April 22, 2009

Uncle Sam wants YOU to buy a home!

Posted to Julie Sarton

Confused about the $8,000 home buyer tax credit? You’re not alone, so the Wisconsin Realtors Association has started a campaign to educate buyers about this incredibly generous tax credit with an interactive website at www.wisconsinhomebuyer.org.

The basic guidelines are:

  1. You must purchase and close between 1/1/2009 and 12/1/2009
  2. Must be your first home OR be more than 3 years since your last purchase
  3. Single buyers or head-of-household buyers cannot have income over $75,000 to receive full credit (income up to $95,000 earns partial credit)
  4. Married couples filing jointly cannot have combined income of more than $150,000 to receive full credit (income up to $170,000 earns partial credit)
  5. Home costing more than $80,000 earns full $8,000 credit
  6. Home costing less than $80,000 earns credit equal to 10% of purchase price
  7. Cannot re-sell the home for three years
  8. Single family, new construction, townhomes, condos qualify
  9. The credit will be taken on 2009 income tax return
  10. The credit does not have to be paid back…it’s money in your pocket

There has NEVER been a better time to buy a first home! Get together with a mortgage loan officer to get pre-qualified and establish your price range, and begin working closely with a good local realtor who can help you locate the perfect home for your budget. There is a huge inventory of homes available at rock bottom prices, the lowest mortgage interest rates in many years, and now this gift from Uncle Sam to offset your purchase price.

Posted By: Julie Sarton



April 02, 2009

A STAR-STUDDED MUSIC BY THE LAKE SEASON 2009

Posted to Area Attractions & Events, Julie Sarton

Where can you go and relax on a beautiful, spring-fed lake by day and have your own Ravinia-style, outside concert at night on the shores of that same lake with top name performers? Right here, on Lake Geneva at George Williams College of Aurora University!

From 1951 to 1969 Geneva Lake created one of its grandest traditions by bringing some of the world’s greatest musical performing artists to the college in Williams Bay: violinist Isaac Stern, Louis Armstrong, “Doc” Severinsen, and the Chad Mitchell Trio, to name a few. Area residents, as well as summer visitors and tourists, enjoyed top notch entertainment right in their own back yard. With the gaining popularity of TV at the time, however, the series eventually was discontinued. In 2000 when the college became affiliated with Aurora University of Illinois, the new President Sherrick brought her artistic vision with her. She took the risk of not only bringing back Music by the Lake, but of growing the series and providing a permanent pavilion for the performances alongside the lake shore on the grounds of George Williams College.

This summer, the one-year old spacious Ferro Pavilion will host an array of well known musical artists: jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis and his trio, baritone Thomas Hampson, singers Michael Bolton and Natalie Cole, saxophonist Johan Stengard, with the opera Madama Butterfly and a tribute to James Taylor thrown in. If your style is more casual, bring your own picnic and blanket and buy an inexpensive space on the lawn, where an excellent sound system will serenade you while you gaze at the star-filled sky and the sunset over the lake.

For ticket information, visit Musicbythelake.com. The stars on stage, as well as in the sky, are all waiting for you!

Posted By: Julie Sarton



April 01, 2009

The energy efficient ‘envelope home’ is back!

Posted to Julie Sarton

Back in the 1980’s energy efficient homes seemed like the wave of the future. Once high fuel costs and interest rates dropped back to normal, however, they seemed to have become almost obsolete. In the last ten years of more prosperous times, I probably couldn’t have told you what my monthly heat bills were. How times change! Faced not only with a brutal economy today, but also with a growing moral obligation to conserve our energy resources, energy efficient homes are back in style and demand.

One alternative to a solar home with large, expensive roof panels is the thermal envelope home. Although it was a popular design theory in the late 1970’s, few envelope homes were actually built at that time. The construction principle is one of a house-within-a-house. The north and south walls are double, with a continuous air space of 6-12 inches going through these walls, the roof, and the floor. In many of these the south-facing airspace was actually a sun-catching space, such as a glassed-in solarium. During the day the sun heats the air in the south sun space, which then circulates in a convective loop around the home releasing the heat. Although this design is more expensive to build, these costs are recouped over time due to the low energy needs.

I recently listed an envelope home in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. With square footage of around 2350, the monthly heat bills averaged only $70 last year. Since the residents liked to keep the temperature over 70 and did not turn it down at night, this figure could have been a lot lower. Solar energy is not only a renewable source, but it’s a path to clean energy and may once again play an important role in home design. Get out the sun tan lotion!

Posted By: Julie Sarton