Les Sulgrove

As a REALTOR® and home owner, I always tell my clients to watch over their home utility bills for accuracy. My home is serviced by Mid-American Energy for both my natural gas & electric needs. I have to say I can't remember the last time that my natural gas service went out. Electricity on the other hand does have its problems on occasion.. but living in Iowa where a majority of the electrical service lines are located above ground on poles, I can't complain about occasional outages during storm season.

This year we seemed to have gotten lucky. After a long and hard winter, I'm not complaining either. This spring was very mild. It could have lasted a bit longer but you know what they say about Iowa weather... if you don't like it, wait five minutes and it will change.

This past January I took advantage of an energy tax incentive to have my attic insulated. The benefits were immediately felt. The upstairs of my 1979 built two story home stayed warmer all winter and now that summer is knocking on my door, I can tell a difference in air conditioning performance. I actually sleep with a blanket ON top of me now...

So today I'm paying bills and as I begin to enter the monthly utility bill into Quicken I notice that it's the same old budget amount I've been paying now for over a year and a half. I thought that surely I'd see a drop in my budget billing now that I'm well insulated. So I logged on to Mid-American Energy's website and was able to look at my last 3 year history graphs and can see a marked change in my gas & electric usage. However as I examined my online bill, this is what I saw:

So far I've paid almost $125 dollars to the utility company. I know.... summer is coming and they are trying to protect me from going to the other direction, but I still feel like I should be getting an adjustment in my budget billing amount. Afterall, they DO know that I added the insulation. They were who I called to have an energy audit completed in the first place. They do say that my annual review is up in August which is the month that I purchased my home almost 10 years ago.

So while I was online, I thought perhaps there was a place I could go to initiate an early audit of my account. This is what I found. What do you notice missing?

Isn't is wonderful?!?! I can request an INCREASE in my budget billing amount, but not a decrease! I will watch my account closely over the next couple of months, but by August, if my budget billing hasn't dropped, I'm going to have to consider turning into a miser! I'll be shuffling around the house at night with the lights all turned off, fanning myself with an Iowa State Fair manual cardboard fan.

Bring on Summer.. but bring it on mildly please!

Des Moines Real Estate Roundup Week Ending November 7th, 2008

This week, my blog originates from Sunny, Warm Orlando, Florida! I emphasized "Sunny & Warm" because I received an email today from my office telling me that snow flurries were flying in Des Moines. I am in Orlando for two reasons.. First to attend a CyberProfessionals (http://www.cyberprofessionals.net) meeting and second to attend the National Association of REALTORS® annual convention. Both are real estate related events. CyberProfessionals is a 13 year old networking group that I've been involved with since 1997. The group consists of REALTORS® from all over the United States as well as a special member from Australia, Julie Ryan. (http://www.julieryan.net) Our group meets twice a year and we share marketing ideas, business conditions and challenges and since we call ourselves CyberProfessionals, we tend to focus on using current technology in our daily real estate businesses.

The NAR Convention is the REALTORS® annual "Big Meeting" complete with 3 days of breakout sessions, big name speakers and of course the Granddaddy of all trade shows! I'm currently serving as Treasurer for my local REALTOR® Association and will be 2nd Vice President in 2009. I am fortunate to be able to come and represent the Des Moines Area Association of REALTORS® at this meeting. I will be paying close attention to what other real estate markets are saying about the economy and real estate markets. Early indications are that most markets have already hit their bottoms and that recovery is on the horizon. Not as quickly as everyone would like but recovering none the less.

Next week I will have more to report and perhaps even a couple of new ways of communicating with you.

If you would like to search for homes in the Des Moines area, feel free to visit my website. I don't require a login or password and collect no information about you. You can always contact me if you have questions. Click Here to begin your own home search or go to http://www.homesbyles.com

Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area - 5,330
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days - 224
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days - 99
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days - 100
Average Sale Price of Solds - $168,562
Average Days On Market of Solds - 102

If you have specific questions about real estate for sale
in the Des Moines area, please feel free to contact me by Clicking Here.

Les Sulgrove, Iowa Real Estate Solutions, LLC

Information on this blog posting is for informational purposes only
and not intended as solicitation if you are already working with a REALTOR®.
There is no obligation or fee for any information on this blog posting.

Data Source: Les Sulgrove, Iowa Real Estate Solutions, LLC
Des Moines Area Association of REALTORS® MLS.
Des Moines Metropolitan Area defined as: Adel, Altoona,
Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Des Moines, Dallas Center,
Desoto, Granger, Grimes, Indianola, Johnston, Norwalk,
Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Urbandale, Van Meter ,Waukee,
West Des Moines, Windsor Heights, Winterset