Sizzling Summer - and dazzling oil prices!

Good evening as I gaze out at the beautiful mid summer sunset! I seems hard to believe that another six months will see us in the cold and dark. Have you planned for the oil prices? With a sense of deja vu ( I came of age in the last major oil crisis), I gritted my teeth and made plans to lock in my oil and gas for the winter. $4.42 a gallon seemed unbelieveable a month ago, but now looks like a darned good deal. It's all relative I guess. So..what do we do?

Just like the late seventies and erly eighties, we need to get serious about conserving what we have and searching for new soluttions. It's too late to bemoan what might have been, but it is real easy to start thinking about winterizing the house, figuring out how to turn down the heat or close off rooms, tuning up the furnace, checking out alternatives, and putting aside some money to pay for it all.

Does your oil supplier offer lock in prices? Is there a downside plan if prices drop? Can you hook into natural gas? Would a Rinnai or Monitor work? How about those old drafty windows? Can you make use of passive solar gain? How about quilts for the windows?.......the list goes on.

Don't wait until the snow flies! Make plans now. It won't hurt as much. I promise!

Buying a house and the cost of oil

It has been awhile as I have been very busy with my real estate business - a good thing. However, the perceived crush from oil prices seems to be having a choking effect on people's desires to move. This being said, I think that if I were looking for my first home, I would be anticipating that at least I can control my own fuel costs and not be at the whim of a landlord who will jack the rent to cover expenses, or, if I were paying my own heat, wouldn't be attempting to tighten up insulation, improving efficiency, etc. When one owns their own house, they are in control of their own destiny - and fuel costs - which in this market is a great thing!



Also, it looks like rates may be on the rise. If you are looking to buy, you might want to get out there now!



Happy hunting!