleach in 1 quart of water (allow it to remain on the surface for 10 minutes before wiping the surface dry).
  • 70 percent dilution of isopropyl alcohol (must remain on the surface for 30 seconds).
  • Undiluted hydrogen peroxide (allow it to remain on surfaces for one minute).

Use care when working with bleach. Since it interacts with other substances and may emit caustic fumes, avoid mixing bleach with anything other than water. Ventilate the area in which you are working.

The CDC cautions Americans to avoid using recipes you find online. Vinegar, for instance, will not kill this virus, nor will tea tree oil.

How to disinfect a coronavirus patient’s room

Porous surfaces, such as drapes and rugs should be cleaned with a product manufactured specifically for the material and then laundered using the warmest temperature possible.

Wash bed linens, towels and clothing separate from other family laundry, and in the warmest water possible. Wear gloves when handling possibly-infected laundry and never shake the items before washing.

The CDC recommends using disposable “food-service items,” such as paper plates and plastic utensils. These can be placed into the trash and disposed of properly.

“Non-disposable food service items used should be handled with gloves and washed with hot water or in a dishwasher,” the experts caution. “Clean hands after handling used food service items.”

If your patient doesn’t have his or her own bathroom, clean and disinfect the bathroom after each time the patient uses it.

How to keep everyone in the home healthy

Frequent hand-washing is the name of the keep-healthy game when living with a coronavirus patient. Everyone in the home should wash their hands:

  • After removing gloves
  • After sneezing, blowing one’s nose or coughing
  • After using the restroom
  • Prior to preparing and eating food
  • Before and after your caretaking duties
  • After you’ve been outdoors, immediately upon entering the home

Caretaking considerations

  • The patient should be confined to one room of the home.
  • The patient should eat/be fed in their room.
  • All items handled by the patient should be disinfected daily or, if disposable, placed in a trash can lined with a plastic or paper bag. The caretaker should wear gloves when removing and disposing of these bags.
  • Remind other household members to use care when interacting with the patient.

Find additional tips from the following resources:

Caring for Someone at Home

Hand Washing: A Family Activity

Clean and Disinfect

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: Myth busters

Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Homes and Residential Communities

 

What to do if you can’t make your mortgage payments

It seems like only yesterday that the word “foreclosure” dominated the headlines as millions of Americans lost their homes during the Great Recession.

Now, that dreaded “F” word is reappearing in media accounts of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the economy. Yes, they’re speculating. Nobody really knows what will happen nor how long this will last.

All it takes is the prospect of missing one mortgage payment, however, to bring back all those dreadful memories from years ago.

Put “foreclosure” to the back of your mind. We have some suggestions to help you deal with the prospect of being unable to make your mortgage payments.

You’re safe for now

“President Trump on Saturday ordered foreclosures and evictions to cease for 60 days across the U.S. in response to the coronavirus pandemic that has idled millions of workers.”

Good news for the tens of thousands of Americans who have lost their jobs over the past few weeks. At least for one month, they will have one less bill to worry about.

But what happens next month? A lot depends on your current financial picture. If you’re a saver, you have far more options than those Americans who live paycheck-to-paycheck.

That first call

It’s a scary one – calling your mortgage company to tell them you can’t make your payment. But, call you must and afterward, you’ll be glad you did.

Many mortgage companies and banks are offering deferral programs during the COVID-19 crisis.

Keep in mind that a deferral isn’t forgiveness and you’ll be expected to make up the missed payments at a later date (unless you can convince them to tack the missed payments onto the end of the loan).

As well, the interest on the loan will most likely continue to accrue.

You will most likely need to offer proof of your hardship and many lenders require pay stubs and bank statements (to show a declining income) and a profit and loss statement from the self-employed.

What if my lender won’t work with me?

We have yet to hear of a lender who is refusing to at least listen to homeowners at this time. This doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If you have a conventional loan and the lender refuses to work with you, call a HUD-approved housing counsellor at 800-569-4287.

Borrowers with FHA-backed loans will find help dealing with their lender by calling the National Servicing Center at 877-622-8525. You will be asked to provide the names of all people listed on the mortgage and the full address of the property. If you have your loan settlement statement handy, jot down the 13-digit FHA case number. This may get you faster service.

VA borrowers can find help on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.

Additional solutions

If your lender won’t work with you, or you prefer not to pursue the aforementioned solutions, consider the following ways of dealing with mortgage payments that you cannot afford at this time:

  • Sell the home
  • Apply to refinance your mortgage

Avoid foreclosure prevention scams

During the Great Recession, foreclosure prevention scams became a cottage industry. While we haven’t seen any recently, if the crisis continues, they may pop up again.

Many of these scam companies chose names and phone numbers that were quite similar to those of government programs. They charged high up-front fees while promising to pay off the borrower’s delinquent mortgage.

If you have any questions or suspicions about offers you receive, call a HUD housing counselor (800-569-4287) or reach out to us and we’ll point you in the right direction.

3 types of home valuation

Whether it’s a car, garage sale items or you’re selling on websites such as Ebay, successfully selling “stuff” has one major requirement: you need to know how much it’s worth.

After all, price an item too high and it most likely won’t sell. Price it too low and you’ll lose money on the deal.

The same holds true for houses, but there is a lot more money involved and the stakes are far higher.

