'Tis the season! Here are some gifts that give back

CHARITABLE GIFTS: MAKE A (STYLISH) DIFFERENCE

For those who would rather pay it forward, proceeds from this gift guide go to deserving charities — and these presents happen to be pretty fabulous as well. Plus, shop more gifts for stylish women.

By Chrissy Rutherford

Read more: Charitable Christmas Gifts - Christmas Gifts That Give Back - Harper's BAZAAR 

The Real Cost of the Cup

Are you curious about the "real costs"  of single use items? Watch Inside Santa Barbara on Channel 18 where they will explore the upstream costs associated with producing a single use item and the downstream cost sassociated with throwing it away after it's used only one time.  Monday - 8PM   Tuesday - 5 PM  Wednesday - 6 PM  Saturday - 9 PM  Sunday - 10 PM

Santa Barbara South Coast Real Estate Market Report

Great article written by an agent in my office.

August 2012
By
Jackie Walters
Village Properties

Three words can aptly describe today’s South Coast real estate market: Demand outpaces supply! –This state of market fervor certainly applies more to entry-level price ranges than higher priced properties, however, across the whole market, buyers are not finding as many homes to choose from as they would like. Many qualified and motivated buyers who are entering the market are not finding a property to suit their needs in the current active listings, and are forced to rely upon the daily updates for that special new listing, hoping they will not have to endure a multiple-offer situation. Our treasured community is bordered by the Santa Ynez mountains to the North and the Pacific Ocean to the South. With no room to expand, South Coast homes will always be in limited supply. 

Local months of inventory numbers have dropped significantly over the past twelve months and literally plummeted since the real estate doldrums of 2008/2009. As you can see from Table 1, there is currently 3.1 months of inventory market wide. Months of inventory, sometimes referred to as “market velocity,” is a way to compare current pending sales with homes still for sale. It shows the amount of time it would take to sell all available properties, assuming no new listings, at the current pace of sales. The lower the number, the more active the market. Three months of inventory or less is suggestive of a strong sellers’ market; 3 to 6 months is a more balanced market; 6 to 9 months of inventory is indicative of a buyers’ market; 9 months of inventory or more is a soft or weak market that is highly favorable to buyers.

As a short retrospective, our local real estate market showed signs of weakening in 2005, which was initially limited to entry-level housing in Goleta and Carpinteria. Foreclosures began to steadily increase in those communities, and through 2006, many bank-owned properties languished unsold. The median sold price for houses and PUDs in the City of Santa Barbara maintained a peak of approximately $1.2 million from 2005 through 2007 following several years of strong sales and appreciating values. Over the same period, neighboring Montecito, an area with a much higher percentage of more expensive homes, continued an upward march in median and average sold prices, going up around 10% per year through the end of 2007. As prices of higher priced homes peaked; entry-level housing began to show signs of a slow recovery, although prices would continue to slide. 2008 through 2010 saw values of mid and upper priced properties sink considerably, by as much as 30-40%. The first quarter of 2010 saw a reemergence of high-end estate sales, a market that had been virtually at a standstill. Fast forward, entry-level housing has had strong sales for the last two years and the past 12 months has seen steady to good sales numbers in almost all other price ranges.

Looking at the charts, Table 1 shows 856 closed escrows for houses and PUDs (Planned Unit Development), year to date through August 2012 compared to 622 for the same period for 2011, an increase of over 37%. Looking at the median sales price for August, again for houses and PUDs, this stands at $827,500, up from the 2012 year to date number of $799,000. 2011 year to date closed median price, through August, was $816,000, showing evidence that prices do seem to be “bumping off the bottom.” Another look at months of inventory numbers shows very active markets in Goleta, with 1.4 months of inventory and Santa Barbara with 2.1 months of inventory. Montecito at 7.1 months of inventory for the month of August 2012, shows a steady market with 22 homes going into escrow and 22 homes closing escrow. Very encouraging numbers for a market which was previously stymied at more than 20 months of inventory.

