The Greenest thing to do is keep your home! Free Foreclosure Prevention Workshop

As much as I would love to sell your home for you, the greenest thing for the planet, your family and your wallet is to keep your home no matter what. No moving, no boxes, no gas guzzling semi to haul your stuff, and no additional consumerism as you purchase new shelf liner.

This is from the California Board of Realtors:

FREE FORECLOSURE PREVENTION WORKSHOP
Friday, June 12th from 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. and from 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. at the Irvine Civic Center, 1 Civic Center Plaza, Irvine , CA 92606
PLEASE NOTE: This event is only for CLIENTS facing foreclosure. This FREE workshop will educate homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments on what to do to avoid foreclosure. Lenders and HUD-approved counseling agencies will be on-site to assist with loan workouts. Avoid foreclosure scams! You don’t have to pay for this workshop and these services! To RSVP, please email your name, address, phone number and lender information to: http://us.mc633.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=misidoro@fairhousingoc.org or call (714) 569-0823 x225.

Please pass this on to anyone you know who may have a fear of loosing their home to foreclosure. I'll be there, so I can get this education to help others.

Sometimes, it's not all about selling homes...

Now you can use your tax credit towards your down payment!
I just read this in the California Board of Realtor's Realtor onlline magazine:
Big Improvement to First-Time Buyer Tax Credit
- Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Tuesday said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment. Previously, most buyers wouldn't receive the funds until after they filed their tax return, and that deterred some people from using the credit. FHA’s approved lenders will be permitted to “monetize” the tax credit through short-term bridge loans. This will allow eligible home buyers to access the funds immediately at the closing table.
WHAT GREAT NEWS FOR THE HOMEBUYER WITHOUT THE FUNDS FOR THE DOWN PAYMENT! There are so many great buys in So Cal right now, and with this news, the door is open to so many more than before!!! What is your vision and how can we help you?

One person can make a difference!

As I was walking to my recycle bin, I felt proud to know that 3 months earlier I went to my Homeowner's Association meeting and asked them why we did not have a recycling program. They said they had never put in a recycling bin because they thought it cost more money. I brought them a print out from waste management company showing that the association actually gets paid to have a recycle bin.
If you belong to a neighborhood that has an HOA, go to the meetings and let them know little things that they can do to green up the complex. One HOA I know of saved $60,000 a year by replacing the regular outside light bulbs with CFC (compact fluorescent) bulbs. Or, they can change the sprinkler timers and systems to only water when needed, and save lots of money on the water bill.
You probably won't see a reduction in dues, but maybe you can play a small part in keeping the dues from going up every year.

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