Why Choose an All-Electric Home?

There are a number of choices available to you when it comes to how you heat and cool your home. While many people choose electric means of cooling, heating is often a different story. The heating options for your home include things like gas heat, wood-burning heating, and even ambient heating solutions that use steam or hot water to pump heat through pipes in concrete flooring. Some homes even use a combination of these methods to heat different rooms in the house.

If you’re considering how you want to heat and cool your own home, however, there is something to be said for using an all-electric solution. While electric heat and air might not be right for every home or every homeowner, it’s at least worth considering if you’re in the market for a new home or are planning out a new construction project. If you’ve never really given an all-electric home much consideration, here are a few things that you should think about.

Rising Home Heating Costs

It seems like every year, the cost of heating your home is going up. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is fluctuations in the cost of heating fuels such as propane and natural gas. Depending on where you live, using these fuels as a heat source can be pretty expensive over the course of increasingly harsh winters when you’re going to have to run the heat a lot. Supply issues can also make it difficult to get refills of fuels like propane when you need them, and if you are able to secure a refill for your tank, then the increased demand could drive prices even higher.

While the cost of electricity also sees periodic increases, electric power isn’t as prone to wild fluctuations as some other fuels are. This can create more price stability over the course of a season, even in the event of severe winter weather that might drive up demand and pricing for some other fuels. Given that your home is already wired for electricity, it also offers the convenience of giving you a single bill for your heating and cooling needs without the requirement of scheduling refills or making other provisions to secure fuel.

Harnessing Solar Energy

Another big potential advantage of going all-electric is that you can use solar energy as a means to offset or even eliminate your heating and cooling costs. By installing solar panels on your roof or near your home, you can offset your use of grid power, or even charge batteries that your home will draw some or all its power from. Depending on the size of your solar setup, this can result in a significant decrease in the amount that you pay to heat and cool your home (and run everything else, too) throughout the year.

The savings from going solar can extend beyond just your heating and cooling costs, too. Installing solar panels at your house may qualify you for certain tax breaks or other benefits, saving you money when it comes time to pay your taxes as well. If you have a large enough solar setup, you may even be able to produce more power than your home uses. Depending on where you live, this could give you an opportunity to sell some power back to the grid, actually making money off of your home’s power setup.

Choosing an All-Electric Home

There are several ways that you can go all-electric, from buying a house that already has an all-electric setup to having a new electric unit installed to replace previous heating and cooling equipment. If you’ve already got an all-electric setup, you can also look at options such as solar to reduce your costs even more. 

 

Improve Your Home’s Efficiency With a Garage Door

When it comes to improving the energy efficiency of your home, your garage might not be the first place that you think of. If you have an attached garage, though, you may be leaking warm (or cool) air from your home without even realizing it. While there are a few different ways that you can combat this, one of the most effective is by installing new garage doors.

Of course, not all garage doors are created equal when it comes to improving the energy efficiency of your home. To help ensure that you get the most for your garage door dollars, let’s take a look at exactly how new garage doors will help you save money on your heating and cooling costs.

Energy Efficiency and Your Garage

A lot of emphasis is usually put on the windows and doors facing the outside when trying to optimize the energy efficiency of your home. Garage-connecting doors (and even occasional windows, if you have an attached garage that was added onto your home after construction) are often overlooked, however, which can be problematic. Not nearly as much effort goes into protecting these connections from drafts and leaks, even though a garage without garage doors still has the same outdoor air as what you’ll find at any other door or window. This can be even more problematic if your home has a garage access near the intake for your home’s heating and cooling system; instead of circulating air from within the home, your intake might be pulling in outdoor air from that door and losing just a bit of that internal temperature every time it kicks on.

This is where a garage door becomes useful. Even though it’s unlikely that your garage will be connected to your home’s heating and cooling system, having it as a mostly closed environment will still help to stabilize the temperature and prevent at least some of the problems that can cause drafts and temperature leaks. Once you install garage doors, you might see a small but noticeable difference in your overall heating and cooling costs, especially if your garage access is near your HVAC intake.

Choosing the Right Garage Door

You may notice that some garage door manufacturers advertise the R values of their doors much like insulation. While this can be useful information when choosing a garage door, the segmented nature of the doors and the fact that such a large area opens and closes when the garage door is used means that this isn’t going to be as useful as you might think. A good R value is nice to have, but don’t base your garage door choice simply on this one factor.