New listings are down year to date. House and PUD new listings through the end of August 2012 are at 1,231, a 7.2% decrease from 1,327 for the same period one year ago. An astounding statistic is the dollar volume of sales, which at $193,774,009 for the month of August 2012, is up from $115,307,517 for the same month one year ago, a staggering 68% increase. This clearly demonstrates the strong uptick in sales in the mid and upper price ranges. Another interesting barometer of the buyer/seller teeter-totter; sellers are getting, on average, 95.37% of their asking price (last listed price before home entered escrow, not “original” asking price), as compared to 93.76% one year ago. This translates into an additional $16,100 for the seller of a $1,000,000 home. Not a huge amount, but certainly an improvement.

Condo sales have also strengthened further. For the month of August 2012, there was only 1.2 months of inventory for South Coast condos in all price ranges. Sixty-three condos entered escrow in August, leaving only 73 condos remaining unsold. The median price for condos is $383,000, slightly down from the August 2012 year to date number of $400,000. The median price for August 2011 year to date was $425,000, a 5.9% drop year over year.

Where are we with “distressed sales”? The impact of bank-owned and short sales is still a factor in keeping prices at what are now 2002 to 2003 level prices. However, these “bank” sales only add fuel to today’s active market and are being snapped up by eager buyers, as they are most often priced aggressively.

Back to the charts, Table 2 shows quite dramatically how the number of houses, PUDs and condos entering escrow continues an upward trend. Likewise, the number of closed escrows is up significantly as compared to the five year average of closed sales for every month going back to November 2011. Table 3 shows the highest percentage of sales for houses and PUDs occurring in the $500,000 to $800,000 price range; for condos, the most active range is $200,000 to $400,000.

Lastly, interest rates remain at the lowest rates for decades, with 5-year fixed conforming loans at 2-3%, conforming 30-year fixed rate loans under 4%, and even 30-year fixed rate jumbo loans under 5%. Low interest rates coupled with low home prices mean “low” mortgage payments, often less than renting a similar property. I heard it put this way recently, “if 80% of the reasons seem to be in place to buy, then buy ..” or put another way, “Do all the stop lights on the way to LA need to be green before you go to LA?..” 

This is an exciting time to invest in Santa Barbara South Coast residential real estate. Contact a Realtor to advise you and help you secure this wonderful long term investment.

Home sweet cargo home.

Super innovative and modern. Love the way some of these designers think. Shipping containers made into modern homes. 

Here's all the photos.

The Fall Village Insight is Here!

Click here to check it out!

What Home Buyers Want Today

We’ve all heard that it’s a buyer’s market, but what types of homes are most sought after? According to the National Association of Home Builders and other experts, today’s house hunters are looking for smaller homes (and smaller mortgages), energy efficiency, comfort and organization. Discover which features are topping home shoppers’ must-haves lists, along with predictions on what the housing market might look like in the years to come.  

Courtesy of: ImprovementCenter.com

Live art

I heart VivaTerra

Amazing ways trash can be used to build homes

Some of these examples are actually pretty stylish. Creative to say the least. Amazing ways trash can be used to build homes 

Green-certified homes sell for 9% more, study in California finds

By Kenneth R. Harney

July 22, 2012

WASHINGTON — It has been a controversial question in the home real estate market for years: Is there extra green when you buy green? Do houses with lots of energy-saving and sustainability features sell for more than houses without them? If so, by how much?


Some studies have shown that consumers' willingness to pay more for Energy Star and other green-rated homes tends to diminish during tough economic times. Others have found that green-certified houses sell for at least a modest premium over similar but less-efficient homes.

A new study involving an unusually large sample of homes sold in California between 2007 and early 2012 has documented that, holding all other variables constant, a green certification label on a house adds an average 9% to its selling value. Researchers also found something they dubbed the Prius effect: Buyers in areas where consumer sentiment in support of environmental conservation is relatively high — as measured by the percentage of hybrid auto registrations in local ZIP Codes — are more willing to pay premiums for green-certified houses than buyers in areas where hybrid registrations were lower.

