eMail sign-up
Categories
- Gen Y Green (4)
- Green Financing/Valuation (55)
- Green Real Estate Trends (49)
- GreenMLS 2.0 (39)
- Living in Elmhurst (81)
- Market Transformation (36)
- Market Transformation Examples (32)
- More/About Me (76)
- Resources for Not-YET-Green Homes (112)
- RETS Green (3)
- Total Cost of Ownership/Affordability (38)
Tags
Category Archives: Total Cost of Ownership/Affordability
More Green Sprouts from Gen Y
It’s the Millennials - Gen Y (born 1982-2002)- that are going to be key to turning the real estate market around. And there’s more and more data coming out about their home buying preferences. They may not say it directly – but all … Continue reading
Oh No! Americans Go All “SnackWells” with Housing!
Remember SnackWells? Americans went crazy when these tasty low-fat products first came out. But along came the SnackWell effect, which Wikipedia defines as: A phenomenon that states that dieters will eat more low-calorie cookies, such as SnackWells, than they otherwise would for normal cookies. And … Continue reading
MPG No Silver Bullet for Cars
How often do I hear folks envision a “MPG sticker for homes” to drive demand in energy efficiency? But my friend and colleague Mike Rogers points out what’s been plaguing me – that Americans just love their pickup trucks, despite the very … Continue reading
New York Times – Mortgages: Factoring in Commuting Costs
My client, Center for Neighborhood Technology has been doing ground-breaking work on how location efficiency is a smart thing for home buyers to pay attention to. Their research, Drive til You Qualify, and the Abogo commuting cost tool are essential … Continue reading
Buyer Shift Underway: From Location, Location, Location to ACCESS
For some time I’ve been predicting a new mentality in home ownership. As Gen Y begins to buy their first homes and a generation of foreclosed former owners start to come out of renting, you will see greater focus on … Continue reading
Missed Opportunity? Energy Audits @ Home Purchase
It may be the best-kept secret in home real estate: For a couple of hundred dollars, a prospective buyer can add a formal energy audit to the standard inspection. Ken Harney’s article in the Washington Post on Friday addressed the … Continue reading
Are Realtors doing enough for “Future Generations?”
This time two weeks ago I was in Anaheim, California, at the National Association of Realtors’ Annual Conference, themed “Seize the Day“. I am still struck by the bigness of it all. Not just the sheer numbers (over 20,000 of … Continue reading
NJ Realtors & Rutgers University Pinpoint Top Green Upgrades
In July, the New Jersey Association of Realtors and Rutgers Center for Green Building released a study evaluating various green upgrades to homes in New Jersey. The study pinpointed four recommended green upgrades. These upgrades have a payback period where energy … Continue reading
Can MLS Serve the Public Good?
Chicago’s multiple listing service and its CEO are showing leadership for what they call ”public service apps.” These tools were recently covered by retechnology in their Follow the Leader profile of CEO Russ Bergeron: Some people may say that the MLS’s … Continue reading
Chicago’s own Housing+Transportation Index to Support HUD Project
Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology has pioneered working on matching housing info and transportation costs for several years. Their breakthrough projects include the Housing + Transportation Index and its consumer-friendly version called Abogo (R) (a play on the words “abode” + “go”). Unlike … Continue reading