Energy Savings and Home Ownership

With the exception of a mortgage payment, the largest homeowner expense is utilities; and energy is the major component. There are lots of contributing factors such as air leaks, insulation, heating and cooling equipment, water heaters and lighting.




It's estimated that 75% of the electricity to power home electronics is consumed when the products are turned off. Computers, monitors, TVs, cable and satellite boxes, DVRs and power adaptors are spinning your electric meter even when they're not being used.



Unplugging devices can actually make a difference in the size of your electric bill. Plugging several of these offenders into a power strip with a single on/off switch may make the task easier. Most computers have options to put them into sleep mode or even turn off when not in use.



Take 3 1/2 minutes and watch Energy 101. Consider hiring a professional home energy auditor or do-it-yourself. The Department of Energy has a checklist with some valuable suggestions.

Converting a Home to a Rental

What's keeping you from taking advantage of the low prices and mortgage rates available today? Concerned that you may need to sell in a few years and won't be able to get your equity out of your home?

Suppose a buyer purchases a home and finds out that they need to move in two years. Instead of selling the home, they could convert it to a rental. It's possible that it could have a positive cash flow even with the small down payment. In most cases, the conversion would not accelerate the mortgage.

The price of homes and low interest rates combined with a very strong rental market in most areas has attracted a lot of investors. Non-owner occupied mortgages generally require 20-30% down payment compared to a 3.5% down payment for a FHA owner occupant.

The following example looks at a home that might have been purchased as a principal residence and then converted to a rental at the end of two years. There are certainly lots of variables to consider but the high indicated rate of return merits closer examination of the possibilities.

For the buyer who has good credit and ample funds for down payment and acquisition costs, there may never be as good a time to buy a home as now. For the buyer who is concerned that they might have to move in the near future, converting it to a rental might make a great investment opportunity.

 

Denver fastest moving real estate in country

Realtor.com: California metros dominate among most active markets. California metros dominated a list of 11 fast-moving real estate markets in July, reported property search site Realtor.com.Realtor.com released a list of metros with the lowest median age of inventory at the site -- a measurement of how long a property from a given metro area typically spends on the site. Denver, which topped the list in June, once again had the lowest median age of inventory among metros at a median 32 days. That's a 38.5 percent drop in the median year-over-year -- the biggest drop among the 11 most active markets. Six California metros made the list, with Oakland the fastest-moving among the six. Oakland's median age of inventory was 46 days. The six metros include a mix of markets hit hard by foreclosures -- Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton-Lodi -- and relatively high-cost metros in the San Francisco Bay Area -- Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco. Metros with lowest median age of inventory (July 2011)