Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Ahhh Warmth.....


Our Pellet Stove


We just bought (hopefullly) the last 100 gallons of heating oil that we will need this winter (we heat almost exclusively with a pellet stove now) and use oil for domestic hot water only. The bill was for $3.25 a gallon (great price) but none-the-less a lot more expensive than the $6-10 a day for pellets and electricity to heat the house. If we get through until Saturday using only two more bags of pellets we will have heated approx. 2500 sq. ft. of living space for a fuel cost of approximately $212.14. And we've had some pretty cold days/nights these last few weeks.

Our fuel cost last year for the same period of time was approximately 290 gallons of oil at a per gallon price of $2.69 or roughly $780.

Gas would have also been over $700 for the same period of time.

I am so glad we switched to a perpetually renewable, easily obtained, non-toxic, carbon-neutral source of heat for our house. My biggest problem with the new fuel is the plastic bags they come in.

As an aside, I just shut the stove off for the evening, I didn't realize that it had reached 68 in the house. I don't remember the last time our house was warmer than 60 on a January evening.

Granted the pellet stove takes a little commitment (feeding and cleaning) and getting used to, but it's a joy to have around and we've reduced our carbon footprint ever so much more.

Go Pats!


Geof

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Happy New Year (Belated)

So, another year is behind us. Lots happened last year, here's the recap.

Observations

  • More properties sold in our market area than during the previous year
  • We moved to a new office in Belmont Center (Come on by to visit)
  • As a company we were able to realize higher prices for our clients than our competitors
  • Our local market seems to have been missed by the much touted mortgage meltdown and subsequent foreclosures

We're looking forward to the upcoming year, buyers are out there looking and learning, the feeling is one of cautious optimism among my colleagues that the spring will bring out buyers (and sellers) and that good properties that are priced well will continue to bring strong offers.

On The Environment

We just installed a pellet stove in the house - we are moving one more step towards reducing our carbon footprint. I'm researching adding solar panels to the house, and an on-demand hot water heater as further steps to reduce our families carbon footprint. More later.

Thanks for stopping by....

Go Pats!

Geof