All fired up

Winter gray is starting to make its presence known and thoughts of a cozy fire may be something you look forward to. The question is, will that fire actually provide some heat, or simply be something nice to look at.

You've probably heard that older style, open masonry wood fireplaces can lose more heat than they provide, but there are ways to address those problems. Here's a few options you might want to consider, gain real benefits from your fireplace, and maybe save a little money too:

• Keep the hot side hot / cold side cold. One of the biggest issues with an open fireplace is that they can be extremely drafty. When not in use, find a way to keep your warm indoor air from literally going up the chimney. A piece of batt insulation behind the flue opening or a chimney balloon can be a good way to close the draft - just remember to remove if you actually build a fire.
• Open a window. As counter-intuitive as this may seem, providing a small level of outdoor air for combustion (such as opening a window slightly in the same room and closing off the room from the rest of the house) can help prevent warm air in the rest of your home from being pulled out the chimney while a fire is burning and your flue is open. This option is intended for those looking for ambiance from their fireplace - not heat. Alternatives exist to create a separate air intake that performs the same function without closing off from the rest of the house, but this is a more expensive approach.
  
• Glass doors. A modest step towards keeping warm air from being pulled from other rooms. Inexpensive and easy to install. However, this is also more of a fix when the fireplace is used for ambiance as opposed to gaining any real heating efficiency.
  
• Inserts and hearth stoves. There are a wide variety of choices (and prices) for installing a "closed" system that will preserve the heat created from a fire and put it into the living space. These can be as simple as installing a "heat exchanger" that captures the heat and uses a fan to push it into your living area, a "stove" that sits on the hearth and makes use of your existing chimney, or even a fully enclosed firebox that is installed in the existing opening (this last choice usually being the most efficient - but also the priciest).
  

If you can afford them, inserts and stoves offer an additional benefit in that they burn wood far more efficiently and produce less emissions than an open fireplace. Interestingly, homes in Cincinnati do seem to have a high percentage of open fireplaces regardless of the price point. Here's to making the most of them.

For more info on inserts, check out these websites:

• Woodheat.org
• Comparison of some high-efficiency inserts
• Energy Savers overview of wood and pellet heating

Can foreclosure mess get worse?

Those of us working in real estate just kind of shake our heads with the latest batch of news regarding foreclosures, bank problems, upset MBS investors, on and on.... Yes, it will eventually sort itself out, but many days it feels like that light at the end of the tunnel is just a bit dimmer and further away.

Much of the information about foreclosure moratoriums is filled with hyperbole from all sides. For a good explanation of the issues surrounding the latest bank problems, check out this video targeted mostly at real estate professionals:

Big risk in buying REOs

August sales a little less gloomy.

After July sales seemed almost non-existent, August showed signs of only marginal improvement. Many were expecting that we'd see a little better activity given that mortgage rates continued to see new lows. What's surprising perhaps is that home affordability is even better than when the tax credit was in effect, but that doesn't seem to be spurring any new sales.

The headline numbers both locally and nationally seemed to offer a mixed assessment. Highlights included:

• New home sales were still anemic, but flat compared to July
• Mortgage applications for both purchases and refinancing declined (suggesting the spurt of refis from rate drops has gone as far as it will go for now).
  
• Existing home sales nationally increased 7.6% from July (but down 19% year over year)
• Locally, the inventory is still in the stratosphere at 11.4 months given current sales rates. A minor improvement from July, but still 4 months higher than August of '09. The average sales price jumped to $172.4K.
  

View the Cincinnati MLS based charts

Digging into the numbers a little deeper showed some interesting activity. In particular, the average sales price is being impacted by the fact that higher priced homes have seen more buyers vs. the "starter homes" that were selling earlier in the year. For example, a snapshot of sales in the Cincinnati MLS for homes priced over 1 Million showed that from April, May, and June there were only 11 sold. In the 3 months following, there were 22 sales at that level (having a greater impact on averages given the low sales volumes). The $1M+ homes range is perhaps a skewed segment of the market, but the same type of disparity is being seen at mid to upper level price points.

So far, September seems to be experiencing an increased level of activity with more buyer showings taking place. Whether this translates to actual pending sales and closings remains to be seen, but demand at least seems to be returning.

Should energy audits be part of home inspections?

Earlier this year when Congress was discussing an energy bill, the idea of mandating energy audits during a home purchase became a point of contention. While misinformation on the issue did occur, the notion of requiring energy audits during a home sale never saw the light of day.

The idea of requiring energy audits is not new, however. Some localities in the U.S. have already implemented a requirement including the city of Austin, TX and the state of Nevada (beginning in 2011), while other areas have proposed some form of energy audit during a sale.

Why have an audit?

The arguments for performing an energy audit when purchasing a home are much the same as for performing a home inspection. That is, a prospective homeowner is given data about the current status of the home so they can make an informed decision. Where the results of a home inspection identify items in the home that are not up to code, do not work as intended, and even ongoing maintenance issues, the results of an energy audit provide details about areas in the home that are prone to energy loss (such as air leaks and insufficient insulation) and items that could be improved or replaced to save the homeowner money on their utility bills.

One key output of the energy audit is a "score" of the home's energy performance. The Department of Energy has published the E-Scale that would allow a buyer to compare homes on a consistent basis vs. a poor substitute of using old utility bills.

Concerns regarding audits during home purchase:

The most common argument raised is that an energy audit will simply point out negatives when nothing is actually "wrong" with the house. The concern from real estate agents is that this will scare buyers off their intended purchase when there is no reason to, or cause sellers to spend additional money to raise their rating. My opinion - one in the minority I believe - is that this is helping buyers make a fully informed decision about a home and that they can then adjust their budget accordingly.

The issue of whether audits should be mandated is more of a political one and a bit more touchy. Backers point to the ability to reduce overall costs and eliminate the potential need for building new power plants. While the benefits of having energy audit results available to a consumer is undoubtedly worthwhile, there are many situations where it's need is questionable. One such example is when a sale involves a rehab investor. In this case, the investor already knows that they are looking at "distressed" property and are accounting for updates needed to the home. While many rehabbers choose to ignore mechanical and structural updates that would improve efficiency, they nonetheless know what they are getting.

A middle ground?

While there are valid arguments on both sides of the debate, it would seem that a simple compromise is that consumers are educated as to the benefits of an energy audit at the time of purchase in the same manner as home inspections. Specifically, they are provided materials explaining the energy audit process and an option to conduct an audit during the home inspection period. The consumer has the choice at that point of simply waiving the inspection or including it as they see fit. The cost of the audit would be the buyers responsibility. (And yes, they can do that now, but awareness is limited.)

Although I am simplifying for the sake of discussion, I anticipate that we will eventually see the practice of energy audits at the time of home purchase become more common - and will likely result in a few problems along the way including poor quality audits, sales that are terminated, etc. The practice of home inspections took its lumps along the way and had to implement higher standards and certifications. (According to ASHI, the first regulations for home inspectors were instituted in 1985 - and only 32 states regulate home inspectors today.) Even in their current state, results of home inspections are inconsistent and can be a point of contention during the sales transaction.

At least certifications for energy auditors are already ahead of the game. RESNET is the standards base when an energy efficient mortgage is involved, but other groups are making headway as well, including the Building Performance Institute.