What? You are still stuck trying to tie home buyers with home sellers, or land owners to land buyers? Shame, shame! You are missing out on one of the biggest booming real estate investments in this century, possibly in our lifetimes!

Green Real Estate Investments! That’s where the next generations of people are going to go! What exactly do I mean?

We all know how the housing market works. We all know how traditional Real Estate buying and selling works. But, what if whole communities, like a sub-division of sorts were sold all at once, Green Communities? How would you fare as a Real Estate Agent? Say, if you could show a Land Owner a way that he or she could make a permanent monthly income from the lease of their land and you could show a way that home Owner’s could own their own home in less than ten years–what do you think the potential would be?

There’s a growing trend out there–one that involves renewable energy. Being self sufficient, being independent, being financially free.

Remember the way a house was sold fifty years ago? Well, probably not, heck I don’t even remember it, but I do remember the tailing sales pitch that continued on in the 70′s, 80′s, and even 90′s before the big housing boom and bust. Remember it went something like this, “Buy your home, because renting is a waste of money!”, “Buy your home, it’s the quickest way to financial freedom, owning your own home gives you freedom!” Slogans along those lines, remember? Well, the reality of these slogans coming true for the average Home Owner was slim to zero. First of all MOST first time Home Owner’s were talked into 30 year loans, first mistake they made and the Real Estate Agencies made. The Bank’s fared great with this concept for many years (approximately 30+ years), well they fared well until the housing bust, massive foreclosures occurred. This should be a WAKE UP CALL to everyone in the housing, real estate and banking industry. The BIG QUESTION everyone of these people should be asking themselves is “Why?”. Why did this happen? If WE can answer that question then we can avoid the same mistakes in years to come right?

That’s exactly what many Home Owner’s asked themselves as they filed bankruptcy and went into foreclosure. They asked, “WHY?”.

You know it use to be that when someone went into foreclosure it was because they had fallen onto hard times, lost the bread winner of the family, or were just plain lazy. It was not very socially acceptable to lose a house. In-fact, it was down-right embarrassing!

But, nowadays–people feel sorry and try to help those that are experiencing such an awful thing–things are changing in our society. People are beginning to look for a more solid way of owning a home, being able to raise their families safely, in a healthy environment, where they can be a part of raising their children instead of a Day Care center or babysitter. People want more room to breath and be themselves, they are getting sick of the rat race type of living. Get up, go to work, go home, live for a few hours, go to bed, get up, go to work, and back around to the same old thing, over and over, and over again! At the end of the tread-mill what do they end up with? Paying taxes, insurance and really NOT owning anything because they still have a mortgage on their home, their vehicle’s are getting older and they have to run faster to try and keep up with the depreciation of everything they own. Lessons of our not to distant past have been learned by some, and should be learned by EVERYONE!

The past way of developing Real Estate has slipped, and is NOT as solid as it use to be! We should listen to our past to avoid the same mistakes in our future.

Now, for the first time in history, Real Estate is making a full circle. What I mean by that statement is Real Estate Investing is going back to the way it use to be when George Washington was alive, it wasn’t simply an investment, it was a means of living and raising a family. Look all around you, what do you see? Doesn’t matter where you live at you will find land owned by someone that is just sitting there–collecting dust so to speak. They are doing nothing with it–sure some of this land may be in CRP or other Government programs, and it’s there for a good reason–the Land Owner’s don’t want to just pay taxes on the land without getting something back, and with lack of knowing what else to do with the property they put it into these programs. Well, guess what, with the information in this article YOU as a Real Estate Agent, or Land Owner, or Home Buyer will be armed with another way that a Land Owner, Home Buyer or Real Estate Agency can produce and income and/or own a home in less than ten years!

