Green Homes Pittsburgh

1:00 – 3:30 PM United Methodist Church, 905 Mifflin Ave, at Whitney Ave. (Presentations from 1:30-2:30)

Come join the Greater Park Place Neighborhood Association for our !THIRD! annual Spring workshop with the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh! I’m sure you’ve heard about all those tax credits and rebates out there for improving the energy efficiency of your home–well, we’ve rounded up a nice group of folks who can tell you all about them and help you decide what you should do and what will give you the most bang for your buck. The blurb:

Eastern area neighborhoods are once again partnering with the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh to put on another free workshop for homeowners interested in improving the value of their homes. This year’s workshop will look at making homes more energy efficient. There will be presentations and then open time for participants to talk with the presenters. In addition, volunteer architects from the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh will offer a limited number of individual free “mini-consultations” on selecting the proper windows and doors for your home. So, bring pictures of the outside of your home to show them.

For more information.

Just posted on ActiveRain: New Energy Efficient Mortgages Coming Soon from Fannie Mae and ENERGY STAR http://activerain.com/t/1479677

If you are looking for a great value on a home in the city, consider a URA-sponsored house. If you are not familiar with the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority), it is the City of Pittsburgh’s economic development agency. Its goals are to create jobs, increase the city’s tax base, and improve the vitality of businesses, neighborhoods, and the City’s livability as a whole.

One of their more popular programs is the Neighborhood Housing Program, which sponsors the construction or rehabilitation of single family homes and then supplies interest-free, deferred, second mortgage financing to qualified buyers. The homes are built in neighborhoods all around the city including the Northside, East Liberty, Lawrenceville and others. Many of these homes also offer 3-year or 10-year tax abatements from the city. For buyers these incentives mean BIG savings on a very nice new home.

For example, I am selling three URA-sponsored homes in Fineview called the Nunnery Hill Overlook Homes. The homes start at $180,000. These brand new, ENERGY STAR, 3 bed, 1.5 bath, single garage homes are within walking distance of Downtown Pittsburgh and the North Shore attractions. The homes are located in a quiet hilltop neighborhood with amazing views of the city. It would be almost impossible to buy a brand new home of this size and quality anywhere in the area for the same price, but the real value is when you start to add up what you will save from the incentives.

The second mortgage from the URA is based on your income. For the Nunnery Hill Overlook Homes, if you are a single person and make less than $43,750 you may qualify for a $35,000 second mortgage from the URA. If you make between $43,750 and $71,900, you may qualify for a $25,000 second mortgage.(Qualification is based on verified income and an application process through the URA. Complete information and the application are available on the URA website.)

On these second mortgages you make no payments, pay no interest and will not have to pay back the second mortgage amount until you sell the property. If you live in the home at least 5 years, repayment begins after you have paid off your first mortgage, have recovered your downpayment and the money spent on payments while living in the home. Then, any additional proceeds are divided 75% to the URA payback and 25% in your pocket until the outstanding balance on the second mortgage is paid back, or there are no proceeds left, at which point the remaining balance is forgiven.

The Fineview homes have a 10-year tax abatement on city and school taxes and a 3-year tax abatement on county taxes. In the first year, the tax on the homes is estimated at only $227 a year. That compares to the $5,294 that would be due on a comparable home without the tax abatement. Since taxes are collected as a portion of your mortgage payment, the savings is equal to a reduction of $422 a month over a similar home without the abatement.

When you factor in a $35,000 second mortgage and the 10-year tax abatement on a 30 year mortgage at 5.5% interest with a 10% downpayment, you end up with a monthly mortgage payment of about $858. That’s almost the same as buying a home priced under $100,000 without these incentives – and there is no way you’ll get a comparable brand new home for under $100,000.

Another benefit these homes offer is their energy efficiency. The Nunnery Hill Overlook Homes are ENERGY STAR qualified homes. They are built to have lower utility bills by incorporating high-efficiency heating, cooling, tankless water heaters and state-of-the art insulation techniques. The total utility bills are estimated to be only $151/month, on average. An average comparable home would run you $195/month or more. That’s a savings of $528 a year, good news for your wallet and the environment.

So, let’s see how much money you can save in just 5 years by buying one of the Nunnery Hill Overlook Homes in Fineview vs. another home, without the incentives, elsewhere in the city:*

Of course, the numbers above are what you save while living in the home. It is also helpful to look at what would happen should you decide to sell your home. Let’s say you sell the home, after 5 years, for the exact same price of $180,000 that you bought it for.

