Green Options » real estate

Green Talk Radio: The Growing Market for Green Real Estate

Sean Daily — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:00:39 +0000

GreenTalk Radio host Sean Daily talks about the burgeoning industry of green building and the qualities of a green real estate property with Greg Reitz, Principal and Founder of REthink Development.

[Courtesy of our friends at GreenLivingIdeas.com]

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There’s a ‘World’s Largest, Most Opulent Green Mansion?’ Acqua Liana Says, ‘Yes’

Adam Williams — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:09:48 +0000

Frank McKinney, known as the real estate “artist,” according to his Web site, has built a 15,000-square-foot “eco-mansion.” Is that possible? I am not sure whether to look in awe at all the sleek green that money can buy, or to recoil from the notion that 15,000 feet of excess is environmentally friendly.

Photos of the inside and outside of this $29 million Florida mansion are as wild for their “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous” vibe, as for anything else. McKinney calls the property Acqua Liana, and has more plans in the works:

(He) will soon commence another masterpiece, “Crystalina,” a $30 million green home reflecting South Pacific influences.

He has designed and obtained permits for the world’s most magnificent oceanfront spec home with a 9-figure price tag, that’s right, Mr. McKinney’s new creation, The Manalapan Residence, will carry a price tag of over $135 million.
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California Real Estate Agents Provide Misinformation about Radon

Linda Kincaid, MPH, CIH — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:35:17 +0000

Disclosure reports use statistical sleight of hand to mislead consumers.

A Silicon Valley real estate agent told her clients, “There is no radon in California. You don’t need to worry about it.” The couple purchased a home in Sunnyvale, CA, which has some of the higher radon levels in Santa Clara County. Based on their agent’s advice, they chose not to test for radon.

Another home in Sunnyvale had 29 picoCuries/liter (pCi/L), more than 8 times the EPA action level (4 pCi/L). A home in Los Gatos had 56 pCi/L, which is 14 times the action level.

Based on radon test data, about half of California’s 58 counties are in EPA Radon Zone 2, averaging 2-4 piCi/L of indoor radon. Santa Clara County, where I live, has an average radon concentration of 2.9 pCi/L, and about one in twelve radon tests finds radon above 4 pCi/L. Ventura and Santa Barbara counties are in EPA Radon Zone 1, indicating countywide averages above 4 pCi/L.

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What’s It Like to Be Your Own Boss as a Green Real Estate Broker?

Scott Cooney — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:22:12 +0000

Do you sell nothing but LEED certified houses? Do you work flexible hours and have incredible freedom? Are your clients the greatest group of people you could have hoped for? What about the kind of support you get from your realty company? Does the downturn in the broader market hurt the green real estate broker the same as others?

I asked all these questions to Keith Hodge, green real estate broker for Green Key Real Estate, Inc. Keith Hodge lives in the Castro and particularly likes walkable communities. One of the reasons he was drawn to Green Key was to help change the system that, he says, has been tarnished by ‘growth at any cost’ lobbying. The National Association of Realtors, the third largest lobbyist organization in the country (in terms of spending since 1989), tends to lobby for policies that can increase sprawl, roads, and segregated communities. This is under the guise of helping to create vibrant communities for people to live and work, but common sense says their strong emphasis on single family homes (which tend to sell for more than condos, townhomes and other higher-density dwellings and thus provide a richer paycheck to realtors) leads to the kinds of communities where sprawl is the norm and communities become ever more dependent on cars as public transit becomes less feasible.

Hodge, who earned a degree in environmental studies, saw the real estate market as low-hanging fruit for making big changes for sustainability. Hodge has been taking classes from PG&E to learn how to help homeowners go green, a service he plans to offer to customers as part of their package when buying or selling a house with him. While Green Key does not just represent green or LEED certified homes,

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Madoff Greatest Ponzi Scheme? Real Estate Magnitudes Greater.

Fred Etcheverry — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:50:44 +0000

Bernard Madoff was arrested December 12, 2008 for an alleged $50 billion investor fraud and released on $10 million bail. While the press heralds this as the biggest ponzi scheme in history, it’s a pittance compared to the real estate schemes that have created the present financial crisis.

Like Madoff’s scheme, the house market became dependent on a steady price increase. Buyers were willing to pay high prices with the expectation that they could later sell for a profit.

Eventually, without substantial inflation, houses had to become unaffordable. House prices had reached levels that often required most of a household’s income. Subprimes were just a frantic attempt to continue this pyramid. Like every ponzi scheme, some means must be found to get more money from new “investors” to payoff old.

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Mandatory Energy Audits?

