A few months back I had a Silicon Valley first time home buyer who was
viewing & assessing homes; she asked me what the metallic “thing” was on top of some homes. Being from a newer community in Southern California, she had never seen them before. After a bit of dialogue, I realized she was talking about antennae.
Wheneever I have new home buyers, there are always components in houses for sale (or condos or townhomes) which need explaining. There are so many things which Silicon Valley home owners take for granted as known and understood, but sometimes they aren’t so obvious to new home buyers. So today I’ll share a few photos and simply explain what each is.
Ever see one of these (photo below) protruding from a garage on your way up to a front door? It’s the dryer vent!
Dryer vent
How about this next photograph – a funny hole with a wire or wooden opening at the base of the home out into the yard?
Crawl space access on the outside (older home)
This one, above, is the access to the crawl space.
How about this big boxy thing?
Air conditioning condenser unit
It’s an air conditioning condenser unit. If you see this, it usually is good news and means you’ve got A/C!
How about this thing, which are usually found on the floor but sometimes on a wall or ceiling?
Heat register for forced air heating system
These are the places where forced air heat comes out into the room. They are called the heat registers and behind them are the ducts that carry the hot or warm air to each room.
Next, the other side of the equation. Recognize this in a house?
Cool air return for forced air heating system
It’s the “cool air return” for forced air heating system. And next? This one is a (very old) furnace). The furnace may be in a closet inside the home or it could be in the garage.
Furnace (older model)
These are just a few of the items you’ll be learning about as you begin to try to find your first home to buy in the San Jose or Santa Clara County area. It’s extremely helpful to work with someone knowledgeable who can help you to learn about the components of a house or home so that you understand what you’re attempting to buy!
If you’re gearing up to buy a home, you may want to learn more about how to save money in your transaction.
Please call me if I can be of help to you!
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Silicon Valley Realtor, selling homes in Los Gatos, Saratoga, San Jose, Silicon Valley, and nearby since 1993. Prolific blogger with a network of sites.
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