Here is something that one of our Ecobroker friends (Carson and Carol) sent over to us showing that green homes in GA not only sell much faster, but they also sell for closer to their listing price as well.  It pays to go green!

Our friends at the LEEDing Edge, a new home that will be LEED certified upon completion, will be opening the doors for a tour this month.  For more information visit EcoHomeGuy.com or look at the information on this flier. more…

I have been posting stories about Ecobroker houses for sale here in GA. Here is latest in what is going on:

“We belong in the zoo” I mean “….next to the zoo”

Carson and Carol had just started promoting their new develpoment in Grant Park.  Update: Here is their new website for Grant Park Place.

Green house for sale

Update: House is still for sale however Jennifer Spivey tells me that they are getting some pretty good inquiries.  There are several people that have looked at it and the composting toilets were seen as a plus!

LEEDing Edge open house info sheets

Update: House is nearing completion and is still on track to rack up the LEED points.  There will be some upcoming events at the house in February.  For more information contact Burke Sisco.

Investing in Energy Savings

Update: Green upgrades are a great investment especially in 2009.  I have had so many inquiries about all of the rebates that I had to create a page dedicated to these items.  GET PAID to “go green”

Just in-

A friend of mine is building a spec LEED house in Ansley Park.  It will be the first LEED house listed in that area.  I will post more info on it next week once I get some pictures.

If you have a green house that you want for me to talk about that is located in GA feel free to contact me. Contact

If you are from Atlanta or have visited Atlanta, you have seen the bumper stickers that state- “We belong in the zoo.”  Well how about across the street from it?  Close enough to see it, but far enough away from the smell.

A couple EcoBroker friends of mine are the agents for Grant Park Place, a new green community right across the street from the entrance to the zoo.  The developing team have worked on other green projects in ATL as well.  Soon they will have a whole new website talking about how you can live next to the zoo and be green as well.

Here is a quick blurb from their website:

We are proud to Introduce Grant Park Place.  Grant Park Place is a new live/work Green community in Grant Park just across the street from Zoo Atlanta.  The property is on Cherokee Avenue between Augusta and Grant Park Place.

Included in this mixed-use development are 5 Single Family Homes and 9 Attached Townhomes.  All homes and townhomes will be EarthCraft House Certified.  The third component will be retail with the potential for office space or residential units above.

To get an early bird deal contact:

Carson Matthews  *  678-595-9286  * carson.matthews@harrynorman.com

Carol Cahill  *  404-918-8438  * carol.cahill@harrynorman.com

www.CarsonAndCarol.com

The Hoots Group is a Platinum sponsor of the Ecobroker program and supports all of the local Ecobrokers who are trying to get out the green word.  We get asked to contribute information for their newsletters, websites, blogs, clients etc and are willing to do so since they are promoting green building and getting clients to think more sustainably.

We were able to assist one  Ecobroker that we work to help one of her clients that wanted to make Home Performance upgrades.  This team of green businesses working together is what is going to keep green strong in 2009.  I have not seem any green business complain about the economy.  They have been focused on the green.

Here is a short piece that I wrote for a local Ecobroker in her newsletter (Caroline King’s MARKET WATCH!)

Going Green in your home (PART I)
“Congratulations if you are one of the few who has a home built to some green standard. You are able to relax in a home that is more comfortable, energy efficient and that doesn’t make you sick. If you have a house that was not built to green standards such as Energy Star, EarthCraft House of LEED for Homes, all hope is not lost. There are still programs available to help you GO GREEN within your existing house. Most houses have room for improvement even if they are only a few years old. If you have a house that is not very energy efficient, has bad indoor air quality, is not comfortable, or is wasting water, there are easy things to fix when you are renovating your home.
Renovation programs:
EarthCraft House (our local green building standard) has a program that is adapted to existing homes. The program is called EarthCraft House Remodel. It takes the same green guidelines that new home builders must follow (that are in the program) and allows renovators to build green also. This is the best program when it comes to making green upgrades during a renovation. If you are just renovating a kitchen, bathroom, or doing a major house renovation by adding on or up, this program gives you guidelines to follow that are specific to your house.

