I heard a story on NPR this morning about landlords in New England who, in the face of high heating costs this winter, have elected to just stop paying for oil for their tenants. It's a terrible situation. But it did make me think that this time of year, the cold weather is a good reminder about the importance of insulation in our homes.

If you haven't added or upgraded your insulation in a long time, it's a good time to think about it. It can be one of the smartest investments you make in a home.

Insulation's effectiveness is measured with an indicator called "R Value". The R value measures the insulation's ability to resist heat traveling through it. Insulation is most useful in helping keep hit in your home during the winter months, but can also help reduce air condition bills in the summer.

Energy Star has a nice table that tells what the R value recommendation is by state and by type of heating system. For Virginia, if you're using gas/oil or heat pump they recommend R38. If you're using electric resistance, they recommend R49.

Insulation can break down and lose its effectiveness over time. So it makes sense to have a professional take a look and let you know what you have and what condition it's in.

Attic/ceiling insulation is where you should start. It's the most cost effective. Walls can be more problematic and we'll talk in more detail about that in another post.

Stay warm!

For all of us who live here in this amazing place and who are fighting the battle against Dominion's newly proposed power lines, this article in the Washington Post says it well. It gets to the heart of the matter, more eloquently than I've seen or heard anywhere else.

Take a look for yourself. And print a copy for your grandchildren in case we lose! So they'll know what was lost here and what it meant!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/04/AR2007030401432.html

I know sellers are waiting anxiously for how February numbers look.  And while it's too early to have all the data, here are two quick items to make you feel a little better!

Overall inventory fell this month from 1903 to 1793. These numbers cover Fauquier, Culpeper, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock counties. I can't tell you yet how much of this is attributable to new contracts and how much is attributable to the wintery weather that plagued us for much of the month.

There's also good news on the interest rate front with rates falling again this week for the second week in a row! That's good news for buyers and sellers!

Stay tuned to this space for more data as it becomes available!

It's time for another update on what the local market conditions look like from a statistical standpoint. The numbers I'm providing here are January, 2007 numbers unless I specify otherwise. These statstics are taken from the local Mulitple Listing Service (MLS).

We'll start with what I see as the most discouraging numbers: the total number of newly ratified contract in the Greater Piedmont Region (Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Orange & Madison counties) in January of 2007 is 150. The total number of new listings entering the market was 485. Clearly inventory is headed back up again and that's bad for sellers. Buyers, life continues to look pretty rosy from your perspective!

Average days on market was 82 in January of 2006 and is now up to 148.

Average sales price as a percentage of list price was 94.59% in January of 2006. That number is now down to 90.58%.

Here's an interesting one for you! Average list price is up 2.66% year over year, but average sales price is down 1.69% for that same period.

Total active listings is 1903 as compared to 1334 last year at this time. This gets even more striking when you consider that just a month ago, December 2006, there were a total of 1260 active listings. I can confirm that I'm getting calls to take new listings almost daily.

What does this all mean? If you thought the spring would bring a hot sellers market, not a chance! For all those who are saying we've hit bottom, I doubt it! While there have indeed been more buyers out looking around they're not opening up the checkbook and you shouldn't count on them to.

If your home is not in top condition and priced very aggressively you are probably doomed to fail. If you don't have to sell right now, don't!

If you're a buyer, the news just keeps getting better!  Enjoy!