Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog

The question I’m getting more and more these days is “Does this house run on gas or oil?” Buyers never seemed to care much about heating fuel type before, but now sky high oil prices are pushing it to the front of everyone’s mind. But this winter is going to be a rough one for heating costs, no matter what type of fuel you use.

The Courant recently had an interesting article regarding homeowners looking for alternate sources of heat.

Pellet stoves have been getting a lot of press lately. My in-laws have one that they love and my parents have one arriving in October (or so they’ve been told after putting down a deposit), so I thought I would share their experiences, as it might be a viable alternative for some people.

First, it must be said that my relatives are using a pellet stove as an additional heat source. They will still be using some oil heat, but plan on using pellet stoves as their primary means of heating their homes this winter.

This is a pellet stove. From the outside, it looks just like a regular wood stove.

It can be vented directly outside your home or into your existing chimney. There is a hopper on the back of the stove into which you feed pellets that look like rabbit food. The pellets are made out of compressed sawdust or other scrap wood. Ignition of the pellets is electric and it can be controlled via a thermostat. Thermostat heating is a nice benefit over a wood stove because it allows for easy regulation of the temperature.

The pellets come in 40 pound bags and are delivered by the ton. The going rate for a ton is around $225 right now. This is what 1.25 tons looks like…

And this is what 1.25 tons burns down to…



This ash pot is about 10 inches long, by 8 inches high, by 6 inches wide. The pellets burn very efficiently and create little waste.

One of the major drawbacks about a pellet stove is the actual schlepping and storage of pellets. Both my in-laws and parents had 6 tons of these things delivered to their homes. They take up a lot of space, in addition to the physical manpower it takes to move the bags to where you want them. You’ll also have to load a 40 pound bag into the pellet hopper every time you need more fuel.

For some people a pellet stove won’t be a reasonable option. But if you’re willing/able to do some physical labor, you might want to make your way to the nearest stove store to learn more. Get your name on the waiting list and you may be able to have your pellet stove ready for this winter.

Last week the results for the Connecticut Mastery Test were released to the public.  The Courant has put together a nice page for quickly seeing data, while the official results website allows users to generate detailed reports.

As expected, there has been a flurry of commentary on the results for different towns.  The West Hartford results are being debated on West Hartford Forums, Talk of West Hartford, and The West Hartford Blog.  I’m sure that there are other places also.

Rather that rehashing what has already been said, let’s keep the focus on real estate and take a look at the relationship between test scores and home prices.  Will buying a home in a town with higher median home prices provide access to better performing schools (based on CMT results)?

 

The above graph shows test scores for each town (average performance of eighth graders) as a function of the town’s median home prices (second quarter of 2008).  It is interesting to note that test scores and median home price seems to be correlated.  I’m sure there are other factors that influence the relationship. Anyone up for running a regression analysis…

I recently received showing feedback for one of my sellers. The buyer didn’t like the layout of the house. All I could conclude from the feedback was that the buyer didn’t like that very typical house style. There was nothing my seller could do to improve this objection for future showings. Which brings me to the subject of issues with a house that cannot be fixed.

Some houses are cursed with in-cure-able conditions. Here are some common examples…

- The house is 3 feet from the neighbor’s house. Like my house. Hello neighbor…

- The house is very close to the road.
- The house is on a busy road.
- The house has a shared driveway.
- There are power lines in the backyard.
- The neighbor’s house is blighted.
- There is no usable backyard space.
- The ceilings are very low.

As a seller, there is nothing you can realistically do to fix these issues. If you continually get the same complaint and you want to sell quickly, typically the only way to respond is to lower the price to a level where the incurable becomes a non-issue. It’s painful, but it’s the only way to get past the recurring “My buyer didn’t like the …” feedback comments.

If you’re in this situation, don’t get panicky and upset. Just remember that the condition was most likely present when you purchased the home, which, at the time, should have allowed you to get that house at a discount compared to similar homes without the incurable condition. Be aware of these issues when you’re buying and remember them and be realistic when you’re selling.