Imagine, if you will, back when George Washington built his home. Did he build it all by himself? Probably not, he had help from other people that were going to live on his land and in turn he helped them build their homes also and they would work on his ‘plantation’ as they called, a ‘farm or ranch’ now as it is called, and some places back East and in the South still call their parcels of land ‘plantations’, but the point being here, the people who were going to live in these homes–they were an instrumental part in developing and building the homes. They took raw material and THEY built them. They didn’t hire a Construction Company to do this–they did the work.

If you are a Land Owner, you can be your own General Contractor. And, if you are a prospective Home Owner, YOU can be your own General Contractor and YOU can be very instrumental in building your own home for way cheaper than if you hired everything out. Did you know that a General Contractor tacks on anywhere from 10 to 40% onto the actual cost of building a home? Most people don’t have a clue. So, being a General of your own project will save you thousands of dollars right off the bat! Now, the City and County Inspectors will want everything from blueprints to sub-Contractor’s names and license numbers, like the Plumber, the Electrician, the Concrete Company, etc. But, what-if you had a group of people that built these homes at cost and they were Plumber’s, Electrician’s, and Concrete men/women? What-if they were going to live on this land? What-if they simply helped each other out–at NO COST? They did it to cut the cost of the home down and to be able to pay it off in a shorter amount of time? Now, what-if this group of people went even further than that? What-if, they took their talents, knowledge, crafts, and hobbies to the outside world and sold them at whatever people would pay? What-if the Land Owner agreed to these activities on his land for a piece of the action? A land lease? Now, you are probably starting to see a bigger picture–one that can and will change the way Real Estate, Home Buyer’s and Land Owner’s do business together.

It’s a better fit, with less risks from every party involved. Why, with the rising taxes (to pay for the none-ending bail-outs that occurred and will continue), the rising costs of labor due to rising taxes and rising insurance cost, thus causing the cost of building a house to go up, this idea that is growing is very appealing to ALL involved, don’t you think?

The time in history has come when major shifts in the way people live their lives will change the way people buy homes, cars, food, clothing, the necessities. Green Living is here, here to stay and it comes in many different forms–this is just one form–Green Real Estate Buying and Selling!

Borrowers must first tell their lender they want an EEM. The process of getting one starts with an energy rating, or acceptable documentation. Then the borrower decides what improvements they want and they apply for a loan.

In one mortgage, a borrower can finance cost effective energy saving measures and also stretch debt to income qualifying ratio increasing the borrowing power. The unique mortgage allows borrowers to include the costs of energy improvements into the mortgage. The value of the home is adjusted by the value of the energy efficient upgrades.

The Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM) is typically used to buy a new home that is already energy efficient. Energy Star homes are qualified homes. Homes not rated typically require a certified n energy star rater, an independent certified residential energy professional, to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the home’s energy use to produce a home energy rating. The energy rating is a measure of the homes energy efficiency using methodology that is uniform throughout the United States. The national guidelines are referred to as HERS guidelines – the Home Energy Rating System. This comes before the financing is approved. It provides the lender with the estimated monthly energy savings and the value of the energy efficiency measures – known as Energy Savings Value.

The Energy Improvement Mortgages (EIM) was developed so homebuyers of an existing home could finance more money to make their home more energy efficient. No need for more funds for down payment, the EIM is included in the purchase mortgage for existing homes that need energy efficient improvements without increasing the down payment. The savings in utilities finance the energy improvements. EIM’s are available to homeowners wanting to refinance their energy improvements too.

EEMs are sponsored and nationally underwritten by FHA VA and Conventional secondary mortgage institutions market lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Thrift conscious consumers are applying for the EEM today; they are financing and spending more on housing expenses initially because they know they will spend less on their energy costs over time. It is the health of their families, and the future high costs of energy that concerns many people today.

Parallel business models that take part in the process are: Mortgage & Financing, Title and Escrow services and a broad category of additional providers called Ancillary Services. Ancillary Services include: homeowner insurance products, flood insurance, tax certification, home owners warranty (HOW), legal services and documentation, home improvement and repair, painting, heating and air conditioning (HVAC) landscaping, appliances, property and mechanical inspection, municipal utility districts (MUDS), home owners associations, notice to the public – I’m running out of breath. You get the idea. Improved real estate is a complex animal, and there are many participants that comprise the process by which real estate is bought, sold, financed, transferred and ultimately occupied.

