Monday, November 24, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Austin Energy Audits
This month Austin passed an Energy Efficiency Ordinance. It requires sellers to conduct an energy audit of their home before they can sell their property. The expected cost is $200 to $300 and will most likely be paid by the seller.
The audits will show how energy efficient, or inefficient, a home is. This should provide valuable information to a buyer. And should help those sellers that have upgraded their homes efficiency to get a better price for their home.
With all the options out there to increase a home's efficiency, these audits should make it easier for sellers and buyers to upgrade their homes. I like the fact that the City doesn't make sellers perform upgrades, but merely asks them to provide information. Much like a detailed inspection report for the other areas of a house.
The audits will show how energy efficient, or inefficient, a home is. This should provide valuable information to a buyer. And should help those sellers that have upgraded their homes efficiency to get a better price for their home.
With all the options out there to increase a home's efficiency, these audits should make it easier for sellers and buyers to upgrade their homes. I like the fact that the City doesn't make sellers perform upgrades, but merely asks them to provide information. Much like a detailed inspection report for the other areas of a house.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Monthly payment change
Property tax bills will be coming out sometime this month. If you have escrow accounts to pay taxes and insurance you will probably be getting a letter from your lender stating that you have too much or too little money in your escrow account to pay your taxes.
As pretty much everyone's taxes have gone up this year, it'll probably be the latter. In this case the lender goes ahead and pays your taxes even if the escrow account is short, so don't worry about that.
However, to make up the difference they will add on the amount that they had to cover to your monthly payment. And then add that amount again forecasting for the same amount of taxes next year. As you can see this can really change your payment quite a lot.
If you'd prefer not to have that high of a payment, you have the option of making a one time payment to your escrow account to cover the difference for this year. That'll save you that portion of your payment increase, but of course you'll still have the increase to prepare for next years taxes.
Hopefully this helps so the letter won't be a big surprise. If you have any questions please email me at billconover@america-lending.com
As pretty much everyone's taxes have gone up this year, it'll probably be the latter. In this case the lender goes ahead and pays your taxes even if the escrow account is short, so don't worry about that.
However, to make up the difference they will add on the amount that they had to cover to your monthly payment. And then add that amount again forecasting for the same amount of taxes next year. As you can see this can really change your payment quite a lot.
If you'd prefer not to have that high of a payment, you have the option of making a one time payment to your escrow account to cover the difference for this year. That'll save you that portion of your payment increase, but of course you'll still have the increase to prepare for next years taxes.
Hopefully this helps so the letter won't be a big surprise. If you have any questions please email me at billconover@america-lending.com
September real estate
Here are the numbers for September broken down by area. Click on any picture for a larger version.
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