Eco Friendly Real Estate Blog

GOING GREEN Series: A Vintage Retrofit 

On a quiet street in an historic neighborhood in Asheville, NC, where  huge old trees stand in stately glory on either side of the rode,  I found an amazing vintage home in need of TLC.

I showed it not long ago to a young couple who are planning to " do a bunch of retrofitting"  after they invest in an older home. Great attitude as the "GREEN-UP":  It's going to be a fascinating learning experience and challenge, " they tell me. 

GREEN RETROFIT 

We sat sown with our "GREENERS" -professional resources who understand the ins and outs of  retrofitting to get a clue as to their opinion about what they'd like to see done first.   Here's what they told us:

• Solar Panels
• Upgrade the windows
• NO VOC painting throughout 
• Edible landscape
• On-Demand Water Heaters

Summarizing: Green products can improve your quality of life while also "greening-up" the neighborhood in a special way.  Here is a Vintage Retrofit and it could be  the biggest and most elegant recycled item for which you have ever cared!

What's yours???

Resources: . I love Asheville's locally-produced Earthpaint® which is NO VOC for sprucing up both interior and exterior surfaces. (Check the link. You can order it shipped if need be.)

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(*)/'(*)    ..........      ............ green real estate Asheville: GOING GREEN: Mountain homes and land legacies, socially conscious investing, rolling into a sustainable  world. Create it today for tomorrow. Find eco-friendly LAND. Build a green home. GREEN Real Estate, Retrofits and Relocation: ECO HOMES AND LAND. Serving Asheville's

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Going Green Series- Before you Move......GREEN-up 

Before you Move,take a look at your reason to sell and think through the process before you do anything else. Good planning pays off. It makes sense to do the standard list of  things:

a) Release your personal attachment to your home (not always so easy to do)
b) Take your personality out of the picture (also not always so easy to do)
c) Get a jump on packing and de-clutter (for sure not  so easy to do)
d) Make all closets and cabinets ship-shape (another challenge)

But what about providing that special "oomph" to buyers
who more and more today are demanding ECO-FRIENDLY FEATURES
that offer attractive BENEFITS to buyers?

Before you Move, GREEN-up- Paint. Replace. Upgrade.

This eco-friendly plan will increase the value of the home and certainly makes it more attractive to today's buyers.

Step One: Spruce up your abode. Paint.Use NO VOC paints, remove and replace old carpets with nontoxic flooring, consider replacing all the light bulbs with LEDs. I love Asheville's locally-produced Earthpaint®which is NO VOC for sprucing up both interior and exterior surfaces. (Check the link. You can order it shipped if need be.)

Step Two: Replace old appliances with  energy efficient appliances.

Step Three: Updatewindows, insulate for energy efficiency, and go for daylighting. .

Step Four: Seek out a "green"  real estate professional with NAR's GREEN Designation or the EcoBroker or Eco Certified Real Estate Consultant Designation.

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(*)/'(*)    ..........      ............ the green real estate Asheville: GOING GREEN: Mountain homes and land legacies, socially conscious investing, rolling into a sustainable  world. Create it today for tomorrow. Find eco-friendly LAND. Build a green home. GREEN Real Estate, Retrofits and Relocation: ECO HOMES AND LAND. Serving Asheville's Eco-Friendly-Home, Relocation LAND Clients. The Eco-Steward Firm, ALL Eco-Certified® Real Estate Consultants!  http://landlegacies.blogspot.com/

Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved the green real estate Asheville Journal

the green real estate Asheville: GOING GREEN

By shifting to a sustainable and low-maintenance approach in landscape design, trading out plants that demand a lot of attention and substituting plants that seem to do well on their own, many of us around Asheville, NC have found more time to be "neighborly" . Many of us are way less exhausted on the weekend when we get together. The lawns are smaller, but the landscaping is mighty attractive with ground covers and shrubs, and mulch praising our efforts for sustainable landscape design, and some of this  even is edible. 

GREEN Living Tip Asheville: Low Maintenance Landscape Benefits  

1. REDUCED money, water, chemicals and labor.
2. Wonderful wildlife habitat and viewing.
3. Increased probability of a strong foundation that invites other wild plants to come in and grow.
4. Increased time to live with and learn about each other and the plants used - adaptable, drought-tolerant, insect- and disease-resistant -

Less effort- =)
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__~o
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(*)/'(*)    ..........      ............ the green real estate Asheville: GOING GREEN: Mountain homes and land legacies, socially conscious investing, rolling into a sustainable  world. Create it today for tomorrow. Find eco-friendly LAND. Build a green home. GREEN Real Estate, Retrofits and Relocation: ECO HOMES AND LAND. Serving Asheville's Eco-Friendly-Home, Relocation LAND Clients. The Eco-Steward Firm, ALL Eco-Certified® Real Estate Consultants!  http://landlegacies.blogspot.com/

Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved the green real estate Asheville Journal

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the green real estate Asheville Journal-greenhomes and land legacies : I happened on succinct information from Blueprint for America, an initiative of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) today.