The study found no significant correlations between local utility rates and consumers' willingness to pay premium prices for green-labeled homes. But it did find that in warmer parts of California, especially in the Central Valley compared with neighborhoods closer to the coast, buyers are willing to pay more for the capitalized cost savings on energy that come with a green-rated property.

The research was conducted by professors Matthew E. Kahn of UCLA and Nils Kok of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, who was a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley. Out of the 1.6-million-home-transaction sample, Kahn and Kok identified 4,321 dwellings that sold with Energy Star, LEED or GreenPoint Rated labels. They then ran statistical analyses to determine how much green labeling contributed to the selling price — eliminating all other factors contained in the real estate records, such as locational effects, school districts, crime rates, time period of sale, swimming pools and views.

Energy Star is a rating system jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and theEnvironmental Protection Agency that is widely used in new home construction. It rewards designs that sharply reduce operational costs in heating, cooling and water use, and improve indoor air quality.

The LEED certification was created by the private nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council and focuses on "sustainable building and development practices."

The GreenPoint Rated designation was created by a nonprofit group called Build It Green, is similar to LEED and can be used on newly constructed as well as existing homes.

The 9% average price premium from green-rated homes is roughly in line with studies conducted in Europe, where energy-efficiency labeling on houses is far more commonplace. Homes rated "A" under the European Union's system commanded a 10% average premium in one study, while dwellings with poor ratings sold for substantial discounts.

Labeling in the United States is a politically sensitive real estate issue. The National Assn. of Realtors has lobbied Congress and federal agencies to thwart adoption of any form of mandatory labeling of existing houses, arguing that an abrupt move to adopt such a system could have severely negative effects. A loss of value at resale because of labeling would be disastrous, the Realtors have argued, particularly coming out of a housing downturn in which owners across the country have lost trillions of dollars of equity since 2006.

The National Assn. of Home Builders, on the other hand, has enthusiastically embraced labeling as a selling advantage for newly constructed homes. New homes today are far more likely to be rated energy-efficient and environmentally friendly than those up for resale. But there can be an environmental downside to new homes as well: Many are in subdivisions on the periphery of metropolitan areas, and require higher fuel expenditures — and create more air pollution — because homeowners have longer commutes to work.

Kahn and Kok make no secret about where they stand on labeling: Disclosures about the green characteristics of homes make a lot of sense for buyers and sellers.

kenharney@earthlink.net

Distributed by Washington Post Writers Group

7 Steps for Avoiding a DIY Disaster

I love DIY projects. I usually feel that if you have the time, doing it yourself adds more character, charm and can help keep some money in your pocket. BUT doing IY can sometimes lead to headache. The worst is starting something and then discovering it is out of your league.  Here's a good article on instances when it may be wiser to call in the pros.

Some of us figure out our talents early in life; others take longer. But for the majority of us, those talents have nothing whatsoever to do with the construction sciences, so to speak. Nonetheless, tight budgets and hours of home improvement television watching, shelter magazine perusing and Pinterest board-fixating have stirred up the jones to do-it-yourself in many a homeowner.The widespread perceptions that contractors charge exorbitant amounts and are difficult to manage have only increased the sense that doing home improvement projects ourselves seem like the way to go.

The fact is, there are many home project that are fun and smart for a home owner to try their hand at. But DIY project veterans (myself included) can attest: DIY is by no means the no-brainer way to get every type of home project checked off your to-do list. In fact, a bad project can turn your experience of your home from an exciting project to a mortifying money-pit in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, whether your home improvement project goes swimmingly or scarily is well within your control from the very beginning - and hinges largely on making the right decision for a given project about whether to hire a contractor or go it on your own.

Here are seven questions to ask yourself as part of that decision-making process, in order to avoid a DIY disaster:

1.  What's the project?  Define the project, in writing, as completely as possible. This will equip you from the very start to outsource some or all of a project that is beyond your skill set, rather than running to a contractor in a panic in the middle of a project (when you’d certainly be charged a panic premium price). Depending on your aptitude level and the time you have, what seems at first glance to be a highly DIY-able room refresh with paint and new wood floors can snowball beyond the realm of reasonable DIY-dom if you add in a lighting or plumbing project.

