HGTV's "Green Home" Giveaway

In the spirit of environmental consciousness, HGTV has gone “green” with their newest dream home giveaway. The contest, which will run from March until May of 2008, will feature a house in Hilton Head, SC that was designed to provide people with “examples of affordable, accessible and eco-friendly approaches to living."

HGTV has registered the home with the LEED For Homes certification. LEED is a voluntary rating system created by the U.S. Green Building Council, which plans to launch a nationwide residential LEED certification program later this year. It will be a baseline program to set uniform standards for “green” homes.

The HGTV house will be open for public tours beginning in the spring. It will be decorated with eco-friendly products and materials by designer Linda Woodrum. HGTV will offer viewers a 360 degree online tour of the home beginning Monday, March 3, 2008. Viewers who are interested in earth friendly ideas for their homes can tune into HGTV's show Red, Hot & Green. it airs next on Jan. 1 at 7am.

NAHB To Launch Green Building Program

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) plans on launching a new program for it's members at at the 2008 International Builders’ Show in Orlando on February 14th. This program will "link dozens of successful state and local voluntary green building programs with a national online scoring tool for builders and verifiers. It also will provide a registry of green homes and green builders as well as extensive educational resources."

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NAMB surveyed it's members earlier this year and found that 90% were interested in a voluntary green building certification program. NAHB President Brian Catalde stated that more than 100,000 homes have already been built and certified by voluntary, builder-supported programs across the country.

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Read more about this program by clicking HERE. You can also find out more about the 2008 International Builder's Show by clicking HERE.

My Newest Listing

I am so proud of my newest listing. I know a lot about the neighborhood, Hidden Branches, because I used to own a house on the same street. The neighborhood homes are all on approximately 5 acre lots so everyone has plenty of privacy and plenty of space to do their own thing. I really hated to sell my house and move.

The owner of this house has done some amazing things. First of all, his house is very unique in style and floorplan. It's a European/Bavarian stucco house on 5 acres with a creek and a pasture. The house is a passive solar design to take advantage of the sun in the winter for heating but shade in the summer to keep it cool. Everything (from windows to fireplaces to HVAC systems) are all high efficiency and designed to keep your energy usage low.

If you would like a private showing of this house, please call me today to schedule an appointment. I can be reached at 770-862-8002.

"Green" Houses: Keeping the Environment in Mind

I sometimes get questions about houses and the way they relate to being environmentally "friendly". Nothing hit this home to me more than THIS ARTICLE that I read on the cover of the AJC yesterday.

What factors are involved in making a house environmentally friendly? And what things can a homeowner do to help reduce energy and water consumption? These are some things to think about and some goals to work towards. Not only will these ideas save money, energy and water, but they will also be SELLING POINTS when you need to sell your house:

• Go solar. The sun is free and if you can use solar panels to capture it's energy, you can use it to run or suppliment the energy that you use in your house. Solar technology is better and the materials are cheaper than they were just a few years ago. To learn more about solar energy, you can visit THIS SITE.
  
• WATER. USE IT WISELY is an excellent resource for learning about reducing our consumption. It has 100+ ways to reduce, a family water audit to help you see where you may be consuming too much water, and ideas for saving water outdoors.
• Landscaping is an important "green" factor in a house. Can you grow your own food? Organic gardening is an excellent way to suppliment your diet and a fun hobby as well. Planting fruit trees, vines and other food-bearing plants will add value and beauty to your home. To learn more, visit the Organic Landscape Alliance.
• Add a composter to reduce the amount of waste that you add to your landfills. Your plants and trees will thank you for the nutrients you will be providing them with, as well. To learn more about composting, CLICK HERE.
• If you are building a new home or rennovating your old one, put some thought into using either recycled materials, sustainable wood floors (bamboo instead of oak, for example) and natural products (wool carpet instead of synthetic). VISIT THIS SITE and you will see things that you have never heard or thought of.
• Water filtration. Using good filters is important for your health and the value of your home. A whole-house water filter that will begin filtering your water as it enters your house will be a big feature. No chlorine, harsh chemicals or impuritites will get into your bath, drinking or laundry water. These filtration systems can be a huge selling point as well as help keep you and your family healthy. CLICK HERE to go to a buying guide.
• Air filtration is a huge factor for your health as well as your energy bills. Using a good filtration system can keep you from visiting the doctors during allergy seasons, it will keep you from having to clean/dust as often, it will keep your AC unit from having to work so hard to keep your house cool and it will be a HUGE factor in the sale of your house. People love high quality filtration systems and you should keep this in mind when deciding on which one to purchase. At the minimum, you should have a very good air filter in your AC system that you change or clean often. To learn more about air filters, CLICK HERE.
• Lighting is huge when it comes to energy consumption. If your house has not been designed with natural lighting in mind, it is imperative that you add energy-efficient lightbulbs. Not only will this reduce your monthly power bill, but you will replace them less often, your house will be cooler in the summer months, you will be reducing air and water pollution and your lighting will be better. Visit THIS SITE for more information.
• Recycle. Making it easy to recycle is an important factor in whether that plastic bottle goes to the landfill or gets reused. Move your recycling containers to a place where they are as easy to get to as your garbage can. If you keep them out of sight, they will be out of mind. Many stores such as Lowe's or Home Depot sell organizing bins to aid you in your efforts to store/organize recycle materials. Installing these will not only encourage you to recycle, it will also be an attractive feature to many potential buyers. To see the variety of options, CLICK HERE.

If you are interested in buying a "green" house or knowing how to make your house more environmentally friendly, please call me today at 770.862.8002 and we'll get started right away!

Michael Bradford

Southern Prime Realty