A great Green concept for people who want new homes, and don't want to recycle a pre-built home!

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

This is on the home page of our website http://www.ocgreenrealty.com/ where I like to encourage people to purchase already built homes, and keep as much open space and urban sprawl to a minimum. My partner, Mary Jane Humphreys and our team help you to find a great pre-owned home, then help you with the resources to green it up so you can live healthier, save money, and help save the planet (that's green real estate in a nutshell.)

However, a colleague of mine, Michael Vairin - President & Founder of Builder's Development Group has a great program for those who want a great deal on a lot that will not contribute to urban sprawl. You can read about it on his blog entry from Jan 26th http://blog.buildersdevelopmentgrp.com/

They find smaller lot deals that have been overlooked. Some are infill type new home projects and some are lots in newer projects that did not get finished but since there are usually a small number of lots, it does not make sense for the public home builders in California, so individual buyers can get them and usually at a great price!

Urban Sprawl and Sustainability in So Cal

KPCC/NPR has just run a 3 part series on sustainability and Los Angeles. In part 1, about smart growth for LA, Abdres Duany, a Miami based urban planner is interviewed:

"Southern California is a laboratory for everything that can go wrong in urban design, says Andres Duany. Also: he likes that. "You can find probably California has pioneered suburban sprawl and every aspect of it," he says. "But at the same time California has all the best examples of things as well. There are wonderful downtowns. Wonderful urban agricultural areas. And I think California is probably a good example of as good as things can get and as bad as things can get."

Part 2 address issues of mega cities, those with over 10 million population (wow! - I don;t think the entire country of Austrailia has that many people) and brings up the point that "people can’t make sustainable homes unless they think about problems across an entire region. But he adds that it’s impossible to improve the environment on a mega-city scale without starting in just one house."

In part 3 of the series, Architect Michael Maltzan, a sustainable architect, is interviewed. There are some neat things happenning in LA including sustainable housing for the homeless. As an EcoBrokerTM, I often write about residential sustainable housing as it relates to your home and maybe to those in your neighborhood. This feature story brings out a good point about your home in relation to the overall urban design:

"Passive heating and cooling, reduced energy consumption, and filtered
indoor air are common in Maltzan's work. But he says that sustainability is
bigger and more complicated than ultra-efficient internal systems and
eco-friendly building materials. For example, architects and urban designers
will have to commit to the efficient use of public space - and the zealous
protection of privacy - to help cities thrive. 'As our lives become more
interconnected I think one of the complexities of the contemporary life is
increasingly that blurry line between public and private and what that
means.' In a city like Los Angeles, Maltzan says, where public plazas are in
short supply, the blurry line is often the street and the sidewalk
themselves."

So, as we head to urbanization throughout the country including Southern California, we do need to think about our little piece of heaven in it's surroundings.

Read more about it at: http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/12/30/sustainable-home-3/

Portal to Home Buying Heaven & Meeting Heaven

HUD has a great portal with links to all the info on the programs the Federal Housing Administration has for homebuyers. Her eyou can find the Making Home Affordable program description, as well as the energy efficient mortgages (green mortgages) and links to agencies that help you avoid forclosure that are approved by HUD and the FHA. You can even ask a question via e-mail if you don't see what you need.

http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/federal_housing_administration

On another note, rather than listing all the green events in So Cal, I urge you to go to http://www.meetup.com/. In Orange County, the group is called "Going Green in Orange County", but you can search within meetup for any topic you are interested in, and you will be directed to all the meetings taking place in your area for that topic. I just went to meetup, and searched "Green Home" and found 186 meetups within 25 miles of Dana Point! Never a dull moment!!!

Going Green in Orange County is organized by Evan Little, who is also a Certified EcoBroker® working with Surterre Properties. Speaking of Evan and the great work he is doing in OC to promote green living, he sent me an e-mail about this event I think is definately worth mentioning (one of 186!!):

A Breath of Fresh Air: Inside and Out

Enjoy an engaging evening in one of Orange County's newest, green luxury homes. Sample consciously prepared hors d'oeuvres & refreshments from some of the county's top chefs while you tour the home. Mingle with leading air quality and environmental toxicity experts while we collectively raise funds and awareness for the American Lung Association in California. Celebrity Guests, Organic Wines & Spirits, Consciously Prepared Hors d'Oeuvres, Guided "Green" Home Tours, Mingle with Air Quality Experts, Check out a New Tesla Roadster Electric Car, Learn steps to clean up your air...

Live Presentations by:
• Green Nest • American Lung Association CA • Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D. you have to rsvp, here's the link:

https://www.kintera.org/faf/reg_new/register.asp?ievent=306322&lis=1&kntae306322=78CCF312CEA14252B6A288593B3538EE&teamAction=none