Green Homes

Over the last few years creating a green or sustainable home envirement has been gaining traction. The major reasons for this trend has been to help create a healther,more comfortable home envirement that also lowers its energy footprint. There are a number od different organizations such as National Association of Home Builders(NAHB)United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and Energy Star that have rating systems that helps the public determine how the level of greeness of each home. Each of the system has a somewhat different matrix that determines the which green elements have been used to rate the home. The Home Energy Rating System,HERS is one of the more efefctive rating system.In short, it sets a specific benchmark for a homes performance and compares the individual home to this standard. The major factors that are compared include the homes energy use(electric gas and oil useage) and takes into account the homes size. While its a goal to have your home certified green by one of the rating agencies,its still possible to have a green house without being certified green.Making a significant reduction of energy, water useage,using less building materials and healthier materials(usually less VOCs and toxic resins) and reducing mold and unhealthy gases in the indoor air is key to having a green home. One of the key steps in creating a green house is determining a baseline for your home.One method is to use a carbon calculator for your house(can be found by Googling Carbon Calculator) This information usually requires inputting your monthly gas,electric and oil costs.Rather than using dollar values,you will need to know the yearly therms of gas used,kwh useage of electricity and/or gallons of heating oil.Most calculators will also factor in miles driven in your vehicle. The other way to help determine your homes baseline is to have a door blower test and thermal imaging done on your house. These tests require specialized equipment and usually cost money,but they help assess how leaky is your home and where the leaks occur. Once this is determined,you can establish a plan that can help make your house a greener home envirement. Assuming you have a limited budget,one of the most cost effective step is to insulated the walls of the house and attic. Air sealing the various cracks in the walls,attic and basement are usually part of the process. In Massachussetts,there is a program that provides a free home energy audit(determines the house performance) and will provide free CFLs,low flow shower heads and programable thermostats. In many cases,they will provide insulation and airsealing(up to $2000 per year with the home owner paying 20% of the cost.For more information.More expensive methods of helping to reduce energy load is to purchase more efficient heating systems and water heaters. Replacing older appliances with newer ones that are Energy Star Rated will also help bring down electric and heating costs. Using solar panels to help pay for electric bills but are not always cost effective. Each of these sugguestions can be done in stages with a final goal to be completed in a number of years.Using web sites such as www.dsire.org can show which tax incentives and rebates are available for each project or purchasing appliances. Carefully checking which chemicals(if any) are being used in buidling materials and paint can help avoiding chemicial issues in your home. While purchasing a new heating system,placing insulation inside the house or replacing windows,can be an expence,this cost can be reduced by rebate and tax breaks. The key factors are also reduced purchases of gas,water and oil.If done correctly your homes will be nore comfortable. If your systems are properly maintained they may also reduce the maintaince on the systems and their life span.

Getting Your Garden For the Winter

As the nites become longer and days get cooler,many of us notice that leaves on our trees and plants are starting to change color. This is part of the natural process where the plants are starting to rest for the winter.The sap for most plants will go into the roots so they are ready for their rebirth in the spring.While it may be anoying to rake up the leaves,many people will put the leaves and dead branchs into the compost heap rather than into the trash heap.This not only saves the expense of transporting away this plant material,but the resulting compost will recycle the nutrients for next years growth and help conserve water. While its a good idea to compost plant cuttings for the compost heap,please consider saving the flowers for such plants as Tick Seed,Cone Flower and Fruit from various other plants,The seed and fruits can serve for food for the birds and small animals such as squirrels that over winter in your area. Fall is also a great time to transplant many plants into their new location.Its also a good time to put bulbs into the groud for added beauty.Many bushes such as holly and yew bushes need to be wrapped in burlap and protected from heavy snow fall and ice. Its helpful to mulch the plants as well.This process helps keep water in the ground for plants use during the winter time. Each plant and gardens needs are different so its helpful to contact a local nursery center or garden expert

Winterizing Your Home

Now that Labor Day is behind us,its a good time to start getting our homes for the winter time.A few easy steps can be taken to have a more comfortable home for the winter time and save some money at the same time. Gas or oil heating systems just like our car motor are mechanicial systems They both get dirty when used.Its best to clean and tune up our heating system.Its best to tune up the heating system prior to the heating season and clean the filters atleast once a month. If you have not already done so,consider putting in insulation and air sealing the house. These two factors help keep in the heat during the winter and help reduce drafts.Consider instaling a programable thermostate. This devise will help save on heating costs. If you live in Massachussetts,try contacting www.masssave.com.Make sure that the edges around your doors and windows are sealed as well.This will also help to block drafts and help keep in the warm air. This program funded by the local utility companies can help pay for the insulation and air sealing work. Planting evergreen trees such as yews and holly trees around the house can serve to block the cold wind that blows against the house and will make the house look more attractive. Following this advise is not a cure all,but it will save money by using less energy. While these activities require some time and money,if done correctly,they will pay for themselves over time and make the systems last longer and make the house more comfortable.

