How to Make Your Home More Energy-Efficient Over the Winter

If you want to stay warm during the winter and lower your energy costs, there are a few things you must do around the house.

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 240-2804 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

How can you make your home more energy-efficient now that winter is here? There are several things you can do.

One of the things I often see with sellers is them not having serviced their heating systems for sometimes as long as two, three, or even five years. By servicing your heating system, you can almost double the life of your heater. If you haven’t done that, now is the time to call a heating company to service and clean your heating system and make any necessary repairs to it. 

Most people wait until the heater breaks, and that’s usually during the first winter freeze-up. Heating companies can sometimes be backed up three or four days during this time, though, so you want to stay ahead of that. 

Another thing you can do is make sure all of your windows are caulked on the outside and inside. If you’ve got older windows that naturally leak air, you can also insulate them by putting plastic shields over them. 

Next, consider installing a programmable thermostat. Turning your thermostat down 10 to 15 degrees at night or while you’re not at home can save you about 10% on your heating bill. 

Also, don’t heat unused spaces. If you have rooms you don’t use, shut the heater down in them. That will filter the heat to other places in the house. If the heater works less, it will cost you less money. 

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The less your heater works, the less it will cost you.

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Lastly, if you have large windows that let a lot of sun in during the day, make sure those windows are open so that sunlight can heat your home naturally. 

If you have any questions about energy efficiencies in your home or you have any other real estate questions, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send us an email. I’d be happy to help you.

What’s Happening in the Anchorage Market?

It’s time for another quick market update for the Anchorage area.

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 240-2804 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

It’s time for another market update for the Anchorage area.

Right now we have about 1,000 properties on the market, 35% of which are already under contract. About 360 properties have buyers who have written contracts on them.

We have close to 2.9 months of inventory on hand; if no other properties went on the market today, we'd have enough housing available for roughly three months. This is a very healthy level, and is considered more of a seller’s market, though that’s not what we’re seeing in the economy today. It’s been very give-and-take: the buyer gives a little, the seller gives a little, and everyone walks away happy.

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If no other properties went on the market today, we'd have enough housing available for roughly three months.

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The average sales price for the area is around $360,000. Sellers are getting about 99% of the last list price.

The average days on market of what homes sold is about 43 days, and the average days on market of what’s currently active is about 84 days. 

The discrepancy between the two figures is due to the fact that the properties that are on the market right now usually have had longer marketing times because we have many homes out there that are overpriced, or the condition of the home doesn’t warrant the price. The active days will typically always be longer than the days sold. If the property is in good condition, it’s going to sell quickly.

If you have any other questions, or you’d like to talk with me, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. Have a great week!