By Matt Assad, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.
Feb. 21--If there's any sales pitch that can cut through even the worst recession, the idea of getting free stuff courtesy of Uncle Sam is probably the one.
At least that was the theory at the Annual Spring Eastern Pennsylvania Home Show, where federal and state tax credits were as much the talk as replacement windows, new kitchens and hot tubs. The show was held at the Allentown Fairgrounds.
"Sales right now are all about the tax credits," said Matt Goodwin, a sales specialist from Hess Windows, of South Whitehall. "Right now, every single sale is a tax-credit product."
The Home Show, now in its eighth year in the Lehigh Valley, gives people a chance to view the products of more than 200 vendors of home-improvement, housewares or decorating products.
Though many of the vendors at the Home Show said they were encouraged that the economy was improving, those with stimulus money at the heart of their marketing plans clearly had more to be encouraged about.
While Goodwin said windows sales were up at least 10 percent, just across the aisle, Erika DePaolis' ProWhite Express dental chairs were empty. DePaolis was charging $99 for the same 20-minute teeth whiting process she sells for $179 in her Phillipsburg office, yet she had few takers.
"I guess people consider it an extravagance right now, because they're just not doing it," said DePaolis' husband, Robert. "And I doubt the government's going to let us offer a tax credit."
Federal stimulus money is providing up to $1,500 in tax credits for home improvements that save energy. That's $1,500 right off the bottom line of what a taxpayer owes -- kind of like having a child, without the bother of changing diapers.The credits extend through 2010. Items that are covered include replacement windows and doors and energy efficient heaters and air conditioners. Erin Duffield's family businesses of selling custom blinds and replacement windows perhaps best shows the benefits of selling tax credits. Even in the down economy, windows sales were up last year, but sales of blinds dropped off 26 percent.
"Except for the honeycomb blind," said Duffield, business manager for Richards Hunter Douglas Gallery and Penn Windows, both of Allentown. "That blind is energy efficient. It's the only one covered by the tax credit."
The mother of all tax credit deals rests with solar panels -- and for the first time, the home show featured three companies selling them. That's because unlike the other products, solar panels are eligible for federal and state incentives, and the $1,500 cap does not apply. For example, a homeowner might have to spend $40,000 to install enough solar panels to eliminate his electric bills for good, but the state would foot the bill for $12,000 of that, and the federal government would offer $12,800 in tax credits. The net cost of never getting another electric bill would be $19,000.
That's the kind of math Ed Knittle, of Lehighton, was considering as he stood at the booth run by Sonic Solar Energy of Wind Gap. And Knittle knows a little something about energy costs. He's a retired PPL engineer.
"I've been thinking about it for a long time, but for the first time there's a real payback," Knittle said.
If Knittle wants those solar panel on his farmhouse, he'll probably have to wait, because business at Sonic Solar Energy is, well, though the roof.
"We have jobs backed up and this snow is keeping us from getting to them," said Mia Tobing, a Sonic Solar sales representative. "Thanks to the incentives, business is very, very, very good."
Over at the Dr. Feelgoode's booth, sales manager Ed Antolick wasn't finding it nearly as easy to sell $4,000 hot tubs. Rather than focusing on the leisure aspects of hot tubs, the new economy has him stressing the therapeutic and medical benefits they provide.
Still, midway through the three-day home show, he'd had lots of inquiries but no sales yet. There was some good news on the horizon. He just filed his taxes.
"I installed replacement windows last year. I was going to owe federal taxes and now the government owes me," Antolick said. "It's a nice feeling."
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