Pricing Real Estate

Home values always tend to mirror the local economy.Home prices will rise and fall with job market and the rest of the economy.While home prices did increase much faster than income during the period from 2000-2007,there is a definate relationship between enployment and home prices.It has also been said that rising home values usually will herald an improving economy and home sales tend to be sluggish in poor eceonomic times.As a Realtor,I have seen many potental home owners put off a home purchase because of un settled economic times.In turn,home owners tend to put off listing their homes for sale because thet may loose money on their investment or not make enough money to buy a new home and/or fund their retirement plans. Clearly the two sides of the real estate transaction are part of the pricing of a home.
Over the last few years,I have been asked by a home owner to market their homes for sale.The location of the home,its condition,size and amenaties always play a role in its pricing.While home values usually rise over time, the point in time that a person wishs to sell their home helps to determine its eventual sale price.While many communities have seen dramatic price declines over the last 2-3 years some communities have seen values stay steady over this period or even have seen a modest price improvement.Its important to determine how the homes in your community have faired over the last few years.As a Realtor,its part of my job to help make sense of home values in the current real estate market.Most home buyers have an understanding of home values and bank appraisers usually are taking a careful look at current home values and the direction of the housing market.

Home Tune Ups

Most of us will tune up our vehicales and maintain them on a regular basis While its a small expence,it does prolong the vehicales life and helps them run more efficiently. However most of us do not consider doing the same with our hot water tanks or heating systems.Most hot water heaters will have sediment occur at the bottom of the tank.This is a normal occurance and may reduce its life span if a small amount of water is not released on a monthly basis.This can be accomplished by venting out some of the water. many heating systems have filters that can be clogged if not cleaned on na regular basis.These heating systems usually benefit from being tuned up once every year or two.These tips can help save you money and extend the life of the systems.Care should be taken when venting water from the hot water tanks and tuning the heating system or cleaning the filters. It might be a good idea to contact or hire a proffessional before completing the maintance tasks

Home Insulation

Winter is rapidly approaching and the heating on its coat tails. While there is little we can do to stop rising heating costs, we can help reduce the amount of fuel that we use to heat our homes.Insulation is used to fill voinds in the homes walls and cracks between walls and windows leading outside the house.This process can slow or stop warm air leaking from the inside of the house to the outside.One of the key methods of accomplishing this task is to insulate the foundation,walls and attic space of our homes.Thanks to new technology,there is a wide range of insulation types available to the home owner.Many homes can use dense pack celluse in the walls and the floor part of the attic.Foam insulation can be use in many hard to reach places and joints.Rigid insulation can be used inside the walls,on doors and a wide range of other places.Many new homes,additions and rehab projects even have insulation under the basement floors.They types of insulation and its proper use is constantly being refined and updated. Its best to contact a specialist for specifics of how much and which type of insulation is best for your home.
Paying for insulation can be expensive but this cost can be recovered by not having to pay for fuel costs.In Massachussetts, programs such as Mass Save(see www.massave.com) can help show where are the best places to insulate and can help provide a rebate to the home owner using this program.Further savings can be garnered by seeing if there are tax credits are available for home energy efficient programs.Its best to contact your tax person or IRS for further details.

Timing aHome Purchase

One of the most frequent questions that people ask me about is the direction of the housing market and if its a good time to buy a home.Most people have heard about the soft real estate market and have seen home prices fall in most communities.People have also heard about the number of building permits being lower than previous years and the large numbers of homes being foreclosed upon and a weak economy.To further complicate matters,there is not a clear picture of when property values will stabalizeMany lending institutions have become more conservative in their lending standards.Considering these factors,its understandable why many people might be reluctant to purchase a home.
Purchasing a home is a major decision and complicated by our current economic envirement.There are always risks for the home buyer such as possible decrease in property value and ability to afford the upkeep of a home if he/she no longer has the income to pay for basic living expences.While there are reasons not to buy a home,there are compeling reasons to purchase a home.While there is always a possibilty of losing employment and further declines in home values,its important to look at the long term picture.
Real estate has always been cyclical in nature.Most areas have shown price declines and an increase in affordabilty relative to wages.Interest rates are currently at historic low levels.Despite the difficult real estate market,this can be a perfect time to buy.Its clearly a buyers market if you can afford the mortgage payments and upkeep of the home.However,there are a number of key considerations. They include your willingness to take a long term view to home ownership.The costs of home ownership should also be weighed against options such as renting or sharing space with friends or family.Also the benefits of creating equity in your new home and potental tax benefits garnered from mortgage interest.
Its clearly a challenging time to purchase a home.There are some risks but potental advantages for the prospective home owner.Each persons situation is different and each geographic area has its own positive and negative points.Its always helpful to meet with a local Realtor regarding the timing of home ownership