If Gray
son County helped with a 50% rebate would you add a safe room or tornado shelter to your Van Alstyne home? We got past the Mayan calendar so this might be the perfect time to install a safe room (tornado shelter) and take advantage of a new Grayson County 50% rebate program.
Safe rooms range from fancy home invasion bunkers behind bookcases to old concrete shelters like this one in a Van Alstyne farmhouse. Unfortunately this old one wouldn’t qualify as a FEMA P-320 compliant shelter but it sure beats ducking under the dining room table.
Grayson County has qualified for a FEMA safe room rebate program where they will pay for half of the cost of a safe room up to $3000. That is a pretty good deal no matter how you feel about it. You can find all the details and an application at the Grayson County Main Website. Besides the obvious savings, just think of the piece of mind and how memorable it will be. After all the home showings blur into similarity, the home with the safe room will be the one home buyers remember.
Talk to an appraiser concerning the monetary value a safe room would bring but as a Van Alstyne Realtor I can assure you it would be a valuable selling point. In an age of standard home features like granite counter-tops and stainless steel appliances, a safe room would stand out and draw home buyers attention, especially during the stormy spring buying season.
Nine Reasons To Consider A Safe Room
-
You have a place to go when the weather alert radio goes off!
-
Underground safe rooms work great for wine storage.
-
Two similar homes for sale? – The home with the safe room has the selling advantage.
-
They offer additional storage for all those survival items you don’t want to see and hope you will never need to use.
-
Safe rooms can make great play rooms for imaginative kids, just be sure no one gets locked in & firearms are secured.
-
Someone else is paying half the cost up to 3K – it doesn’t get much better than that.
-
If your mother in law is visiting you might convince her it’s a room just for her.
-
Feel secure in your safe room when something goes bump in the night.
-
Why spend money on a gun safe when your shelter can offer that and so much more? (watch the imaginative kids)
Most people think of safe rooms and tornado shelters as dark and cold spaces but picture a little bistro table, 
wine, candles, water and basic foodstuffs to get through a rough time. Additionally, you need to have a weather radio, flashlight, batteries, pet food for Fido and if nothing else, a signal whistle.
Safe rooms built into a garage are really a negative for resale if they take up parking space. The other negative is when you see one way out in the backyard. Who is going to run out in the hail storm hoping they have the key to the cellar? Be smart, build yours into an appropriate place in your house like a mud room. That way, no one has to run outside and it can be a place your family wants to go.
Check out the criteria to qualify for your rebate at the Grayson County website. It can be a great addition to your Van Alstyne home for family safety as well as re-sale. Call me if you would like to find or sell safe Van Alstyne real estate! I may even have a wine recommendation.