In looking for the “who” or “what” that exercises control of the industry; we should consider the role of government regulatory or quasi-governmental entities. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack were created to stimulate and control the flow of mortgage financing dollars and to provide stability within the mortgage industry. Oops! Ginny Mae guarantees the timely repayment to the investor on loans that it guarantees. These guarantees are provided through Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) or pools of loans that contain VA and FHA originated mortgages. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides regulatory oversight, and the Treasury provides an occasional bail out. This group of entities is introduced because they have certain powers and influence over technical, legal and procedural aspects of the industry. They do not control the “how” things are done within the process. The private sector determines “how” things are done.

Any control or “ownership” of this market then will exist within the private sector. Identifying the “who” (forgive me Dr. Seuss) can be done intuitively. The components of the broad real estate industry fit more or less into four primary areas. Let’s call them:

1. New Construction

· Commercial

· Industrial

· Single Family Residential

· Multifamily

· Pre-fabricated Structures

2. Resale

· Existing Buildings

· Existing Homes

· Other

3. Mortgage and Financing

· Construction Financing

· Mortgage Financing

· Refinancing

4. Title, Escrow and Ancillary Services

· Title Insurance Companies

· Title Insurance and Escrow Agents

· Legal and Documentation

· Recordation or Registration

· All Ancillary Services

These four categories are industries or business models within the real estate game. The major companies that operate within these categories would have insight and knowledge as to how to connect the dots and to accomplish the transaction. Each of them, in turn, exercises certain control or influence over their part of the process. There are multiple large players in each of these arenas, and they compete aggressively. There exists no such thing as an industry accepted solution that defines “how” the component business models integrate, but there should be. The level of redundancies and inefficiencies keep the process paper bound, disparate and errors are often time consuming to correct. The labor intensity of the process alone makes it more expensive and requires more management. A seamlessly integrated solution can change all that, and as a byproduct can achieve what others cannot – a commoditization of the real estate market.

The terms “transaction coordination,” “transaction facilitation,” and “transaction integration” were coined along with an effort to streamline and to integrate this process. This was an ill fated attempt to gain some level of control over the process. Working to gain an edge, each player offers partial solutions toward an industry standard. These solutions are often tied to their specific software architecture with bridges that invite their customers and agents to participate. They are not comprehensive, do not reach a large enough cross section of the market, and they do not provide an acceptable global solution.

Homebuilders are focused on competing with other home builders; realtors compete with other realtors; mortgage lenders compete with other mortgage lenders and competition is intense between the title and escrow providers. Should one player come up with a solution that improves the process, they would want it to be proprietary. Competitors would be reluctant to adopt it, and would not constitute a solution.

Fannie, Freddie, Ginny, HUD and any governmental entity has a different mission. A concept age visionary will be the one to combine the attributes that provide a more global solution, and in the doing of it, ownership of the thread and commoditization of real estate can be created. The right platform will benefit all participants. The idea is to facilitate the process to the level that its use will be natural, almost viral. By not using it, you are opting out. Soft Sell has the concept, vision, and the knowledge to create this platform.

With the right development partner, this platform and solution can be brought to market in real time. As the real estate and financial markets make a sustained recovery, Soft Sells solution would be in place to provide the structure for revolutionary change. As a side note, Fannie, Freddie and virtually every large bank has a portfolio of short sales and foreclosures that will continue to grow. It will be several years before these are recycled. Soft Sell would be an ideal platform for managing these assets through the process.

Going green in the office should be good for the staff and for the company but despite this, many firms will struggle to implement green initiatives unless they have a specific policies in place and a member of staff prepared to champion the green cause.

