2009 MEMBERSHIP

It is time to show your support for the Castlewood—Oak Valley Neighborhood Association. According to the by-laws, dues shall be payable at or before the February meeting of each calendar year.

Please click here for a printable membership form.

How do Energy Audits Affect the
Castlewood Home Owner?

You may not even realize it, but this year you’ve dodged a bullet, or at least a wallop, to your pocket book. The Mayor and the City Council recently approved a recommendation from a city task force requiring Austin homeowners to have energy audits completed before selling their home and requiring mandatory energy efficiency upgrades when you sell your home. The potential costs were in the thousands of dollars. The plan was to make our city greener, a truly wonderful idea.

Keep Austin Affordable and the Austin Board of REALTORS® worked with the city to show the potential ramifications of such a plan. The potential loss of revenue to both the city and to the homeowner was proven and an alternate plan was created. The new plan requires homeowners to have an energy audit before they sell their home. The details of when the audit must happen and the specific date when these audits will be required are still being worked on, as far as I know.

What will this mean when you sell your home? You can expect to pay an additional $200 to $300 for an energy audit when you sell. This is the maximum cost you can be charged, which was a recommendation by the Board of Realtors, for your energy audit. The energy audit will be required to be completed either before you sell your home or during the option period (the time period is one of the details still being worked out.)

Inspectors specifically trained to perform energy audits will inform the potential buyer of the energy efficiencies of the home such as insulation in the attic and walls, roof ventilation, A/C efficiency, etc. The idea behind the audit is for the buyer to know different things they can do to the home to improve efficiencies. Most likely, it will also lead to additional requests from the buyer.

Although the official date when energy audits will begin has not been set, you can be sure they are coming sometime in 2009. There are a lot of ways to prepare for the sal e of your home; make sure to keep this new rule in mind and please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions.

Tim Dowling, 585-9380

HOLIDAY EVENTS

The holiday season is a time of giving. Why not include donations to worthy causes during this season, and for that matter, throughout the year? I’m positive that in our neighborhood most do already. For an exhaustive list of organizations that take donations visit www.charity-charities.org. If you have free time you can really make an impact by volunteering your time as well. The website www.volunteermatch.org lists a many possibilities. Just put your zip code in the search box. I’m sure many of you receive phone requests for donations. Always ask what percentage of the money you give goes to the organization. Make sure that a high percentage goes to the charity because sometimes the professional fundraisers take the majority of the money they raise.