Realty Times – 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Averages 3.99 Percent.

Arizona Republic

about the newly announced refinancing program for home owners.

Arizona underwater homeowners to get refinance help.

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  Energy Monitors: Seeing is Believing — and Saving

  Energy monitors make managing your power consumption enjoyable and easy to do. Read
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  9 Unexpected Energy (and Money) Savers

  Here are a few surprising and simple ways to cut your energy bill this season. Read
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  8 Easy Ways to Seal Air Leaks Around the House

  For what the typical family wastes every year on air leaks—about $350—you can plug energy-robbing gaps, start saving money, and enjoy a more comfortable home. Read

What you do is plug the device into the wall and then plug your electronic device into it.  It will then determine how much energy is being used by that electronic device.  Some devices use electricity even when they are turned off.   They are sometimes referred to as energy vampires.   You can save money on electricity by determining which devices you should unplug when not in use.  An alternative can be to plug the devices into a power strip that can be turned on and off.

I’ve read that cell phone charges can be a problem with using electricity even when a cell phone is not plugged in to them.  I checked ours and they are not a problem.   I have unplugged an older TV and a CD player that are rarely used.  They were both pulling electricity even when off.  Our Wii which is frequently left on even when not in use was pulling  power as well.  I tried turning it off and it was still using power.  So, I’m going to try to turn it off and unplug it when not in use. 

There were a few things that I going to leave plugged in.  The first is our water cooler.  It used the most electricity of the small electronics/appliances.  However, it costs about 14 cents per day in electricity and we go through a lot of water.  Our phones also use electricity but I’m going to leave them plugged in.  It is convenient to have them in several rooms of the house and the usage is small.

APS also offers discount programs – APS CFL Discounts.    They also have a  CFL light bulb Savings Calculator which allows you to calculate savings by room based upon the number of bulbs replaced and the type of lighting in that roonm

We create a mobile phone formatted website for each property.  We also create a QR code for each property.  A QR code looks like a bar code except it is square instead of rectangular.  It also has a smaller square in each of three corners. 

To access property information, a mobile phone user first needs to download a free QR Reader from their app store.  Then follow the softwares directions to scan the code (take a picture of  it).  Be careful when taking the picture to get a clear picture and try to have the QR code take up as much of the photo as possible.  Then, it should be as simple as clicking on the button to access the property information.  Property information and photos are available on our listings.  The service we are using also provides a map of the property’s location and some local information.

Do you want to try it?  You can use either of the QR codes below.

     If you would like to see what the property information looks like on your mobile device without scanning the QR code, simply visit  the following website on your phone.

http://vyoo.it/7ksj8

Low interest rates also make this a good time to buy a home.  Read our previous post – Why Get Preapproved For Home Loan?

For more information on interest rates:

Mortgage Rates Drop to a 39-year Low – Arizona Republic, June 25, 2010

Mortgage Rates Set New Record at 4.69%- Wall Street Journal Online