Instead, find a sturdy garage door that goes well with the look of your home. Windowless garage doors or doors that feature windows with low-emissivity coatings will perform better with regard to energy efficiency. Wood doors are great for insulating your garage, though vinyl doors and even steel also do decent jobs while offering additional benefits as well. You’ll likely have several options to choose from, so take the time to choose a door that not only insulates well but also fits the overall feel of your house.

Garage Door Installation

While it’s possible to DIY your garage door installation, it can be a pretty big task to get your doors installed properly. Even being as little as an inch or two off with some of your measurements can cause big problems, including gaps that will affect the energy savings that the doors provide and tension points that will cause undue wear and tear on your garage door system. This is why it’s often recommended to bring in a pro to install the garage doors for you, since they can help ensure that everything is installed just right to get the maximum life and savings out of your entire garage door setup.

 

Home Loan Programs: 2022 Updates

Buying a home is a dream that’s shared by many people. Making that dream come true isn’t always as simple as just going out and applying for a mortgage loan, though. Some potential homeowners need a little bit of assistance in keeping loan requirements manageable, even though they are fully able to afford the loan itself. Fortunately, there are a number of home loan programs that can help make home ownership attainable even for first-time buyers and those who worry that they might not meet all of the requirements for a traditional mortgage loan.

It’s important to keep in mind that the rules and requirements for these loan programs are updated from time to time. Before starting out looking for the home of your dreams, you should make sure that you are up to date on the exact terms of the loan program you’re considering using. Here is some information on some of these updates to help you along your way.

FHA Loan Updates

Loans that are insured through the Federal Housing Administration are usually known as “FHA Loans,” and the programs offered by the FHA are some of the most commonly used by potential homeowners. The FHA doesn’t offer these loans directly, but instead creates an environment where loans can be more easily attained from FHA-approved lenders. Because this is a federal program, the terms of the loan programs are often tweaked to better match data from other federal agencies based on economic trends.

For 2022, there were a few updates made to FHA loan programs. There were some changes to things like the maximum amount that can be borrowed using an FHA loan, though this amount varies based on local factors, so it was not an across-the-board increase. For the most part, though, the changes mostly affected details on the lender side of things. FHA-approved lenders now have new requirements regarding things like loan reporting and how they handle verification of applicants, but this doesn’t affect the borrower’s experience very much. Requirements such as having a minimum credit score of 580 to qualify for maximum financing (and 500 to qualify for the program at all) and supplying income documentation such as bank statements, pay stubs, and tax returns remain the same from previous years.

Exploring Loan Programs

If you’re looking at loan programs that aren’t offered through the FHA but are instead offered by private companies, there may be changes from previous years that you’ll need to consider as well. Many of these programs fall largely in line with the requirements of FHA-backed loans, though there may be some differences. While there weren’t many major updates to non-FHA programs announced last year, it’s possible that there were some changes that you weren’t expecting to the specific program you’re considering. Fortunately, finding updates about the requirements and functions of these programs isn’t difficult so long as you know what you’re looking for.

Most updates for loan programs are released in the fall, so check for any announcements regarding program changes that were made around October or November of last year. If you’re downloading information about the loan program, you should also be sure to download directly from the program’s homepage and select the latest available information if there are multiple documents listed. By taking the time to find out the latest information about the program you’re considering, you can avoid surprises when it comes time to apply.

 

Buyers: How to Put Your Best Foot Forward

Housing prices continue to climb, inventories continue to remain low, demand for housing is intense, and there’s absolutely no relief in sight. It’s a hard time to be a homebuyer right now! Despite that, you can still find a house that you’ll love; it may just take a little extra polish and shine as you head into your home buying adventure. Cash is still king, but you can be more competitive by putting your best foot forward with your offers.

Here are our best tips for buyers trying to secure a home in this busy and tight market.

Bring a Pre-Approval Letter From Your Lender

It’s one thing to think you’ll be approved for a loan, and yet another to know it. In today’s competitive market, your seller doesn’t want to wonder; they want to be certain that the contract they sign is one that will be able to close. This is doubly a concern for sellers who are faced with multiple offers in a short period, since sometimes they all look pretty good on the surface.

Going to your bank and making it as far as your loan approval process can go without a house gives a seller confidence that they won’t be back in the same place in a month, trying to sell a house that already had a contract fall through on it. For them, that might mean delaying their own purchase, or even having to sell their home at a discount, since buyers are sometimes nervous when previous contracts didn’t close.

Go Conventional!

Although many buyers can get into a home faster with an FHA loan, especially with the sometimes lower down payment requirements, sellers know that FHA and other loan programs carry additional requirements for the house itself, too. Although these are usually items most houses will already have if someone is living in them (for example, heat in every room), sellers have often heard horror stories and simply don’t want to deal with the unknown.