This is because making changes requires time and effort, as well as in some cases an initial outlay of capital, whereas doing nothing, even if that means higher ongoing costs, is often the easy option.

If you have the ability to make and implement decisions that can have a positive (or negative) green impact on your office you should be considering the environmental impact of those decisions as part of the decision making process.

This does not mean that if you are not in a position to authorise changes within your company that you can not initiate these changes, although it does mean you may have to work harder to make an impact by assessing where improvements can be made and making the case to those who do have the power to make changes.

As with many things, simple steps can have a large positive impact. Two areas that can have immediate green advantages without significant cost expenditure are in the areas of recycling and energy use.

Rubbish and recycling collections may be organised by your company or through the building management and whilst changes to the provision of waste collection will require cooperation from the current provider, changes will also need the involvement of staff and your daily cleaners. Many refuse collection services now work on the basis of collecting office rubbish in the categories of general recycling and non recyclable waste. There is usually a cost advantage in sorting waste with the recycling being cheaper to dispose of than rubbish that goes to landfill, so this could be a good starting point to introduce a change within your office, but it will also mean that staff need to be committed enough to sort rubbish into the respective types. One way to make the task of sorting rubbish easier is by removing the traditional under desk waste bins and providing central refuse stations within the office, so that staff have to make a conscious decision in disposing of their rubbish.

Energy use is another area where small changes can have cost advantages. Any refurbishment programme should incorporate energy saving elements like sensors on lights and energy efficient equipment. Even if there is no planned capital spend replacing old bulbs with energy efficient ones and reducing the temperature of the heating in winter or turning down the air conditioning in summer can have a positive green impact with little or no cost implications to implement.

The decision to build a home can be very crucial especially when it can affect your future. There are things to gather and you also have to think about saving energy. Energy can be consumed in various procedures such as the building process itself, or otherwise in the transportation or assembly of material. That is why you may find the modular home prices quite reasonable, especially because such structures are constructed while keeping in view the principle of saving energy. That is why they are sometimes known as green houses.

As for the ideal house, it is the one in which energy consumption is minimum, not only during construction but also after it has been erected. For instance, a house that can comfortably meet the energy requirements of its inhabitants without wasting too much energy can be actually classified as greener house. Here are some steps that can assist you in erecting such a house.

Purchase Local Materials

In most countries, some local materials, which are environmentally friendly, are available. These include renewable trees and straws. The best part is that they do not need much processing, and their transportation costs are quite low. Using inexhaustible and abundant supplies such as rocks and sand can be used to construct beautiful buildings that can blend well with their surroundings. The best part is that they are also locally available.

Erect Long-lasting Structure

Though the structure is constructed from sustainable materials, it still needs to be durable. Speaking of durability, the structure should last long against all odds. Builders believe that the house should be constructed to last for a few decades, after which it would be decimated to make a better one. With this approach in mind, they utilize bad construction material. The buyers, however, desire a house that can last longer, so you should always inspect the material being used.

Use Sustainable Energy Only

The replacement of fossil fuels with natural resources can be a way to go. You can efficiently conserve energy by using renewable resources for electricity generation. The most practical and the most popular renewable energy resources are, of course, wind solar and water. Solar panels and wind turbines can be fitted to your rooftops. Moreover, you can further conserve energy by using energy efficient appliances, energy saver bulbs, and of course turning off your appliances completely rather than leaving them on standby.

Small Is Better

There is a common misconception that big is beautiful. This is not completely true. A well proportioned house is the one that looks spacious even if it is small. Thus, you must curb the urge to construct a large mansion! Normally such houses use huge amounts of energy, and the combustion of fossil fuel usually result in the emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. While planning your house, do not forget to think about the space you really need.

The plan for a greener house is a reality now. If you are stuck on making crucial decisions in this regard, then you can contact a local authority to get relevant information. It might take some extra work and money from your side but at the end of the day you will find living in such a house very economical.