Green Real Estate Appraiser

Sealing Air Leaks for Increased Home Efficiency

Posted on December 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

To seal air leaks, you first need to identify them, either on your own or with the help of a professional energy auditor. Most professional energy audits cost a few hundred dollars, and they provide you with a thorough analysis of your home’s energy use. To identify leaks yourself, begin by looking for large openings in outside walls, then search for smaller, less visible openings. On windy days, you can find these leaks by feeling around doors and window frames, at the base of walls, and anywhere else with an opening from outside to inside walls. You can also detect leaks with a stick of burning incense—air leaking into a home will deflect the smoke. Be sure to check around electrical outlets and light switches (even those on interior walls). Ceiling fixtures—especially recessed lighting and whole-house fans—are another major source of heat loss in the winter. Follow this step-by-step guide to conduct a full home energy assessment.

read entire article: https://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/energy-efficiency/sealing-air-leaks-zmfz12jfzmel.aspx

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Website Lets Tenants Check to See if Landlord is in Default

Posted on December 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

One of the common tropes in the housing crisis has been the tale of defaulting homeowners installing tenants to collect rent while they’re in default on the mortgage. Eventually the lender comes for the house and the tenants find themselves in a world of uncertainty and possibly with an unexpected moving bill.

Contact an appraiser at: www.socalappraisalserv.com for your default concerns.

A new website called http://www.checkyourlandlord.com/ hopes to help tenants avoid that very predicament. The site lets tenants check any address to see if a property is in default by creating a free account and entering an address. In a couple of North County Times spot checks, the site’s data seemed to be accurate.

Of course, this is a business venture: The site will offer users multiple opportunities to pay for added services, like alerts in case the landlord later stops paying his or her mortgage. But the free service is at least enough for prospective tenants considering a new rental to do some due diligence.

Payroll Tax Cut Bill Boosts Cost of New Mortgages

Posted on December 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Who is paying for the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut working its way through Congress? The cost is being dropped in the laps of most people who buy homes or refinance beginning next year.

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The typical person who buys a home or refinances starting on Jan. 1 will have to pay roughly $17 more a month for their mortgage, thanks to a fee increase included in the payroll tax cut bill that the Senate passed Saturday.

The legislation provides a two-month extension of a payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits that would otherwise expire on Jan. 1. It would also delay for two months a cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors that is scheduled to take effect on New Year’s Day. The House is expected to act on the bill early next week. Two more months of the Social Security tax cut amounts to a savings of about $165 for a worker making $50,000 a year.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Sealing Air Leaks for Increased Home Efficiency

Website Lets Tenants Check to See if Landlord is in Default

Payroll Tax Cut Bill Boosts Cost of New Mortgages

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