There's no two ways about it - new homes are breathtakingly expensive and it's only natural to cut costs where you can.  Even so, there are several paths leading to false economy and pressuring your builder to buy materials and components from "cheaper" sources is among the worst.  You may be convinced that you'll save a bundle by buying your cabinets from Home Depot ("they're just as good") but you'd usually be wrong.It's important to step back from the price tag for a bit and consider what you may lose by insisting the builder abandon his normal suppliers.  (I use cabinets as an example only).Professional Design Work - Your builder's supplier will prepare extensive drawings and proposed layouts, visit the home, template the actual location of each box and help you visualize the final ... 05/02/2007

With all of the obligations and commitments in most of our lives, it's not surprising that home owners often forget that our homes need regular preventative maintenance to keep them safe and in the peak of condition.  Truth be told, we're often so absorbed in staying of the current day's activities that we're lucky if we remember to pull the dog hair out of furnace filters more than once a year.  Still, the maintenance needs to be done and help is available in the form of online sources that not only remind you when inspections and maintenance are due, but also provide details on how to do them.I've taken a look at several of these plans and found that http://www.homefree.com/ provides the best overall value.  A 2-year subscription gets you monthly maintenance emails, access to a huge m... 04/04/2007

If you're thinking of building a new home or replacing your existing heating system, there's been a recent breakthrough in HVAC systems that you may want to look into.Carrier Corporation has recently released a hybrid, residential HVAC system which combines combines a high efficiency (SEER 13) heat pump with an 81% efficient gas furnace. The advantage? - You can change heat sources as energy prices fluctuate. Heat pump users will experience the double benefit of cost savings and a more comfortable home when outside temperatures drop below 40° and the unit switches to gas heat instead of the heat pump's expensive and inefficient resistance heater.Even though electrical power rates in the Mountain Home, Idaho area are among the lowest in the country, soaring demand for electricity and the... 03/26/2007

A sudden, if overdue, interest in residential energy efficiency is resulting in the installation of tankless water heating systems in several of Mountain Home's new homes.Instead of a big tank keeping 50 gallons of water constantly hot, regardless of whether there's anyone around to use it, tankless systems use a wall mounted, metal box which fires up only when hot water is actually demanded. The potential energy savings are obvious but, before you roll your old tank into the street, consider. These systems are not cheap - Last month's cost for a system in a 2400 square foot house was $1900 over that of a standard water heater (although a $300 federal tax credit cushions the blow a bit). Estimates for payback periods cluster in the 5-8 year range but rising fuel prices will shorten that... 03/26/2007

Almost all home buyers in the Mountain Home area now require a home inspection as a condition of sale.  Although the diligent home inspectors crawl over, under and through the house, it's important to realize that there are important components that they SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDE from the inspection.One of the most important of these is the drainage line connecting the house to the city sewer system.  Damage to these lines is generally age-dependent as pipes become brittle, crushed by passing traffic or blocked by tree roots.  Even newer homes may be vulnerable as the installation or repair of other services in the street may result in an accidental penetration of the sewer line.  In either case, obstructed sewer lines can result in raw sewage backing up into the residence with predictable r... 03/26/2007

Years ago, I asked a financial consultant if I could use my IRA to buy a building then have my business rent it out?  He laughed and told me "No."  He was right.  That would be a prohibited transaction for my IRA.  However, a better answer would have been.  "Your IRA can buy a building and rent it out, but it can't rent it out to you or your business."  I left that meeting with the understanding that my IRA could only invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds,   basically the items that my financial planner could sell.  When I took my first GRI class, I learned that you could buy RE with your IRA!  A couple months later, I found a lot that was fsbo.  I tried to list it and told the owner what it was worth.  He didn't want to use a RE agent, so he listed it in the paper as a fsbo - $14,000 l... 12/08/2006