To do this, sit with your project, your magazines or your Pinboards for a few days, weeks or even months, keeping a running list of the things you want included in your project as you live in your house and your desired post-project lifestyle changes come to mind.

2.  Does it require permits?  Generally speaking, electrical, plumbing, major renovations, erecting new walls and structures and adding square footage are all projects highly likely to require permits. Hint: if you use the word “gut” when describing what you’re planning to your friends and relatives, chances are good you’ll need a permit. If you’re not sure, a quick website visit or phone call to your City’s Building Services or Building Permits Division should clear things up.

Building code requirements can be exceedingly arcane, and the process of applying for and obtaining permits if you’re not well versed in them can be tedious, stressful and time-consuming. It can also be full of unsuspected pitfalls, like doing one home improvement that triggers a City requirement to add a slew of new outlets or a new sewer line.

Call the city and/or talk to a couple of licensed contractors as soon as you’ve fully defined your project - but before you’ve started any work - and get a good sense for whether it will require permits to stay in good graces with the City.

Cities are required to grant permits to homeowners, but the more complicated the permitting process gets for a given project, the more sensible it becomes to have a professional contractor or at least a professional permit expediter involved to avoid running afoul of the city, incurring penalties for unpermitted work and to maximize your
ability to get an increased resale value for your home as a result of the upgrades.

3.  Are there health and safety issues?  I’m a big believer that high decks (i.e., decks, balconies and similar structures that are tall enough that a collapse would cause injuries to those standing on it), additions and gas/electrical work are things home owners should rarely do on their own. Now, I’m not saying you can’t install track lights or change a light switch to a dimmer. Rather, I’m cautioning that that if you’re doing work in these categories beyond that level, calling a contractor can avoid a disastrous outcome.

4.  What are the relative hard costs? “ANYONE can paint a room,” I’ve heard time and time again. I’ve done it, so I know this to be true. But I also know that from the first time I got actual paint bids from my trusty neighborhood handyman, I have never painted a room since! In my humble opinion, the money I’ve spent was well worth the time and other resources I saved (see #5, below), and I’m certain they’ve done a better job than I could or would have. Just because you can do a project DIY, doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily the smart thing to do. It also doesn't mean that the hard, financial costs of doing it yourself are necessarily much cheaper than hiring a professional.

Don’t automatically assume that doing a job yourself is the cheap route to go, or that it will save you scads of cash. Until you’ve actually gotten 3 bids from reputable contractors or vendors, based on the full scope of the job, and have compared that with the cash you’d spend to DIY, you cannot know for certain which is the less expensive way to go. They might qualify for bulk discounts on materials that you can’t get, and you might have to rent a truck, equipment or tools that they already own. In any event, calling contractors out can be educational in terms of understanding every element of the job and troubleshooting things you might not otherwise have anticipated.  

So, unless you’re uber-handy and just love to do projects, or know for certain the project will be uber-cheap for you to do, I’d strongly urge you to get a few pros to come out and give you real bids for what it would cost (including supplies, labor, any subcontracting, permits - soup-to-nuts), and compare that to your own DIY cost estimate.  (Hint: I’d also encourage you to add a little buffer on the top of all the estimates - theirs and yours - for unforeseen costs that might arise.)

5.  What are the relative soft costs? Cash is just the beginning of the resources required to get a home improvement project done. They also take time - which some might see as opportunity costs. Ask yourself the question: what could I do with the time I’ll have to spend on this project?  

There are also the energetic and emotional resources involved.  Some people simply have sharp mechanical and logistical aptitudes, have the spare time and love to use it bettering their homes and have infinite patience for figuring out workarounds when the project doesn’t go as planned.  And then there are people like me! So, if you’re like me, you should definitely account for that when you’re deciding whether to do-it-yourself or whether to hire your home improvement projects out.

