News and insights on real estate and homeowners

Count on it: energy “vampires” cost you money

With energy prices skyrocketing in recent months, so-called “energy vampires” are attracting new attention. Vampires can be found in almost all household appliances, including televisions, telephones, fax machines, washers, and dryers.

These power devices keep electronics and appliances on “standby” for immediate use and maintain memory functions in devices like video recorders and alarm clocks. Vampires draw power even when the device is not in use.

Some vamps, like cell phone chargers, draw power whenever they’re plugged in, even when not connected to a phone. According to the United States government, the largest single user of energy in America, it takes approximately 26 power plants across the country just to feed these energy vampires. In addition to taking steps to conserve energy, the US government is urging all Americans to help conserve energy by purchasing the most efficient appliances on the market.

Vampires typically consume between four and seven watts per hour. “Vampire Slayers” are more efficient devices that use less than one watt hour. If more devices used vampire hunters, we could save billions of kilowatt-hours per year. If the nation as a whole were to move to one-watt standby power devices, it is estimated that we would need 20 fewer power plants and American households could save $1 billion to $2 billion on energy bills.

Good Reasons to Tap into That Home Equity

One of the benefits of rising home prices is that if you’ve been in your home for a while, you’ve probably built up a fair amount of equity. Equity is the portion of your home that you actually own, beyond any amounts owed on mortgages, liens, or other claims on the property. But should you take advantage of that equity? It depends on individual circumstances, but here are some guidelines for when a home equity loan equals a good investment:

Are you borrowing money to save money? For example, a good reason to refinance may be to replace adjustable-rate mortgages with fixed-rate loans to protect against rising rates, especially now that rates are fairly low by historical standards.

Loans for remodeling or improvements that increase the current value of your home could turn that debt you are contracting into a good investment. Kitchen and bath upgrades are consistently high performance upgrades upon resale.

Debt consolidation is sometimes a good reason to borrow. It may be a good idea to consolidate your debt at lower interest rates on credit card debt or car loans, especially if the interest is tax deductible.

One of the main factors that lenders consider is your loan-to-value ratio, the relationship between what you owe on your home and its value. Lenders are generally wary of loans that exceed 80 percent of a home’s value. Also, a lower loan-to-value ratio generally means you can expect lower interest rates.

did you know

Real Estate Vocabulary Builder: A CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis, shows recent sales prices, current sales prices, and the sales prices of expired listings of nearby comparable homes.