Philly Development Offers Glimpse of Green Real Estate’s Future

By Erica Christoffer, Contributing Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

Denise Lehmann and Alex Plessett are building their dream, quite literally.

The builder-REALTOR® pair are the masterminds behind the largest LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) designated green residential development in Philadelphia. In July, they broke ground on Sheldon Crossing, 20 units of high-end sustainable housing, and expect homes in Phase I to be available for purchase by the year’s end.

While Lehmann and Plessett both hope to see the success of their development come to fruition, they also have a message – that sustainability does not have to sacrifice quality, and that green is the future of real estate.

“REALTORS® are really just beginning to learn about sustainability issues and how important it is for their clients,” Plessett says. “They don’t all need to be experts, but it’s important to be able to talk to their buyers about green products, energy efficiency, and the benefits of living in a green home.

“It’s important for REALTORS® to jump on the bandwagon, because green is here – and it’s here to stay.”

Read more

Making Sense of Green Home Certifications

By Erik Fowler, Green trends expert

This is the fourth article in a series designed to help you make sense of the green landscape as a real estate professional. REALTOR® Magazine’s Styled, Staged & Sold blog and I are excited to be covering green home trends in America. In the previous article, I provided a quick guide to green home trends. Here, we’ll highlight green home ratings and certifications.

As we discussed in the last few articles, when discussing green homes it’s important to avoid generalizations or greenwashing, and stick to specifics. As real estate professionals, we should always insist on third-party sources of reliable and verifiable information wherever possible.

When people make “green” claims, we need to know exactly what they mean.

Below are the most widely recognized national green building and/or energy efficient programs nationwide. Keep in mind there are local and regional green building programs as well.

For instance, the Austin Green Building Program was not only one of the first programs in the country to develop a regional green building standard, but it is still considered to be one of the very best programs and models.

Commonalities Among Green Programs

All green building programs should ideally share some common attributes, namely:

• Third-party verification;
• Performance (points) and/or a prescriptive path designed to set green “targets” in several green categories;
• Documentation;
• A resource center for the builder and the consumer.

The point to note is that a standard is followed, documented, measured, and verified. We all know what happens when standards are “self enforced” with no accountability (think latest mortgage crisis).

Also, notice below the various categories of green, what each certification addresses, and recall that green homes do more than address just energy use. While very important, energy is not the only measure of green or sustainability in a home or building.

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Who are “Green” Buyers and Sellers?

By Erik Fowler

This is the third article in a series designed to help you make sense of the green landscape as a real estate professional. REALTOR® Magazine’s Styled, Staged & Sold blog and I are excited to be covering green home trends in America. In the previous article, I provided an overview of green homes and real estate. Here, we’ll highlight green buyers and sellers, and the listing and marketing of green homes.

When talking about a green home, it’s important to avoid generalizations and stick to specifics. For instance, when working with a buyer and discussing his or her interests and needs, the subject of utility bills or other costs associated with a home purchase will often come up. This is a perfect time to discuss energy efficiency and how utility bills are affected by how well-built and how well-insulated a home is.

It is important to understand that the purchase price is a major, but not the only, cost consideration. Utility bills and home maintenance contribute to monthly bills as well.

Is it an Energy Star Home?

If your client is considering new construction, you may want to search for an Energy Star Qualified home. Energy Star homes must be tested by a third party and are designed to be at least 15 percent more energy efficient than baseline new construction (do not confuse Energy Star appliances with an Energy Star home).

The point here, of course, is that agents should be informed about energy efficiency and green home trends, but should not represent themselves as experts in this area.

Get Proof

When a client mentions specific issues of concern or interest to them, the first reference point should be your state’s disclosure notice from the seller. In the case of energy efficiency, if the seller markets his/her home as “green” or “energy efficient”, then it is our job as real estate professionals to ensure that the buyer has as much specific information as possible from the seller or builder, and from reputable third-party sources. Read more

Going Green in a Chic, Award-Winning Kitchen

By Barbara Ballinger

ATLANTA—When Laurie Belinda Haefele joined an architecture firm in New York City 19 years ago after graduating from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., her colleagues were beginning to incorporate sustainable features in their projects.

“It wasn’t a big part of the designs, but we paid attention to fenestration—or how air flowed, tried to conserve energy, and used building materials that insulated well,” she says.

Fast forward, Haefele is the winner of the award for Best Sustainable Kitchen at the National Kitchen & Bath Association’s annual convention, going on now in Atlanta. The kitchen cited in NKBA’s design competition is part of a new house in Corona Del Mar, Calif., and demonstrates good practices that other home owners can learn from and may desire in their own residences.

Haefele’s clients were a young couple who wanted to be good energy citizens and also have a healthy home for their family.

Among the features that convinced the judges of the home’s greenness were:

• Reconstituted wood exteriors on the cabinets that resemble fancy wenge;
• No-emissions plywood for the actual cabinet boxes, which were made locally so they didn’t have to be shipped from far away; Read more

Is Your Listing Really “Green”?

By Erik Fowler

This is the second article in a series designed to help you make sense of the green landscape as a real estate professional. In the last article, we covered the big picture – defining “green,” concepts of sustainability and what it means to be green (read it here). Here, we examine green homes and real estate.

WHAT IS A “GREEN” HOME?

Essentially, green homes (or buildings) strive to integrate into the environment, use sustainable design and construction concepts, and have a positive impact on occupant health and comfort.

They achieve this by considering the home in two fundamental ways:

1. A system of interconnected parts that all affect each other (much like our natural environment);
2. A lifecycle—the design, building, maintenance/operation and demolition.

