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How to Disinfect Your Home in the Time of Coronavirus

By: Christina Hoffmann
Published: March 17, 2020

A bleach solution or rubbing alcohol is your best bet for keeping your home sanitized.

There’s everyday clean, guest clean, and then there’s COVID-19 clean.

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty, literally, and focus on how to disinfect your home. To combat this virus, you’ll want your big guns: bleach, rubbing alcohol, and hot water.

The Best Disinfectants
For your high-touch surfaces, the Centers for Disease Control recommends a bleach solution diluted with water, or a 70% alcohol solution.

Follow this bleach recipe: 5 tablespoons (1/3 cup) bleach per gallon of water, or 4 teaspoons of bleach per quart of water.

Make sure to properly ventilate when disinfecting with bleach.

And check to see if your bleach has expired. Who knew it could? After about 9 months to a year, and if it smells less bleachy, it’s lost its disinfecting power. Time for a new jug.

Tip: Don’t mix bleach with anything other than water; otherwise, it could set off a dangerous chemical reaction. For instance, bleach + alcohol is a deadly combo.

How to disinfect your home if you don’t have bleach? Regular old rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol or ethyl alcohol) works, so long as it’s at least 70% alcohol, according to the CDC. The alcohol concentration will be listed on the bottle. Rubbing alcohol you buy should already be diluted, unlike bleach.

Is There a Such a Thing as Too Much Disinfectant?
According to an EPA fact sheet, studies have found that using some disinfectant products can cause germs to become resistant.

The EPA has issued a list of disinfectants on the market that it believes are effective in killing COVID-19. Look for the EPA registration number on the product and check it against this list to ensure you have a match.

Erica Marie Hartman, an environmental microbiologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., whose research focuses on resistance, confirms soap, bleach, and alcohol are your best bets.

What about the various disinfecting wipes on the market (at least if you can find them)? Hartman says the active ingredient in many of those is an ammonium compound, which could become resistant to viruses over time.

Surfaces That Need Your Attention
With your preferred disinfectant, wipe down high-touch surfaces like doorknobs, light switches, tables, remotes, banisters, toilets, sinks, and faucets daily or more often, if someone in your home is sick.

Contact time is another key aspect of surface sanitizing. “Disinfection isn’t instantaneous,” says Hartman. [For a bleach solution], you want to leave it on the surface for 10 minutes before wiping it off. ”

By the way, new research from scientists at the National Institutes of Health, among other agencies, shows that at least some coronavirus can live for up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel.

But a report in “The Washington Post” notes that the most likely period for infection from the virus on surfaces is in the first 10 minutes to one or two hours.

Not All Floors Can Handle Bleach
For your nonporous floors, like those in the bathroom, the CDC recommends mopping with the bleach solution.

Avoid bleach on hardwood and other porous floors because of staining. Instead, use a disinfecting wet mop cloth without bleach.

Cleaning Isn’t Disinfecting
From the you-might-be-surprised files: Disinfecting with bleach isn’t actually cleaning. If you also need to clean your countertops of dirt and grime, do that first with soap and water. Then use the bleach solution or rubbing alcohol to combat the virus.

Killing Microbes on Clothes
Most washing machines today do a bang-up job on dirty clothes with cold water, which is best for energy savings. But, and especially if you have a sick person in your house, the hot-water setting followed by a high-heat dry for about a ½ hour to 45 minutes is best for virus eradication. thoroughly dry.

Don’t forget about your laundry hamper. Wipe it down like you would other surfaces. You can also use a reusable liner bag, which you can launder with the clothes.

What If I’m Selling My House, and Inviting More Germs In?
How to disinfect your home when it’s for sale? Talk to your agent who will work with you to establish a hygienic showing protocol, including requiring visitors to wash hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizer when they arrive, and to remove shoes or wear booties before entering. Removing shoes not only reduces dirt coming in, but potentially germs.

In addition, some agents are reporting that they’ve eliminated open houses to avoid group situations.

After showings, practice your surface wipe-down routine.

Finally, when you work with disinfectants, practice some self care. “Alcohol and bleach can be very aggressive on your skin, so wearing rubber gloves can help protect your hands,” Hartman says.

MA SFM CND Sales Rise in April as market heats up

Single-family home and condominium sales increased last month as the spring Massachusetts real estate market started to heat up, according to a new report from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

Last month, there were 4,279 single-family home sales recorded in Massachusetts, a 2.8 % increase from April 2018 when there were 4,162 transactions.

Meanwhile, the median single-family sale price rose 2 % on a year-over-year basis to $382,500, which marked an all-time high for the month of April. Year-to-date, there have been 14,004 single-family home sales with a median sale price of $375,000 – a 5 percent increase from the first four months of 2018.

“The median sale price for single-family homes has been steadily on the rise for the last three years,” said The Warren Group Associate Publisher and Media Relations Director Cassidy Norton. “Even with inventory levels improving, I fully expect stiff competition between buyers to keep prices elevated during the upcoming spring and summer months.”

Concurrently, there were 3,823 purchase mortgages for single-family homes in April, marking a 5.2 percent increase on a year-over-year basis. April purchase mortgages totaled $1.52 billion – a 6 percent increase from a year earlier. Year-to-date, single-family homes have accounted for 12,581 purchase mortgages across Massachusetts totaling $8.87 billion.

***************Looking to Buy or Sell in MA or RI, please contact stacycorrigan@pompmre.com*******************

Inventory increased and metro market prices rose in the first quarter of 2019, but at a slower pace than the previous quarter, according to new research.

From the first quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019, home prices rose 3.9 percent, according to a National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) report. On an annual basis, there were higher home prices in 86 percent, or 153 of the 178 metropolitan areas in the report. Comparing the largest markets, the median price was $254,800, up from $245,300 in Q1 2018.

Thirteen metro areas (7 percent) experienced double-digit increases, down from 14 in 2018’s first quarter.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the first quarter has been beneficial to U.S. homeowners. “Homeowners in the majority of markets are continuing to enjoy price gains, albeit at a slower rate of growth. A typical homeowner accumulated $9,500 in wealth over the past year,” he said.

A look at the affordability factor: According to the report, national family median income rose to $77,752 in the first quarter, while higher home prices caused overall affordability to decrease from last year. So a buyer making a 5% down payment would need an income of $60,143 to purchase a single-family home at the national median price, while a 10% down payment would require an income of $56,978, and $50,647 would be necessary for a 20% down payment.

According to the report, existing-home sales, including single family homes and condos, increased 1.2 percent from the last quarter and 5.4 percent from the prior year. At the close of the first quarter of 2019, existing for-sale inventory totaled 1.64 million—2.4 percent higher than the prior year. During the first quarter, the average supply was 3.8 months—up from 3.5 months in the first quarter of 2018.

Northeast
Q1 Existing-Home Sales: -1.0% YoY
Q1 Median Price: $277,200 (+3.7% YoY)

“There are vast home price differences among metro markets,” Yun says. “The condition of extremely high home prices may not be sustainable in light of many alternative metro markets that are much more affordable. Therefore, a shift in job search and residential relocations into more affordable regions of the country is likely in the future.”

Yun continues to call on the construction industry to develop more affordable housing units, which he says will combat slower price gains and buyer pullback. “More supply is needed to provide better homeownership opportunities, taming home price growth and widening the inventory choices for consumers. Housing Opportunity Zones could provide the necessary financial benefits for homebuilders to construct moderately priced-homes,” Yun said.