Rather than using an FHA program, work on your credit and choose a conventional loan. Conventional loans have far fewer requirements on the property itself, making them an easy transaction for your home seller. There’s nothing wrong with using an FHA loan if you have the time and patience to house hunt using one, but nothing says “easy peasy” to a seller like a conventional loan.

Bring Your Best Offer

Your best offer is the highest amount you’re willing to pay for the property in question, not an ideal price that you’d like to pay. In a different market, where buyers get their picks of the litter, you can feel out a seller to see where the bottom is, but in a market like what we’re still facing in most of the country, you’re far more likely to be competing with several offers at once, so the seller will probably either accept or reject yours rather than try to negotiate.

In addition to bringing your best offer, keep your list of requests short. You can (and should) absolutely ask for repairs to major items you noted when you viewed the home, but now is not the time to sweat the little things. The longer that list is now, before you’ve even had your inspection, the less likely it is that the seller will want to work with you.

Go Forth Boldly Into Your Offer

Putting in an offer on a home in this breakneck speed real estate market can be extremely intimidating, but you never have to face the unknown alone. When it comes time to move into your new home, you’ve got an entire network of friends and partners to help you patch up, paint up, clean up, and even move in!

 

What’s the Best Use of My Remodeling Dollars?

When it comes to remodeling, some changes that you make to your home are going to net you a big return on your investment. Sometimes this return comes in the form of an increase to the overall value of your property, while sometimes the return is more in the form of your enjoyment and the overall usefulness that your home has for you. Either way, there’s a definite positive side to your remodeling project that you’ll reap the rewards from for years to come. With some other projects, though… well, let’s just say that they seemed like a good idea at the time.

If you’re considering remodeling your home, it’s important that you think about what you want to do before you start. This will help you avoid projects that just waste money or leave things worse off than they started. So how do you know if a project is going to be worthwhile? Here are a few suggestions that might help.

Improving the Look

One of the best remodeling projects that you can undertake with respect to average cost versus average increase in resale value is adding or replacing garage doors. Homeowners who undertake this sort of a project typically recoup around 94 percent of their cost in their home’s resale value even when it’s just a change for cosmetic reasons. Replacing siding with manufactured stone veneer has a similar cost-to-resale-increase relationship, with around 92 percent of the cost being recouped. This says a lot for how big changes to the look of your home can positively affect your home’s resale value.

While not every remodeling project is going to make your home’s resale value skyrocket, in most cases you’ll recoup most of your money if you’re making improvements to the overall look of your home. Replacing siding, replacing old windows, or replacing your front door or entryway can all make your home look more like you want it to without causing you to lose a ton of cash value in the process. Just make sure that the project is well thought out before you dive in, since you want to make sure that your improvements match other details of your home.

Functionality Improvements

Another big thing to consider when thinking about remodeling is how your remodel will change the functionality of your home. A big example here is remodeling your kitchen; not only will you be able to change the look of your kitchen, but your remodel also gives you a chance to make some changes to how it functions as well. Adding or updating appliances, moving things around, and opening up that kitchen floor plan a bit can not only make the kitchen look better but can make it easier to use as well. The same goes for some other rooms in the home as well, where remodeling can create a big change in functionality.

Depending on the size and type of remodel you do for functionality changes, you can see a nice improvement in your home’s value as well. Going back to that kitchen remodel, minor functionality updates can get you around a 72 percent return on investment. Even more expensive major remodels can still get you around 57 percent of your money back in your home’s asking price. Bathroom remodels are similar, netting you 70 to 60 percent or more of your costs in home value.

Remodel Smart

The big thing with remodeling is that you want to make sure that you don’t go into it blindly and overspend or under plan. HomeKeepr can help you with this. Our app can connect you with contractors and remodeling pros that will get you on the right path and help you avoid costly mistakes to make sure that your remodel is both easy on the eyes and the wallet.

 

Get More From Your HVAC System

Your HVAC system works hard throughout the year to make sure that your home stays comfortable. During the chilly months of winter, it pumps hot air through the home to keep things toasty and warm. Once summer rolls around, cool air circulates to keep things from getting too hot within the home. When it’s operating at its best, you likely barely notice that it’s doing anything at all; the climate of your home remains so consistent that all of your HVAC system’s hard work just seems to happen in the background. Could it be even better, though?