For example, consider how home design affects window choices, which affects lighting, which affects the heating/cooling system, which then affects energy consumption, which affects planet resources, pollution and, ultimately, potential climate change. Get the idea?

5 KEY COMPONENTS

Nearly all green homes consider the following key components essential to green building and remodeling:

1. Design and size: Good site design and just large enough, as opposed to larger is better.
2. Community connectivity: Located close to work, school, recreation and other basics.
3. Energy and water efficiency: At least 15 percent or more efficient than others. Read more

“Green” Kitchens, Products, Designs: Is it the New Buzz Word?

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey

You’ve undoubtedly heard a lot talk about “green” building lately. The U.S. Green Building Council has called energy-efficient home construction one of the few industries that is growing and thriving in the softened economy. According to a recent National Association of Home Builders survey, 61 percent of consumers said they would even be willing to spend more than $5,000 upfront to save on utility costs–which green construction targets.

But what are some of these “green” features that are popping up in homes today? REALTOR® Magazine recently visited Abt Electronics in Glenview, Ill., to tour one of its eco-friendly kitchen models and find out about the newest “green” kitchen features (see video below). Also, check out senior editor Wendy Cole’s article on “10 Ways to Make Your House Greener,” featuring new eco-friendly products.

In your markets, have you been noticing more clients asking questions about the “green” qualities in a home? Or do you think the green-construction movement has been overhyped? Share your thoughts!

A Quick Guide to Green Trends

By Erik Fowler

Over the next several months, REALTOR® Magazine’s Styled, Staged & Sold blog and I are excited to be covering green home trends. Check back with us, as this is one in a series of articles to help you make sense of the green landscape as a real estate professional.

Many of you may even consider the new NAR GREEN designation, the only sustainable property designation recognized by the National Association of Realtors®. Topics we will cover over the next few months are:

1) The Big Picture – Defining “Green”
2) Green Homes and Real Estate
3) Who are Green Buyers and Sellers?
4) Listing and Selling Green – Important Issues to Consider
5) Green Certifications  – Making Sense of Rating Systems
6) Greening your Real Estate Practice

THE BIG PICTURE

Did you know? According to several studies including the U.S. Department of Energy, homes and buildings account for 40-50 percent of total U.S. energy consumption and at least 20-40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

In addition, construction of homes and other buildings use more than 30 percent of all raw materials and produce at least 30 percent of waste generation in the U.S. each year. Wow!

Committed followers of green subscribe to sustainable growth principles which reject “false choices” of economic growth versus environmental stewardship and social responsibility. Proponents believe these goals can and should occur simultaneously.

The study and goal of sustainable growth is a topic which I encourage you to research. As it Read more

Is This the Home of the Future?

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey

LAS VEGAS – How would you like to have a listing like this—an 8,816-square-foot energy efficient, technologically advanced show stopper? The 2009 New American Home, the latest in a 26-year series of demonstration homes, was unveiled here at the International Builder Show this week.

The contemporary-styled home displays energy efficient features, latest construction techniques, and new products and trends, from a calming rejuvenation room that overlooks the zero-edge pool to decorative water systems that capture rain water for reuse.

This home, on the market for $4.2 million, will be on display for the next 18 months.

The home is extremely energy efficient. The electric bill is estimated to be $467 per year and total utility costs for the home, which include electricity and natural gas usage, are estimated at $2,500 per year. Not bad for an 8,816 square foot home.

The home mixes natural gas-powered heating and cooling systems, bifacial solar panels, roof-top solar water heating, horizontal louvers for shading, 90-degree corner windows, and sliding pocket doors throughout that transform indoor spaces to outside. The home’s lighting, temperature, doors, and more can be controlled by an iPhone.

The home also features several dramatic outdoor spaces, from a basement-level subterranean courtyard showcasing a fountain spanning a wall with a fire burning underneath.

Watch the video below taken on a Flip video camera or peruse a slide show on the next page to see more images of all the details.

Read more

Retrofitting Existing Homes for Energy Efficiency

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey

LAS VEGAS – Targeting existing homes for energy savings will go much further to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. than focusing on newer homes, panelists said Wednesday at a talk on green building during the International Builder Show here in Las Vegas. New homes, in general, are already built more efficient, but older homes can be big energy wasters.

Indeed, homes built before 1983 are to blame for 70 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions related to single-family energy consumption in California, said Mike Hodgson, president of Consol, who detailed results of a study conducted this fall for the California Homebuilding Foundation.

A $10,000 investment in retrofitting a 1960s home for energy efficiency could make a big impact: It could save 8.5 tons of carbon, Hodgson said. Meanwhile, increasing energy efficient of a new home by 35 percent over current state requirements would reduce emissions by only 1.1 tons.

Changes to older homes that are needed include replacing mechanical units that Read more

NextGen Home Mixes Smart Technology and Green

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey

LAS VEGAS – “It’s bigger, greener, stronger and smarter than any that have come before”—touts iShow, the makers of the NextGen “First to the Future” demonstration home model, which is open for tours at the International Builder Show this week.

Each year, iShow produces a NextGen home that offers a glimpse at the latest technology and upgrades to homes – not to mention, wish lists of many home owners, from the morning kitchen in the master bedroom to technology that makes managing a home easier than ever before. This year iShow teamed with the U.S. Department of Energy to create a home that is 95 percent more energy efficienct than a standard home today.

“First to the Future” specs:

• 5,200 square feet
• 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms and a powder room
• 3-car garage

Some more characteristics of the “First to the Future” home: Read more