6.  Is it really DIY-able? Remember, the ‘Y’ in DIY stands for YOURself.  The decision whether to DIY or call a contractor in for a job is not based on whether your Dad, your neighbor down the street or Bob Vila made a similar project look simple. Rather, it needs to be made based on your own, personal:

• skill and experience level
• aptitude for whatever sort of work you’re completing
• patience level
• frustrate-ability
• spare time available for the job, etc.

If you're not excited about the prospect of doing the project, and you can afford to have someone else do it, don't let the wanna-be handypeople in your life talk you into biting off more than you can chew.

7. What could go wrong?  If your project is uber-simple, like replacing a toilet or painting a wall, there are a limited number of worst-case scenarios which might be annoying and inconvenient, but are far from the end of the world. The kitty-cat wallpaper might be harder to get off than you thought - that sort of thing. But as the project grows larger in scope or more complex, the more potentially disastrous your worst-case scenarios are - and the more costly calling someone in to fix a DIY-gone-wrong will be.

Generally speaking, I’m not one to advocate worst-case scenario thinking. But when it comes to home improvement projects, the many moving pieces and relative inexperience of the average home owner suggest that an abundance of caution is just plain old smart. If your project’s DIY worst-case scenarios conjure up visions of bodily harm to your family members, buckets catching the rain or virtually anything caving in think long and hard before you take it on yourself, versus calling in a pro. 

ALL:  I'd love to hear your DIY stories - from fantastic to disastrous.  What projects have you found yourself well able to do?  What projects did you take on that you ended up wishing you'd called a pro out to handle?

P.S. - You should follow Trulia and Tara on Facebook!    

Secret passageways

I used to babysit for a family that had a secret parlor tucked behind a bookshelf. It was so cool. Here's some other's...

A hidden room or secret passageway isn't any fun if it's not hidden well. MSN gathered images of entryways hidden in all sorts of homes. Take a look at these pictures and see whether you'd know there was more than meets the eye.

What's the big secret? 

emPowerSBC Homeowner BBQ & Workshop-Eastern Goleta Valley

Free Homeowner BBQ and Workshop in Eastern Goleta Valley!

Enjoy a BBQ with your fellow community members while learning how you can be more comfortable in your home AND save money with home energy improvements! Click here to RSVP.

Free Annual Pick-up!

Single family residents with trash service have a great resource in the FREE Annual Pick-up. Have you ever wondered what to do with that pile of palm fronds, the old mattress or that broken refrigerator? Your trash hauler will provide you with one FREE annual pick-up of any items that you can't fit into your trash or recycling containers. To schedule your annual pick-up call MarBorg at 963-1852 and tell them what you need them to haul away. If you live in an apartment, condo or represent a business CLICK HERE for more options. 

Results from the E-Waste Collection Event On April 27 and 28 2012: 

Environmental Services hosted a very successful E-Waste collection event, which resulted in the recycling of 116,677 lbs of E-Waste from Santa Barbara. The Environmental Services sponsored E-Waste collection events are FREE to residents and businesses in the City of Santa Barbara. Our next E-Waste collection event will be held in November 2012

Outdoor installation of fish constructed using discarded plastic bottles

Source: thisiscolossal.com via Neille on Pinterest

Building good: Bryan Cranston unveils passive house project in Ventura | MNN - Mother Nature Network

Building good: Bryan Cranston unveils passive house project in Ventura | MNN - Mother Nature Network

The NEW Village Insight is here!

~Check out what's happening in Santa Barbara
this season~
Page through the summer edition of the Village Insight by clicking here

some Santa Barbara real estate stats

Here are a quick summary stats for 2012 YTD vs. 2011 YTD.

This is for houses/PUDs, (no condos, mobiles). Sales are up! 

Sold HE/PU ’11 vs. ’12 Jan.-Apr.