You still need to pay back the URA second mortgage at this point, but not before you get your downpayment and equity from payments back. There is no such guarantee on a comparable home, so even if the real estate market is seeing little or no growth, you still can profit. With the comparable home, your downpayment and equity are pretty much gone.

When you add it up, you saved $39,540 on your payments and got back $29,311 at the time of sale for a grand total of $68,851 – and lived in a very nice home for 5 years.

Add on the $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers under contract by April 2010 (or $6,500 for those that owned for at least 3 of the last 5 years) and the total savings climbs to $76,851, even without considering the other financial benefits to owning a home.

Want to find out more about how the Nunnery Hill Overlook Homes can be a great place to call home and a terrific investment? Contact Christa Ross, RE/MAX Select Realty at (724) 933-6300 x214 or direct at (724) 779-1437. Email me at christa@greenhomespgh.com or visit www.fineviewhomes.com.

THE DISCLAIMER: The details presented in this story are based on the Nunnery Hill Overlook Homes in Fineview, represented by Christa Ross, RE/MAX Select Realty. All figures presented are estimates. Details on other URA-sponsored homes may vary; speak to your real estate agent for exact details on any home you may be considering.

There is an excellent story in the City Paper about the overgrowth and new “smart growth” development going on in Cranberry Township that is worth a read.

REPLANTING CRANBERRY, PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER

Most of us from the Pittsburgh know that Cranberry may be the poster child for suburban sprawl, but you have to at least give the area credit for trying to get that problem under control by developing new housing options that have less impact on the environment. As someone who grew up in North Pittsburgh I remember the area as rural countryside. Even though I spend a fair amount of time at RE/MAX Select’s home office in Cranberry I am still shocked by the amount of development that has taken place in the last 20 years.

I particularly appreciate Ken’s mention of mountain biking in Cranberry. For those that have been around the Pittsburgh MTB you may remember the Knob Hill Month of Mud course. I think the park is still there, but most of the trails are now underneath a corporate park. Same with the Brother’s Grimm course that is now underneath the Mall at Robinson. Is sort of sad when I think of how much fun we had on trails that are now gone.

Park Place in Cranberry is one of the newest developments in Cranberry with plans for a mixed use residential and retail community, complete with green space. This neighborhood will offer traditional homes starting below $200K with very up to the minute energy efficient features and floor plans.

Find out more about buying and living smart in Cranberry Township, PA. Call Christa Ross from RE/MAX Select Realty, your certified green agent and RE/MAX green specialist at 724-933-6300 x214 or visit my website at www.greenhomespgh.com.

Here is a great video that really speaks to the economic benefits of purchasing a green home. Enjoy.

Find an energy efficient home in Pittsburgh! Call Christa Ross from RE/MAX Select Realty, at 724-933-6300 x214 (office) or 724-779-1437 (direct) or visit my website at www.greenhomespgh.com.

I was recently introduced to a theory called Jevons paradox. It states that as efficiency increases, the rate of consumption increases as well. We tend to think that our efforts to save money and resources by purchasing more efficient appliances or retrofitting our homes to lower our utility bills will conserve energy but the Jevons paradox says that what is more likely to happen is that we will use more energy since our costs have gone down. When William Stanley Jevons first introduced the paradox back in 1865, he was talking about how coal consumption increased when a more efficient steam engine was introduced to the marketplace.

Examples of this effect are pretty commonplace if you think about it, most of us will agree that new technology like email and smartphones have not reduced our workload, they have just allowed us to do more work.

Of course now we sit at a time when it is vitally important to use less. We need to become more efficient and reduce usage at the same time. Here are a few examples…

Install CFLs in your home AND turn off the light when you leave the room

Buy an energy efficient car AND plan your day to avoid extra trips or walk instead

Make energy retrofits to your home AND turn down the thermostat a few degrees

Buy and ENERGY STAR computer monitor AND shut off the power when you are done working.

When you think about it there are many ways to practice both efficiency AND conservation. Give it a try and help prove Mr. Jevons wrong.

Join me tonight at 1611 Meadville Street in Fineview for an amazing view of the city and a look at these great ENERGY STAR homes!

Fineview City View from the Overlook

Open from 5 to 7 and then you can head down to the Roberto Clemente bridge for the Light Up Night Bridge Party and fireworks at 8:30pm.

For more information go to
www.fineviewhomes.com

or Contact Christa Ross, RE/MAX Select Realty, 724-933-6300 x214 or direct at 724-309-1758.