If you are not planning to renovate there is another program called Home Performance with Energy Star that allows you to go green without having to add on or deconstruct your home. It starts out with an assessment from a qualified inspector. You will receive a prioritized checklist for solutions that are specific to your home and your immediate concerns. The contract work is typically noninvasive and can help your house become more balanced and operate more efficiently.

Here is a copy of her full newsletter.  She has some houses for sale in neighborhoods where we do a lot of work.  If you are interested in buying one of these, we can work with you to greenovate it!

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A friend of the Hoots Group (Jennifer Spivey) is selling a house for another associate of the Hoots Group. The story of the vision of the house and the land were just published in their local newspaper:

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A few years back a client of mine that we were doing some home performance work for told me that she was a green real estate agent, “the first in GA.”  I was intrigued.  She asked for us to come do an energy audit on her house and to give her pointers on how to make it greener.  Her name is Janet Gure and still practices green real estate.   She was also able to see a savings of over 20% on her energy bills as well through the improvements that she made to her house.  She was the first and many more agent in the area have gone through the same program to become more knowledgeable in green real estate.

Which leads is to the question- What is a EcoBroker?  It is a Real Estate agent that is trained in the ways of green building.  They go through a multiple day course that covers all of the basics of the green components in a house and teaches them how to market and sell green homes.

If you live in ATL, I believe that you are surrounded by some of the most talented EcoBrokers out there.    Harry Norman realtors dedicated time and resources to get over 100 of their agents trained in green Real Estate.  Jennifer Spivey, who was already green, is a local agent who takes time out to teach the EcoBroker class to her fellow brokers.  Burke Sisco, our “Eco Home Guy,” blogs about green building in Atlanta and promotes smart building.

These are just a few of the talented EcoBrokers that we get to work with in ATL.  We hosted an event at our office for one of their monthly meetings and the reception was very good.  They are positive even though home sales are down, because they have found a new niche in which they can be proud of.

To find an Ecobroker in your area visit www.ecobroker.com, or click on one resource links listed to the side of my blog for ones that we work with directly.

The Hoots Group is a proud Platinum level sponsor of the Ecobroker program because they are what the market needs right now.  An educated real estate agent is good for us all.  When they have green resources and tools at their disposal it is good for the environment, the consumer and the economy.  Ask you agent if they are green and if not, encourage them to go through this EcoBroker training.

I encourage you to pick from the existing brokers on the list since they have taken the initiate to go out get the training and promote green building in a market where no one is making a lot of money.  They are doing it for other reasons.  Support the early adopters for paving the way for the rest of us.

A client and friend of mine- Mike Fletcher has designed and is building a house that will achieve LEED certification when it is completed.  An Ecobroker friend of mine- Burke Sisco was chosen to market and sell it as a green house.  It is still for sale and this link will take you to some info sheets that will help you better understand the ins and out of green houses.

Check it out here….LEEDing Edge

A friend of The Hoots Group has asked for me to post this to help you understand better what is happening in the lending markets:

Hello friends, family and neighbors,

As you likely already know, I am the founding principal of myEnergyLoan (www.myenergyloan.com), which we believe to be the nation’s leading green loan program based on market share and overall environmental and social impact.  What you might not know, however, is that my team of mortgage professionals also originates tons of NON-GREEN loans, too.  In fact, traditional mortgages are our primary business, even though we are way out in front of the market with myEnergyLoan and green lending.  If you want to know about myEnergyLoan, open the attachments…but this note is mostly about NON-Green lending.

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With the stock market in peril, and the real estate market readjusting, the best investment is in your home’s performance.

What is Home Performance? The EPA created a program called Home Performance with Energy Star (HPwES. This program is for existing homes and guides contractors and consumers though the difficult process of diagnosing and fixing homes that are not performing very well. If you have high energy bills, bad indoor air quality, or uncomfortable rooms HPwES is for you. The beauty of the program is that it comes with a priority sheet which shows you which improvements will give you the faster return on investment (ROI). When the start market is not even giving you a positive ROI, energy saving home improvements are surest investment that you can make now. Most of the recommendation have a payback of less than 5 years and some as little as a year.