Dawn Killough — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:24:22 +0000

Governor Ted Kulongoski of Oregon is proposing a program that would require all buildings sold in the state to be tested and rated for energy efficiency. The plan would take effect in 2011 for houses and 2012 for commercial buildings.

“With escalating energy prices, a homeowner or small business person has a right to know the energy performance of a home or building they invest in,” reads a draft of the bill provided by the governor’s office. This quote points out the positive aspects of such a program. It would provide incentives for new buildings to be built more efficiently, as they would qualify for special funding programs and would be more attractive to potential buyers.

There are some problems with the plan, however.

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UC Berkeley Report Says Global Warming Could Put $2.5 Trillion of California Real Estate at Risk

Andrew Williams — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:51:22 +0000

A new report says that global warming could cost the Californian economy billions of dollars each year, through a combination of rising sea levels, and the increased frequency of wild fires and extreme weather events.

The comprehensive study (PDF), published by researcher’s at UC Berkeley, also claims that $2.5 trillion of Californian real estate assets are at risk. The clear message, says co-author Prof. David Roland-Holst, is the strong economic case for timely action to slash carbon emissions and adapt to the already unavoidable effects of climate change.

“Our report makes clear the most expensive thing we can do about climate change is nothing,” he said. “As we learned in New Orleans, turning your back on the threat of natural disaster doesn’t make it go away.”

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Tip’d: Your One Stop Destination For Business and Finance News

Reenita Malhotra — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:26:03 +0000

If you do not want to waste precious moments searching the internet for the top stories in business and finance, or if you have found an ideal economics news story that you would highly recommend to other readers, then Tip’d might quickly become your business social destination everyday.

Much like Digg, Tip’d is a site that has the advantage of showing up at the right time. The stock market has recently been on a roller coaster ride and the world’s economy has been on the brink of depression for over a month. As you know most speculative behavior is driven by human emotion which tends to spread news like wildfire. In this scenario, Tip’d has found the perfect fit by offering an ideal platform for readers to share their favorite business stories.

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Tip’d: A Social News Site For Business and Financial News

Reenita Malhotra — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:32:40 +0000

Given the release of updated financial news from around the world every hour, readers are increasingly scouring the web to find the most current stories out there. Tip’d is here to answer your needs by delivering the best business stories recommended by other readers. Tip’d (tipd.com) is a community for financial news, ideas, and tips. Given the important political decisions ahead and the evolving state of the economy, this social news site is perhaps more of a necessity rather than a convenient online news asset.

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Will High Gas Prices Kill Suburban Sprawl?

Carol Gulyas — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:59:38 +0000

When the award-winning film The End of Suburbia was released in 2004, it was considered by some to be an amusing but exaggerated view of what Peak Oil will do to the suburban way of life. As gas prices approach $5/gallon, it doesn’t seem quite so shocking.

As a passionate enemy of suburban sprawl, I listened intently to an interview this morning on NPR with Brookings Institution demographer William Frey in which he notes that housing prices are falling faster in the areas outside cities. Is this a permanent correction that is making “exurbs” less desirable overall? And how are gas prices influencing this loss of home value? Mr. Frey was cautious in his answer, saying “the jury is still out” and that Americans have a history of moving outward from cities in order to buy more housing for less, seeing long commutes as an acceptable trade off.

However, it doesn’t take a genius to see that, when a commute costs more than one is saving on housing, while sucking up hours of one’s valuable time, (and as the saying goes, “They aren’t making more of that”) why would one buy a home in the far suburbs? Why, indeed?

Sperling’s Best Places did a survey two years ago when gas prices were at $2.90 a gallon. The following were the most expensive cities in which to commute and listed the average annual commuting cost:

City Annual Commuting Cost (2006)

1. Atlanta $5,772
2. Birmingham, Ala. $5,464
3. Orlando, Fla. $5,404
4. Jacksonville, Fla. $5,360
5. Pensacola, Fla. $5,173

So, if gas prices reach $6.00, Atlanta’s commuting cost would be over $10,000 per year. Yikes.

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As Britain floats away, UK Housing Minister supports more development on flood planes

Noelle dEstries — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:21:31 +0000

From Environmental Graffiti:

Severe flooding has affected four counties, four hundred thousand are without water, thousands have had to abandon their homes, and the cost will no doubt run into hundreds of millions of pounds.

Yet the housing minister, Yvette Cooper, doesn’t see a problem with building thousands of new homes on flood planes. Announcing a massive house building programme, she warned critics not to “play politics” with the flooding and attack building on flood planes. She told Radio 4’s Today Program that development had always taken place on flood planes, and the key was proper planning.

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