It’s no big secret that Michigan residents in general have been going through some rough economic times. I say in general, because not everybody is hurting. But with unemployment/underemployment at 20% or more many Michiganders have felt a financial pinch.
Some of that financial pinch shows in many of the houses that have sold in the past few years. Not as well maintained and some foreclosures are downright destroyed. For those who have taken advantage of our buyers’ market, you will more than likely need/want to make repairs and improvements on those homes. And while making those repairs and improvements you may want to consider the fact that the cost of energy has been on the increase with no end in site at this time. Personally, my electric use is down, but my electric bill is higher than for the same period last year.
We can only tackle the cost of power itself with constant contact with Congress people (Cap and Trade, etc) and in the voting booth this fall. But we DO have some control on the amount of electricity and gas we use and get some of our tax dollars back in the process via tax credits and rebates.
There are Federal tax credits that don’t expire until 2016 for items such as Geothermal Heat Pumps, Residential Wind Turbines and Solar Energy Systems- 30% of cost with no upper limit.
And there are Federal tax credits that expire December 31, 2010 for 30% of the cost up to $1500 for items such as “biomass stoves” known to the rest of us as wood stoves (or corn, or pellets), central air, heating, water heaters, insulation, windows, doors, and roofing. You should go to the federal government web site for details and exclusions and consult with your accountant before purchasing anything.
Not covered are items like ceiling fans, CFL’s- those swirly light bulbs made in China (the last American light bulb factory just closed down), toilets, electric furnaces/boilers (like we all have natural gas available), clothes washers and dryers….
You state may have it’s own credits or rebates. Some of the rebates for the state of Michigan have run out of money (but there is sill money in the budget to promote breast feeding), but there is still some money left for the purchase of refrigerators, clothes washers and dishwashers. Check this web site for details.
If you are getting ready to sell your curent home, some energy efficient improvements may help when competing against the rest of the houses on the market.
I’ve been showing houses a lot lately, and really too many listings are incomplete and sometimes plain inaccurate. A couple things I’ve noticed- about 20% of the lakefront listings don’t have the name of the lake in the “waterfront name” search field. Which means if a buyer’s agent searches for a particular lake those 20% won’t show up. The alternative is for the buyer’s agent to search ALL lakefront houses in that township. I showed 9 houses yesterday and 2 left the agents remark section blank. One house I didn’t show didn’t come up in my lakefront search at all- the lakefront search field was left blank.I found the listing accidentally in another search. It would be unreasonable to expect an agent to search every listing in that township to find that one house.