• Number of Sold Properties
  ’11 249, ’12 340 UP +36.5%
• Median Sales Prices
  ’11 $810,000, ’12 $785,000 DOWN -3.1%
• Median Sales Prices w/o Hope Ranch/Montecito
  ’11 $706,000, ’12 $700,000 DOWN -0.8%
• Average Sold Price
  ’11 $1,275,347, ’12 $1,240,262 DOWN -2.8%
• Average Sold Price w/o Hope Ranch/Montecito
  ’11 $909,843, ’12 $821,341 DOWN -9.7%
• Sold Volume
  ’11 $317,561,610, ’12 $421,689,178 UP +32.8% 

Help Save the Gaviota Coast-Eco friendly surfboards project

Ryan Lovelace, a Santa Barbara surfboard shaper is planning to have an art show/benefit featuring work from local artists. All profits from the show will be donated to the Save Naples Coalition.

Ryan is not only working on reducing the toxins that are created while shaping surfboards but also taking action to help protect the one and only- Gaviota Coast. With your donation Ryan will build his first full line of eco friendly surfboards, then auction them off at the benefit. Remember - all profits go to the Naples Coalition. Click here for more information on Ryan, his fundraiser and how to dontate. PS. this fundraiser ends on May 25th, so act now!
 

Buying a Home Won't Get Much Cheaper

Buying a home may never get any cheaper than this. Several housing experts are predicting that this year will be the last chance for bargain hunters to cash in on the best deals of the weak housing market.

With home prices down 34% nationally since 2006 and mortgage rates at historic lows, homes have never been more affordable -- but it won't stay this way for much longer.

Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services, said he expects home prices to flatten out by the third quarter and start climbing by next year.

A number of factors will help bolster the housing market, he said, including a decline in the number of foreclosures and continued job growth. In addition, homebuyers will have better access to mortgages as they get their finances in order and improve their credit scores.

"This is a strong indicator that we will start seeing home price indexes, like the S&P/Case-Shiller, start to report home price increases this summer," he said.

Prospective homebuyers who've been sitting on the fence shouldn't worry if they aren't quite ready to make the leap. Analysts are predicting that the initial price gains will be modest, at least, in most markets.

By Les Christie

Read more at CNNMoney.

Refrigerator pick-up weekend Saturday, May 19 Sunday, May 20

The South County Energy Efficiency Partnership (SCEEP) is hosting a free refrigerator pick-up day on Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20. During that weekend, Southern California Edison will haul away your old refrigerator or freezer and give you a $35 check for each (limit two). Go to www.sce.com/pickup to register or call 1-800-234-9722

More Good News! Home prices close to bottoming, to rise in 2013

By Lucia Mutikani | Reuters – Thu, Apr 12, 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The relentless decline in home prices is nearing an end and prices should rise for the first time in seven years in 2013, but a possible new wave of foreclosures could threaten the recovery, according a Reuters poll of economists.

The median forecast of 24 economists polled by Reuters was for the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index to end the year unchanged. That was the same finding back in January for this house price gauge, which covers 20 cities.

"We are expecting a gradual improvement, but if we get a big wave of new foreclosures coming to the market, price declines could be even greater," said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York.

The survey forecast the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rising 2.0 percent next year, up from 1.5 percent in the January survey.

The housing market's collapse pushed the economy into its longest and deepest recession since the 1930s. Historically, housing has led the economy out of recession, but it has been the weakest link in the recovery that started in mid-2009.

While residential construction accounts for a mere 2.3 percent of gross domestic product, home prices have an oversized reach in the economy, influencing a wide range of consumption decisions by households.

House prices have so far fallen about 32 percent from their peak at the end of 2005, and an estimated 11 million Americans now owe more on their homes than they are worth.

A resulting tide of foreclosures has held back the housing market's recovery.

The survey predicted about 1.5 million foreclosed properties will come on to the market this year. While there is no comparison for this figure, most analysts believe the foreclosure wave has either peaked or is close to topping out.

Given that foreclosures and the accompanying fear of further price declines are the main obstacles to any housing market recovery, few analysts say that further purchases of mortgage backed securities by the Federal Reserve will help.

Fed officials meet on April 24 and 25 to debate whether further steps are needed to drive borrowing costs lower to spur stronger economic growth.