Blueprint for America encourages communities to think about the possibilities for and within the green and livable, eco-friendly scene.. "Intended to inspire communities to come together around architecture, Blueprint provides the opportunity for individuals to collaborate with AIA architects and share their ideas for creating livable communities." 

Here are just a few of the community service initiatives: Bus Stop Extreme Makeover (Oklahoma City/Wichita) Statewide Disaster Preparedness Program (Tennessee) Brooklyn Expressway Corridor (New York) 3-D Planning Models (Colorado Springs/Indianapolis) Affordable Housing Modules (New York State/Southeast Wisconsin)

 As evidenced in the above projects, GREEN and livable means  

1.   design that happens on a human scale
2.   choices
3.   multiple transportation options
4.   encouragement of mixed-use development
5.   preservation of urban centers
6.   creation of  vibrant public spaces
7.   creation of neighborhoods with identity
8.  protection of  environmental resources
9.   conservation of  landscapes
10.  and the notion that Good Design Matters 

That sounds like a "green-print" to me...how about you?

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__~o
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(*)/'(*)    ..........      ............ the green real estate Asheville: GOING GREEN: Mountain homes and land legacies, socially conscious investing, rolling into a sustainable  world. Create it today for tomorrow. Find eco-friendly LAND. Build a green home. GREEN Real Estate, Retrofits and Relocation: ECO HOMES AND LAND. Serving Asheville's Eco-Friendly-Home, Relocation LAND Clients. The Eco-Steward Firm, ALL Eco-Certified® Real Estate Consultants!  http://landlegacies.blogspot.com/

Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved the green real estate Asheville Journal

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green real estate asheville- Asheville Green Built Homes 2009 Report  
Real Estate Market 2009
It's STEADY GREEN December, 2009

Sales of Asheville GREEN homes is a hot topic. If you're like me, an avid real estate market watcher, statistics in GREEN land and home sales grab my attention, especially nowadays, and especially when it comes to GOING GREEN and observing the trends in the eco-friendly market.

You may have heard forecasts that cloudy days in much of the market will prevail.

However, sunny days (see photo) are still to be had. And, as I reviewed the happenings in the GREEN HOME SALES real estate market here in the Greater Asheville area, I recognized bright trends and forecasts.

Yes,  we have felt the effects of credit tightening and the sub-prime mortgage crisis, but popularity of green built homeshas held steady, and here in Asheville, it seems to me that this-helps drive our market in a positive way.  Take for example:

• Asheville is #1 Best Place to Live/Relocate...according to on RELOCATE-AMERICA.com

and you will see how vibrant our market is. This is encouraging news for buyers, sellers and investors.

THE GREEN HOMES AND LAND Asheville REAL ESTATE SALES TRENDS 2007-2009

I've compiled data below for "GREEN-Built" Homes in the Greater Asheville area and compared this 2007-2008 . You can see we are holding steady in the eco-friendly Real Estate Market -the GREEN BUILTMarket Niche in Buncombe County & The Greater Asheville, North Carolina Area

GREEN-Built Homes and/or Energy Star
Closed in 2007: 30                                                                                
Closed in 2008: 56
Closed in 2009: 45

I would like to know how your eco-friendly market looks. Please comment below.

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(*)/'(*)    ..........      ............ GOING GREEN: socially conscious investing keeps on rolling into a sustainable  world you can create today and tomorrow with eco-friendly land where you can build a green house and then help the environment by recycling. GREEN Real Estateand Relocation: OBJECTIVE FIDUCIARY COUNSEL  ECO HOMES AND LAND. Serving Asheville's Eco-Friendly-Home, Relocation LAND Clients.. .   The Eco-Steward Firm, ALL Eco-Certified® Real Estate Consultants!  Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved

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Looking again at the photo I took this morning of an Asheville  dawn (see below) reminded me how quickly the scene changed. You had to be ready with your camera to capture the vermillions and pinks and hints of blue. That got me philosophizing about change in general: CHANGE that is also Opportunity-

CHANGE is right here today- in our routines- in where we live-and possibly even in the way we live.

Change is one life-process with which we must deal and which we all share. Change -by the very fact that it is universally understood, is a common thread we share in the tapestry of sustainable living. It's just a fact of being in the world. And because of all this, it actually brings with it a strong sense of belonging.

A few thoughts on the SEASONS OF CHANGE in the practice of real estate

Whether that change involves moving from a family farm into the city, or relocating from another state to the Appalachians and the Greater Asheville area, our clients voluntarily are initiating four all-important "seasons"- the sweet spring of optimism, the summer of informed skepticism, the brilliant autumn of realistic expectations, and finally the clear winter of wise choices.
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janeAnne Narrin, M.A., C.S.W., poet, NAR GREEN®, ECO Certified, e-PRO, nature-lover is the founder of the ECO -Steward Real Estate Firm in Asheville, North Carolina. She loves a spirit of stewardship, and she is

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(*)/'(*)    ..........      ............ on the GO 4 Sustainability:  "GREEN" OPPORTUNITY. Keep on rolling into the sustainable  world you can create today and tomorrow!. ....... Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved

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