There are several different home evaluation models, depending on the purpose for which the value needs to be ascertained. Let’s take a look at these and the differences between them.

Your home’s assessed value

Homeowners can’t get around paying property taxes and they’re based on your home’s assessed value. Your county or other municipality official, most commonly known as the “assessor,” will come up with the number for this evaluation.

He or she will use many of the same resources as a professional appraiser, from public records to recent sales. After deducting any exemptions available to you, the assessor multiplies the value by the assessment rate for your municipality to come up with the tax value for your home.

You’ll notice that the assessor’s value is often quite different than your home’s actual market value. Again, this evaluation is for tax purposes only and does not express your home’s current market value.

The market value of a home

The market value of a piece of property is based on what a buyer is willing to pay and a seller will accept. It is reflected in the recent sales prices of similar homes, or “comps,” short for “comparable homes.”

Most home sellers rely on the skill and experience of their real estate agent to determine their home’s current market value. And, although they don’t call their determination an “appraisal,” real estate agents use many of the same valuation techniques as appraisers.

They will base their determination on the following, when comparing your home to the comps:

  • The size of the home
  • Age of the home
  • Condition of the home
  • Location of the home
  • Special features

Then, if the agent is familiar with your neighborhood, he or she will use any knowledge of recent home appraisals in the area to help narrow down a price for your home.

This is what knowing market value does for homeowners: it helps them determine a competitive price for their homes.

A home’s appraised value

The appraised value of a home is that which is determined by a professional home appraiser. Typically hired by a buyer’s lender, this is the value determination that can make or break a home sale.

The appraiser will visit the home, taking measurements and notes. Back at the office, she will use many of the same techniques that real estate agents use, with the addition of public record information and other assistance.

Whether or not your agent’s evaluation matches that of the appraiser depends largely on current market conditions. In a recovering market, such that we saw after the recession ended, it may be challenging to pinpoint value.

When purchasing a home, it’s a smart move to look at a home’s property tax burden. But, for sellers, this type of value means little. It’s the market value and the appraised value that are important.

Still have questions? Fee free to reach out to us.

The Right Way to Remove Wallpaper

If you think wallpaper is something only your grandmother would love, think again. “Wallpaper is back with a vengeance,” Brook Anderson with Bay Hill Design in Austin, TX tells Studio 512.

Celeste Randolph, a designer in Los Altos, CA concurs “Geometric prints in wallcoverings … are huge right now.”

Today’s wallpaper would blow gramma away. Carnegie Fabrics, for instance, offers a line of thermoplastic olefin wallcoverings or you could consider cellulose wallcoverings or artisan-crafted, handmade wallpaper, like these from Benjamin Moore.

Whatever you choose, to be successful with a DIY wallpaper hanging project requires careful and thorough preparation of the wall to which you hope to stick it.

“Wallpaper can’t cling to greasy, dirty walls, old wallpaper or paint,” claim the experts and WallpapersToGo.com. “That’s why we can’t emphasize enough how critical it is to have your walls properly prepared.”

If the wall is currently covered with wallpaper, you’ll need to remove it. Not a fun job, but we’ve rounded up some tips to make it easier.

The tools you’ll need to strip the old wallpaper

As mentioned above, understand that stripping wallpaper is not a fun job. And, it will take longer than you want it to. Don’t plan to get it all done in one day, even if you are working in a small room.

Then, head out to a hardware or home improvement store to pick up the supplies you’ll need. These include:

  • Drop cloths
  • A wallpaper scoring tool
  • A wallpaper scraping tool
  • Wallpaper removal solvent
  • A spray bottle

Let’s get that wallpaper removed

Push the furniture into the center of the room and cover it with drop cloths. Then, lay a few of them down on the floors where you’ll be working. Finally, put some old towels or rags along the baseboards, lay drop cloths over them and tape it to the baseboards.

Examine your walls to determine if they are made of plaster or drywall. If your home was built more than 50 years ago, the walls are most likely plaster. Homes built since then typically offer drywall.

Not sure? Knock on the wall. If the sound is dull, it’s plaster, according to home improvement experts at Lowes.com. Drywall sounds hollow when you knock on it.

You’ll need to approach drywall with caution, being “careful not to damage the cardboard facing when using a wallpaper scraping tool,” say the pros at Lowes.

Next, pull off all the paper that comes off easily. Yes, you will be left with plenty of glue on the wall and patches of wallpaper. Score all the remaining wallpaper so that solvent can get through the paper and into the glue.

Beginning at the top of the wall (the area closest to the ceiling), spray a small area of wall with the wallpaper removal solvent (prepared according to package instructions). Allow the solvent to sit for a few minutes to ensure it has soaked in. Then, use the scraper to gently scrape the wallpaper and glue from the wall until it’s smooth.

Occasionally, especially with old wallpaper, the solution won’t be absorbed. Use coarse sandpaper to scuff up the area or use the suggested scoring tool. Soak the area again and allow it to sit for 30 minutes.

After all the glue and backing has been removed, clean and dry your walls before applying your new finishes.

A note about washable wallpaper

Washable wallpapers include a top layer, typically a plastic-like film. This is where the scoring tool comes in handy; use it to break holes in the wallpaper. Use the spray bottle, filled with water, and squirt the water into the holes you created.

Wait 10 minutes and then scrape the wallpaper from the wall.