There are usually things that you can do to improve the efficiency of your HVAC system even more, helping it to run better while also saving you some money on your heating and cooling costs. The specifics of how you accomplish this depend largely on your home’s layout and the sort of HVAC system that you have, but there are generally at least a few improvements that you can make. Here are some suggestions to help you head in the right direction so you can get more from your system.

Optimizing Air Flow

One big thing that you can do to get more from your HVAC system is to make sure that the airflow for your system is unobstructed. There are a few ways that you can do this. Periodically check your vents and vacuum or clean them as necessary to make sure that there aren’t any obstructions or dirt deposits in them. Check your cold air return to ensure that there isn’t any furniture or other large items blocking the free flow of air and that proper clearances are being observed. Check your filters to ensure that they’re clean, or install an electrostatic filter that you can buy once and then periodically wash to keep it in peak operating condition. Basically, the goal here is to make sure that there isn’t anything that’s going to interfere with the flow of air through your HVAC system.

Assisting Your HVAC System

Once you’ve got air flowing without issue, there are other things that you can do to make sure that your HVAC system isn’t working harder than it has to in order to keep your home comfortable. Consider installing a new thermostat, especially a smart thermostat that uses multiple sensors around the home to check temperatures in different locations, to ensure that the entire house is comfortable. A house fan installed in the attic can also be beneficial during certain times of the year, helping to control the buildup of hot air and making the house easier to heat and cool overall.

Another big thing that you can do to help your HVAC system is to inspect your windows and search for signs of damage or leaks. If your windows are letting air leak freely into or out of your home, your HVAC system will have to work that much harder to keep the temperature where you want it, because outside temperatures will have a much greater effect on what things are like inside. While damaged windows are often easy to spot, be sure to periodically check for breezes or other signs of air leaks while the HVAC system is off to make sure that you don’t have any unwanted air exchanges going on.

HVAC Maintenance

Nobody wants to have to call out an HVAC technician on an emergency call because their system has gone out, especially during the coldest part of winter or the heat of the summer months. To help avoid this, periodic maintenance of your HVAC system is essential. Fortunately, many HVAC pros offer seasonal or yearly inspection services to keep your system in top shape throughout the year.

 

What Causes Ice Inside Windows?

When temperatures drop in winter, it’s not uncommon to see ice and snow outside and maybe even a little bit of frost on the outside of your windows and storm doors. Occasionally, though, you might notice a bit of ice building up on the inside of your windows as well. It’s easy to overlook this as just a sign that the temperature has really dropped outside, but that can be a mistake.

Ice appearing on the inside of your windows is usually a sign that there is something going wrong in or around your windows. At best this can drive up your heating costs during the winter, sometimes significantly. At worst, you might be looking at leaks or other damage that could lead to significant repairs down the road. So if you notice ice on the inside of your windows, it’s important that you take action sooner rather than later.

Ice Inside Your Windows

When ice appears on your window interior, it’s typically a sign that moisture is condensing on the glass and then freezing as a result of cold air making it through the window barrier. This can occur in a few ways, including cracks or gaps in the window frame or damage to the window itself. The cold air cools down the window glass, making it cold enough for the water in the air to condense and freeze on the glass surface.

This can be problematic if the air leak is a result of cracks in the glass or window frame, as ice can build up within the crack as well. As the ice expands, the crack itself can widen. Multiple freezes over the course of the winter can cause increasingly worse damage, resulting in larger cracks or leaks by the time that spring rolls around.

Addressing the Root Cause

There are a few different ways that you can treat the problems that cause ice to appear on the inside of your windows. If you can’t find any signs of damage on or around your windows, it’s possible that the icy buildup is simply a result of your home’s humidity being too high and the windows themselves not being sufficient to keep all the cold air out. If this is the case, you can usually get rid of the ice by using a dehumidifier to reduce your home’s humidity or using home exhaust fans to circulate humid air out of the home. This will prevent ice from building up and potentially causing problems in the future.

If you do find potential gaps or cracks on or around the window, try sealing them with caulk to keep cold air from making its way inside. The caulk can be removed once warmer temperatures come around so that the window will be functional. Applying thermal plastic sheeting or other barriers over the windows may also help to control your icing issue since it will keep humid air in the house from coming in contact with the cold glass of your window. Other solutions such as putting towels or other cloth barriers in place over potential cracks or placing a small space heater near windows that have icing problems may also work. It’s worth noting that none of these are permanent solutions, though they may help you to avoid damage until better solutions can be enacted.

Fixing Your Ice Problem

In the end, the only way to really fix a problem with ice forming on the inside of your windows is to repair the problem. This could take the form of making repairs to your window frame, replacing cracked or broken glass in the window, or replacing the entire window itself.