You might have recently seen or read stories in the news about the new Vermont Energy Saver Program.

The program is designed to assist Vermont homeowners in reducing energy bills by financing energy efficiency improvements to their homes.

The program's being offered by six regional revolving loan funds, in partnership with the State and VHFA.

It's part of the State's Vermont Food and Fuel Initiative, created to help Vermonters deal with increasing home heating, gasoline and food costs.

Wanda Allaire with Universal Mortgage Corp. in Morrisville is VHFA's top mortgage loan originator in Lamoille County for 2008.

We'll be announcing our remaining handful of top originators next week.

Congratulations, Wanda!

Kathy Sarnes with Connecticut River Bank in Springfield is VHFA's top mortgage loan originator in Windsor County for 2008. Susan Laferriere with Union Bank in St. Johnsbury took the honor for Caledonia and Essex counties.

VHFA's fiscal year ends June 30, so summer is when we announce all our top originators for the previous year. We'll be announcing our remaining top originators later this month.

Congratulations, Kathy and Susan!

The Center for Rural Studies (CRS) at the University of Vermont, VHFA's partner in developing the Vermont Housing Data Web site, is conducting an online survey of the site's visitors.

Take the survey now for a chance to win an Apple^® iPod^® nano!

CRS's survey, which will run into the fall, is the first step in a grant-funded initiative to improve content and usability of the site.