Saving Green With Green Real Estate!

I’m sure by now you have heard that there’s a huge opportunity right now until Dec 31, 2009 to get substantial savings on a home for first-time home buyers (or if you have not owned a home in the past 3 years.) You can claim a credit worth $8,000 - or 10% of the home's value, whichever is less - on your 2009 taxes. And NEW homebuyers get a $10,000 tax credit, combine the two on a new home for an $18,000 tax credit! Where does the eco-green come in? Other than the $$ green, if you combine these two programs with an Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM,) you can lower your interest rate in many cases, and realize additional savings, or qualify for a larger home. An EEM is a mortgage that credits a home’s energy efficiency in the mortgage itself. This gives borrowers the opportunity to finance cost-effective, energy-saving measures as part of a single mortgage and stretch debt-to-income qualifying ratios on loans thereby allowing borrowers to qualify for a larger loan amount and a better, more energy-efficient home. For more information, go to: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=bldrs_lenders_raters.energy_efficient_mortgage
Or, better yet, ask me! I will send you all the info I have (or just tell you so you don’t have to sort through all that info)
So, baby, it’s prime time to be green and save green on homes in So Cal!

Earth Day Activities

Of course, as an EcoBroker, I have to say something about Earth Day. There are tons of activities all week long all over SoCal to celebrate Mother Earth. So, I am sure if you search "earth day and your city" you can find some fun/helpful/interesting things to do. In light of this, I thought I would share one of my profound experiences with the Earth to commemorate this great week! Forgive me for sharing some of my spiritual life on a "business" blog, but I feel that when you are talking about the Great Mother Earth, you cannot separate the physical from the spiritual aspects of what makes this planet so perfectly designed and run. I promise not to be preachy.

While walking through a rain forest in Costa Rica at the Manuel Antonio State Park, I was giving great praise and gratitude to God for creating this for us, and I heard: "This planet, my creation, is my ongoing prayer to humans." I had never thought of it that way. I pray all the time to God, but never thought of Father/Mother God praying back to us! That is what the planet is, God's prayer to us.

Happy Earth Day.

Tree of Life Nursery

I love the Tree of Life Nursery because they specialize in native plants, and have helpful seminars such as "Rip up your Lawn!" I appreciate that they are educating the public on how to have landscaping with California Native Plants, which use less water, are beautiful and allow your children to be in nature, as we did when we were children. Think about it, how many children these days get to go out back and play in native forests and not manicured imported landscaping. A trip to Tree of Life is a wonderful outing, out on the Ortega Hwy. The gift and book shop has an unbelievable selection of books on green topics. Check it out! http://www.californianativeplants.com/
Look at the seminar this Sat!!! How cool is that?
Habitat Gardening I: Butterflies! April 11, 20099:30 am - 11:00 am
Join Helen Wood this Saturday as she illustrates ideal gardening practices and as she showcases the best plants to use to garden for butterflies.

Are there Green Homes in Orange County?

"Remember, every time you buy, sell or lease any pre-owned home you are recycling©."
~ Darlene H. Grimes, Certified EcoBroker©

But, there's not a lot of Green Homes in the OC!
That's right. So we gotta lot of work to do, those of us who love the Southern California lifestyle and have a Global conscience. Let's do whatever we can to make our homes greener.

You can make your home more eco-friendly to sell your home at a higher price, or, buy a home with lower operating costs - and help save the planet! There are grants and rebates available for green conversions and green mortgages enable you to buy more home for your buck, as your utility bills will be lower. You can even finance green conversion costs into the purchase with an energy efficient green mortgage, and they sometimes have lower interest rates too. Certified EcoBroker's have the information you need for this.

• find a home • recycle your home • save money • save the planet with Green Real Estate

In this blog, I will keep you informed of news in Green Real Estate.


Thanks for reading! Darlene