Energy Star Programs Attract the Pennywise
While it is very common among those interested in Energy Star programs are also committed to protecting the environment, it is likewise common that they are also attracted to long term savings. There are intermittent and irregular Energy Start programs depending on the state you live in and the party in the majority or in the White House (here there are for Colorado), and they do carry some up front benefits of a pure rebate at tax time, there are also longer term gains to be made with lower energy costs.
Certainly those energy savings trickle in over time, but hardly anyone buying or building an Energy Start compliant home isn’t somewhat reveling in the amount they will save.
This got us to thinking about other ways to leverage your home and the choices you make with it to save money, since our audience is mostly comprised of the pennywise.
Mortgage Refinance
We don’t consider ourselves to be financial planners or mortgage experts, but each of us having done multiple mortgage refinances over the years, we remain astounded by the radical savings you can create just based on timing of mortgage rates. Myself, I had a HELOC and a jumbo loan tied together on our current house. We bought at a bad time in the market and a bad time for us where we couldn’t create a very big down payment, despite having good credit and debt to income ratio. We sat on a terrible mortgage situation for 3 years, with an average monthly payment of $3600. After refinancing, we dropped our payment by $1050 and only had one loan. No principal reduction. We did add three years back to the note, as we got another 30 year note, but otherwise just waited for better timing. For us, saving $1000/month was an incredible relief. It allowed us to put that money onto my student loans and pay them off very quickly.
There are tons of mortgage refinance articles out there on all the various refinancing options and vehicles. We’ve just linked (<<) to a company that we trust who is here in Colorado, but do your own research to find what is right for you and when is the best timing. A good guide, from our friends at American Financing, is to be able to pay off the cost of the refinance before you sell the home. 24 months is a general rule, but if you know you’ll be there for longer, you can stretch that out.
Garage Remodel
I bet you didn’t think that would make the list, but in Denver, specifically, and Colorado everywhere they are starting to relieve the restriction on popping the top of your garage to add an apartment. It was a long held restriction in Denver, however with the space restricted and housing needs so high, this is an excellent way to make money on your current property either through short term (Airbnb) or long term rentals. It is another opportunity to embrace the Energy Star program for windows, doors, and HVAC, not to mention roofing, insulation, and water catchment.
Home Rental
While on the subject, Colorado remains and has further grown into a year-round destination for travel. We have great weather, 4 seasons, plenty to do outside no matter the weather. Not to forget, marijuana has been legalized for more than a decade now. This has lead to some, frankly, insane prices that homeowners can command for their homes on Airbnb. The problem can be that you have to leave your home to rent it, but at these prices that are averaging $277/night for a 3 bed, 2 bath home in Denver, you can create positive margin living elsewhere or traveling yourself. Many homeowners are creating a system where they rent out their home long enough each year to pay for the cost of their mortgage + the cost of their own lodging while they are on the road. In many cases, this is 4-6 months/year of rental. If you are a digital nomad or otherwise like to travel or have accommodations elsewhere, this can become a truly lucrative aspect to homeownership in Colorado.
Solar Panels
There are tons of options on the market and we aren’t here to stump for any one in particular. However, we recently had solar installed on our home in Denver, after interviewing multiple companies and schemes over the previous four years. The reason we landed on Brio Solar, and bear in mind this is not a company that I would recommend (and I believe they are shuttered and bought by another company), is because of the financing. We basically got to the point where they would completely install and hookup our solar panels to the grid for $24k, and we were able to finance this through them for 20 years at .99%. We get an immediate $7k back this first year for the solar rebate. Our bill is $90/month. If we pay the full term of the note over the 20 years, we will pay $2100 in total interest. This replaces our electric bill, which has averaged $144/month for the last 5 years. So we save $50/month, plus we are using solar.
IT GETS BETTER! In addition, thus far we are producing an average of 715kWh/month and using 300. If this trend continues, we will make an additional $1000/year from net metering.
It was an absolute pain and took a full year from the day we signed until they flipped the switch to turn on the power, but now we are on easy street, creating renewable energy, and saving money.