New tax credits for energy-efficient remodeling and other 2011 reduced incentives

Written by: Joe Peffer

The legislation limits allowable tax credits available for energy-efficient windows installed during 2011 to a total of just $200 — down from the previous $1,500

Today is the last day to take advantage of the ‘green’ credit incentives from the federal government.  Miss the deadline? The good news is that there are now new incentives. The bad news is that those incentives are roughly 1/3 of the 2010 incentives….

The $858 billion federal tax bill signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 17 was a mixed bag for American homeowners, with elements of both the Grinch and Santa squeezed into the same bulging package.

The goodies for select groups were well-publicized — an extension of unemployment benefits, payroll tax cuts, continuation of the Bush income-tax rates and favorable estate-tax treatment for the wealthy.

But other provisions in the bill could be bad news for homeowners interested in remodeling projects to conserve energy next year. The legislation slashed the popular tax credits for energy-efficient remodeling from the current 30 percent of an improvement’s cost ($1,500 maximum per taxpayer) to just a 10 percent credit with a $500 maximum.

The bill also clamped new dollar-specific limits on key improvements that previously had been eligible for 30 percent credits. These include a $150 tax-credit limit on the costs of energy-efficient furnaces, plus a $300 credit limit on the costs of central air conditioning systems.

The legislation also limits allowable tax credits available for energy-efficient windows installed during 2011 to a total of just $200 — down from the previous $1,500. On top of this, more here….

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Kenneth R. Harney who covers housing issues on Capitol Hill for the Washington Post Writers Group and appears in the Sunday Columbus Dispatch.

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Can German Village Residents Save Schiller Park’s Ash Trees?

Written by: Joe Peffer

There is an article in today’s Dispatch about how German Village residents are banding together to pony up some money in an attempt to save some of Schiller Park’s oldest and most beautiful ash trees.  I never knew that some of those trees have been around since before the Civil War, Wow.

Schiller Park is one big reason why people buy homes for sale in German Village and to see of those ash trees come down would be a blow to the park. The Emerald Ash Borer has decimated ash trees everywhere and if the Schiller Park trees can be saved, it’d be great for German Village.  From today’s Dispatch story by ROBERT VITALE:

Residents are trying to raise $5,000 over the next five months to pay for a new treatment against the emerald ash borer. The treatment has been declared highly effective by researchers at Ohio State and Michigan State universities.

The insecticide would be injected into 31 ash trees in Schiller Park. Some are estimated to be 150 years old.

“I love those trees, and I can’t see losing them,” said Lindy Michael, a German Village resident who oversees a fund that since the 1970s has collected money to plant and maintain Schiller Park’s trees.

“We at least have to try to save them.”

The ash trees are only about 10 percent of the park’s trees but are some of its oldest.

City Forester Jack Low said a Biltmore ash near Jaeger Street on the park’s eastern end has been ranked among the largest in Ohio. A white ash near City Park and Reinhard avenues and a blue ash near a statue of Friedrich von Schiller, for whom the park is named, probably predate the city’s purchase of the land in 1867.

The Schiller Park trees have shown no signs of infestation by the emerald ash borer, which has killed tens of millions of trees from Canada to Tennessee since it was found near Detroit in 2002.

The beetle, native to Asia, is thought to have arrived in North America in wood used as shipping material. Adults eat tree leaves but….click here for the rest of the story

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Merry Christmas Columbus. You Know, There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays…

Written by: Joe Peffer

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NOBO – North of Broad (affordable new housing on Columbus’ near East side) is Alive and Well

Written by: Joe Peffer

New homes don’t pop up in old neighborhoods every day. It happens, certainly. Builders or would-be homeowners buy vacant lots and put a new house on them. It’s called in-fill housing. At a time when many condo projects in and around Columbus are/have been flailing, North Of Broad has ever so slowly continued selling homes in a neighborhood full of vacant homes that is still struggling to regain an identity while balancing new interest in historic homes with gentrification.

Along the way, Columbus Housing Partnership’s Homeport division has built the City’s first LEED Certified home and buy, develop and market new projects. Here is one new home-owner’s heartfelt appreciation for her new home.

You should also know that, “Homeport Housing Advisory Center services give people the information they need to improve their financial lives and prepare to purchase their own homes. Homebuyer and Housing Counseling Programs also work to address the underlying social and economic needs facing families within Columbus neighborhoods. The Homeport Housing Advisory Center helps people understand that purchasing a home comes with many obligations. The Homeport Housing Advisory Center teaches its clients how to be responsible homeowners and good neighbors.”

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