Mortgage rates are already near record lows and house affordability is the best in history.

"The problem with the housing market is not necessarily that mortgages are expensive," said Millan Mulraine, a senior macro Strategist at TD Securities in New York.

"It's more the expectation that prices may continue to fall and cause a lot of potential buyers to sit on the sidelines to wait for more attractive entry points. I don't think there is lot more mileage to be achieved from MBS purchases."

Further MBS purchases by the U.S. central bank, however, could help keep mortgage rates low as the economy's recovery gains momentum.

The survey forecast the 30-year mortgage rate averaging 4.00 percent in 2012, down from 4.15 percent in the January poll.

Although job growth slowed in March, the labor market is expected to continue strengthening this year.

That should help to lift home sales. Sales of previously owned homes are expected to register an annualized 4.70 million unit annual pace in both the second and third quarters of this year before topping at 4.80 million units in the fourth quarter.

That compares to a rate of 4.60 million units and 4.70 million units in the second and third quarter respectively in the January survey.

"This gradual healing is encouraging, but we must tread carefully as the housing market is still far from a robust recovery," Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; polling by Snehasish Das and Aakanksha Bhat; Editing by John Stonestreet)

Nothing wrong with some curb appeal

My friend Meg West is ultra talented, LEED accredited & a landscape architect with Arcadia Studio. She is one of the presenters of a FREE workshop here in Santa Barbara. The topic addresses simple steps to improving the curb appeal of your home.  Check out the flyer for more details. Hope you can make it!

~Click on images below for full sized view~

Santa Barbara E-Waste Event

5 Shockingly Selfish Reasons to Go Green At Home

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson | Broker in San Francisco, CA

On Earth Day, much press is given to all the altruistic reasons we should watch our consumption and carbon footprints.  From those baby polar bears stranded on icecaps to visions of our grandchildren's grandchildren living on the Atlantic Coast of Montana, the unselfish reasons for going green, so to speak, abound.

Reality check: greening up your home does not have to be a pious experience, or a lifestyle downgrade. You don't need to cut back on showers or go all Birkenstock, all the time. (Although, hey - I went to Berkeley. I've got nothing against the occasional sporting of the 'stocks.)
In fact, I've realized over the last few years that there are some rather fabulous, somewhat selfish perks to making green changes to your home and your lifestyle.  Here are a handful of them, in honor of Earth Day.

1. Save Money Now.  When it comes to the economics of most home improvements, homeowners spend hours and hours trying to project the return we'll recoup on the upfront costs of our granite countertops and built-in theater equipment years down the road. And for the most part, the numbers look grim. Except for the basic upgrades that are essential to moving an older home, real estate insiders generally advise homeowners to avoid even trying to find an investment return on home improvements, and to simply execute improvements they can both afford and enjoy in the time they plan to live in the home.

However, many so-called 'green' home improvements turn this entire concept on its head. Studies show that utility bills are one of the highest monthly expenses for most households, and that green home improvements can bring those bills down by as much as 20 or 30%.  I did the math - on the average American home's energy bill of almost $2,000/year, that would represent a savings of $400-$600 - potentially much more if you live in an area with temperature extremes!  

If you install a tankless water heater, insulate your pipes and walls or even do something as simple as weather-stripping your doors and windows, you will begin to save money on your utility bills immediately. And, depending on how indulgent you really want to be, that's cold hard cash you can redirect to the college savings fund, your own retirement accounts, or a tropical adventure.

2. Sell Faster.  Green homes simply sell faster than comparable homes without energy efficient features. Today's home buyers want to save money (that's why they're buying now!) and are willing to prioritize homes that allow them to do this by way of energy efficient systems and upgrades.
The data particularly bears this out when it comes to homes with solar energy systems. The US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy recently released reported that solar homes sell twice as fast as a home without solar panels – even in a down market. (As an aside, don't believe the old hype that going solar requires a big investment; in some states, homeowners can sign up for something called 'solar power service' and get solar savings without ever having to pay for panels.)

