Federal Tax Credit for Consumer Energy Efficiency

Another federal tax credit is about to expire, though this one isn’t getting nearly the amount of publicity as the home buyer tax credit. The credit for Consumer Energy Efficiency is an effort to reward homeowners who make energy-related improvements on their property. Through the end of 2010, the government is offering a tax credit of 30% of costs up to $1,500 for small scale residential projects. The energystar.gov website gives a nice overview of

Courant Companion: A Refi Bonanza

Today’s front page Courant article gives another view of the refinancing opportunity. They highlight a homeowner who is moving from a 30 year to 15 year mortgage, illustrating the significant amount of interest they can save by knocking 8 years off the total term of the loan. The story provides another great example of the line of thinking and analysis we did when working through our refinancing process. And kudos to the homeowner for aspiring

How Often Does the Listing Agent Bring the Buyer?

The other day we were wondering, how often does the listing agent for a home also represent the buyer? This situation is called Dual Agency, and is something we’ve explored in the past. However, we never looked to see how often it happens in our area. To attack the question we looked at all the single family home sales that have closed so far this year in Hartford County. The data came from the CTMLS,

Up and Down in Downtown Hartford

Here are a couple quick shots of current projects in Downtown Hartford. Steel is rising from the ground at the Hartford Public Safety Complex on High Street. The plan has obviously changed since these pictures from June of 2009, but there is now visible progress in the building phase of the project. A couple blocks away at 1161 Main Street, it appears as though asbestos remediation may be complete at the “Butt Ugly Building.” We

Leaf Pickup in Greater Hartford

Our lawn is covered with leaves. We don’t really want to rake, but it needs to be done. And it needs to be done in time for the leaf truck to come through and vacuum them all away. Collection protocol varies by municipality. The three main techniques are sucking leaves off the curb with a giant vacuum, picking up bagged leaves at the curb, or letting residents drop off their leaves at the local transfer