Join me from 1-3pm on Sunday, November 1st at E lane @ Carnegie to take a look at these unique, green, ENERGY STAR homes. E lane @ Carnegie incorporates today’s most advanced building techniques and technologies. The result is a home that costs only $319 a year to heat (est). Eco-friendly materials like bamboo and cork flooring, spa-like bathrooms, open floorplan, native landscaping and single floor living are just a few highlights.

E lane @ Carnegie, Green Home For Sale

Visit the future of sustainable living.

826 Washington Avenue, Carnegie, PA 15106

2 Bedroom
2 Bathroom
2 Car Garage
No Maintenance Living
Healthy Green Home
Single Floor Living
Starting at $194,900

For more information visit www.elane.biz

Christa Ross, REALTOR®
Ecosociate™ and RE/MAX Green Specialist

RE/MAX Select Realty
1667 Route 228, Cranberry Twp, PA
724-933-6300 x214 office
724-779-1437 direct

Interested, you should be, because this is one of the first homes in the Pittsburgh, PA area that is green, energy-efficient, affordable and pretty darn stylish as well. The property is called E lane @ Carnegie and it sits right off Washington Avenue in Carnegie, PA.

E lane @ Carnegie

Because of its orientation to the road it can be easy to miss, but swing up the driveway and you will see an amazing modern prairie-style home that incorporates creative ideas, sustainable materials and elegant, simple living that is good for your pocketbook, health and the environment.

The two homes at E lane (there are plans for nine total) are ENERGY STAR® qualified homes, meaning they have been tested by an independent energy auditor who has assigned a HERS Index to the home. It takes into account things like insulation, air sealing, heating, cooling and other energy usage aspects of a home. In order for a home to be called an ENERGY STAR home if must beat an 85 on the HERS Index, which relates to a saving of at least 15% more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code, and include additional energy-saving features that typically make them 20–30% more efficient than standard homes.

Part of any Energy Rating is the report that not only shows the HERS Index score, but also specific details of the construction methods, mechanical systems, lighting, heating, cooling and appliances. A Certified Energy Auditor will test the home with high-tech tools like a blower door and duct blaster. These tools can tell how and where hot and cool air leaks in and out of a home. All this information, and existing utility bills (if any), are fed into a computer program that returns estimates of energy costs and how they can be affected by changes to a home. It also spits out the HERS Index.

Using this report it is possible to compare how one home stacks up against another. I decided to take a look at how E lane @ Carnegie would compare to a typical, older Pittsburgh home. By working with a local Energy Auditor, I was able to secure a rating on a comparable Pittsburgh home.

E lane @ Carnegie is a 1,100 square feet, single floor, 2 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom, and 2 Car Garage Home. It is built using SIP construction; foam air sealed and sits on an insulated crawl space. It is heated with a high-efficiency electric heat pump. Matter of fact, the home is all electric and qualifies for a reduced rate with Duquesne Light. E lane @ Carnegie has a HERS Index of 69.

The comparable home is a typical ranch you see in many local neighborhoods. It is 1,085 sq feet, single floor, 2 Bedroom, 1.5 Bathroom, and 1 Car Garage. It’s an older, brick home that sits on a full basement with the garage integrated. It is heated with a gas, forced air furnace that was new enough that replacement is not recommended. It achieved a HERS Index of 159.

So how did they stack up? Take a look:

E lane is the obvious winner with total energy costs of only $1,141 a year. If you look at just heating, you will see that at $319 a year, your average bill would only be $26.58 a month! The comparable homeowner will spend $4,309 a year on their energy bills, the majority to cover the $2,856 heating bill. Based on the Energy Reports, you could expect to save almost $264 a month on your utilities if you were to live here, rather than buying an older home somewhere else. It’s even more amazing when you think about how that plays out over time. In one year, you’ll save $3,168. In 10 years, you’ll save $31,680, just by making a smart home buying decision.

The story doesn’t end there, because all that energy you don’t use adds up to savings for the environment too. According to the EPA’s ENERGY STAR program an ENERGY STAR home eliminates the emissions from 0.5 vehicles, saves 3,000 lbs of coal, is equal to planting almost an acres of trees and saves the environment 5,800 pounds of CO2 per year. Those are some pretty big numbers.

Of course, there are many other benefits to buying one of these green, energy-efficient homes like comfort, a great walk-able neighborhood, creative, no-maintenance landscaping, an ADA-friendly floor plan and a layout for modern living.

You can find out more going to www.elane.biz or contact me.

Want to see E lane @ Carnegie for yourself? Call Christa Ross from RE/MAX Select Realty, your certified green agent and RE/MAX green specialist at 724-309-1758 or visit my website at