If your home isn't currently on the market for sale, you might scoff at the notion of a speedy sale as a selfish aim. But if and when the day comes that your personal, career, family and financial plans are hanging in limbo, making the ability to move forward with your life and your vision contingent upon the sale of your home, you'll understand what I mean!

3.  Boost Your Net Worth.  Not only are buyers willing to bestow a preference on 'green' or energy efficient homes, they are willing to pay more for them. And remember - the value of a home at any given time is based on what a buyer would pay for it.

The Appraisal Journal recently published data to this effect: for every $1 green home improvements decreased the property's annual energy bills, the home’s value increases by $10-$25. That might not seem impressive on such a small scale, but these numbers translate to an increase of $8,000 to $25,000 to the market value of a greened-up 3,000 square foot home.

Same goes for solar homes; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory compared solar homes to similar homes without solar panels, and found that a solar system can add around $17,000 to a home’s value.
If you are like the average homeowner, your home may be your largest asset - or your largest liability.  One of very few ways you can reliably bulk up the value of this asset - and your net worth in the process - is to implement any number of green home improvements.  If this is a big motivator for you to go green, talk with an experienced local agent about what green features local buyers most value.
One more thing: think very broadly about what it means to 'go green'. You could go solar or tankless, install insulation and weatherstripping, convert to low-flow toilets, and shower heads, switch out old aluminum windows for dual-paned - the options are limitless, and vary widely in cost.

4. Look better and live longer. There are green homes, and there are green households. I'm going to make the argument that if, in the process of greening your home, you take the next step and engage in the lifestyle activities that make for a green household, you can lose weight, feel better and possibly even avoid some of the chronic diseases that plague our society.

The green home element of this includes planting a kitchen garden and minimizing the water that is wasted just keeping your lawn green. Then you’ll have a back-yard (or front-yard, for that matter) harvest to reap and eat. Your household garden will attract birds, bees and, if your street is anything like mine, squirrels, deer or wild turkeys – fauna which all participate in the circle of life. (Hakuna matata.)
But maintaining a kitchen garden and implementing other green household practices like taking walks or public transporation may also increase you’re the quality of the air you personally breathe and help you shift the balance of your family’s diet from focusing on meat to the plant-based diet doctors now say minimizes the risk of heart disease and cancer, increasing lifespan. Plant-based, by the by, does not mean vegetarian or vegan; Wikipedia defines a plant-based diet as "an eating pattern dominated by fresh or minimally processed plant foods and decreased consumption of meat."

If digging and planting is more than you can take on, you can support those who do this for your community on a larger scale and still get the benefits of a plant-based diet by subscribing to a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program or walking to and shopping at your neighborhood farmer’s market on the weekend.  

5. Live more comfortably.  In the fifteen years since I moved from my scorching-hot hometown to the very mild climes of the Bay Area, I have developed an issue I call my 'thermoregulation challenge.' I’m fine when I go visit my parents or vacay in Arizona, but it’s tough to stay warm at home when dressed like a normal person.  (This explains my penchant for wearing sweaters right around the calendar.)
So, I recently undertook a campaign to stop up all the drafts in my house, and wouldn’t you know it: life got way more comfortable – and fast. Call me a weatherstripping evangelist, but I can think of very few home improvements this inexpensive that make this much of a difference in the comfort level of your life. Drafts, begone!

And this increase in comfort from green home improvements was not a one-off, in my experience. I’d already noticed a major reduction in noise from installing dual-paned windows a few years back. The next thing I have my eye on is swapping out the big old vat of water that I pay to keep warm 24 hours a day for a quake-proof, tankless water-heater.  Sure – the energy-efficiency sounds great. But so does unlimited hot water, no matter how long a shower I take or how many dog baths I give.  
I say there’s a reason why so many A-list celebs who are used to living in luxury live green lifestyles. The good deed piece of it makes for great PR, but make no mistake: the green life can also be the good life. 

All:  What green living practices or home improvements have you undertaken?  Did you any of them turn out to have selfish upsides?