Austin Texas Real Estate Blog

With the cost of energy spiraling out of control and people becoming more aware of an increasingly toxic and depleted environment, homebuyers are looking at the market with an eye toward houses that meet their criteria of addressing these concerns. And the real estate market is responding to this changing market by emphasizing the advantages of their green-built houses and finding buyers, even in today’s soft market. Green building is coming into the mainstream and those seeking new houses are buying it.

As consumers become more informed about climate change, the possibility of peak oil, rising costs of most forms of energy, the increase in asthma and allergies among children, they’re more open to solutions to these ailments. And green builders answer the call with more expensive but environmentally friendly buildings and houses. Consumers are more than willing to pay the initial extra cost if it means they recoup their costs in energy saving and “feel good factor” in the long run.

Today’s homebuyer wants to lessen their impact on the environment and they’re finding a partner in an increasing number of contractors, architects, and engineers. And, with national organizations like the National Association of Home Builders getting behind such green building programs, it becoming easier to brand these programs, get them into the public eye, and thereby create a familiar household name.

The challenge remains for sales agents, however. As a potential homebuyer asks questions and probes deeper into the technology behind a green built home, it’s easy for a sales person to find themselves out of their league. More and better training is, of course, the simple answer and builders are eagerly spending the time and cost to educate their sales force as it’s proving to reap benefits for both seller and buyer.

Read more here.

Many home owners want to “go green”, but fear the cost and bother of doing so. It’s surprisingly inexpensive and fairly easy, though, to make small changes that can lower your family’s carbon footprint. I’m only going to mention three, but this article has ten simple ways to become more environmentally friendly.

On average, an American household annually emits about 26,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The energy used costs about $1,400 every year. A first step to reducing these financial and environmental costs is the old “turn off that light” maxim. My mother’s cry of “turn if off if you’re not using it.” would echo throughout our modest ranch house, so much so that I find myself stepping into empty conference rooms to flick the switch on lights left burning after the meeting was long over.

Another small step is to check the standby energy use of your electronic appliances. Computers, when shut off, still draw electricity through their power cords. Today’s television sets don’t shut off completely when you hit the power switch. One way to make sure the appliances are completely off and not drawing power is to plug them into a power strip which, when the item is not in use, is shut off at the strip, thus ensuring no electricity ‘leakage’.

One last piece of advice: replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. The technology in this area has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past few years and these bulbs, while still a bit pricey, are easier to screw into the socket and use a quarter of the electricity of a traditional bulb. They also last ten times longer on average.

Simple steps, big benefits. Going green has never been easier